Inventory vs. Customer Order

[d21mike]

Has Tesla been building Mode 3's for Inventory for some time instead of to a customer order? When I got my Model S you could try and find a car in inventory OR you could order one built for you at the factory which is what I did.

I am in the process of ordering a Model 3 and I first checked Inventory but decided to do a Custom Order. Once I place my order they are trying to match me with an Inventory Car. I said I do not want an Inventory Car but they make it pretty difficult to actually get a New non-inventory car.

You may ask why is it important when an inventory car is considered NEW.

1. It is important to get HW3 since I am ordering FSD. I "believe" my best odds are with cars that are currently being produced. You say, you can TRUST them that ALL cars produced after a certain date are HW3. I was actually lied to about Model S HW2 vs HW2.5. My Trust level is not high with what Tesla says.

2. Inventory cars could also be rejected cars. I.E. Something wrong with the car that maybe we will miss.

3. Tesla "requires" you to sign ALL PAPERS and pay for the CAR prior to even seeing the car in person. If you find a problem which maybe another customer already did you have to go thru the rejection process. We hate that process. They should allow you to inspect the car prior to signing papers to buy the car.

4. We garage our cars. Cars in inventory are generally setting outside until they are sold. Or maybe some showroom? The showroom car at near our house has a number of problems already with a lot of people in and out of them.

As much as I like Tesla I think they are going backwards when it comes to customer service. We do have experience with other premium cars like Mercedes and they really treat their customers well. Or at least they treated us well. And when we recently turned in our Mercedes (getting the Model 3) we were contacted many times to get us to get a new Mercedes. We want a Model 3 and they make it quite difficult to even get someone on the phone.

Is this an issue with others or are you simply fine with getting cars from Inventory (like most other mfg's to be fair)? At least with other manufactures you can actually see the car you want to buy and actually test drive it all before you buy the car. If I am not allowed to do that then why would I choose or be forced into an inventory car with questionable past?

 

[75Shappyt]

I have a showroom car MS75, car was great, 2+ no problems, and got a good discount, see if you can get a discount, maybe the way to go.

 

[Leafdriver333]

Once I place my order they are trying to match me with an Inventory Car. I said I do not want an Inventory Car but they make it pretty difficult to actually get a New non-inventory car.

They are not necessarily rejected cars, IMO.
Dealerships operate like that.
Tesla is a hybrid system with and without dealership, IMO.
They want to have some inventory to keep the sales smooth.
If they waited to build the car they could see down times and rush times toward the end of the quarter at the factory line.
By having some buffer they can smooth out delivery and shorten the delivery times and have regular or predictable production speed. Constant manageable production speed could help with better quality of the final product, IMO.

 

[d21mike]

They are not necessarily rejected cars, IMO.
Dealerships operate like that.
Tesla is a hybrid system with and without dealership, IMO.
They want to have some inventory to keep the sales smooth.
If they waited to build the car they could see down times and rush times toward the end of the quarter at the factory line.
By having some buffer they can smooth out delivery and shorten the delivery times and have regular or predictable production speed. Constant manageable production speed could help with better quality of the final product, IMO.

My point was that I would not know if they were rejected or not? Maybe they would tell me but can I believe them?
I understand why they want us to buy inventory cars for the reasons you say.

I did hear back and the answer was I either take an inventory car from June 2019 or wait for Tesla to make more cars for this area. No option to place order with Tesla for a New Order VIN.

No discount on inventory cars offered. One of the reasons I like Tesla is you "could" order a car for a set price and not have to deal with pricing discounts for cars setting in inventory for some time.

Again, my biggest issue is being forced to buy a car sight unseen and then deal with rejections and returns. If they require you to buy a car from inventory you should be able to see the car prior to purchase and there should be NO question about what hardware the car was built with.

 

[OCR1]

You will never have to buy a car sight unseen. You can place a new order and wait to be matched to a VIN in your configuration. When the car is ready you go to the delivery center and inspect it. If it’s not in acceptable condition you just reject it and ask for another one to be assigned. This could obviously delay things but you should never be in a situation where you have paid for the car and then determine there are visible issues with it that would have been easily identified with a proper visual inspection.

Tesla would “like” you to sign papers before showing you your car. This is very simple to deal with. Just say no. It works every time. And if they ask you to pay for the car in full prior to delivery, just say “sure no problem” and then show up without making any payment. Once you inspect the car you can pay via ACH using their website.

 

[jjrandorin]

My point was that I would not know if they were rejected or not? Maybe they would tell me but can I believe them?
I understand why they want us to buy inventory cars for the reasons you say.

I did hear back and the answer was I either take an inventory car from June 2019 or wait for Tesla to make more cars for this area. No option to place order with Tesla for a New Order VIN.

No discount on inventory cars offered. One of the reasons I like Tesla is you "could" order a car for a set price and not have to deal with pricing discounts for cars setting in inventory for some time.

Again, my biggest issue is being forced to buy a car sight unseen and then deal with rejections and returns. If they require you to buy a car from inventory you should be able to see the car prior to purchase and there should be NO question about what hardware the car was built with.

As mentioned you absolutely do NOT have to "pay for the car and sign all papers before seeing it" in california. In a few states that dont allow tesla to sell cars, that might be the case. here in california, you can take a check to pick up your car and not hand it over until you are happy.

Many (including me) did that. I actually took a bank check and a cashiers check (bank check for the part of the car I financed, and cashiers check for my down payment which was actually more than the amount I financed).

 

[FoverM]

You definitely don't need to buy sight unseen. I didn't pay anything until after my wife and I had looked the car over (three days ago, so this isn't old information). Sure, the website says to pay upfront and I think even the DC people said to pay right away ... but I said we wanted to examine the car over first. If they had resisted I would have cancelled my order and walked out (and if they didn't refund my deposit in a few days, I would have called Amex and done a chargeback).

 

[Leafdriver333]

I didn't sign my papers until I checked out the car.
The delivery rep showed me the car and then asked for the payment.

 

[ohmman]

As mentioned you absolutely do NOT have to "pay for the car and sign all papers before seeing it" in california. In a few states that dont allow tesla to sell cars, that might be the case. here in california, you can take a check to pick up your car and not hand it over until you are happy.

Many (including me) did that. I actually took a bank check and a cashiers check (bank check for the part of the car I financed, and cashiers check for my down payment which was actually more than the amount I financed).

I did the same except simply brought a personal check. That worked just fine.

 

[jjrandorin]

I did the same except simply brought a personal check. That worked just fine.

I had read I could bring a personal check, but since my down payment was north of 40k, I wanted to bring a cashiers check

 

[ohmman]

I had read I could bring a personal check, but since my down payment was north of 40k, I wanted to bring a cashiers check

Yeah, I wrote the check for the full purchase price of my Model X. Just so people know they’ll take a personal check for the full car, or at least have done so in the past.

 

[jeadams]

Yeah, I wrote the check for the full purchase price of my Model X. Just so people know they’ll take a personal check for the full car, or at least have done so in the past.

I'm picking up my P3D- on Saturday. I asked if they wanted me to wire the money before then. They said they would prefer a personal check as sometimes the wire transfer can be delayed.

 

[ewoodrick]

They build in batches. If there's an order for something in the batch, then it is shipped. If there isn't an order it becomes inventory.

 

[soTuesday]

For those of us in those “no Tesla sales” states, it’s my understanding we absolutely have to pay in full before the car will even be placed on a truck for delivery. The concept of buying a car I’ve yet to see has been troubling me a bit as well. To make matters worse, I received an email yesterday explaining the carrier could deliver my car even if no one was home. What?! Mind you I don’t have a VIN assigned yet, so who knows how long I still have to wait. Based on my configuration, my guess is I have awhile (LR AWD, white on white, non-performance).

My thought has been that I have 7 days to return it. So while it’s certainly not what I would consider a normal buying experience, I’m not overly concerned. Hopefully I’m not fooling myself?

 

[jjrandorin]

For those of us in those “no Tesla sales” states, it’s my understanding we absolutely have to pay in full before the car will even be placed on a truck for delivery. The concept of buying a car I’ve yet to see has been troubling me a bit as well. To make matters worse, I received an email yesterday explaining the carrier could deliver my car even if no one was home. What?! Mind you I don’t have a VIN assigned yet, so who knows how long I still have to wait. Based on my configuration, my guess is I have awhile (LR AWD, white on white, non-performance).

My thought has been that I have 7 days to return it. So while it’s certainly not what I would consider a normal buying experience, I’m not overly concerned. Hopefully I’m not fooling myself?

You have 7 days to return it, sure. Just be aware that, getting the actual money back from tesla might take 30-60 days (but you will get it back), according to people here. If you are paying cash for the car, not much of an issue other than an annoyance at someone else having your money. If you are FINANCING it, you could even have a payment due after returning it etc.

I havent gone through it, this is just from reading here on TMC others experience. Just something to be aware of.

 

[OCR1]

I would not personally feel comfortable buying a Tesla in a state that doesn’t allow direct sales. I would rather drive to the closest state that allows for direct sales and pick up my car at a delivery center where I can inspect it before handing over the money to Tesla. I know a lot of people do this so this is just my personal view, but it just would not be comfortable doing it. If the drive is too far to be practical I probably wouldn’t own a Tesla.

 

[shinytop]

I intend to drive 350 miles to pick up mine just so I can inspect before handing over the cash.

 

[jvmoore1]

I intend to drive 350 miles to pick up mine just so I can inspect before handing over the cash.

same here...hate that i have to drive two vehicles back. but, i dont want to take a chance there is an issue with the car and, with my luck so far, it would prob be another 3 months before they would deliver it to my house

 

[MorrisonHiker]

We've bought 8 Teslas over the past 3 years and never had to pay or sign the paperwork before inspecting the cars. Once we inspect the car, we do an ACH transfer.

 

[Super_Popular]

We've bought 8 Teslas over the past 3 years and never had to pay or sign the paperwork before inspecting the cars. Once we inspect the car, we do an ACH transfer.

8, please, I just sold my 14th......time for you to catch up.