Hi all - realised I should have come here first instead of posting a thread...
What's the process for this with Tesla? Should I place the order MYSELF with Tesla (£100 deposit) then transfer to the leasing company I select?
Or is it a case of doing everything via a leasing company?
I'd be doing this privately so any particularly strong leasing company recommendations would be good also.
Pros and cons to both approaches...
Tesla suggested that I place the order myself when I went for a test drive. My response was "yeh right, I'll never get the £100 back and end up with two cars on order". I assumed this was just sales tactics. The problem is that the leasing company was useless at getting the order submitted. Suddenly I had missed out on the Sept delivery's and added two months onto the order and the car still hadn't been ordered with tesla. The leasing company would lie about the order being submitted but tesla would have no record of it. It's important you get the tesla RN (reservation number) otherwise you haven't joined the queue. Anyway, as the days were slipping and Tesla had said there was an outside chance I could still get a Sept car if someone else cancelled, I decided to pay the £100. At this point the leasing company had also agreed that I could do that and they would take over the order.
When the leasing company did place the order they actually submitted it as a new one (different RN) and actually got the order wrong (SR+ instead of LR). Tesla told me I couldn't have the £100 back because it was a new order rather than taken over! After a bit more chasing around the lease company agreed that they had messed this up, cancelled their order and took over mine. From then on everything was ok and I got the £100 refund within days.
So yes, I'd say it is good to place the order yourself in order to get in that queue but you face a risk that you end up with two cars on order. Whatever you do, I'd get that RN to prove that tesla have the order. Others with leasing companies seem to have waited months to find the order never reached Tesla. For me, I got a text from tesla with my RN when I placed the order direct. I also got a text from tesla when the lease company submitted their order - stating that they had received the order from my leasing company along with the new RN. So you should get an RN text either way. I didn't get a text when my order was taken over but you do see your car disappear from your tesla account. That could have been because of either a cancellation or because the order was taken over. Given my lack of trust at this point, I made sure to get confirmation from both tesla and the leasing company that the order had been taken over ok. I'd repeatedly been told by the leasing company that it was sorted only to find tesla disagreed. I'd say tesla is the more reliable source of information here.
Anyway, I missed Sept in the end so did I achieve anything after all that? I did get the first boat / early delivery for Nov though so maybe saved a few weeks. Had I not chased, it could have been Q1 next year. Delivery due tomorrow
It's tesmass-eve here
)
