Good News: The car you plan to buy is different from and better than any you've had before.
Bad News: The purchase process is also different. Unfortunately, it will likely be worse than any you've experienced before.
Key fact - normal auto purchase rules and expectations do not apply. Nearly every buyer concludes, during the drive home from delivery, that they are behind the wheel of the best car they’ve ever owned. Also, many - but not most - buyers are deeply frustrated by the experience that brought them to that point.
Factors that lead to this situation.
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Tesla is one of the few volume manufacturers where demand CONSISTENTLY exceeds supply. This reflects years of fast-cycle, full-system innovation to optimize EVs and their usability. Including the Supercharger network.
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There are no independent Tesla dealers. Stores & Service Centers are owned, managed and staffed by Tesla. Due to the point above, these stores rarely have inventory "on the lot." Neither are they competing with each other to make a sale.
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Tesla sales run on fruit-fly 90-day cycle. Everything is oriented to maximize quarterly revenue. Close sales by end of the quarter, with most profitable product mix possible.
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Tesla’s customer-facing operations are disorganized. This sinks to chaotic and near-random at quarter-end. The company regularly promises to improve, so far they still seem overwhelmed every quarter.
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UK has a long - time, distance and transfers - delivery pipeline. Fremont plant to pier. Onto ship when it arrives and docks. Through Panama Canal when the slot opens. To Zeebrugge dock. Then on to UK. Finally to delivery center. VINs are usually matched to orders after Panama Canal transit. Follow
this thread for the slow-motion thrill of UK order-holders predicting whether / when their ship will come in.
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PCP introduces another link in the chain. Posts on this forum suggest this is largely value-subtract. Delay, misunderstandings, dropped balls...
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Tesla has higher expectations of their customers than their customer-facing processes. Once you are offered a delivery appointment, your “promised” vehicle is in jeopardy. You can only postpone it a few days, at most. Else Tesla will assign your vehicle to another eager buyer. This happens even if Tesla / PCP has thoroughly scrambled your paperwork.
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Most UK production occurs in the first two months of the quarter. This ensures cars will be sold and delivered in U.K. during the same quarter.
- As earlier replies suggest,
all of these factors limit your ability to achieve pin-point scheduling.
Coping Strategies:
Consider a higher-end vehicle. Long Range AWD is likely the sweet spot. Higher margin means Tesla is less likely to postpone production/shipment in favor of a more-profitable unit. Longer range, AWD and better acceleration give you more satisfaction. A relatively small additional payment can unlock even more acceleration.
If you want September delivery, then
probably best to have PCP submit the order in mid-July to first week of August. This provides good odds that a vehicle matching your order will be manufactured and shipped for September delivery. Any predicted delivery date is no more meaningful than a bet on a roulette game.
Prepare contingency plan for early delivery. Tesla may be able to match your order with an undelivered (see "Expectations" above) or in-transit vehicle. If you decline the offer, you re-enter the production/shipping lottery. Odds of September delivery start dropping in mid-August because of the long pipeline.
Review the UK order threads for better understanding of pitfalls and processes.
Good luck! I'm in Philadelphia, across the US from Fremont factory. My wife decided she wanted a Model 3 LR AWD August, 2018, when production was still ramping up and delivery times very long. I followed US-appropriate version of this guidance. She was driving her Model 3 Stealth Performance by September 24!
