Model 3 Delivery Experience in Fremont

[EVnut]

It was maybe 85 degrees outside and I can feel the difference between white seats and black seats.

Thanks for all the input. I'm curious what this part means though. Regardless of color, the seats are likely to simply be the temp of the interior air of the cabin. Unless black somehow *creates* heat? If the black seats were in direct sunlight, I'm sure they'd be hotter than the white. But... that doesn't happen in a car.

 

[EVnut]

I was an original line waiter and would be pissed if I haven't gotten my car yet.

And yeah. I am a bit. My car will be here 2-3 weeks from now... at the Fremont location where all these cars are being driven home same-day. And even that is a big maybe. Yet another friend today was denied delivery after a 1.5-hour drive to the delivery location. Apparently the car wouldn't accept software updates. Didn't find out until a few minutes before the appointment. :sigh:

 

[Mom of 3]

Thanks for all the input. I'm curious what this part means though. Regardless of color, the seats are likely to simply be the temp of the interior air of the cabin. Unless black somehow *creates* heat? If the black seats were in direct sunlight, I'm sure they'd be hotter than the white. But... that doesn't happen in a car.

It was a sunny day in Fremont. When you sit down in a car that has been in the sun, the car with black interior just feels hotter. There is always some part of the seat in direct sunlight. Then again, I checked the app just now, my parked car shows interior temp of 130F.

 

[Mom of 3]

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.

On Saturday I observed a Tesla employee driving new cars to park in empty spaces. As soon as the guy got out that was swarmed over by people looking for a car. There weren't as much refills as people driving off for sure. I think they could have organized the refilling better since there were so many Tesla employees standing around.

The lot itself was not all that big. There were only 3.5 rows. I would say about 150 but definitely not 400 spots. Also not helpful was that many of the cars in the lot had a piece of paper that said sold. I know it takes a while to get processed, but as you walk around may be less than half of the spaces (some empty, some sold) had tags that one can actually grab.

 

[MXWing]

On Saturday I observed a Tesla employee driving new cars to park in empty spaces. As soon as the guy got out that was swarmed over by people looking for a car. There weren't as much refills as people driving off for sure. I think they could have organized the refilling better since there were so many Tesla employees standing around.

No demand issue eh @beachbum77 ? LOL

Easily explains the double-double action today in TSLA.

 

[ecarfan]

So by sunday night was the lot empty?

where cars driving off immediately?

Any pictures?

I was there Sunday morning at 0830 and immediately started looking at all the cars I could see, which was well over 100 (guess, later I learned there were more cars nearby). They didn’t start checking people in until 0900, at which time there were less than 20 potential buyers in line (factoring in children and couples). Hardly a crowd.

I left about 1030 with my car. Still at least 80 cars in the parking area.

Here is the line at 0900 Sunday morning, and also a photo of the interior area at about 0930 where you went through the various stations. Sorry, didn’t take a photo of the parking area with the cars. But all you would see is a large number of Model 3’s. Not that remarkable.

 

[ecarfan]

Based on my experience, if Tesla does this again and you are in the Bay Area, still waiting for a delivery date for your car and getting anxious, and you are not 100% locked in to your specific configuration, I strongly recommend going to this “delivery event”. My wife and I went with an open mind: there were several color combinations that we were willing to seriously consider. Since all the cars are Long Range batteries and include the PUP, my only requirements were that it be Dual Motor and not black, blue, or white. There was more than one car at the event that I would have accepted. As it turned out, two hours after I arrived, I went home on Sunday with a car very close to my configured reservation; I enthusiastically changed to white seats and 19” wheels. I am thrilled with it!

This morning I thoroughly washed and detailed the car. I had inspected it closely yesterday at the event, and today I discovered one tiny flaw that I had missed; a 1 cm long, 2mm deep scratch in the interior plastic piece at the base of the B pillar. Because it’s not just a scuff mark, and I know that I didn’t make it, I went to the Burlingame Service Center today, showed it to them, and they agreed to replace the plastic piece. No questions asked. It’s in an area of the interior that I doubt I will ever damage, and while it certainly isn’t obvious at all, I will always know it is there. So it will be fixed. Perfect!

Other than that, the car is flawless as near as I can tell.

 

[mhan00]

#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.

If Tesla is begging people to take white interiors, they’ve got a taker right here. I’ve been begging them to send me my white interior configuration for a while now, lol.

 

[beachbum77]

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.

That is the way it works in CA if you are paying full MSRP which everyone is with Tesla. Sorry...

 

[beachbum77]

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.

Spot on! First rule in the car business. Get the customer INTO the car. Let them touch it, drive it and appreciate the experience. It is key to turning "lookers" into "buyers". Remember the idea was to get people to make a switch to what is on the lot, versus already on order. As we have read, people made changes and went home with a car this weekend. That is a win-win for everyone.

 

[DaveL]

My experience, this was total bull *sugar*, really. I want to be crystal clear that the invite said (cut and paste, their words not mine) "...this is your opportunity to come pick up your Model 3 this weekend." It did not say "come pick out a model 3 from our inventory" or "your configuration may be available this weekend" it flat out said YOUR car is ready to pick up. I immediately dropped what I was doing at work and my daughter dropped what she was doing (homework) and we called a Lyft, 45 min and $53 later we walked into the delivery building and were exploding with excitement. After a 2.5 yr wait, we were minutes away from driving our model 3. Or so we thought. The person at the front desk asked what configuration my car was and as soon as I said AWD he said, sorry we've already run out of AWD. We stood in disbelief for a moment then my disbelief turned to disappointment and anger. What do you mean you don't have any, the email specifically said I can pick up my car today and I even called less than an hour ago to confirm and was told to come down and pick t up. "Well the person on the phone would not have any way of knowing what cars we have here" he replied. Then why in the world would she tell me to come down here if when did not know I asked? "We are so sorry, if you fill out this form and talk to one of the agents as the desk we can arrange to get you a car asap" That person then says we do have AWD, but not in the color I ordered or w the white interior I ordered, "would you like that one instead" . No, I want the one I ordered! "We fell really bad and will make it up to you by pushing you to the front of the line and delivering the car to your house, on sept 29th" Wait I said, that is a full week after I was already scheduled to pick up my car. "oh, then I guess you can stick with that date and get the car then". Make no mistake I am a huge fan of Tesla (and own an S) but like I said, this was total bull *sugar* and inexcusable.

 

[sdawg11]

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?

Yeah there are were a handful of AWD/Red/White but I think they were mostly P's.

 

[Bays]

AWD demand is high. The art of the up-sell with Good-Better-Best pricing works folks.

LR, AWD, P... Most will be sold on AWD as the best value.

 

[kaiz312]

A heads up to those that got delivery scheduled during the event. Reach out to your delivery advisor to confirm which Fremont delivery hub you would be picking your car from. If you don't know who your delivery advisor is, go to a Tesla store and ask them to check your account to see who it is. This is how I found out who mine is since up until today I haven't had any contact with him and my delivery is this Friday.

During the event I was scheduled and told to pick up my car at the same place where the event took place (Kato Rd.). That's what was shown on my Tesla account as well but when I spoke to my delivery advisor he said the system was showing I was actually scheduled to pick it up at the other delivery center (Fremont blvd.).

So confirm so that you don't end up at the wrong place!

 

[Trevor B]

It was maybe 85 degrees outside and I can feel the difference between white seats and black seats.

Huh?

 

[desuma]

[Moderator edit: The statement about the J1772 below was erroneous and is corrected down thread. The member who posted this asked for it to be corrected.]

For anyone taking part in an upcoming delivery event, make sure that you get all of the accessories that are supposed to come with your car. It's a pain in the a** to find later. I took delivery on Saturday and while I am totally in love with my silver P3D+, and generally quite happy with the warm and competent service from individuals at Tesla, you really need to look carefully... they are not tracking this on your behalf.

Missing so far:
- mobile charging connector. Was not in the trunk or elsewhere in the car as usual. Hour+ phone call, plus a visit to a showroom to pick one up. After my husband picked it up for me, I discovered that one of the adapter cables is incorrect -- they did not include a standard 3-prong connector.
- mobile phone cable guide. Mobile phone cables were included, as was the rubber mat that sits in the tray. The subtle thing that's missing which I noticed after reading the instructions -- the plastic piece that holds the mobile phone cable connectors so you can put your phone in place one-handed.

Back to the showroom this weekend for both items.

Oh, and one more thing for new owners -- a J1772 adapter is NOT included with your M3. I won't have charging equipment at home until March, so I'm mostly depending on charging at a ChargePoint (i.e., standard non-Tesla system) near work. Some previous models included that connector but Tesla no longer does, and you need to order one from their parts department if you want to use other non-Tesla Level 2 chargers.

 

[Zaxxon]

Oh, and one more thing for new owners -- a J1772 adapter is NOT included with your M3. I won't have charging equipment at home until March, so I'm mostly depending on charging at a ChargePoint (i.e., standard non-Tesla system) near work. Some previous models included that connector but Tesla no longer does, and you need to order one from their parts department if you want to use other non-Tesla Level 2 chargers.

Wow. That'd be terrible news if true. That's a pretty cheap part to exclude considering that it greatly expands the charging network. AFAIK, every Tesla S/X/3 has always come with one (including mine). Who confirmed this to you? Has anyone else picked up a 3 recently and been told that J1772 is no longer included?

 

[fnce_prof]

Oh, and one more thing for new owners -- a J1772 adapter is NOT included with your M3. I won't have charging equipment at home until March, so I'm mostly depending on charging at a ChargePoint (i.e., standard non-Tesla system) near work. Some previous models included that connector but Tesla no longer does, and you need to order one from their parts department if you want to use other non-Tesla Level 2 chargers.

That would be pure BS

 

[Need]

Oh, and one more thing for new owners -- a J1772 adapter is NOT included with your M3. I won't have charging equipment at home until March, so I'm mostly depending on charging at a ChargePoint (i.e., standard non-Tesla system) near work. Some previous models included that connector but Tesla no longer does, and you need to order one from their parts department if you want to use other non-Tesla Level 2 chargers.

For both my model X and model 3, the J1772 adapter is in the bag with the UMC on delivery. If you are missing the UMC, that's probably why you did not get the J1772. The one that your husband picked up after delivery was probably some spare ones sitting out somewhere with missing parts.

 

[mongo]

The subtle thing that's missing which I noticed after reading the instructions -- the plastic piece that holds the mobile phone cable connectors so you can put your phone in place one-handed.

That may not be included anymore...
Phone Dock no longer comes with the car?