Does Full Self-Driving transfer when a Tesla is sold?

FSD purchased outright is attached to the vehicle and remains with it after a sale. An FSD subscription is billed to the owner account monthly and stops when that owner cancels or sells, so it does not transfer.

Guide

Owned FSD and rented FSD drive exactly the same

Q: How do you tell if FSD was bought or subscribed?

Purchased FSD appears as an option code recorded against the VIN, such as APF2. A subscription does not. A further signal is what the car is still eligible to buy: you cannot subscribe to something already running, so a car that can be bought FSD outright but cannot start a subscription is usually already subscribed.

Full Self-Driving adds thousands to an asking price. Whether that money is buying you anything depends entirely on how the current owner acquired it — and you cannot feel the difference from the passenger seat.

$APF2 Bought outright
Recorded against the vehicle. Stays after the sale. Yours

sub Monthly subscription
Billed to the seller's account. Ends when they cancel. Gone at handover

Why the listing won't settle it

A subscription is active software. The car displays the features, the menus are there, and a test drive behaves identically to a car whose owner paid in full years ago. Sellers describing the car as "has FSD" are not lying — the car does have it today. The question is who it belongs to, and nothing on the screen answers that.

The check that works

Purchased FSD leaves a permanent mark: an option code on the vehicle's own record. A subscription does not.

There is a second signal worth knowing about, because it catches the awkward cases. Tesla will tell you what a given car is still eligible to buy. You cannot subscribe to something you are already subscribed to, and you cannot buy something you already own. So a car that can still be bought FSD outright, but cannot start a new subscription, is almost certainly running one right now. A car that can do neither already owns it.

What to ask the seller

Was Full Self-Driving purchased, or is it on a monthly plan?
If purchased — roughly when, and was it on this car or transferred during a promotion?
Would you be willing to show the order page in your Tesla account?

A straight answer to the first question resolves most cars. Hesitation on the third is worth noticing.

Settle it from the VIN

One free check a day. No account needed to read a shared result.

Run a check