How does test drive work?

[SMAlset]

I believe it's called free market. But many states, at the request of their dealer monopolies, are trying to keep Tesla out.

This is very true still in some states and why Tesla doesn't have service centers there. Mobile service has been expanding to handle a lot of issues and works well for a lot of people depending on the issue. Technicians can do some diagnositics remotely too.

 

[Dan203]

There is a Tesla store in Las Vegas. They have a button to click to schedule a test drive. The Tesla charging map also shows mobile service available. In Nevada the map also shows a Service Center at the Reno-Virginia Street location in Reno. Here's the map. If you zoom in on Vegas you'll see the Store and click on it to get to the Schedule a Test Drive. Find Us | Tesla

Don't know if this is helpful or not but there are a number of Supercharger locations through Nevada. Are you near any of them? I have always found Tesla owners at Superchargers to be helpful with questions you have.

I'm nowhere near Vegas. I could drive to the Fremont plant in CA faster than I could get to Vegas. Reno is about 30 miles north of me. I saw that they had a service center but I wasn't sure if they did test drives at the service centers. Apparently the answer to that is "maybe". I'll have to call or just fill out the form.

It seems that not many current 3 owners actually test drove their cars before buying. Probably because of the pre-order frenzy. But now that that's past and lead time is only about 2 weeks I'd like to actually drive one before I plunk down the cash. I know they have that 30 day/1,000 mile guarantee but there is some prep work I need to get done before I get the car (installing the electricity) and I don't want to do that until I'm 100% sure I'm going to buy one.

 

[SMAlset]

I'm nowhere near Vegas. I could drive to the Fremont plant in CA faster than I could get to Vegas. Reno is about 30 miles north of me. I saw that they had a service center but I wasn't sure if they did test drives at the service centers. Apparently the answer to that is "maybe". I'll have to call or just fill out the form.

It seems that not many current 3 owners actually test drove their cars before buying. Probably because of the pre-order frenzy. But now that that's past and lead time is only about 2 weeks I'd like to actually drive one before I plunk down the cash. I know they have that 30 day/1,000 mile guarantee but there is some prep work I need to get done before I get the car (installing the electricity) and I don't want to do that until I'm 100% sure I'm going to buy one.

Ah, didn't know what part of Nevada you were around. Here's a link btw to a thread posted in the Community section for Southwest area on the new service center/store in Reno. Not many comments yet.

New Reno Store/Service Center

 

[MountainJedi]

I'm nowhere near Vegas. I could drive to the Fremont plant in CA faster than I could get to Vegas. Reno is about 30 miles north of me. I saw that they had a service center but I wasn't sure if they did test drives at the service centers. Apparently the answer to that is "maybe". I'll have to call or just fill out the form.

It seems that not many current 3 owners actually test drove their cars before buying. Probably because of the pre-order frenzy. But now that that's past and lead time is only about 2 weeks I'd like to actually drive one before I plunk down the cash. I know they have that 30 day/1,000 mile guarantee but there is some prep work I need to get done before I get the car (installing the electricity) and I don't want to do that until I'm 100% sure I'm going to buy one.

Just as an FYI, it's a 7 day, 1,000 mile return policy, so I think it makes sense to test drive one before you buy.

I'm about as far from a service center/sales center as you are from the sales center around Sacramento (4 hours round trip). As someone else suggested, I blocked off a Saturday and went for the test drive, then spent the next Saturday going to pick up my car (thanks to no Sunday car sales in CO). Not super convenient, but not much different than any other car dealer for me at least.

It looks like the number for the Reno service center is (775) 453-7957. I'd call it and see if someone can confirm they do sales or test drives.

 

[srs5694]

@Dan203, another option you might want to consider is to rent a Model 3. A few rental places, including Turo (the "AirBnB" of car rentals), offer Tesla rentals, but I can't promise there'd be anything close to you. Even if there is, the cost is likely to be high -- but you might prefer that to driving for hours just to test-drive a car.

 

[Dan203]

If I proceed past the first page of the test drive request form it tells me that the closest place I can test drive is Rocklin.

Not sure I want to drive 250+ miles round trip just to test drive the car for a few minutes. I might do the Turo thing. There is a guy in the area with a M3 Performance available. $165/day though

 

[TT97]

There is a service center in Reno about 30 miles from me, but it's just a service center not a "store". The nearest "store" is in the bay area CA which is about 400 miles away.

Do they do test drives at the service centers?

Are they still doing deliveries at Gigafactory 1?

Tesla starts selling and delivering cars out of Gigafactory 1 - comes with a tour - Electrek

 

[brkaus]

If I proceed past the first page of the test drive request form it tells me that the closest place I can test drive is Rocklin.

Not sure I want to drive 250+ miles round trip just to test drive the car for a few minutes. I might do the Turo thing. There is a guy in the area with a M3 Performance available. $165/day though

Call ahead. See how flexible they can be with a test drive. Back in 2017 they did overnight test drives with the S. I have not heard about any with the 3, but perhaps they could loan for a few hours.

I’d probably do the turo, depending on your spare time.

 

[Dan203]

Are they still doing deliveries at Gigafactory 1?

Tesla starts selling and delivering cars out of Gigafactory 1 - comes with a tour - Electrek

I don't know. I might be willing to do that just for the tour.

 

[rdunniii]

If he is 30 minutes from Reno then yes it is ~140 miles to Rocklin and ~400 miles to Las Vegas. Salt Lake City and Boise ID may be a bit closer than las Vegas. He'd have to ask the folks in Reno whether or not they do test drives. They have vehicles to do so in the not a showroom.

I had to make a couple of round trips to Rocklin from Verdi when I got mine but the way I drive Rocklin is less than an hour and a half (one way) away unless the weather or road maintenance says otherwise.