First weekend drive shenanigans + a restrained rant

[rockafunked]

So, today I drove from London and into the Chilterns...and a few things happened.

1. The rear licence plate, which was stuck on with adhesive to the (rattling) licence plate holder, fell off somewhere on the M1. It had fallen off whilst we were parked near a village pub, and I suppose the hot sun affected the adhesive? Before the journey back to London we unwisely stuck it back on, but I guess the adhesive was too far gone. Luckily I still had the front licence plate in the boot (having changed to vinyl front plate last week), which we attached to the rear plate holder using duct tape whilst we Supercharged at South Mimms. It was then a mad dash to the Halfords in Tottenham to get a replacement rear licence plate before they closed at 6pm.

Err, why can't Tesla use better adhesive, wipe the surface before putting it on, or just use screws?



2. Found out that the right reversing light is not working. Can say I'm getting more irritated now. Possibly my fault for not having properly checked on delivery day. Harder to do if collecting alone though.

3. Found five of these paint defects on the rear bumper. The car is already ceramic coated, so not sure how everyone missed them. Don't look like rock chips to me.



4. This is in addition to the misaligned charge port cover and the slight misalignment of one passenger door chrome trim with the body chrome trim.

Oh the joys of buying a car that doesn't get a proper pre-delivery inspection. On the other hand the car drives like a silent demon. I suppose I have to be grateful that there are no major issues (feeling grateful that it's not worse is not a great thing, to be honest). Tesla service appointment on Tuesday.

Restrained rant over.

 

[NorfolkMustard]

#2. There is only one reversing light other side is a fog light

 

[rockafunked]

#2. There is only one reversing light other side is a fog light

Gah. Well, I learn something new about the car every day!

 

[Dangerous Fish]

You had the chance to inspect it when you picked it up/it was delivered. That's the chance to point out problems.
You chose to have it ceramic coated by an outfit who can't be bothered to inspect or correct the paint properly. Use someone better next time.
The number plate falling off is annoying but these things can happen. The plate is held in by the frame. There's no adhesive used, so maybe it wasn't secured properly in the first place?

All in all I don't think you have much to rant about but it seems a lot of new Tesla owners are desperate to find fault.

 

[Keeper]

There is only one reversing light.

 

[Jason71]

The he rear licence plate clips into the frame. I removed mine I seem to remember it being hard to remove. There is not normally any tape involved. if your number plate was only taped to the frame that is wrong ( or new) . That is not how they should be.

 

[rockafunked]

All in all I don't think you have much to rant about but it seems a lot of new Tesla owners are desperate to find fault

*Shrugs* Being slightly facetious in any event. People should forgive a bit of scepticism on the part of new people dipping their toes with Tesla anyway. IMHO that's the right attitude to take when buying a new consumer product that doesn't have proper competitors. Yes the products are great...but what's the catch, where can they improve?

 

[Durzel]

Looks like dust nibs under the paint. Not unusual, definitely “Tesla”. Surprised whoever ceramic coated the car didn’t flag them to you? Also, was there a reason you didn’t see any of this until now? I went over my car with a fine toothconb before I’d driven it anywhere.

The rear numberplate is a curious one. As said already there should be no adhesive tape involved. The rear holder comes in two parts (or did!) - a mount that screws into the rear bumper with two screws, and a bracket that screws into that with another two screws. The numberplate slides into the bracket and is held in place by the “TESLA.COM” piece.

If you’ve got something different to that I’d be interested to know about it...

 

[Avendit]

Looks like dust nibs under the paint. Not unusual, definitely “Tesla”. Surprised whoever ceramic coated the car didn’t flag them to you? Also, was there a reason you didn’t see any of this until now? I went over my car with a fine toothconb before I’d driven it anywhere.

The rear numberplate is a curious one. As said already there should be no adhesive tape involved. The rear holder comes in two parts (or did!) - a mount that screws into the rear bumper with two screws, and a bracket that screws into that with another two screws. The numberplate slides into the bracket and is held in place by the “TESLA.COM” piece.

If you’ve got something different to that I’d be interested to know about it...

Also, junking that uugly frame on the front and back should be a priority 1 activity. Car looks so much better with the rear stuck directly to the boot lid and one of the many options applied to the front.

 

[rockafunked]

Also, was there a reason you didn’t see any of this until now?

In short, life happened. To be more fair to myself I only missed the paint defects on the day of delivery, and not other minor issues listed above (door and charging port alignments), and then I missed the ceramic coat people missing the paint defects.

In terms of my bother-o-meter, the five defects do not bother me at all - all in the lower rear bumper. Some people like their cars to be in concourse condition at all times, I am not one of them. I will probably get rock chips very shortly, given my usual driving itinerary.

Now, as for the licence plate fixings - mystery now solved. Both the front and rear fixings were as you described on delivery day, i.e. two parts - mount that screws into the front bumper, and a bracket on top of it. The front licence plate slides into the bracket, and is held in place by the TESLA.COM piece.

Essentially I think the ceramic coat people removed the configuration for the rear licence plate, left the first mounting bracket in place, and stuck on the licence plate with adhesive. I only told them to replace the front licence plate with a vinyl plate. Ah well.

As I have unfairly maligned Tesla on one issue, I shall now "like" a hundred of Elon's tweets as penance.

 

[Sparkeur]

You had the chance to inspect it when you picked it up/it was delivered.

I inspected mine when I picked it up but it was only when parked at a different angle a couple of days later that I saw the front left panel was misaligned, found two small areas on the exterior white paint which had been poorly 'made good' after some damage in transit (presumably) and a small dent in the bottom of the rear passenger door. All fixed without question but I would defy anyone to have noticed them on a 'non-contact' pick-up in the rain.

 

[Durzel]

Also, junking that uugly frame on the front and back should be a priority 1 activity. Car looks so much better with the rear stuck directly to the boot lid and one of the many options applied to the front.

I put foam tape on mine to stop the rattling. I personally don't dislike (and actually quite like the TESLA.COM bracket) etc but I know it's an acquired taste. Also, on the rear plate at least, sticking it to the bracket that screws to the car means there is a black part sticking out on either side (bracket is wider than a UK plate). I didn't want to stick it directly to the boot because mine is PPF'd.

 

[Dangerous Fish]

*Shrugs* Being slightly facetious in any event. People should forgive a bit of scepticism on the part of new people dipping their toes with Tesla anyway. IMHO that's the right attitude to take when buying a new consumer product that doesn't have proper competitors. Yes the products are great...but what's the catch, where can they improve?

Perhaps every car brand suffers from this effect nowadays. I don't know, as I now only own Teslas
But there just seems to be a thing with Teslas where prospective owners read forums and FB groups before they order or get delivery and then arm themselves with a checklist and magnifying glass and try their best to find fault when they're finally presented with the new car.

The detailer I use for ceramic coating, PPF etc. works on supercars most of the time. McLaren, Bentley, Lambo, Ferrari, Porsche etc. The last time I was there he was PPF'ing a £2.5m car. You get the idea. He's shown me several McLarens straight from the factory with worse panel alignment and paint defects than I see on Tesla forums.

The worst factory paint finish by far according to him? Ferrari.

Tesla are selling every car they make and need to push every quarter to make those deliveries. A few things are overlooked or don't get done right. Same as Ferrari. Perfect cars do not come out of car factories. This is why there are so many detailing/paint correction companies out there. As a buyer, you decide when you collect whether it's good enough to you or not. You can reject it then (or up to 100 miles later if a Tesla) but after that it's really your responsibility.

My detailer pointed out a couple of tiny imperfections in my paint after he'd been over it. I didn't spot them when I collected and I don't find it easy to spot them even now, so for me that's good enough.

YMMV.

 

[Dangerous Fish]

I inspected mine when I picked it up but it was only when parked at a different angle a couple of days later that I saw the front left panel was misaligned, found two small areas on the exterior white paint which had been poorly 'made good' after some damage in transit (presumably) and a small dent in the bottom of the rear passenger door. All fixed without question but I would defy anyone to have noticed them on a 'non-contact' pick-up in the rain.

Agreed. That's what the 7 days/100miles is for on the agreement. If the weather is OK I'd always encourage new owners to inspect fully at the time of delivery. In this case, some confusion has arisen after a third party got hold of the car and that's not helpful.

 

[HenryT]

There is only one reversing light.

Perhaps the other one fell off as well?