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Fremont delivery - car refused

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Well I tend to agree. The iPhone was revolutionary. But their treatment of customers didn't suck either.

No marketing genius can convince people to accept sh!t either. And there are a lot more threads like that than there are for BMW, Lexus, Acura, etc... And then think about the marketsize comparison too, and it's really scary.

It seems Tesla is largely a "hit or miss" venture when you buy from them. They have yet to learn how to be a car company with good product, rather then just a revolutionary company people blindly flock to.
I wouldn't say people blindly flock to them. There are plenty of negative stories I've read about Tesla's sales/service. At the same time, buying a car from a dealership, even from a luxury brand, is like having teeth pulled. I'll trade a buying experience I'm certain will be awful for one that has a chance of being awful any day.

Tesla's also the only auto manufacturer who is serious about selling EVs, so even if every buying experience from them was just as bad as buying from a dealership, they're still the only ballgame in town in that respect.
 
I wouldn't say people blindly flock to them. There are plenty of negative stories I've read about Tesla's sales/service. At the same time, buying a car from a dealership, even from a luxury brand, is like having teeth pulled. I'll trade a buying experience I'm certain will be awful for one that has a chance of being awful any day.

Tesla's also the only auto manufacturer who is serious about selling EVs, so even if every buying experience from them was just as bad as buying from a dealership, they're still the only ballgame in town in that respect.

I really don't get what's so awful about buying cars from a traditional dealerships. I've bought, leased a bunch of cars over the year. Sure, sometimes you run into an a-hole salesperson, but that only happened to me once. The rest of the purchasing experience was a nonevent. I ALWAYS communicate via text and email. Got the numbers down, filled out paperwork online. Walk into the dealership, signed the papers, said "no thanks" a few times to the upselling of "rust protection", "lojack", .... Walked out and done!
 
I really don't get what's so awful about buying cars from a traditional dealerships. I've bought, leased a bunch of cars over the year. Sure, sometimes you run into an a-hole salesperson, but that only happened to me once. The rest of the purchasing experience was a nonevent. I ALWAYS communicate via text and email. Got the numbers down, filled out paperwork online. Walk into the dealership, signed the papers, said "no thanks" a few times to the upselling of "rust protection", "lojack", .... Walked out and done!

No price negotiation? I’ve spent WAY to many hours with ‘them’ trying to wear me down. Took 2 visits and more than a few hours but I saved $5500 on my last vehicle.
 
I really don't get what's so awful about buying cars from a traditional dealerships. I've bought, leased a bunch of cars over the year. Sure, sometimes you run into an a-hole salesperson, but that only happened to me once. The rest of the purchasing experience was a nonevent. I ALWAYS communicate via text and email. Got the numbers down, filled out paperwork online. Walk into the dealership, signed the papers, said "no thanks" a few times to the upselling of "rust protection", "lojack", .... Walked out and done!
In my experience, buying a car is structured to be as exhausting as possible so people are incentivized to sign on the dotted line and get out of there. Online negotiation is easy, but even if I've got an agreed on price ahead of time, having to deal with the rest of the process over two+ hours is obnoxious. Everything that needs to be done could be done in maybe 15 minutes, but dealerships aren't set up that way.
 
No price negotiation? I’ve spent WAY to many hours with ‘them’ trying to wear me down. Took 2 visits and more than a few hours but I saved $5500 on my last vehicle.
You can't negotiate at Tesla at all, and nobody forces you to haggle at other dealerships. I usually settle the price in advance, e.g. by getting a bunch of offers through sites like Truecar, and then perhaps trying to reduce the price a little further by email (e.g. ask the dealership with the second best price to beat the best one). When you finally go to the dealership with your quote, you talk to the guy responsible for Internet sales and there is no more haggling at all. I don't really understand either what people find so horrible about buying a car at a dealership.
 
You can't negotiate at Tesla at all, and nobody forces you to haggle at other dealerships. I usually settle the price in advance, e.g. by getting a bunch of offers through sites like Truecar, and then perhaps trying to reduce the price a little further by email (e.g. ask the dealership with the second best price to beat the best one). When you finally go to the dealership with your quote, you talk to the guy responsible for Internet sales and there is no more haggling at all. I don't really understand either what people find so horrible about buying a car at a dealership.

$200 admin fee? $100 for ‘window etching’ and nitrogen in the tires? $50 gas? Nickel and dimed.
I refused to pay. Just another hassle.
 
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$200 admin fee? $100 for ‘window etching’ and nitrogen in the tires? $50 gas? Nickel and dimed.
I refused to pay. Just another hassle.

You forgot those extra trunk mats. The ones that cannot be removed. $150 tire locks, also cannot be removed.

Gulf States Toyota used to not allow trucks/4Runner to be sold with the factory steering wheel cruise control. Only aftermarket stalk mount could be added. Same price. Less features. Yuck.
 
You forgot those extra trunk mats. The ones that cannot be removed. $150 tire locks, also cannot be removed.

Gulf States Toyota used to not allow trucks/4Runner to be sold with the factory steering wheel cruise control. Only aftermarket stalk mount could be added. Same price. Less features. Yuck.

Your right! They dicked me $150 for the all-weather cargo mat and $150 for all weather floormats!
 
$200 admin fee? $100 for ‘window etching’ and nitrogen in the tires? $50 gas? Nickel and dimed.
I refused to pay. Just another hassle.
When my wife bought her Jeep, I went with her. The sticker was around $45k something and after discounts, the price for a nicely optioned V8 was $42k. Unfortunately, there were other fees they tried to tack on that I insisted they remove. They said they had to include the fees (car prep/wash, gas, some other crap) and I told them that I would take my business elsewhere. Somehow they found additional discounts, and they only charged me for the taxes, tags, and title; each item was outlined in the sale contract. I had a migraine that day and those florescent lights made it worse so I was dead serious about it. As you said, they tried to nickle and dime the heck out of the purchase. In the end, we wound up paying $37.5k.
 
You forgot those extra trunk mats. The ones that cannot be removed. $150 tire locks, also cannot be removed.

Gulf States Toyota used to not allow trucks/4Runner to be sold with the factory steering wheel cruise control. Only aftermarket stalk mount could be added. Same price. Less features. Yuck.
I forgot - the mats & wheel locks were after we negotiated over the internet on a specific car with a specific set of options. When we got there, they tried to up sell. Declined. At the very last step, the car we had negotiated on was “just sold” but there was an identical one with the extras installed or we pick a different color or get our deposit back.
 
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What people fail to appreciate is that when you negotiate at a traditional dealer you are just haggling to get your own money that you would otherwise have to pay, back. The dealer is never negotiating for their money, just how much of yours they can keep. At Tesla, the price is the price. Take it or leave it. You're not going to find a "better deal" at the other showroom. No "showroom X gave me this price, can you beat it?". What a pain in the butt. So glad I don't have to deal with that garbage ever again.

Dan
 
What people fail to appreciate is that when you negotiate at a traditional dealer you are just haggling to get your own money that you would otherwise have to pay, back. The dealer is never negotiating for their money, just how much of yours they can keep. At Tesla, the price is the price. Take it or leave it. You're not going to find a "better deal" at the other showroom. No "showroom X gave me this price, can you beat it?". What a pain in the butt. So glad I don't have to deal with that garbage ever again.

Dan
And that's because with Tesla, we are their customer. With buying a car from the traditional dealers, we are the consumer of the car we buy, but we are a customer of the dealership. We are not a customer of Toyota or Honda. Each dealership has their own rules about what is allowed or not, their own prices for things that they do themselves, what special incentives they can tack on, what extra add-ons are there. Tesla is a breath of fresh air.
 
That just doesn’t make sense for me. I’ve had perfect turnaround. Usually same day fixes in Phoenix.

What have you had fixed on your car? Did it actually require parts? When I got my Model X in 2016, the brake rotors needed to be replaced and it took 4 months to get the rotors in. I had a charger go out and it took 6 weeks to get it. It's not about the local SC doing the work, it's about them getting the parts.
 
What have you had fixed on your car? Did it actually require parts? When I got my Model X in 2016, the brake rotors needed to be replaced and it took 4 months to get the rotors in. I had a charger go out and it took 6 weeks to get it. It's not about the local SC doing the work, it's about them getting the parts.
I’ve had the driver door handle replaced, charge door replaced, various trim replaced. Rear carpet insert for trunk replaced. All done within days. It definitely hurts hearing your experience. I’ve always been given a model S loaner and they usually came and got the car and dropped it back off again at my home.
 
$200 admin fee? $100 for ‘window etching’ and nitrogen in the tires? $50 gas? Nickel and dimed.
I refused to pay. Just another hassle.
I didn't get anything like this when I bought my last three cars. Just show up with your quote in hand and tell them you want to talk to the Internet sales department. They know that you want a no-haggling transaction. That was at Toyota, Audi and Ford dealerships, BTW.
 
I didn't get anything like this when I bought my last three cars. Just show up with your quote in hand and tell them you want to talk to the Internet sales department. They know that you want a no-haggling transaction. That was at Toyota, Audi and Ford dealerships, BTW.


Going to the internet person is the way to go. BUT it still takes several hours even when the price is already agreed upon, before arriving. Every car I've bought took 2.5 hours or more, that's ridiculous.

Then they hand you off to someone who tries very hard to sell you all the add on stuff.

Also, every time I've gone, I knew more about the car than the sales personal.
 
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I didn't get anything like this when I bought my last three cars. Just show up with your quote in hand and tell them you want to talk to the Internet sales department. They know that you want a no-haggling transaction. That was at Toyota, Audi and Ford dealerships, BTW.

In the US. A bit more regimented up here unfortunately. Going to a car dealership in Ontario is a similar experience to going to a root canal procedure.
 
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