Model 3 Delivery Experience in Fremont

[mblakele]

I went to the event today around 2pm. Based on this thread my expectations were low, but I was driving by Fremont anyways so figured I would stop by. I have a reservation and recently received an email to schedule a pickup at the end of September. I also RSVP'd for the event.

It was actually a pretty great experience, given that I wasn't really expecting to drive away in a car.

I was directed to a parking spot close to the door and walked right up to the checkin table. They had me fill out a form with my name, reservation number, and preferred config.

Then a nice volunteer (who normally works in the legal department) walked me over to another table where someone sifted through a Google sheet with the inventory available. This long table had separate queues depending on the color you were looking for.

I'm going for a solid black, black interior, AWD (non-performance), with the 18" aero wheels. They had that config, but with 19" wheels. I told them I'd just wait for my delivery appointment to get exactly what I want.

Third stop was another table to schedule a delivery appointment. I got a time on 9/22 confirmed at the same Kato Rd. location, which is a day earlier than I was offered over email a few days ago (plus no one had actually gotten back to me to confirm over email). At this point, I felt the 10 minutes I'd invested by stopping by was totally worth it. But then, after apologizing for not having my configuration in stock I was offered a $100 credit for Tesla accessories! They took my email down and said I'd see something in my account (nothing yet, but I imagine they're going to do some kind of manual processing.)

Now I want a credit too. They didn't have my config Saturday morning.

Seriously, I'm happy to hear that they're learning as they go. That's much better than not learning at all. They've made a lot of changes in a short period, too. It sounds like classic startup behavior: start with the simplest thing that might work, and iterate from there.

 

[UtahIsRad]

When did you finalize with the 2500? If I recall around June 26th was when AWD and P opened until for all. It was first come first serve at the date for the early part of the quarter.

Now we are nearing the end, Tesla is going to manipulate deliveries for maximum numbers based on logistical factors.

First thing in the morning 6/27 right after I got the email that I could order AWD or P. They opened it up to everyone the next day, 6/28 actually.

 

[SMAlset]

This actually makes a lot of sense that the delivery channels are overloaded. My original delivery date was 8/30 and after talking to a delivery manager at my local store, they said that my car was built in Fremont, it just never made it on the truck for shipment for whatever reason.

When you have a ramp out in production at the rate Tesla just did, you're going to overload every system in the supply chain network.

I think it's also makes more sense to do this from Fremont than anywhere else. The cars are sitting there waiting to be shipped. People are changing their configs all the time it seems from posts I've read. So why not offer what's not promised now for a quick sale here at the factory to clear lot space for the cars coming out that are future owner requested configs. No need to transport anything. And really how many cars can you fit on a trailer where you could probably sell that many and much more just from the factory lots in an hour. Very high demand here in the bay area so probably always a ready buyer. I always thought when they were reaching 5000 that at that rate logistics were going to be their biggest problem to solve.

We have an appointment in two weeks schedule at the factory. Works out fine that it's a bit later as I don't have my PPF/ceramic pro schedule until early October so don't think I'd attend one of these events to maybe get my car a few days earlier.

You can see from my info below that we got the invite to configure with the AWD option on 6/26 and jumped right on it. Had finally made up my mind on color etc and was ready to go.

 

[MXWing]

First thing in the morning 6/27 right after I got the email that I could order AWD or P. They opened it up to everyone the next day, 6/28 actually.

I think you got a raw deal knowing all the details. You already should have already gotten your car.

Paperwork and logistics is a *sugar* show and I believe your order got lost somewhere.

Yell at DSA?

 

[EVnut]

Day 1 peeps gave up Day 1 privileges as soon as they failed to act when given a chance to configure the first Tesla offered to them.

That’s what the line was for. Not first dibs on everything now and forever for perpetuity.

From the beginning we were told to select the type we were waiting for and it was implied that was what the reservation was for. LR RWD, AWD, or SR. That were literally our options. Nobody gave anything up. The moment I could order an AWD I did.

Yeah, I have to side with UtahIsRad on this one. Where was it said that standing in line was for the "first Tesla offered?" And even if that was stated... that didn't happen in my case. I stood in line, and non-owners who reserved online AFTER reveal were allowed to order weeks before I was "invited." I acted as soon as I could configure the car I wanted. Then I watched car after car be delivered to my area in my exact configuration. It's been a rough go for a die-hard Tesla supporter these past few months. Please allow us at least a modicum of frustration at the non-transparent process.

 

[UtahIsRad]

I think many of us should probably stop hanging out on these forums watching for tea leaves of when the magic 8 ball will show our RN#. It's not good for our mental health. @EVnut, Good taste in your config, glad to see a line waiter getting delivery soon While the statistics in the spreadsheets likely don't lie, unless people are not updating their info so I'm sure the data quality isn't perfect, there are a significant % of people who ponied up the $2500 long before me and are still waiting as well. I hope it's just lazy users of the spreadsheet.

The thing is, I'm an EV nut, I left a PhD program to help GM develop electric drive vehicles back in '99 because we had done the math and knew this was the future that we needed. I don't give a rats ass about self driving and believe a car share system will just increase road congestion further because cars will then travel more distance per trip. Less parking lots, but you'll need more roads. If the camera systems help avoid accidents, great, but I love driving, especially at high speeds on dirt. However, if Tesla folded tomorrow, I'm not sure what I'd do. I need a car, can't wait for VW, and others, and $55k already fully stretched the budget. On top of that I need 4wd for mountain restrictions, so they have me, or I have to leave EV's. I've talked to the Tesla folks on the 888 line and I get the feeling there are a lot of us waiting from day 1 and they don't have any answers. My order isn't lost, my number just hasn't come up they say. It honestly makes me wonder if people posting that they are getting cars w/o reservations or very late reservations are fully fake accounts in some crazy conspiracy theory, but that's kinda nuts. Totally doable in today's world though and could affect stock prices significantly. It would be easy to make 100 accounts on all the forums and post of receiving VIN's and deliveries. Time to go to sleep, eventually I'll either get my Model 3, Tesla will fold, or I'll buy something else to tide me over till there are many options in the world

 

[Darren Donovan]

Agree. Do not waste your time. Really poorly planned and executed .

That's the Tesla way, sadly.

 

[cfttester]

I think many of us should probably stop hanging out on these forums watching for tea leaves of when the magic 8 ball will show our RN#. It's not good for our mental health. @EVnut, Good taste in your config, glad to see a line waiter getting delivery soon While the statistics in the spreadsheets likely don't lie, unless people are not updating their info so I'm sure the data quality isn't perfect, there are a significant % of people who ponied up the $2500 long before me and are still waiting as well. I hope it's just lazy users of the spreadsheet.

The thing is, I'm an EV nut, I left a PhD program to help GM develop electric drive vehicles back in '99 because we had done the math and knew this was the future that we needed. I don't give a rats ass about self driving and believe a car share system will just increase road congestion further because cars will then travel more distance per trip. Less parking lots, but you'll need more roads. If the camera systems help avoid accidents, great, but I love driving, especially at high speeds on dirt. However, if Tesla folded tomorrow, I'm not sure what I'd do. I need a car, can't wait for VW, and others, and $55k already fully stretched the budget. On top of that I need 4wd for mountain restrictions, so they have me, or I have to leave EV's. I've talked to the Tesla folks on the 888 line and I get the feeling there are a lot of us waiting from day 1 and they don't have any answers. My order isn't lost, my number just hasn't come up they say. It honestly makes me wonder if people posting that they are getting cars w/o reservations or very late reservations are fully fake accounts in some crazy conspiracy theory, but that's kinda nuts. Totally doable in today's world though and could affect stock prices significantly. It would be easy to make 100 accounts on all the forums and post of receiving VIN's and deliveries. Time to go to sleep, eventually I'll either get my Model 3, Tesla will fold, or I'll buy something else to tide me over till there are many options in the world

Call Tesla and ask for refund. Either they will find you a car or you will be able to re-order. Couple of my friends were offered to schedule a delivery hours after choosing configuration.

 

[williamq]

If you take delivery in Fremont, do you pay destination fee? My friend are not in CA and he ask if he fly to Bay area to take delivery, will tesla will his destination fee? He wants his model 3 as early as possible.

 

[FrancoNY]

I swear I'm not a Tesla short (I don't even have stock in Tesla-- but I DO have $3500 sitting at Tesla for a $60K car that I don't have yet) but I am more than a little concerned about this "Model 3 Delivery Experience" business.

The only possibly ok scenario for why they have hundreds of vehicles sitting around in Fremont is that they cannot figure out the delivery logistics - still a bad scenario but it implies it's just an operational problem as opposed to a the worst case scenario which is that demand is cratering. Perhaps the new delivery infrastructure/team will figure that out.

The slightly worse plausible scenario is that they completely guessed wrong on RWD and white interiors and now are left with a bunch of cars that no one wants - yet there is still robust demand for AWD-nonP and they can't build/deliver those fast enough. That implies a lack of foresight which (to me) seems pretty obvious -- how many people in this world really want a white interior, both from an aesthetic and durability perspective? And they already knew from the Model S that relatively few people want RWD cars, to the point that they don't even make RWD Model S's anymore. Maybe people want RWD base 35K models but the people buying a $60K car for the most part are going to want AWD.

The worst case scenario, of course, is that people are not ordering these cars and they are left with 400+ cars in Fremont that there are no buyers for. Being a Tesla fan, this feels the least likely of the three scenarios, but the train of executives leaving the company definitely makes me nervous.

 

[Hogfighter]

I swear I'm not a Tesla short (I don't even have stock in Tesla-- but I DO have $3500 sitting at Tesla for a $60K car that I don't have yet) but I am more than a little concerned about this "Model 3 Delivery Experience" business.

The only possibly ok scenario for why they have hundreds of vehicles sitting around in Fremont is that they cannot figure out the delivery logistics - still a bad scenario but it implies it's just an operational problem as opposed to a the worst case scenario which is that demand is cratering. Perhaps the new delivery infrastructure/team will figure that out.

The slightly worse plausible scenario is that they completely guessed wrong on RWD and white interiors and now are left with a bunch of cars that no one wants - yet there is still robust demand for AWD-nonP and they can't build/deliver those fast enough. That implies a lack of foresight which (to me) seems pretty obvious -- how many people in this world really want a white interior, both from an aesthetic and durability perspective? And they already knew from the Model S that relatively few people want RWD cars, to the point that they don't even make RWD Model S's anymore. Maybe people want RWD base 35K models but the people buying a $60K car for the most part are going to want AWD.

The worst case scenario, of course, is that people are not ordering these cars and they are left with 400+ cars in Fremont that there are no buyers for. Being a Tesla fan, this feels the least likely of the three scenarios, but the train of executives leaving the company definitely makes me nervous.

Can this post contain any more errors?

1) ‘Left with a bunch of cars that no one wants’. How about ‘no one in the Bay Area that wants to fight the crowds to maybe get what they want’?

2) ‘how many people want a white interior’.....literally tens of thousands. Same with RWD. Just not in Fremont on a hot Sunday.

3) ‘the train of executives leaving’. Like Deepak? JB? Franz? Jerome? Anyone that actually matters?

Come on, give a manufacturing company who’s growing at over 50% per year a little slack.

 

[Mxbzz]

If you take delivery in Fremont, do you pay destination fee? My friend are not in CA and he ask if he fly to Bay area to take delivery, will tesla will his destination fee? He wants his model 3 as early as possible.

Yes. Destination fee applies even if you are picking up from Fremont— FWIW, you’re picking up the car from the delivery center and not straight out of the factory, and the fee also includes documents/titling fees, similar to what a dealer would charge.

 

[Sagedaddy]

Picked up my car yesterday in Fremont. The detailing shop did kind of a poor job and had to be redone. The charge port door doesn’t manually open and the left rear lights aren’t flush. Other than that, it’s a wonderful car! Silky-smooth acceleration and corners on rails!

 

[FrancoNY]

Can this post contain any more errors?

1) ‘Left with a bunch of cars that no one wants’. How about ‘no one in the Bay Area that wants to fight the crowds to maybe get what they want’?

2) ‘how many people want a white interior’.....literally tens of thousands. Same with RWD. Just not in Fremont on a hot Sunday.

3) ‘the train of executives leaving’. Like Deepak? JB? Franz? Jerome? Anyone that actually matters?

Come on, give a manufacturing company who’s growing at over 50% per year a little slack.

Ok I am really not a Tesla short and I don't think I made any factual errors at all.

#1 - if there is so much demand, why are there 400 cars in Fremont that aren't already assigned to people with reservations? Why are there ANY cars that are sitting around hoping someone will come to Fremont on a hot Sunday to drive them off?

#2 - I don't think you have any basis for saying that. Fact is they are literally begging people even on the 1-800 number to see if they will switch to a white interior. White interiors are getting assigned a lot faster by all accounts. And from what people have posted on this thread, white interiors have been overrepresented on the Fremont lot for this "delivery experience event".

#3 - I don't think it's ever a good sign when your president of global sales and service (jon McNeill), TWO chief accounting officers (Eric Branderiz and Dave Morton), treasurer and VP of finance (Susan Repo), VP of autopilot (Jim Keller), Director of field performance engineering (Matthew Schwall), VP of energy sales and operations (Cal Lankton). VP of worldwide service (Karim Bousta), director of manufacturing (Yannick Roux), director of engineering (Paul Lomagino), engineering lead (Doug Field), deputy general counsel (Jeff Fisher), head of HR (Gaby Toledano), and VP of communications (Sarah O'Brien) have ALL left in 9 months. I can't tell you who matters how much but all these people jumping ship just as Tesla is supposedly about to accelerate sales is worrisome to me.

I'm not a Tesla short or a troll. I love the cars, my jaw literally hit the ground the first time I drove the model 3 (had never driven a Tesla before). I still have $3500 in Tesla's pocket and will be happy to give them the other $57K whenever my AWD-nonP MSM 19" EAP shows up. I have solar in my house and believe 10000% in electrification and the overall Tesla/SolarCity mission. I have relatives that work in the Gigafactory. But not being concerned about how the last few weeks/months have gone is basically being willfully blind.

 

[EVChris]

Yes. Destination fee applies even if you are picking up from Fremont— FWIW, you’re picking up the car from the delivery center and not straight out of the factory, and the fee also includes documents/titling fees, similar to what a dealer would charge.

Yep, and according to the Taxes and Fees section on my order, Tesla is mistakenly charging CA sales tax on those Dest+Doc fees. That's gonna get fixed between now and delivery. It pencils out to $111.

 

[Mav777]

Ended up going on Saturday at 5:30pm to check it out and hopefully get a car. I’ve had zero contact from Tesla on my red p3+ with black interior order late September delivery estimate so thought it was worth a shot. The experience went better than expected given the morning issues I read about here. Unfortunately, they did not have the car I ordered. However, they had one in port in San Francisco and could get it to me in a few days. Left with a VIN so happy I went and I’ll be picking it up same location next Saturday. Trade-in offer was also higher than carmax which was a bonus.

 

[Reddy Kilowatt]

So by sunday night was the lot empty?

where cars driving off immediately?

Any pictures?

 

[EVnut]

It honestly makes me wonder if people posting that they are getting cars w/o reservations or very late reservations are fully fake accounts in some crazy conspiracy theory, but that's kinda nuts.

I can put you at ease about the "fake" and the "conspiracy" concerns. While it has bothered me a bit to read the posts from people who've taken delivery of my configuration before me, it is the people who live in my community that have proven that these cars are being delivered in some mysterious ways. I've driven in my exact configuration car right here in town... owned by a guy who reserved and ordered after I did. This isn't some made-up internet thing. It's for real. And of course it isn't the end of the world or even of the company. It is merely frustrating for the otherwise patient and supportive customers.

 

[dusdev]

It seems to me that if Tesla delivers to newer orders first, then the apparent delivery window for 'new customers' is quite short, which may entice even more orders. People who are waiting are well... patient already. In other words, the average order->delivery time will shorten if they start delivering new orders first. The long wait orders have always been factored into the equation. Kinda sad but likely part of the problem here.

 

[kengchang]

It seems to me that if Tesla delivers to newer orders first, then the apparent delivery window for 'new customers' is quite short, which may entice even more orders. People who are waiting are well... patient already. In other words, the average order->delivery time will shorten if they start delivering new orders first. The long wait orders have always been factored into the equation. Kinda sad but likely part of the problem here.

Tesla is trying to stuff all the possible delivery channel and prioritizing high margin build before 9/30.