Inspecting Cars Before Delivery

[Investor9872]

A quick question to everyone. I just received an email stating that my VIN has been assigned, and that I'm supposed to arrange for full payment before delivery can take place. If I do that, can I still walk away if we find quality control issues (like mismatching paint and panel alignment issues) during the visual inspection? Will I get my full payment back minus the $250 ordering fee?

 

[Tam]

...the $250 ordering fee?

It Tesla is nice, yes. But legally you can expect kissing the order fee goodbye because it is nonrefundable and it is a fee.

You can expect Tesla would fight you in returning the full car payment because they prefer you to keep the car and fix it in the first place.

 

[Investor9872]

It Tesla is nice, yes. But legally you can expect kissing the order fee goodbye because it is nonrefundable and it is a fee.

You can expect Tesla would fight you in returning the full car payment because they prefer you to keep the car and fix it in the first place.

That wasn't what I was asking. I don't expect the $250 ordering fee back. They wanted me to make a full payment BEFORE I can come into the service center to inspect the car. My question is if I make the full payment, and then go to the service center where the car is being delivered, and something comes up during the visual inspection and I decline to take delivery, can I still get my $75,000 back?

 

[RowdyMY]

That wasn't what I was asking. I don't expect the $250 ordering fee back. They wanted me to make a full payment BEFORE I can come into the service center to inspect the car. My question is if I make the full payment, and then go to the service center where the car is being delivered, and something comes up during the visual inspection and I decline to take delivery, can I still get my $75,000 back?

Check out this area of TMC: Model Y: Ordering, Production, Delivery

I didn't pay on my Y above the order deposit until I had seen it.

They're asking for it, yes. But you ultimately have the cash.

 

[Krash]

If it were me and I had paid but there was some glaring problem that I wouldn’t be comfortable making them fix later, I would not take possession of the car. I would leave it there.

 

[Investor9872]

How are you guys getting to inspect your cars before making the full payment?

 

[RowdyMY]

How are you guys getting to inspect your cars before making the full payment?

I just told the SC employee I wanted to see it before I did the plaid transaction.

She was totally ok with it. I gave her the loan paperwork first and she worked on that while I did a walk around.

I won't share the exact details but we put 10s of thousands down and it was no issue.

 

[Investor9872]

I just told the SC employee I wanted to see it before I did the plaid transaction.

She was totally ok with it. I gave her the loan paperwork first and she worked on that while I did a walk around.

I won't share the exact details but we put 10s of thousands down and it was no issue.

Thanks for that. Do you know the process for cash payment buyers? Do we just bring our checkbook with us on the delivery day? If I had an SA assigned to me, these questions would be much simpler to address and get answers to. But I don't. Thanks.

 

[RowdyMY]

Thanks for that. Do you know the process for cash payment buyers? Do we just bring our checkbook with us on the delivery day? Thanks.

Someone else can chime in here but when I was on the fence about plaid the other option to keep Tesla off my back was a cashier's check.

eta: Plaid was the cash transaction and that was what I did after checking out the car. Plaid is an ACH/Cash transaction.

 

[jjrandorin]

How are you guys getting to inspect your cars before making the full payment?

Your in CA. Dont get the car delivered, go pick it up at a delivery center and dont pay for it before you pick it up.

 

[jjrandorin]

Thanks for that. Do you know the process for cash payment buyers? Do we just bring our checkbook with us on the delivery day? If I had an SA assigned to me, these questions would be much simpler to address and get answers to. But I don't. Thanks.

Unless you plan on showing up with the proverbial metal case full of cash handcuffed to you, just go to your bank / financial institution you will be getting the money from for your cash payment, and get a cashiers check drawn on your bank for the total.

 

[VT_EE]

That wasn't what I was asking. I don't expect the $250 ordering fee back. They wanted me to make a full payment BEFORE I can come into the service center to inspect the car. My question is if I make the full payment, and then go to the service center where the car is being delivered, and something comes up during the visual inspection and I decline to take delivery, can I still get my $75,000 back?

Don't pay beforehand. I picked up mine a week ago and paid when I decided to accept.

 

[DCGOO]

Thanks for that. Do you know the process for cash payment buyers? Do we just bring our checkbook with us on the delivery day? If I had an SA assigned to me, these questions would be much simpler to address and get answers to. But I don't. Thanks.

To pay with a check, it needs to be a cashiers check from your bank. It is easiest if you just use your smartphone, that is required to take delivery anyway. Tesla uses the PLAID network for cash transactions. PLAID is an extension to straight ACH transactions. Plaid is very fast and nearly all banks and other financial institutions are part of the PLAID network.

Personally, I went over to my local delivery center the night before, found my car on the lot, looked it over, then went home and paid for it. If your DC is too far away or you are not comfortable paying for it before getting to climb inside, you can wait for the actual delivery appointment. I chose to take care of it the night before, just in case there was some last second glitches in the process. After completing all the paperwork, It took several minutes for the "key" to become active on my iPhone. But we were already crawling around inside the car. Easy peasy (this was my fourth Tesla, so the learning curve was quite short)

 

[Misterbee]

How are you guys getting to inspect your cars before making the full payment?

By insisting on it.

 

[gearchruncher]

But you are free to cancel at any time

You literally are not- they keep your $250, the exact opposite of "free."
They also tend to not tell you about these feature removals until after you have the car, and they don't offer refunds.

 

[Mike7564]

You literally are not- they keep your $250, the exact opposite of "free."
They also tend to not tell you about these feature removals until after you have the car, and they don't offer refunds.

Smells class action-y. Less about getting the $250, but more forcing them to behave better.

 

[Kokukenji]

Smells class action-y. Less about getting the $250, but more forcing them to behave better.

Until we stop buying their products, doubt it. There's likely a reason why the features removed are not bullet point items on the order page and why we're here on the forum comparing what we get and didn't get in our cars.

 

[legendsk]

They flatly refused to let me touch or look inside the car until they had the cash. Could walk around it at arm's length and look, but no touch. "Company rules are: No one touches your new car before you.!" Makes one wonder how it got put together or got here? If you don't care to play that game, they will happily keep the $250 and sell the car to someone else.

 

[Mike7564]

Until we stop buying their products, doubt it. There's likely a reason why the features removed are not bullet point items on the order page and why we're here on the forum comparing what we get and didn't get in our cars.

Well. Who knows. Some extremely popular companies/products have also been abused and held accountable for unfair business practices. Doesn’t mean folks stop buying their products. Arguably these very discrete actions (not letting you inspect the car fully before acceptance, delivery of a different product than you purchased, non-refundable “order fees”, etc), far far more easy to argue against legally than something like App Store fees/content selection etc.

In fact, sometimes those companies who have products which lack real competition are the ones most likely to be violating existing consumer protection laws. If there is a competitive landscape, the market will fix this #^%%

 

[Kokukenji]

Well. Who knows. Some extremely popular companies/products have also been abused and held accountable for unfair business practices. Doesn’t mean folks stop buying their products. Arguably these very discrete actions (not letting you inspect the car fully before acceptance, delivery of a different product than you purchased, non-refundable “order fees”, etc), far far more easy to argue against legally than something like App Store fees/content selection etc.

In fact, sometimes those companies who have products which lack real competition are the ones most likely to be violating existing consumer protection laws. If there is a competitive landscape, the market will fix this #^%%

True, I think part of the reason why I want to see how all of these newer car manu and even all these ICE manu build out their EV fleet. With more options/competition, it'll only get better for the consumers.