Latest "Finalize your order" date

[Robert.Boston]

It seems like there was a huge wave of Finalize Your Order emails within the last couple days. I'm in the low 2000's and there were people above 3000 getting that same email. Is this a sign of concern that Tesla is even more cash strapped than ever and needing those non-refundable deposits and commitments?

No. Tesla has our $5k deposits, and it has been using this cash as working capital ever since they received our checks. The change from "refundable" to "non-refundable" changes the status of the cash on the balance sheet, but has no effect on Tesla Motors' bank balance.

Re deferring: Being an early adopter has its risks and its rewards. The rational side of me says I'd be better served by waiting for Version 2.0 -- my usual rule for software. The rational side lost this argument, however, and so I'm pressing ahead.

 

[ddruz]

Last week my rep informed me that Tesla plans to have a service center in Hawaii by year end. I straight away emailed George Blankenship requesting confirmation after I received my notice to build yesterday (#2993). Despite his enormous work load and busy schedule George emailed me back within minutes confirming that they are planning to open a service center in Hawaii by the end of the year. What exceptional service! I immediately configured my car on line:

60 kwh -- allows 30% degradation and still gets me everywhere and back from the North Shore. If I lived just a little closer to Honolulu I'd have gone with the 40 kwh.
Silver -- shows dirt least and its lower cleaning maintenance will give me the least TCO over time
Pano roof -- maximizes rear seat head room
Parcel shelf -- deters cargo area theft
Everything else standard. I will retrofit Opportunity Console option(s) when available.


Estimated delivery "Early 2013." As we say here, I'm stoked! Thanks Tesla for taking care of your customers in the islands!

 

[ckessel]

how about we monitor each other to get the facts first?

I thought my post was mostly fact. We have multiple folks being told late delivery dates, the most recent (the bucket I'm in) are seeing "early 2013" which is 5 months off at best. The 10k total deposit has been listed as non-refundable several times.

I'm all for not panicking on rumor, but I'm not seeing where anything I said isn't fact or credible observation (e.g. folks reporting their estimated dates). The concerns about tesla having trouble ramping up are my own, but Elon himself voiced that risk in that interview that the investor thread was debating.

 

[bonnie]

As I see it, the way this will unfold is that whatever Tesla does,

this will continue until we have 2 or 3 frequent posters with Model S delivered and happy to discuss every little detail here on this forum.

Totally agree.

 

[NigelM]

Last week my rep informed me that Tesla plans to have a service center in Hawaii by year end. I straight away emailed George Blankenship requesting confirmation after I received my notice to build yesterday (#2993). Despite his enormous work load and busy schedule George emailed me back within minutes confirming that they are planning to open a service center in Hawaii by the end of the year. What exceptional service! I immediately configured my car on line:

60 kwh -- allows 30% degradation and still gets me everywhere and back from the North Shore. If I lived just a little closer to Honolulu I'd have gone with the 40 kwh.
Silver -- shows dirt least and its lower cleaning maintenance will give me the least TCO over time
Pano roof -- maximizes rear seat head room
Parcel shelf -- deters cargo area theft
Everything else standard. I will retrofit Opportunity Console option(s) when available.


Estimated delivery "Early 2013." As we say here, I'm stoked! Thanks Tesla for taking care of your customers in the islands!

Congratulations! Good to hear.

 

[goyogi]

Lucky! I've been waiting >3 years now. No love for us canucks... (we haven't been invited to configure yet, and we still don't even have pricing). At least we should have cars by the end of 2013. lol

I've been waiting for an electric car since I was a teenager.

 

[mnx]

I've been waiting for an electric car since I was a teenager.

haha, ditto. And I retract my previous statement, pricing came out last night.

 

[Robert.Boston]

I thought my post was mostly fact. ... The 10k total deposit has been listed as non-refundable several times.

To be clear: $10k Signature deposit is non-refundable, but it's only $5k for production cars. I.e., the refundable $5k one has already put down simply becomes non-refundable; no need for more cash.

I'm all for not panicking on rumor, but I'm not seeing where anything I said isn't fact or credible observation (e.g. folks reporting their estimated dates).

When written delivery date estimates change, that's something I give substantial weight. Verbal estimates, not so much.

 

[mfcnova]

#3241

I finalized my order last night @9pm(east coast). Expected delivery DEC -JAN.

 

[CarbonTax]

Considering a deferral, somewhat concerned however, that the $7500 vehicle rebate will be nixed if Mssrs. Romney and Ryan convince the sheeple in November.
Hope to take a test drive next month, hope to get an update on the new red paint color availability.

Need to clarify the $4k Illinois rebate, which requires the bill of sale be from "an Illinois dealership".

Is Tesla registered as dealerships in states they have stores/service???

 

[SCW-Greg]

Considering a deferral, somewhat concerned however, that the $7500 vehicle rebate will be nixed if Mssrs. Romney and Ryan convince the sheeple in November.

I'm not at all worried about that... in fact, I'm hoping it gets bumped to $10k, by whomever's in office. Tesla is too important now... and is making EV a viable reality for the masses. Gov of CA among many others will keep the pressure on.

Meanwhile, I am worried about Oregon, which has depleted it's $1500 EV rebate/tax incentive. I'm hoping that gets revived.

 

[chmod a+wrx]

Need to clarify the $4k Illinois rebate, which requires the bill of sale be from "an Illinois dealership".
Is Tesla registered as dealerships in states they have stores/service???

Unfortunately...this is probably not going to go our way


According to the Illinois rebate program (Illinois Green Fleet), the dealership has to be located in the state of Illinois and the bill of sale has to be from a dealership in the state of Illinois.


The Chicago Tesla store was a dealership (Roadsters, I assume), so it is listed as a dealership in the Illinois registry. (The woman on the phone knew quite a bit about Tesla, actually!!!)


However, it would seem that when we sign the purchase agreement, it might be with Telsa in California.........the bill of sale may not indicate it was sold in Illinois.....even though the purchaser is in Illinois and taxes would go to whatever county you live in......


Maybe someone knows someone at HQ and can change the bill of sale!??????

 

[NigelM]

According to the Illinois rebate program (Illinois Green Fleet), the dealership has to be located in the state of Illinois and the bill of sale has to be from a dealership in the state of Illinois.

However, it would seem that when we sign the purchase agreement, it might be with Telsa in California.........the bill of sale may not indicate it was sold in Illinois.....even though the purchaser is in Illinois and taxes would go to whatever county you live in......

Maybe someone knows someone at HQ and can change the bill of sale!??????

The MVPA is between you and your local store, as final billing is also.

 

[Larry Chanin]

It seems like there was a huge wave of Finalize Your Order emails within the last couple days. I'm in the low 2000's and there were people above 3000 getting that same email. Is this a sign of concern that Tesla is even more cash strapped than ever and needing those non-refundable deposits and commitments?

If Tesla didn't continue at a brisk pace to finalize orders, then we would hear a group of pessimists saying , "See, they never were serious about producing 5000 cars by year-end." Its really simple, to produce 5000 cars you have to have 5000 cars finalized. In setting up a serious ramp up in production its obviously better to collect this ordering information sooner rather than later.

Larry

 

[chmod a+wrx]

The MVPA is between you and your local store, as final billing is also.

Then Illinois is golden!!!!

How do they manage it with states where there is no local store??? Fremont???/

 

[Robert.Boston]

How do they manage it with states where there is no local store??? Fremont???/

My MVPA is with HQ in Palo Alto, rather than the "local" NY store.

 

[Robert.Boston]

Some of the delivery window may simply be that Tesla doesn't know who is going to order what, when. Consider #3241 above. He has finalized faster than many people with lower reservation numbers. Tesla can't know how many of those earlier numbers will cancel, defer, order small batteries, order standard suspension, or want Sunset Red.

 

[Tommy]

If Tesla didn't continue at a brisk pace to finalize orders, then we would hear a group of pessimists saying , "See, they never were serious about producing 5000 cars by year-end." Its really simple, to produce 5000 cars you have to have 5000 cars finalized. In setting up a serious ramp up in production its obviously better to collect this ordering information sooner rather than later.

Larry

And to expand on your point Larry, Tesla needs to start the 30 day confirm or defer clock ticking early rather than later so they are sure they have the 5000 finalized orders to produce this year.

 

[Liz G]

I'll out myself as the forum's only wimp... Am I the only one seeing these emails going out and getting a little... nervous? Not just fun, games, test drive, TMC forum, and refundable deposit any more, actual decision time is looming, time to s--t or get off the pot, time to round up some serious funding.

No, no one? Just me? OK then... Time to take one more look at the accounts... and try not to jump every time I hear the new-email beep...

I had to take a deep breath when I finalized, knowing that hitting that button was making my $5K non-refundable. Triple checked my design too.

 

[SCW-Greg]

Some of the delivery window may simply be that Tesla doesn't know who is going to order what, when. Consider #3241 above. He has finalized faster than many people with lower reservation numbers. Tesla can't know how many of those earlier numbers will cancel, defer, order small batteries, order standard suspension, or want Sunset Red.

Excellent point, and better to have queue for batching ready.