How to handle cars delivered over the next few months (AP1.0 orders)

[lolachampcar]

My wife's car delivery has been pushed twice now. The current delivery promise on her MyTesla page is Oct 9th - 16th, presumably 2016 but I guess I should not take that for granted.

It is possible that the car will arrive with AP2.0 hardware thus the inability to deliver it prior to the announce. If this is the case, there will likely be some discussion about delivering a car ordered with AP1.0 functionality being delivered without it. Presumably, the carrot will be AP2.0 functionality when it becomes available for the AP1.0 price as ordered.

I'm curious if this is going to cause problems for some customers on day one when they learn of it or six months from now when Tesla has still not delivered AP1.0 functionality because engineering validation has taken a bit longer than they thought.

It is also possible that my wife's car will be delivered with AP1.0 hardware. This invites the decision as to if the car should be accepted or re-ordered. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that, three years from now when we go to replace it, an AP2.0 car will be worth far more than the $2.5K we will loose by choosing to re-order. Likewise, Tesla is going to take a hit putting an AP1.0 car in new car inventory or demo duties when they are shipping AP2.0 cars.

How are others awaiting delivery going to handle either of the two scenarios outlined above?

 

[MP3Mike]

If her car does come with AP 2.0 hardware, it will be with AP 1.0 functionality when available unless you pay to upgrade to Enhanced AP or full autonomy. (At least that is what other people have been told.)

There is also a rumor that the new hardware started to be installed on 10/10. So if the car was made prior to that it is AP 1.0 hardware.

 

[lolachampcar]

Just got a note from the DS. It is indeed AP1.0. Now I have to deal with the cancelation question.

 

[MP3Mike]

Just got a note from the DS. It is indeed AP1.0. Now I have to deal with the cancelation question.

I personally would cancel and start the wait over unless you needed the car, or the AP features, soon.

There are people out that they would beg to be able to have a $2,500 "retrofit" option to get the new hardware. (And they would probably be OK with the car being in the shop for a couple months to get it.)

 

[Huxley46]

My wife's car delivery has been pushed twice now. The current delivery promise on her MyTesla page is Oct 9th - 16th, presumably 2016 but I guess I should not take that for granted.

It is also possible that my wife's car will be delivered with AP1.0 hardware. This invites the decision as to if the car should be accepted or re-ordered.

I am in the same situation. Car was ordered in late July and expected sometime in November. Whilst my car will have depreciated in value and interest, other cars will be delivered to US customers with the latest hardware. I would be a fool not to cancel my order.

Many others in Europe will cancel there orders too. This will be a massive headache for Tesla who will have to sell these outdated but new cars at some discount. The solution is for Tesla to instruct their factory at Tilburg to fit all cars which are re-constructed there, from now on, with AP 2.0.

 

[Footer]

Just got a note from the DS. It is indeed AP1.0. Now I have to deal with the cancelation question.

Personally, unless you got other discounts, I also would cancel. It's impossible to upgrade, maybe even for @wk057.

Maybe we will see a flood of discounted inventory cars in a few weeks.

 

[Pawel_Canada]

Same happened to me. Ordered a MX 60D on Sept 9th, we did ask for a December delivery but not sure why the car is aleady produced (Production Complete). I don't even have a delivery date in MyTesla but pretty sure it is with AP 1 hardware. Not sure what to do.

 

[MP3Mike]

Same happened to me. Ordered a MX 60D on Sept 9th, we did ask for a December delivery but not sure why the car is aleady produced (Production Complete). I don't even have a delivery date in MyTesla but pretty sure it is with AP 1 hardware. Not sure what to do.

That would really suck. You either take the X60D with AP1 hardware or you refuse it an reorder a X75D that costs a lot more. I wonder if they will make any exceptions for this situation...

 

[lolachampcar]

After a good bit of thought, I'm leaning towards suggesting she take the car....

There are two reasons.

First, she has always had base white, prefers it and it is no longer an option on re-order.

Second, we would affectively be paying $5K to not have current AP1.0 functionality until Tesla figures out how to deliver it (and no, I do not believe it will be by the end of the year) and I'm not sure anything more than current AP1.0 functionality is really worth much of anything. I asked myself how much more functionality over what I currently have in my car (P85D) would I want or use? Do I care if it can negotiate a traffic light? Do I really care if it can navigate from my house to some other location? Not really if I have to sit in the driver's seat and pay attention as I already do. I could switch AP1.0 on more often but do not. I use it when convenient but not as much as I could which tells me I would likely use AP2.0 roughly the same amount. I would be spending $2.5K in lost deposit plus $5K for the difference in AP cost for essentially no extra utility until legislation allows for fully autonomous driving.

The above said, I'd do it in a heart beat if current regulation would allow Tesla to send me a loaner and have my wife's car drive itself in for service

 

[MP3Mike]

I understand the decision but I think you will regret it by mid next year. Though I agree I wouldn't pay the $3k for the FSDC at this point because that is likely at least 1, if not 3, years away.

Though paying extra to no get black is another down-side. They really should let you re-order with white...

 

[Cosmacelf]

That's a good point, lolachampcar. Now that I think about it, I'm not likely to WANT to use AP on surface streets. Oh sure, occasionally for the novelty, but regularly? And realistically, it'll probably take two years to get to that point anyways. AP v1.0 works great on freeways which is where I want to use it anyways.

So, yeah, stick with 1.0. Makes sense to me.

 

[kooljack]

why don't you convert your order as lease, that way you pay only for what you will be using and have the option to trade up when all of ap2.0 is out. guess pearl white will still be there even if white doesn't come back.

 

[DIL]

@lolachampcar has been such a mensch to this forum somebody (hello Tesla forum monitors?) should find a way to get he and his SO whatever they want - including AP2.0 in white

 

[lolachampcar]

Nope. We're good but, thank you, I appreciate the thoughts.

If I were to ask for Tesla to change anything it would be for them to improve business ethics on issues that are easier to hide from but take real heart to address. I'm thinking things like over promising at the D announce and not making it right for people who purchased based on those representations, initial under bidding for Model S trade ins, refusing to do courtesy trades so customers can capture state sales tax credits and similar such issues. These do not show up on quality surveys thus Tesla tends to pay a lot less attention to them. As time passes and the company matures, things will settle down and there should be more focus on these types of details. They will matter when Tesla transitions from being the only BeV in the space to having to earn their customers.

 

[bonaire]

You may agree that Tesla is still in its Beta phase trying to figure out how to "not do yearly refreshes" but rather surprise with new appealing features over time with consistent improvement/upgrade. If they pre-announced "2017 will be AP2.0 - orders start on 10/1/16" - and did so on Sept 1st and let those inventory get sold-off as they did, they would have had a stable and marketable transition. That is why existing auto makers do transitional feature changes in model years and have somewhat consistent new model year start dates of August of prior year (which I don't totally agree with). Tesla's biggest problem ongoing has been allowing order cancellations and even allowed people to transition their deposit over to the new vehicle without having the customer lose it in order to keep customers happy.

Will this work with Model 3 at a 5 times order/delivery rate and hopefully they will not introduce a mid-year feature with 10,000 cars in transit that will cause 10,000 customers to cancel and re-order? Not likely. Automakers consistently discount, through "customer cash" payments to dealers, older model years at the end of their year cycle so they can make people buying them "feel good" about not getting the new features that just came out. The inventory cars Tesla has surely will be discounted to move them and so Tesla should let you order a new one without a charge to you - but they definitely keep taking hits to their revenue by the way they "surprise" new systems and features into the production line of the current fifth year of the same model which has no relevant model year. AP 2.0 is an "important" feature and thus could cause a few thousand re-orders since many will want what was touted as "fully autonomous" and not miss out on that new and very-novel feature. (adjective: novel new or unusual in an interesting way.)

A few unhappy customers now is one thing but eventually they will need to hold firm to contracts and just request you or anyone to do a new order and lose deposit cash or take delivery and fulfill the contract entered into. I actually think the non-refunable deposit should be larger to make sure people are definitely locked in on their decision. $10k deposit would be my choice. It also helps bolster cash flow and make sure people are not easy to walk away from $2500 after ordering an approximate $100k car which is not perfectly fungible.

 

[brkaus]

They could "simplify" their pricing model.

New major release, new price. Maybe same as last new major release. Maybe more. Each month a release is in progress, reduce price by $500.

I will say, this go-around, the price of my car has gone up about $6k since I configured it last.

 

[spooky981]

Just got a note from the DS. It is indeed AP1.0. Now I have to deal with the cancelation question.

There is no discussion here. Kill the order and place a new one. You'll recoup the $2,500 on the resale value alone.

 

[jaguar36]

There is no discussion here. Kill the order and place a new one. You'll recoup the $2,500 on the resale value alone.

I think the resale value is rather overblown. Obviously it depends on when the car is sold, but if its in the 5-10 year range I doubt you'll get that back. By that time we will be a few more hardware iterations down the road and AP 2.0 will no longer be the new hotness.

There are alos a ton of variables here like what regulations happen, how well it actually works and how quickly Tesla continues to iterate.

 

[MP3Mike]

And the fact that he can't get the color they wanted with a new order anymore.

 

[MP3Mike]

Just got a note from the DS. It is indeed AP1.0. Now I have to deal with the cancelation question.

What if you are just super picky about quality and refuse the car and request that they make you a new one? It would obviously come with AP2 hardware, but would they put the re-order in for the plain white?