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Carrier Direct to NH Experience

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Just wanting to share my experience for my delivery with Carrier Direct. This is my first Tesla.

Ordered Jan-2020. LRAWD, Blue exterior, black interior, 19" Gemini, no FSD.
Added in Tow Hitch on the day it was announced (April?)
VIN in June 15xxx

Was originally notified for a Carrier Direct shipment to me here in NH with a date of June 30. Unfortunately, there was an issue with my shipment and my vehicle was unloaded in Chicago on the 26th and didn't make it to NJ. This was not clearly communicated to me and through a misunderstanding on my part I ended up waiting on the 30th for a vehicle that never arrived. After talking to my delivery specialist, I understood the nature of the delay but was frustrated that the delay was not communicated. Hopefully Tesla can improve this part of the carrier direct process.

After the 4th of July weekend, my vehicle was scheduled and eventually ended up in NJ for carrier direct delivery on the 10th or so. My delivery agent said that the vehicle was scheduled for a delivery to my location on Saturday the 18th and it might slip to Sunday the 19th, which I planned on. Imagine my surprise when I returned from an errand on Thursday the 16th and my Tesla is being unloaded in my driveway with no notification to me that it was arriving. The driver handed me the keycard and had me sign a delivery paper. There was no other paperwork other than a temp. plate. When I called my delivery specialist they had no idea that the vehicle was being delivered. A couple of clicks of the Agent's keyboard and I was being asked to accept delivery, which I did as I was happy with the state of the vehicle.

The vehicle was very clean on the exterior with only the typical 15xxx issues: Headlight is not flush, tail lights not necessarily flush, Charge port door has a large gap and the seats are not exactly centered but not off by too much. I have an issue with the passenger windshield wiper hitting the hood which is the only thing that seems to be an issue that I have not seen yet. Some of the panel gaps are not exactly "uniform" but there is nothing there which was egregious or would cause me to reject the vehicle unlike some of the specimens I have seen on this forum.

The carrier direct service is a fantastic option but there are problems in the communications. I can understand why they exist - Tesla contracts out the transportation of vehicles so it's not an end-to-end process on their end. However, there are lots of areas for improvement. The Delivery Agents are good but I think that they are overworked and overwhelmed - amplified with end of quarter activities. Hopefully they can fix some of the systems to help empower the agents so they are not having to diffuse irate customers as often.

The upside here is the delay did allow for me to get the $3,000 reduction in price, for which I am thankful. The vehicle is fantastic and I am very impressed with it. I would absolutely recommend the vehicle to other people but the ordering process is frustrating at this time. Hopefully it will get better before the other car companies figure out how to build decent EVs.
 
Thanks for posting your experience. I live in Wyoming and will be ordering my MY soon. Looking forward to Carrier Direct delivery and will post my experience as well.
I hope that it goes smoothly! In the end, nearly all of my "issues" were related to communications. The car itself, thus far is outstanding and was worth the trouble to get it.
 
I also live in NH and avoided the carrier direct option for these reasons.

1.) you don’t have the option to inspect and potentially reject the vehicle.

2.) any issues with paint, Tesla could potentially claim happened while in transport and not cover.

I opted to pick up in New Jersey. One thing I learned from previous experience with Tesla; don’t give them your money until you are 100% happy with the product.

After the check is cashed, customer service disappears and everything is “within spec”.
 
I also live in NH and avoided the carrier direct option for these reasons.

1.) you don’t have the option to inspect and potentially reject the vehicle.

2.) any issues with paint, Tesla could potentially claim happened while in transport and not cover.

I opted to pick up in New Jersey. One thing I learned from previous experience with Tesla; don’t give them your money until you are 100% happy with the product.

After the check is cashed, customer service disappears and everything is “within spec”.

I am glad that you were able to choose what worked best for you. At least we have a choice here, right? I was not in a place where I could easily get to NJ to pick up a new vehicle so Carrier Direct was perfect for me.

However, you absolutely have the right to inspect and reject the vehicle after the carrier delivers it. You are not obligated to accept delivery just because they shipped it to you. After the driver unloaded the vehicle I performed a cursory walk around to ensure that there were no major defects (dents, very bad paint issues, crazy gaps, etc) before signing off on the carrier release form. If there had been any damage you can note it there and ensure that it is documented. I was able to check and document any issues before accepting delivery of the vehicle as well.

Granted, it's a pain to deal with this kind of thing remotely, but for me it would have been far more problematic for me to go to NJ to pick it up. For my situation, this worked out very well.
 
I am glad that you were able to choose what worked best for you. At least we have a choice here, right? I was not in a place where I could easily get to NJ to pick up a new vehicle so Carrier Direct was perfect for me.

However, you absolutely have the right to inspect and reject the vehicle after the carrier delivers it. You are not obligated to accept delivery just because they shipped it to you. After the driver unloaded the vehicle I performed a cursory walk around to ensure that there were no major defects (dents, very bad paint issues, crazy gaps, etc) before signing off on the carrier release form. If there had been any damage you can note it there and ensure that it is documented. I was able to check and document any issues before accepting delivery of the vehicle as well.

Granted, it's a pain to deal with this kind of thing remotely, but for me it would have been far more problematic for me to go to NJ to pick it up. For my situation, this worked out very well.
Are you saying if you rejected delivery they would have taken the car back to Tesla on the carrier?

That is the exact opposite of what I was told. The only option was a return which is different from a rejection.
 
Are you saying if you rejected delivery they would have taken the car back to Tesla on the carrier?

That is the exact opposite of what I was told. The only option was a return which is different from a rejection.
Perhaps it was a return and I'm confused the communications from Tesla are, frankly, terrible and contradictory in many ways. However, if they delivered me a vehicle with major defects, I would not have accepted it and it would be their problem to deal with. What would they have done? I don't know. Perhaps someone who has gone through this can speak up.

Thankfully, I didn't have any issues.
 
Perhaps it was a return and I'm confused the communications from Tesla are, frankly, terrible and contradictory in many ways. However, if they delivered me a vehicle with major defects, I would not have accepted it and it would be their problem to deal with. What would they have done? I don't know. Perhaps someone who has gone through this can speak up.

Thankfully, I didn't have any issues.
That’s the point. You don’t have the option to reject delivery with a 3rd party carrier.

Your only option would be a return and that would prevent you from re-ordering the same trim level for one year.

Sounds like you got lucky.
 
I don't think that I was lucky more than I was just not unlucky. I wanted to share that there are instances where people have Carrier Direct work well for them. This forum has far more negative stories about issues than positive ones. The car is not 100% perfect, but I have yet to have purchased a vehicle that is 100% perfect on delivery. The issues that my particular Tesla has are all things that can be dealt with and I'm not bent into a pretzel over it. Had there been a "red line" item it might have been a battle but I am confident that Tesla would have corrected the issues without too much trouble.

Buying an early production version of a vehicle is a risk. My parents bought a Chrysler Voyager in 1984, the first year it came out. So. Many. Issues. A friend bought one of the first Mini Coopers in 2002 and it was plagued with issues, but he had zero regrets over it as that was part of the deal.

Yes, Tesla is expensive. I agree that 50-odd-thousand is a large sum and that we expect that our cars will come without any obvious issues. There will be problems. The purchasing process was extremely frustrating in many dimensions. I'm sure there will be other frustrations as well. If I wanted a completely hassle-free car experience I'd buy another Honda - and even then it's no guarantee.
 
That’s the point. You don’t have the option to reject delivery with a 3rd party carrier.

Your only option would be a return and that would prevent you from re-ordering the same trim level for one year.

Sounds like you got lucky.
A follow up - I talked to my Delivery Specialist on a follow up call last week for one of the minor issues I had. I asked specifically what would have happened if there was a "red line" issue that would have prevented me from taking delivery. You do have the ability to reject the vehicle and not accept delivery, just as you do for any other purchase of a vehicle. I think that Tesla would want to try to make arrangements to prevent the rejection but there is the ability to reject it. He also agreed that there is the ability to do a return with the stipulations on not being able to re-order as well.

So clearly the communications coming from Tesla are inconsistent as this is not the same message you received regarding Carrier Direct. If anyone reads this thread it might be in your best interest to ask this question of your Delivery Specialist if it concerns you.

I also did get an appointment scheduled to review and address my open issues. Hopefully we can get a mobile technician out to check into the issues. Tesla has been great to work with after some initial communication problems and hopefully my issues are resolved. Again, my experience has been positive and has been a good option for someone for whom traveling to NJ or NY to pickup a new car does not work.
 
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A follow up - I talked to my Delivery Specialist on a follow up call last week for one of the minor issues I had. I asked specifically what would have happened if there was a "red line" issue that would have prevented me from taking delivery. You do have the ability to reject the vehicle and not accept delivery, just as you do for any other purchase of a vehicle. I think that Tesla would want to try to make arrangements to prevent the rejection but there is the ability to reject it. He also agreed that there is the ability to do a return with the stipulations on not being able to re-order as well.

So clearly the communications coming from Tesla are inconsistent as this is not the same message you received regarding Carrier Direct. If anyone reads this thread it might be in your best interest to ask this question of your Delivery Specialist if it concerns you.

I also did get an appointment scheduled to review and address my open issues. Hopefully we can get a mobile technician out to check into the issues. Tesla has been great to work with after some initial communication problems and hopefully my issues are resolved. Again, my experience has been positive and has been a good option for someone for whom traveling to NJ or NY to pickup a new car does not work.
Your delivery specialist is wrong.

You cannot reject delivery from a 3rd party. They drop off the car and that’s it. Your only option is a return.
 
Your delivery specialist is wrong.

You cannot reject delivery from a 3rd party. They drop off the car and that’s it. Your only option is a return.
OK, well whatever. It ended up being a non-issue anyway. Call it luck, call it a lack of bad luck, call it whatever. I'm moving on.

Note to anyone who is doing a carrier direct pickup - be sure to talk to your Delivery Specialist if you have concerns over having a car delivered. You may want to choose an alternative solution or get in writing that you can reject a delivered car.

I am just trying to help share a positive story with Carrier Direct for those of you who don't have other options.
 
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OK, well whatever. It ended up being a non-issue anyway. Call it luck, call it a lack of bad luck, call it whatever. I'm moving on.

Note to anyone who is doing a carrier direct pickup - be sure to talk to your Delivery Specialist if you have concerns over having a car delivered. You may want to choose an alternative solution or get in writing that you can reject a delivered car.

I am just trying to help share a positive story with Carrier Direct for those of you who don't have other options.

Thanks for sharing your experience! I'm a ME customer and am awaiting my own Carrier Direct delivery. Appreciate learning from your experience as well as others.
 
Good report @jsargevt. Thanks! Like @drx10 I'm awaiting a carrier direct to ME (maybe ours will be on the same truck!) and knowing how your experience was is helpful. To this point all of my dealings with Tesla sales and delivery specialists have been excellent.

Nice! @scissorfighter . If I may ask, when did you put your order in? I put mine in on 7/13/20, the Monday after the MY dropped by $3,000 to make it eligible for the ME rebate! (has to be the base LR AWD with NO add-ons or changes, though - MSRP $49,990).

Today marks day 16 and it's been semi-painful haha.o_O Where in ME are you expecting delivery?
 
I did carrier direct to NH. Car had minor issues addressed couple weeks later with remote service. Nice driver. Called ahead.
Had a bit of a fiasco as Paramus NJ for some reason "couldn't print temp plates" and driver told me it was overnighted and would arrive later that day. No plate arrived. Sales contact was unresponsive & useless so I called Paramus direct. They were nice but it took just 3 tries to FEDEX plate overnight so I could finally drive the car 6 days later.
 
I did carrier direct to NH. Car had minor issues addressed couple weeks later with remote service. Nice driver. Called ahead.
Had a bit of a fiasco as Paramus NJ for some reason "couldn't print temp plates" and driver told me it was overnighted and would arrive later that day. No plate arrived. Sales contact was unresponsive & useless so I called Paramus direct. They were nice but it took just 3 tries to FEDEX plate overnight so I could finally drive the car 6 days later.
AH that is a bummer - having a new vehicle and not being able to drive it must be frustrating. I am still waiting on the correct screws to attach my NJ temp plate to the car as they were nowhere to be found. Not a show stopper as I stole the ones off a car in the garage but if I want to drive that one I need to put it's license plate back on! Unfortunately, Tesla missing these details is causing some frustration and hopefully they can figure out a better process, or better yet, open a Tesla location in NH!

My advisor setup an appointment to take care of my issues but they wanted me to go to Dedham. I changed the request in the app to see if we can find a time to get a remote service first to see what they can take care of and if I need to go to Dedham, I can do that later. I'd much prefer to not go to Dedham if possible especially knowing that I might not get a loaner car. Uber credits will be useless to me as I am 100+ miles from Dedham.