Freaking out

[Mvdaog]

Soooo - I live about 9 hours away from the nearest service centre and delivery centre, in Canada by the way.
I have a delivery scheduled for tomorrow and obviously there's at least a non-zero chance there's some things wrong with the car at delivery. I am just asking that someone in the city at the delivery centre, a friend of mine, can go look at the car before I board the flight to the city, in case there's something that would make me refuse it, leaving me stranded 9 hours from home without a car. Not to mention two days off work for travel. Not to mention the only flight back home would be 48 hours after I land in Vancouver.

Tesla says no. No one else but me can view the car.

I get that Tesla doesn't need my business, so why would they care. But still, just why... it would make me feel so much better boarding that flight if a buddy checked it out first.

I'm now contemplating giving up on Tesla and waiting for an EV with AWD that does have a dealership closer to me, as much as that pains me to say because I really really want this car and have been waiting for the Y since reveal - now I'm getting cold feet about pulling the trigger.

Talk me out of this line of thinking, or suggestions??

 

[hjelmn]

I don't think they can stop your friend from taking a look if it is sitting outside. Depending on the build date there probably won't be many issues so it is worth a try. Your friend won't be able to demand any fixes but they could send photos of issues.s

 

[attathomeguy]

Could you ask your delivery advisor to facetime you to go over the car remotely?

 

[PlaidCPA]

Soooo - I live about 9 hours away from the nearest service centre and delivery centre, in Canada by the way.
I have a delivery scheduled for tomorrow and obviously there's at least a non-zero chance there's some things wrong with the car at delivery. I am just asking that someone in the city at the delivery centre, a friend of mine, can go look at the car before I board the flight to the city, in case there's something that would make me refuse it, leaving me stranded 9 hours from home without a car. Not to mention two days off work for travel. Not to mention the only flight back home would be 48 hours after I land in Vancouver.

Tesla says no. No one else but me can view the car.

I get that Tesla doesn't need my business, so why would they care. But still, just why... it would make me feel so much better boarding that flight if a buddy checked it out first.

I'm now contemplating giving up on Tesla and waiting for an EV with AWD that does have a dealership closer to me, as much as that pains me to say because I really really want this car and have been waiting for the Y since reveal - now I'm getting cold feet about pulling the trigger.

Talk me out of this line of thinking, or suggestions??

wtf did i just read

 

[gigawatt1010]

I'm afraid to say that your last thought about waiting for an EV from other manufacturer that has a dealership in your area may be equivalent to waiting to win the lottery. It may happen, but the odds are not in your favor.

Having said that, if I were you, i'd still take delivery and just note all the imperfections that you might find for a future fix.

 

[Mvdaog]

I don't think they can stop your friend from taking a look if it is sitting outside. Depending on the build date there probably won't be many issues so it is worth a try. Your friend won't be able to demand any fixes but they could send photos of issues.s

They store the cars in some lot where people can't go look at them and then pull them to another delivery centre right around delivery time, so unfortunately he can't go find it for me.

Could you ask your delivery advisor to facetime you to go over the car remotely?

I'll try, worth a shot. Another guy did go "look at it" for me and it was "within Tesla standards" but no pics and no facetime.

I'm afraid to say that your last thought about waiting for an EV from other manufacturer that has a dealership in your area may be equivalent to waiting to win the lottery. It may happen, but the odds are not in your favor.

Having said that, if I were you, i'd still take delivery and just note all the imperfections that you might find for a future fix.

I hear ya on that, the only problem would be any imperfections would still be a two day trip 18 hour round trip. And it goes without saying, I know this is an issue and a lot of people wouldn't get one if it was that far away from the service centre. TBH I don't care about little imperfections and panel gaps and stuff. I don't want the car leaking and I don't want a blue door (ordered the white). Otherwise I could live with a lot.

 

[WernerN]

I am like you, 8 hours away from a DC and have similar fears about flying for the pick up and discovering something major. One consolation is that the builds seem to be getting better everyday and many have reported pretty good builds. My thinking is that when I get mine delivered, I will try to get agreement with the delivery specialist or SC to get priority on any fixes needed and then spend an extra day or two. I know this is tricky depending on the SC calendar, but at least I’ll try.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

 

[rxlawdude]

Soooo - I live about 9 hours away from the nearest service centre and delivery centre, in Canada by the way.
I have a delivery scheduled for tomorrow and obviously there's at least a non-zero chance there's some things wrong with the car at delivery. I am just asking that someone in the city at the delivery centre, a friend of mine, can go look at the car before I board the flight to the city, in case there's something that would make me refuse it, leaving me stranded 9 hours from home without a car. Not to mention two days off work for travel. Not to mention the only flight back home would be 48 hours after I land in Vancouver.

Tesla says no. No one else but me can view the car.

I get that Tesla doesn't need my business, so why would they care. But still, just why... it would make me feel so much better boarding that flight if a buddy checked it out first.

I'm now contemplating giving up on Tesla and waiting for an EV with AWD that does have a dealership closer to me, as much as that pains me to say because I really really want this car and have been waiting for the Y since reveal - now I'm getting cold feet about pulling the trigger.

Talk me out of this line of thinking, or suggestions??

I'll talk you out of this thinking. Go pick up your car. It will be fine, and if not, Tesla will make it right. Especially with the quarter-end craziness over.

 

[TJVan]

Soooo - I live about 9 hours away from the nearest service centre and delivery centre, in Canada by the way.
I have a delivery scheduled for tomorrow and obviously there's at least a non-zero chance there's some things wrong with the car at delivery. I am just asking that someone in the city at the delivery centre, a friend of mine, can go look at the car before I board the flight to the city, in case there's something that would make me refuse it, leaving me stranded 9 hours from home without a car. Not to mention two days off work for travel. Not to mention the only flight back home would be 48 hours after I land in Vancouver.

Tesla says no. No one else but me can view the car.

I get that Tesla doesn't need my business, so why would they care. But still, just why... it would make me feel so much better boarding that flight if a buddy checked it out first.

I'm now contemplating giving up on Tesla and waiting for an EV with AWD that does have a dealership closer to me, as much as that pains me to say because I really really want this car and have been waiting for the Y since reveal - now I'm getting cold feet about pulling the trigger.

Talk me out of this line of thinking, or suggestions??

Hey, I'm in Vancouver and very close to the delivery center, I can go check it out. However, they will fix most issues on site, unless it's major. I wouldn't worry too much.
I did have a scratch on the hood that needs to be repainted, they use external body shops, they likely could find something closer.
I'm around if you want me to meet you or check it out, just pm me.

 

[TeeeeeeDub]

I don't blame you one bit. I live about 30 miles from the delivery center. When I picked up my Y the other week, I left with 5 miles on the odometer and at mile 28, I was stranded and had to be towed back to the delivery center. I haven't seen it since. Can't imagine being in your shoes so far away from home and going through this.

 

[cusetownusa]

I’m not sure I would buy a car if I lived that far from the service center. I live about 1.5 hours from the nearest service center and this is one of the main things holding me back from buying. If you ever need to go back to the service center that will be a huge inconvenience.

 

[jsight]

I love the cars and I don't think I'd do it in your circumstances. Initial quality isn't the only concern. If you have an issue later, are you in the range that they will tow the car for free or would you have to pay for towing even for warranty work? This is a huge and uncomfortable risk, IMO, since there are effectively no other options for significant Tesla in most areas. 9 hours is a LONG way to move a broken car for service.

 

[Mvdaog]

I love the cars and I don't think I'd do it in your circumstances. Initial quality isn't the only concern. If you have an issue later, are you in the range that they will tow the car for free or would you have to pay for towing even for warranty work? This is a huge and uncomfortable risk, IMO, since there are effectively no other options for significant Tesla in most areas. 9 hours is a LONG way to move a broken car for service.

I hear ya. Fortunately it is within their covered tow range. I’ve basically accepted the fact that I may need to pay for a rental, take time to make trips to the city, maybe once or twice a year. As bad as that is, I still am so sold on going electric that I’d put up with it. The sticker is only AWD can get up the mountain to my house in the winter so the Teslas so far the cheapest option for me. Who knows when Hyundai or some other cheaper company will come out with AWD electric.

Thanks for all the advice! I think I’m going to pull the trigger, they finally sent me some good photos and it looks great. The doors match, there’s no glaring alignment issues, etc. I might even just keep my ICE for a while in case something goes awry early on and it needs to go back. Fingers crossed it checks out okay, flying down later today. I’ll let you all know.

 

[SEndicott]

Yeah, I would push back hard on that one. I live 75 miles from the SC. I was supposed to take delivery on 6/29, 7/3, 7/6, and now 7/8. EVERY TIME I was scheduled for deliver I called just to make sure the car was there as getting off work is difficult for me and my wife. She is a Dr., so its not like she can just get up and leave to go to a delivery appointment at the drop of a hat. Anyhow, every time I was supposed to have a delivery, the car was not there and they only called me once to let me know. I would have shown up and not had a car.

Apparently my MY is stuck in Salt Lake City (600 miles and 10 hours away) and cant seem to make it from SLC to Denver. I am half tempted to fly out there and pick it up and drive it home. But like you, I am worried it will have defects that I would reject and I dont want to take a flight out there to find out I am not bringing home my car.

 

[teko]

I live about 9 hours away from the nearest service centre and delivery centre, in Canada by the way.

That right there would be a no go for me. Any car will need service. Being 9 hours away, that's just not workable.

 

[jsight]

I hear ya. Fortunately it is within their covered tow range. I’ve basically accepted the fact that I may need to pay for a rental, take time to make trips to the city, maybe once or twice a year. As bad as that is, I still am so sold on going electric that I’d put up with it. The sticker is only AWD can get up the mountain to my house in the winter so the Teslas so far the cheapest option for me. Who knows when Hyundai or some other cheaper company will come out with AWD electric.

Fair enough... if you are willing to take 9 hour trips every now and then to deal with service, it honestly might be good to just go through with it. For me, it wouldn't be the initial quality concerns that would keep me away at that point.

I have a lot of doubts about anything competitive happening soon, tbh. Competitive products have been coming soon for so long now that its kind of a joke at this point.

 

[user212_nr]

For people still responding to this thread, his delivery date is today, so he is likely on a plane or already having taken delivery.

If he'd allowed a it more time, probably someone could have helped him look over the car.

Interesting to hear how it turns out.

 

[gigawatt1010]

Maybe it’s just me, but I bought my Model S in 2016 and outside of the initial 3 years of “free Annual maintenance” that I prepaid, where they really didn’t do much outside of rotating the tires and changing my key fob battery, 4 years, 100k miles later, there wasn’t any maintenance needed. I had to replace the 12v battery for about $200 but you don’t need a service center for that.

Same with our 2019 Model X, that has about 25k miles now, and it hasn’t needed any maintenance at all. It was recently in for the HW3 upgrade, but other than that, zero maintenance

Hopefully I just didn’t jinx our cars with this post. LOL

YMMV

 

[Mvdaog]

Thanks for everyone’s feedback!
I took the plunge, flew to Vancouver, and the car is immaculate, to my standards. No photos right now but I went over it with a fine comb, and did find some of the things others complain about :
A finger smudge in the grey trim interior, some scratches in paint at one door hinge, but absolutely no noticeable (to me) panel gaps, white paint is a great match, even the charge port door is almost flush. I wonder if it’s because they had the car for five days before I picked it up, did they fix it all up for me beforehand??
It drives amazing, it sounds so quiet even at 120km/hr (compared to my outback), the speakers are great, it charges on the supercharger and at a CHADEMO station just fine, the trunk is opening and closing perfectly. Now just in a hotel part way back home to make the rest of the journey back to home tomorrow!
I’m still in shock it hasn’t set in yet that I really have a Tesla.
Wow.

 

[Bikeman]

^ So happy for you that the delivered Y was a good one. How high up in the VIN numbers was yours? Did they agree to make good on the minor issues some time in the future? Waiting for pictures and more narrative when you find time. And... congrats!