Anyone Having Trouble Getting Delivery After Q1 (March 31)?

[Whoster69]

My wife and I ordered our long-range, AWD, black interior, red model 3 with AP and FSD in the middle of March. Originally our delivery date was early April, but it got moved up to late March because Tesla was rushing to get cars delivered to make quarter 1 quotas. We even got a VIN. We were going to be out of state in late March, so we contacted Tesla and let them know. The Tesla rep asked if it was OK to release our car to someone else so they wouldn't have to wait. They told us they'd make us a new one and we could get it within two weeks. We said sure. We didn't want people to have to wait because were had to be out of state and we knew that Tesla was trying to make their quotas and we wanted to support that.

Fast forward two weeks. We have no VIN. The rep from Tesla won't respond to emails or texts. The original salespeople we talked to won't either. We seem to be in limbo. I've tried to ask if there is anything we need to do, but I can't even get that question answered.

I realize that they could need a little more time to get us our car, but can't someone respond? This isn't good for the company when 5 days later, I'm still wondering what is going on and can't get a response.

Is anyone else having similar issues? I'm curious to see if it is taking longer to get cars out or not. Tesla is still saying two weeks to delivery if you go to their order system and order an identical car, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

 

[LJS22]

Ordered mine middle of March, got a late March delivery date. It came and passed then on April 2nd I got a call from the delivery driver that he has my car on a truck and will be at my house in 5 hours for pick up. Never got a notice from a Tesla representative prior, just the driver. He didn’t know anything about the car so after he backed it off the truck I signed a document and he said “see ya” oddest purchase ever, but I got my car so I was happy.

 

[Whoster69]

I also forgot to add that I've called the local delivery center (which is what I was instructed to do), but I got the usual response. No answer and the mailbox is full so I can't leave a message so this does nothing to help.

LJS22, I'm glad you got your vehicle. They're making me drive 2+ hours one way to get mine. I wish I could get delivery!

 

[srs5694]

If there's a Tesla store near enough, my own inclination would be to go there in person. It's much harder to blow somebody off when they're literally standing in front of you than when they send you and e-mail or voicemail.

 

[OCR1]

OP, your experience is consistent with what many of us have seen. That’s why you see so many threads talking about how worth it it was to get the car in spite of the miserable delivery experience. You will eventually enjoy driving your new Tesla. But not until they put you through hell trying to purchase it.

 

[Whoster69]

If there's a Tesla store near enough, my own inclination would be to go there in person. It's much harder to blow somebody off when they're literally standing in front of you than when they send you and e-mail or voicemail.

Sadly it is about 3 - 4 hour drive round trip.

 

[Rajraj22]

My wife and I ordered our long-range, AWD, black interior, red model 3 with AP and FSD in the middle of March. Originally our delivery date was early April, but it got moved up to late March because Tesla was rushing to get cars delivered to make quarter 1 quotas. We even got a VIN. We were going to be out of state in late March, so we contacted Tesla and let them know. The Tesla rep asked if it was OK to release our car to someone else so they wouldn't have to wait. They told us they'd make us a new one and we could get it within two weeks. We said sure. We didn't want people to have to wait because were had to be out of state and we knew that Tesla was trying to make their quotas and we wanted to support that.

Fast forward two weeks. We have no VIN. The rep from Tesla won't respond to emails or texts. The original salespeople we talked to won't either. We seem to be in limbo. I've tried to ask if there is anything we need to do, but I can't even get that question answered.

I realize that they could need a little more time to get us our car, but can't someone respond? This isn't good for the company when 5 days later, I'm still wondering what is going on and can't get a response.

Is anyone else having similar issues? I'm curious to see if it is taking longer to get cars out or not. Tesla is still saying two weeks to delivery if you go to their order system and order an identical car, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

______________________________

The sales rep not responding to texts or e-mail is very typical. My guess is that the sales people only have control until the ordering process (I ordered at the store), but after that, they have absolutely no control over the delivery process or being able to track your vehicle in production. My car is supposed to be delivered tomorrow and I cannot get in touch with anyone- neither the sales rep, not the folks at delivery center. I do not want them to give me a 2 hr window asking me to collect the car anytime tomorrow. I am trying to get in touch with anyone to confirm if the delivery is still scheduled for tomorrow and if yes, I would like to know when.

This is just a guess, but I am wondering since they offered the car to you at first and then offered to make a new one later, what if the new car request never made it to the production line? Since your car was given to someone else, did they just close your case? These are just speculations, but I would definitely visit a store, if you can. Get answers there and if they also have no information, try canceling the order and ask them to find a car that is already in inventory. They do have a lot of long range AWD inventories. Good luck!

 

[OCR1]

If you call the main number they will route you to a call center in Las Vegas where I can usually get someone to answer the phone. The trick to getting a live person is to ignore the request to enter your zip code when prompted by the auto assistant. All that will do will send you back to your local Service Center’s voicemail. Just don’t enter anything and eventually your call will get transferred to a live person. Those people have access to the delivery calendars and the ordering system and have generally been more helpful than local resources.

 

[Rajraj22]

If you call the main number they will route you to a call center in Las Vegas where I can usually get someone to answer the phone. The trick to getting a live person is to ignore the request to enter your zip code when prompted by the auto assistant. All that will do will send you back to your local Service Center’s voicemail. Just don’t enter anything and eventually your call will get transferred to a live person. Those people have access to the delivery calendars and the ordering system and have generally been more helpful than local resources.

_____________________

Thanks. This is helpful!

 

[ewoodrick]

My wife and I ordered our long-range, AWD, black interior, red model 3 with AP and FSD in the middle of March. Originally our delivery date was early April, but it got moved up to late March because Tesla was rushing to get cars delivered to make quarter 1 quotas. We even got a VIN. We were going to be out of state in late March, so we contacted Tesla and let them know. The Tesla rep asked if it was OK to release our car to someone else so they wouldn't have to wait. They told us they'd make us a new one and we could get it within two weeks. We said sure. We didn't want people to have to wait because were had to be out of state and we knew that Tesla was trying to make their quotas and we wanted to support that.

Fast forward two weeks. We have no VIN. The rep from Tesla won't respond to emails or texts. The original salespeople we talked to won't either. We seem to be in limbo. I've tried to ask if there is anything we need to do, but I can't even get that question answered.

I realize that they could need a little more time to get us our car, but can't someone respond? This isn't good for the company when 5 days later, I'm still wondering what is going on and can't get a response.

Is anyone else having similar issues? I'm curious to see if it is taking longer to get cars out or not. Tesla is still saying two weeks to delivery if you go to their order system and order an identical car, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

The stores probably aren't going to respond timely, if at all, that's regrettably way too common. Regrettably, in the first few days after an EOQ, the folks are trying to catch their breaths.
Regrettably, since you moved out of normal sequence, you are a little bit in "no mans land", so indeed, I have sympathy for you. If the local folks aren't responding, you may want to attempt waiting on the national numbers just to verify that you are still in the queue.

But, for new cars, it is very common not to get a VIN until the very last minute. So you aren't necessarily in a bad place yet.

 

[Whoster69]

That is some really good information! Thank you!

Also, just to let people know, I was able to finally get in touch with someone from the SF delivery center. They said they are trying to find me a call and will call me back. That was about 2 1/2 hours ago. Hopefully, I will hear back from them.

 

[Whoster69]

Well, here is the latest. After making a few attempts to get in touch with the delivery center in San Francisco, I was able to contact people there 3 out of 5 times, so that is actually pretty good. I do wish they would delete voicemails or just get rid of it if they aren't going to let us use it.

They don't have a car with my specs and probably won't for another few weeks. I pointed out that their website still says two weeks and they said it wasn't very accurate. So why have it if it isn't accurate? This just makes customers frustrated and they end up calling in more often. Again, a system issue.

I'm disappointed we won't have our car in time for vacation next week. We had been told we would have it by then. Still it sounds like we will get it by early May at the latest. I'm a little concerned that our loan will expire before we get it (the loan terms expire in early to mid May). We got 3.09% so I don't want to lose that.

Thanks to all who replied with tips on how to get through. I'm hanging on to those!

I'll post some pics when I do finally get this amazing car. It was especially hard last night driving home when I saw, my exact car directly in front of me LOL.

 

[dmurphy]

Sorry to hear you're struggling. I placed an order on Friday, got a call yesterday from my Delivery Advisor that the vehicle was on its way from California, and today my MVPA showed up in my account with the VIN# populated. This is all great stuff.

My vehicle is identical to yours (LR AWD, black interior, AP + FSD) except for exterior color - White instead of Red. I wonder if they do batches of paint colors or something?

Sorry you're having to wait - so far my delivery experience has been pretty flawless, I have to admit.

 

[GarthG]

In Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Ordered M3 Long Range, RWD Red Aero wheels March 19. I now have a VIN with indication from my delivery advisor (in Toronto) of delivery to my home shortly after Easter. There seem to be many other in Ontario / Quebec who had ordered early/mid March with deliveries coming soon.

 

[binarysloth]

Sorry to hear you're struggling. I placed an order on Friday, got a call yesterday from my Delivery Advisor that the vehicle was on its way from California, and today my MVPA showed up in my account with the VIN# populated. This is all great stuff.

My vehicle is identical to yours (LR AWD, black interior, AP + FSD) except for exterior color - White instead of Red. I wonder if they do batches of paint colors or something?

Sorry you're having to wait - so far my delivery experience has been pretty flawless, I have to admit.

To your point, I just got off the phone with an inside delivery advisor who mentioned that batches are running by paint color. Makes sense when you go back to Tesla's removal of certain paint colors to increase production efficiency: Tesla to eliminate some paint options to increase production efficiency, gives last chance to order

 

[srs5694]

My vehicle is identical to yours (LR AWD, black interior, AP + FSD) except for exterior color - White instead of Red. I wonder if they do batches of paint colors or something?

I've never been to the factory and am not an expert, but my understanding is that they do batches of identical cars. Consider this: On the Model 3, Tesla offers 5 trim/battery/motor levels, 5 exterior colors, 2 interior colors, and a maximum of 2 wheel types for any given trim line. That works out to 5x5x2x2 = 100 combinations. (There are actually somewhat fewer than this, since you can't get some combinations, like a white interior on an SR model.) Tesla is producing in excess of 5,000 cars per week, which means 50 of each of the 100 combinations, if they were all being produced in equal numbers. It would make sense to run these through in batches so as to simplify the assembly line process.

A bigger factor in delivery time is Tesla's production schedule, which follows a cadence through the quarter designed to maximize the number of deliveries in the same quarter that the car was produced, which is good for financial reporting reasons. To fit this goal, cars destined for China and Europe leave the factory early in the quarter, followed by cars going to Canada, then the eastern US, then the western US and finally California. This is done because of transit times; if they produced cars going to Europe late in the quarter, then the shipping time would guarantee that the cars would not be delivered that quarter. As a result, if you're in New Jersey and place an order early in the quarter (which we are now, in April), then you'll have to either wait several weeks or take delivery of a car out of inventory. In some cases the latter is fine; Tesla is now keeping significant inventory of cars, so they may be able to find what you want nearby. If not, then you'll either have to wait or talk to a Tesla salesperson about finding something that's close, but not identical, to what you want, much as you would at another brand's dealership.

That said, I'm not an insider, and I don't know Tesla's exact production schedule. The preceding is based on my understanding of what I've read here and on other sites. I may have misunderstood something or been misinformed; or Tesla may be changing its production schedule as I type. So take it all with a grain of salt.

 

[Whoster69]

That makes a lot of sense srs5694. It is what I would guess as well.

dmurphy: Glad you are getting your car fast! I stole your sig and changed it to red for the color. Hope you don't mind. Post some pictures and tell us about it when it gets in!

 

[dmurphy]

, if they were all being produced in equal numbers. It would make sense to run these through in batches so as to simplify the assembly line process.

As a result, if you're in New Jersey and place an order early in the quarter (which we are now, in April), then you'll have to either wait several weeks or take delivery of a car out of inventory. In some cases the latter is fine; Tesla is now keeping significant inventory of cars, so they may be able to find what you want nearby. If not, then you'll either have to wait or talk to a Tesla salesperson about finding something that's close, but not identical, to what you want, much as you would at another brand's dealership.

I think you’ve got the entire process pretty nailed down, except that I’d hope they have some analytics by now as to what the most popular combinations are on the vehicle, and so produce those in appropriate quantities. (IE, they sell yellow cars with green interior 5x more than purple ones with automatic transmissions, so produce 5x yellow) — and yes I used impossible colors and options so nobody thinks I’m insulting any choices!

In my particular NJ case, I’m not sure how they matched me to my VIN but specifically said my vehicle was on a truck coming from California. It’s a fairly low VIN (211xxx) but with a 2019 K code, so I don’t know exactly how to decode that. Has it been sitting in a lot in California for months? Who knows. I’m not privy to their logistics, and not sure I want to be. My head hurts enough from my day job.

dmurphy: Glad you are getting your car fast! I stole your sig and changed it to red for the color. Hope you don't mind. Post some pictures and tell us about it when it gets in!

Thank you, and of course I don’t mind! I hope yours matches to a VIN and gets delivered right away. Plenty of pictures soon, I promise!

 

[JFannin]

My wife and I ordered our long-range, AWD, black interior, red model 3 with AP and FSD in the middle of March. Originally our delivery date was early April, but it got moved up to late March because Tesla was rushing to get cars delivered to make quarter 1 quotas. We even got a VIN. We were going to be out of state in late March, so we contacted Tesla and let them know. The Tesla rep asked if it was OK to release our car to someone else so they wouldn't have to wait. They told us they'd make us a new one and we could get it within two weeks. We said sure. We didn't want people to have to wait because were had to be out of state and we knew that Tesla was trying to make their quotas and we wanted to support that.

Fast forward two weeks. We have no VIN. The rep from Tesla won't respond to emails or texts. The original salespeople we talked to won't either. We seem to be in limbo. I've tried to ask if there is anything we need to do, but I can't even get that question answered.

I realize that they could need a little more time to get us our car, but can't someone respond? This isn't good for the company when 5 days later, I'm still wondering what is going on and can't get a response.

Is anyone else having similar issues? I'm curious to see if it is taking longer to get cars out or not. Tesla is still saying two weeks to delivery if you go to their order system and order an identical car, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

 

[JFannin]

Ordered a P3D on Mar 11th. Completed all fill in the blanks by the 14th. All shows good and ready for a VIn and contract paperwork but no response.
No response from my delivery person or the delivery site requesting a realistic delivery date range not the listed “2 weeks”.
Maybe an actual return email, text or phone call to a cash paying, no messy trade in, $75k customer who’s just trying to buy a maxed out profit model 3 would be in order???