Is Your Tesla Dealership Spreading Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt Around The $7500 Tax Credit?
A few weeks ago, I went into the Tesla Dealership in Scottsdale, Arizona and spoke with a Customer Experience Specialist who was very knowledgeable. I mentioned that I'm looking at a Model S and my current lease on my Chevy Volt is over in September (yes, I'm upgrading to a Tesla!). At that time, he said they were running about 2 months for Model S deliveries.
Last weekend I went to take a test drive of Model S with my family. An Owner Advisor went with us on the test drive and he was also very knowledgable about the car. I explained my current lease situation and I also discussed taking advantage of the Federal Tax Credit as I know that once Tesla sells 200K cars in the US, this credit starts to phase out. My Owner Advisor then states, we are already on 192K cars, so you may want to put an order in soon because if you wait for an August delivery, there is no telling if the tax credit will be available.
At that point, I really didn't know how many total cars Tesla sold in the U.S., but knew Tesla had a very good Q1 with ~25K vehicles delivered (Model S & X combined), so about 8k deliveries a month.
So, on May 20th, I put my order in on a Model S 75 with a late June/early July deliver as I knew I had 7 days to cancel or make any changes.
I also did some research during the week on the Federal Tax Credit as well as some articles on Tesla US delivery numbers. Here is one of the better articles I found: Predicting When US Federal EV Tax Credit Will Expire For Tesla Buyers
Basically, there is only one scenario that has Tesla hitting 200K deliveries in the U.S by the end of 2017. And for me, I was only looking at August 2017, so there is basically zero chance that happening.
On May 27th, I called my Tesla Owner Advisor and we discussed this and I said I wanted to change my delivery option to August which was available as an option. He then stated they have a Model S in their dealership that has a VIN with 192,xxx and he recommends not delaying my delivery. I then said VIN #'s are global and that has nothing to do with U.S. deliveries and that I wanted him to change to delivery date to August. He then mentioned something about President Trump and things could change and that is out of his and Tesla's control.
I then said stated I except all risks if I don't get the tax credit, so please change my delivery date to August. My owner advisor made the change on May 27th and I verified the change in My Tesla and took a screen capture.
On May 28th, I got an email Tesla that my order is confirmed. I then got a follow up email on May 28th that my estimated delivery date is Late June - July.
I was pretty aggravated since the delivery date was just changed to August. The other thing to point out is that I will be traveling most of July for work and/or family vacation and simply won't be around to take delivery earlier.
Has anyone else had a similar issue with Tesla Owner Advisors mis-informing customers about the tax credit and spreading FUD around it to close deals sooner?
I thought I was purchasing a Tesla, not going to the corner used car lot!
Regards,
Jordan
A few weeks ago, I went into the Tesla Dealership in Scottsdale, Arizona and spoke with a Customer Experience Specialist who was very knowledgeable. I mentioned that I'm looking at a Model S and my current lease on my Chevy Volt is over in September (yes, I'm upgrading to a Tesla!). At that time, he said they were running about 2 months for Model S deliveries.
Last weekend I went to take a test drive of Model S with my family. An Owner Advisor went with us on the test drive and he was also very knowledgable about the car. I explained my current lease situation and I also discussed taking advantage of the Federal Tax Credit as I know that once Tesla sells 200K cars in the US, this credit starts to phase out. My Owner Advisor then states, we are already on 192K cars, so you may want to put an order in soon because if you wait for an August delivery, there is no telling if the tax credit will be available.
At that point, I really didn't know how many total cars Tesla sold in the U.S., but knew Tesla had a very good Q1 with ~25K vehicles delivered (Model S & X combined), so about 8k deliveries a month.
So, on May 20th, I put my order in on a Model S 75 with a late June/early July deliver as I knew I had 7 days to cancel or make any changes.
I also did some research during the week on the Federal Tax Credit as well as some articles on Tesla US delivery numbers. Here is one of the better articles I found: Predicting When US Federal EV Tax Credit Will Expire For Tesla Buyers
Basically, there is only one scenario that has Tesla hitting 200K deliveries in the U.S by the end of 2017. And for me, I was only looking at August 2017, so there is basically zero chance that happening.
On May 27th, I called my Tesla Owner Advisor and we discussed this and I said I wanted to change my delivery option to August which was available as an option. He then stated they have a Model S in their dealership that has a VIN with 192,xxx and he recommends not delaying my delivery. I then said VIN #'s are global and that has nothing to do with U.S. deliveries and that I wanted him to change to delivery date to August. He then mentioned something about President Trump and things could change and that is out of his and Tesla's control.
I then said stated I except all risks if I don't get the tax credit, so please change my delivery date to August. My owner advisor made the change on May 27th and I verified the change in My Tesla and took a screen capture.
On May 28th, I got an email Tesla that my order is confirmed. I then got a follow up email on May 28th that my estimated delivery date is Late June - July.
I was pretty aggravated since the delivery date was just changed to August. The other thing to point out is that I will be traveling most of July for work and/or family vacation and simply won't be around to take delivery earlier.
Has anyone else had a similar issue with Tesla Owner Advisors mis-informing customers about the tax credit and spreading FUD around it to close deals sooner?
I thought I was purchasing a Tesla, not going to the corner used car lot!
Regards,
Jordan