Dateline March 08, 2020
Replacing my 2016 MS75d, I wanted a newer 100kw MS, my only must was a sunroof which limited me to a two year move to a 2018. The only negative was losing my leather seats for vegan pleather, but so be it. Interestingly, those cars are cheaper than my 2016 sticker, as are the bigger battery 2020s. Whatever.
I found one I liked in California, sent my $100 and talked to a sales advisor after. Three days in, still no delivery date. He convinced me that until I wired money, the car would not ship. This isn't true, but I fell for it and wired the money. One week later with still no docs, I goofed around looking at other used car sites and found the exact same spec car with fewer miles for 4k less at Tesla Chicago which is 4 hours from me. This car wasn’t online when I checked Tesla before, but linked over from KBB to it. Got a used car advisor on the phone, put another $100 on it and had docs via email in seconds. He cancelled the first order, put a refund order in (4-6 weeks to get my dough back he says) and I was off to the races. He advised me to pay at pickup rather than wiring money- d'oh! All I had to do now was find another Tesla sized check.
March 18, 2020
Still no delivery date on the Chicago Tesla. In the meantime, I sold my 2016 to a guy from Westmont, the suburb where the Tesla SC is. I called and emailed my advisor Thursday and Friday looking for an update, radio silence. Spoke to the Westmont store, explained that if I could get delivered soon I could save my buyer a flight down to pickup the 2016 by delivering it to him and having a ride for myself to Chicago. "I'll have someone call you." They didn't.
March 20, 2020
Chicago issues stay at home order effective at 5 pm on the 21st.
March 21, 2020
Buyer of my car says he will fly down, he didn't want to risk being carless for weeks, and I didn't blame him. At 12:30 I got a call from Westmont telling me that my car was ready and if I could get there by 4pm, I could have it that day. Unfortunately, it is at least a 4 hour drive, not counting supercharging stops for the 75d so I couldn't make it work. They scheduled me for April 8, promised to call me back about delivering it to the St. Louis SC. They never did. Met my buyer at the Airport and watched him drive away.
March 25, 2020
Westmont SC called, said they are now doing touchless deliveries and I can have my car in 48 hours. I am scheduled to get him Friday. The silver lining is that Enterprise is dying to get cars to Chicago so rented a premium car for 35 bucks with no one way fee added on. Unfortunately, the Westmont enterprise location is closed so I have to get from Country side to Westmount. Oh well, all is well that ends eventually, eh?
March 26, 2020
The lockdown order in Illinois meant no traffic jams outside of Chicago. It was creepy to drive 70 MPH on I55 that close to the city. Got to the dealer an hour early. No body there. At my appointed time I dialed in to the Zoom number but didn’t use the video. I already had a MS so I didn’t need the walk through. My car showed up about 5 minutes after my scheduled time. I got out to talk to the sales lady, she said to wait in the car while she disinfected the car. She plugged it into the charger but the battery was way less than I needed to get home.
Packet of papers on the dash, I signed one place and put my check in the envelope, dropped it on the service desk and was off. Enterprise said to leave the rental there, keys at the service desk rather than figuring out a ride from Enterprise to the Tesla dealer as the Westmont Enterprise location was closed, and no rides from them right now. I was surprised that no one checked my payment- I guess when you can disable or find a car remotely, there isn’t much worry about getting ripped off. I had already uploaded my license and insurance information, so the actual delivery took 5 minutes.
Lots of superchargers were turned off due to the travel restriction. A quick (and unnecessary) call to Tesla’s emergency hotline confirmed that there was an open supercharger en route and I was off. Got home safely after a long day with a fabulous “used” 2018- 6 k miles on the clock and a new 50K warranty.
Replacing my 2016 MS75d, I wanted a newer 100kw MS, my only must was a sunroof which limited me to a two year move to a 2018. The only negative was losing my leather seats for vegan pleather, but so be it. Interestingly, those cars are cheaper than my 2016 sticker, as are the bigger battery 2020s. Whatever.
I found one I liked in California, sent my $100 and talked to a sales advisor after. Three days in, still no delivery date. He convinced me that until I wired money, the car would not ship. This isn't true, but I fell for it and wired the money. One week later with still no docs, I goofed around looking at other used car sites and found the exact same spec car with fewer miles for 4k less at Tesla Chicago which is 4 hours from me. This car wasn’t online when I checked Tesla before, but linked over from KBB to it. Got a used car advisor on the phone, put another $100 on it and had docs via email in seconds. He cancelled the first order, put a refund order in (4-6 weeks to get my dough back he says) and I was off to the races. He advised me to pay at pickup rather than wiring money- d'oh! All I had to do now was find another Tesla sized check.
March 18, 2020
Still no delivery date on the Chicago Tesla. In the meantime, I sold my 2016 to a guy from Westmont, the suburb where the Tesla SC is. I called and emailed my advisor Thursday and Friday looking for an update, radio silence. Spoke to the Westmont store, explained that if I could get delivered soon I could save my buyer a flight down to pickup the 2016 by delivering it to him and having a ride for myself to Chicago. "I'll have someone call you." They didn't.
March 20, 2020
Chicago issues stay at home order effective at 5 pm on the 21st.
March 21, 2020
Buyer of my car says he will fly down, he didn't want to risk being carless for weeks, and I didn't blame him. At 12:30 I got a call from Westmont telling me that my car was ready and if I could get there by 4pm, I could have it that day. Unfortunately, it is at least a 4 hour drive, not counting supercharging stops for the 75d so I couldn't make it work. They scheduled me for April 8, promised to call me back about delivering it to the St. Louis SC. They never did. Met my buyer at the Airport and watched him drive away.
March 25, 2020
Westmont SC called, said they are now doing touchless deliveries and I can have my car in 48 hours. I am scheduled to get him Friday. The silver lining is that Enterprise is dying to get cars to Chicago so rented a premium car for 35 bucks with no one way fee added on. Unfortunately, the Westmont enterprise location is closed so I have to get from Country side to Westmount. Oh well, all is well that ends eventually, eh?
March 26, 2020
The lockdown order in Illinois meant no traffic jams outside of Chicago. It was creepy to drive 70 MPH on I55 that close to the city. Got to the dealer an hour early. No body there. At my appointed time I dialed in to the Zoom number but didn’t use the video. I already had a MS so I didn’t need the walk through. My car showed up about 5 minutes after my scheduled time. I got out to talk to the sales lady, she said to wait in the car while she disinfected the car. She plugged it into the charger but the battery was way less than I needed to get home.
Packet of papers on the dash, I signed one place and put my check in the envelope, dropped it on the service desk and was off. Enterprise said to leave the rental there, keys at the service desk rather than figuring out a ride from Enterprise to the Tesla dealer as the Westmont Enterprise location was closed, and no rides from them right now. I was surprised that no one checked my payment- I guess when you can disable or find a car remotely, there isn’t much worry about getting ripped off. I had already uploaded my license and insurance information, so the actual delivery took 5 minutes.
Lots of superchargers were turned off due to the travel restriction. A quick (and unnecessary) call to Tesla’s emergency hotline confirmed that there was an open supercharger en route and I was off. Got home safely after a long day with a fabulous “used” 2018- 6 k miles on the clock and a new 50K warranty.
