Yeah. As much as I don't like hearing it, this certainly sounds plausible. A wee bit like the cellular carriers. They care FAR more about adding new customers. The existing customers are already hooked, and so can be ignored to some extent.
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Model 3 Delivery Experience in Fremont
- Thread starter Manksgloob
- Start date
Here's what I don't fully understand. This is 2018. If they have a database of available cars for this event, why don't they make the RSVP link an electronic matching exercise so that you can virtually "browse" the inventory and then electronically "grab the tag" - that would prevent wasted trips and frustrated customers. The in-person event would be simply to pickup the keys and sign the docs. What am I missing?
If they did this, I'd realistically consider traveling to the Bay Area to pickup my car.
If they did this, I'd realistically consider traveling to the Bay Area to pickup my car.
Hogfighter
Professional Lurker
I believe you when you say you’re not a short or a troll.
1) logistical reasons.
2) too many white interiors are in Fremont for logistical reasons.
3) Working for Tesla must be incredibly exhausting and wrought with stress. Further, having Tesla on your resume pretty much guarantees an exec higher pay elsewhere. Doesn’t surprise me a bit that they’ve had high turnover.
voip-ninja
Give me some sugar baby
I'll pitch an argument on this.
Online "grabbing the tag" doesn't necessarily require any skin in the game. People can "grab the tag" and then not show up to complete the order, which is kind of the entire point of Tesla doing this, to try to move as many cars at quarter's end as possible.
By showing up, in person, with a check in hand, or ready to do financing and drive off, Tesla is going to have a much much higher completion rate on moving these cars out.
I think you missed the point. People with the exact same configuration but later order are getting their cars before people with earlier orders. This invalidates your high margin argument. This method does however reduce the average time to delivery. It also creates chatter that the wait times are low (i.e. "Hey, I ordered my car last week and it's coming next week!") versus "I've been waiting 4 months...." which sounds a lot more negative.
voip-ninja
Give me some sugar baby
There are numerous legitimate reason these cars are sitting around.
Let's say that your logistical transport capability is to move out 4,000 cars per week across all the numerous transport companies you utilize, but your factory is producing 1,000 cars a week.
You know that your transport capability will be improving but meanwhile you are sitting on a backlog of cars.
Do you just let the cars pile up, or do you start releasing some of them locally where no transport is required and then build a new one for the person waiting 5,000 miles away for it? Seems to me that's exactly what they are doing.
Any manufacturer has about a 10% rework rate IIRC on new car builds. Tesla has those too. A car that has a bad battery etc, is not put in a wood chipper. Tesla needs to fix the car and then sell it. It might be faster to turn around those cars at the assembly plant, where re-work is being completed on a daily basis rather than re-working the car, then matching it to a customer, then shipping it.
You have a different definition of "begging" than I do. As to prioritizing white interiors... well, assuming Tesla pays the same amount for the material, that is another $1500 in pure profit by trying to deliver white interior cars on the AWD builds. $1500 per car might not seem like much, but if they are on the bubble for a profitable quarter by something like $10M-$20M suddenly every $1K of profit becomes a huge deal.
Well, if you have this many concerns about which execs are leaving Tesla don't buy the product. There are many more in line behind you.
Let me put it this way. Tesla is the Apple of cars. The people buying Tesla cars, more than likely, make up the top 5% of automotive customers in terms of credit worthiness, influence, income level, education, etc. These are highly highly desirable customers. Tesla has this market captured. Even if Tesla goes bankrupt tomorrow they have sold hundreds of thousands of cars... someone is going to desperately want the Tesla carcass if that is the case.
This one is best addressed by a quote from my dearly departed Grandfather.... "you pay your money and you take your chances".
You have to look at higher margin build (EAP/FSD) group by the delivery channel/region/location. If the cars are not already heading to east coast, it's not going to be delivered before 9/30. West coast is in delivery frenzy until October.
While there's certainly some (ok lots) of mismanagement going on across the country for deliveries, long time Tesla observers know the EoQ rush ALWAYS is bananas with Tesla. This quarter is no different. They always push to get as many cars in customers hands by the end of a quarter as possible, and events like these are just a continuation of this push. Let's hope things settle down a bit after Oct. 1.
That's an easy fix - just say that their $2500 is nonrefundable etc. If I buy tickets to a game or show, I can choose my seats online and pay in full. Often these tickets are nonrefundable - theater could care less if I showed up or not since they have my cash. Ditto with many online auction purchases. There are very easy ways to make sure people show up/have skin in the game. This also relieves lots of the "Black Friday" anxiety people have and probably encourages more people to partake in the event without worrying if they're wasting their time traveling to Fremont just to find no configuration that matches. Plus it also addresses the whole financing over the weekend issues.
Jedi2155
Model 3 has Arrived.
#1 - Delivery bottlenecks. I'm definitely impacted because I"m sure they had my configuration but I've been waiting for over a month.
#2 - They're not begging people to take the white interiors. They're begging people to pay an extra $1500 and take the white interiors. I would 100% go white if there was no price difference with the black. I might even pay $500-$1000, but not $1500. This was Tesla's opportunity to sell the white interiors to people who see it in person plus the chance to get your car now versus later, and they did it. So no, I don't think this was them begging because they had a product that no one wants.
#3 -- I understand your concern but I've seen much of this play out before around the time of the Model S release. The Model 3 design phase is mostly done and some of these people either didn't jive with the Tesla culture of hard work with moderate pay. Tesla is not yet ready to offer large wages and those people are probably very talented and can command much larger salaries elsewhere.
Now, those open positions were quickly filled with other internal Tesla employees who deserved promotions for their belief in the company and for being quite capable already. I wouldn't worry so much about people leaving than having a position unable to be filled quickly which Tesla quickly proved there are plenty within the company who'd take the job that others left.
notAnExpert
Member
That was exactly my first thought when I read about this event. It seemed silly not to do this online. And then it occurred to me that may be Tesla is counting on impulse purchase decisions of those who show up. Perhaps Tesla's thought is that people who show up at the event looking for a specific color or configuration, but can't find it, may be willing to pickup a different car because they get excited by the opportunity to have their long awaited car right then and there.
Maybe if they do it online, there will be less impulse decisions? I don't know. I am no marketing expert.
Exactly the same way with pet store, they will provide "bonding time" for the pet and kid, once that's done there is no way you are leaving without the pet.
This, for sure. I think your logistics argument is sound as well, but I've assumed since the start that these were reworks. Either ones directly from the factory or rejected deliveries that were returned to the factory.
That doesn't make them lesser cars, for those who want to jump to that conclusion. Arguably, they could be better since they've had a second look at them, which might mean a more detailed checklist. And as @voip-ninja says, this is an industry standard, not something Tesla is cooking up in a vacuum.
Truth is that those 400 cars may indeed already been assigned to existing orders on east coast. If it's true that they missed the train-ride east as one of the post suggested, then I may not be able to pick up my M3 on time. My delivery is scheduled for Oct 1st, but no VIN has been assigned yet. Push back delivery by couple of weeks is no big deal for me, but booking the car in Q3 sale may help Tesla with their numbers.
Did anyone saw any AWD/Red/white interior ones at the event?
Mysterious ways...kind of cracks me up. Maybe the owner of the car owned a Tesla before or had some friend or relative who used his reservation for him, maybe he "bought" someone's reservation, or maybe he's just someone with a link to Tesla in one way or another (ie corporate, store, factory, energy, gigafactory, SpaceX) that would get priority?
I picked up a car yesterday at the delivery event. Here's what happened:
Just like everyone else, I got the email late on Friday. I RSVP'd and went on Saturday.
Saturday was full of confusion. There was a check in line around noon for almost an hour. This is the first time for me to see all of the different colors side by side with different configurations. There were no red awd with black interior. There were a few red P+/P- with white interior. The Malroney stickers are sometimes wrong and some had $1000 destination some had $1200. The ones I looked at were all made in 8/18. It is unlikely they are rejects. It was maybe 85 degrees outside and I can feel the difference between white seats and black seats.
When I got to the head of the line, a Tesla employee said to just go grab a tag from a car you like and go to this other line (shorter line) or if you can't find your config, go to this other line (very long by this time). Seeing all the red with white seats in person really made me want one instead of my blue/black awd configuration scheduled for delivery in 3 weeks. So I talked to some employees about changing configuration then and got conflicting stories. One said that changing color would mean new option pricing (for everything); another said no it is based on my order date (6/28). By this time it is been 2 hours and the kids are getting really hungry, one employee helpfully took my info and promised to text me if they can find my car. At this point I wanted red awd with white 18" eap. Received text that no car is available with my config around Fremont, but would I take one if they can find in the next few days. Replied yes.
I live close and next day texted the employee to see if I should go in to finalize my config change. I went anyway since it was close to my house. On Sunday the process has changed and there are 4 lines. After checking in (no line), I talked to the "find you a car" (organized by color) line about my config. He said there are no red awd with white interior 18" anywhere in the bay area. This person said my changes would set me back 2-4 months for a new build (scared the hell out of me). In the meantime I found cars outside that has everything I want except for color. Found a blue and a white awd with white interior 18". Struggled a bit and went back in with the tag from the blue car. This guy (not the scary one) said that car is taken but there is another identical one. He assigned that vin to my account. Then onto the next line (order completion) having skipped the delivery schedule line. Here in front of these macs we have to show someone the Tesla account profile is all set. There was one guy going from table to table to change the configuration. I was able to get 6/28 pricing for the car sitting outside. Once the configuration is confirmed they go and do the paperwork while I waited for 30-40 minutes. During this time I pointed out some pink residue on a speaker cover and an employee had the detailing guys take care of it. They ended up washing the whole car.
Then when the paperwork was done the "make payment" button appears and I ACH'd money over. I signed a few sheet of paper and waited another 15 minutes for my car to reappear. The delivery person showed me around the car and I found only one very small paint defect which she took a picture of. I asked for copies of the items I signed but she said all I need is the MPVN which will be in my account soon. When I drove off the lot there was another check point against the vin.
1. This is very close to dealer ship sans pressure/stress . You are handed off person to person. Process is slow (all told 3.5 hours), but everyone is super nice. There can be conflicting info.
2. I got the feeling that they haven't made many awd with black interior. I did not see any both days.
3. The drink/snack choices are much better on Sunday.
4. Reference were made to "next weekend". I think they will be doing this again.
5. Very little help with transportation. Since I drove there, I wanted to see if they have any options for getting my new car to my house. Nothing. I ended up calling around and getting a ride from a friend. I would have to uber/lyft back. They do not recommend leaving the car there over night.
After I got home and parked the car was deleted from my Tesla App. Support said it was normal. This morning Tesla App could not connect to the car. I'll give it a little more time.
Just like everyone else, I got the email late on Friday. I RSVP'd and went on Saturday.
Saturday was full of confusion. There was a check in line around noon for almost an hour. This is the first time for me to see all of the different colors side by side with different configurations. There were no red awd with black interior. There were a few red P+/P- with white interior. The Malroney stickers are sometimes wrong and some had $1000 destination some had $1200. The ones I looked at were all made in 8/18. It is unlikely they are rejects. It was maybe 85 degrees outside and I can feel the difference between white seats and black seats.
When I got to the head of the line, a Tesla employee said to just go grab a tag from a car you like and go to this other line (shorter line) or if you can't find your config, go to this other line (very long by this time). Seeing all the red with white seats in person really made me want one instead of my blue/black awd configuration scheduled for delivery in 3 weeks. So I talked to some employees about changing configuration then and got conflicting stories. One said that changing color would mean new option pricing (for everything); another said no it is based on my order date (6/28). By this time it is been 2 hours and the kids are getting really hungry, one employee helpfully took my info and promised to text me if they can find my car. At this point I wanted red awd with white 18" eap. Received text that no car is available with my config around Fremont, but would I take one if they can find in the next few days. Replied yes.
I live close and next day texted the employee to see if I should go in to finalize my config change. I went anyway since it was close to my house. On Sunday the process has changed and there are 4 lines. After checking in (no line), I talked to the "find you a car" (organized by color) line about my config. He said there are no red awd with white interior 18" anywhere in the bay area. This person said my changes would set me back 2-4 months for a new build (scared the hell out of me). In the meantime I found cars outside that has everything I want except for color. Found a blue and a white awd with white interior 18". Struggled a bit and went back in with the tag from the blue car. This guy (not the scary one) said that car is taken but there is another identical one. He assigned that vin to my account. Then onto the next line (order completion) having skipped the delivery schedule line. Here in front of these macs we have to show someone the Tesla account profile is all set. There was one guy going from table to table to change the configuration. I was able to get 6/28 pricing for the car sitting outside. Once the configuration is confirmed they go and do the paperwork while I waited for 30-40 minutes. During this time I pointed out some pink residue on a speaker cover and an employee had the detailing guys take care of it. They ended up washing the whole car.
Then when the paperwork was done the "make payment" button appears and I ACH'd money over. I signed a few sheet of paper and waited another 15 minutes for my car to reappear. The delivery person showed me around the car and I found only one very small paint defect which she took a picture of. I asked for copies of the items I signed but she said all I need is the MPVN which will be in my account soon. When I drove off the lot there was another check point against the vin.
1. This is very close to dealer ship sans pressure/stress . You are handed off person to person. Process is slow (all told 3.5 hours), but everyone is super nice. There can be conflicting info.
2. I got the feeling that they haven't made many awd with black interior. I did not see any both days.
3. The drink/snack choices are much better on Sunday.
4. Reference were made to "next weekend". I think they will be doing this again.
5. Very little help with transportation. Since I drove there, I wanted to see if they have any options for getting my new car to my house. Nothing. I ended up calling around and getting a ride from a friend. I would have to uber/lyft back. They do not recommend leaving the car there over night.
After I got home and parked the car was deleted from my Tesla App. Support said it was normal. This morning Tesla App could not connect to the car. I'll give it a little more time.
Reddy Kilowatt
Active Member
From what I read they replenished the majority of cars for Sunday. Also read as spots opened up in the lot they were occasionally bringing in a few new ones to fill the holes. Not sure if they brought them in as fast as they were being removed by buyers.
Reddy Kilowatt
Active Member
Thanks I tried to read through most of the posts never got an answer the first time I asked.
I wound if there were 400 out there at once or as you stated they had a smaller amount on the lot and replenished them as they were removed.
Also wonder based on other post is this something there going to do the entire month, with the next weekend comment. I was an original line waiter and would be pissed if I haven't gotten my car yet. Our car is in transit now so i'm good with it. I would love to see Tesla keep smashing there records. I just think they now have logistic's issues. Here at Tysons can only do 25 cars a day, so I can see the benefit there locally as long as they were reservation holders. All though this process didn't sound like there sign and drive 10 minute process.
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