Model x order - confused

[Rdt123]

Hi all

I have a model x performance in order through a leasing company. I placed the order around Xmas and got confirmation in early Jan. I got the RN off them and rang Tesla. Bizarrely he said they don’t know anything other than I haven’t been ‘matched’ to a car yet ?? He said probably March /April

never experienced anything like it ordering any other new car.

can anyone explain how it works, what ‘matching’ is and why they don’t even have a clue?!!

ta

 

[lowtek]

Welcome to Tesla where demand greatly exceeds supply ...

Have faith in the process, as long as you have an RN you're all set, it may be a few months before you get any updates.

 

[Tonybvi]

Ordered my MX in August 2019. Website delivery stated end September, Edinburgh told me end October. No contact at all from Tesla bar one phone call just to verify order details (I.e. no trade in,cash, etc). Found my hidden VIN around mid -October. Final invoice from Tesla with same VIN appeared on my account page a week or so after. Car delivered end October. Just a few emails from Tesla a couple of days before delivery to confirm collection details and that was it!!

 

[Rdt123]

Wow so I guess they will stick my car on a ship and I won’t here anything till it gets to the UK?

 

[lowtek]

Yea, it's crazy. I'm a big Tesla fan but looking forward to some competition in the market to get them more customer focused.

 

[Tonybvi]

Wow so I guess they will stick my car on a ship and I won’t here anything till it gets to the UK?

Yep - that’s basically it! I think they got in touch when it was in Holland (Tilburg) being reassembled after its trip over in a container.

 

[Rdt123]

So when they say matched im presuming this means Tesla receive the order and ship the vehicle but without telling the customer until it’s arrived in the UK ?

 

[Plagued]

you used to be able to track your car all the way through production, but when they stopped making cars to order and just started matching people to cars it all got a bit messy.
I believe they match when your car is being loaded onto a boat, but this is more of a soft match as effectively you're just in a queue of people that want that specific configuration, so if someone can't make their delivery window within a week, or if the car arrives faulty/damaged everyone in the queue gets shuffled about. So in a lot of instances they just try and give you a rough month when the ship is on its way over then you and then maybe a day/time a couple of weeks before. Also for those needing to insure you may not get a licence plate until the day before you collect.

 

[Rdt123]

What’s crazy is that I got the impression that they just send random cars until one is en-route that matches your spec. I thought - that can’t be right - how many model x performance in blue with white interior and 22 rims can there be coming to the uk? I could wait all year. Now I imagine they do order your car and tell you it’s yours when it gets here

 

[Darmie]

you used to be able to track your car all the way through production, but when they stopped making cars to order and just started matching people to cars it all got a bit messy..

Didn't know this was a change. Is this just for overseas orders?

 

[Tonybvi]

So when they say matched im presuming this means Tesla receive the order and ship the vehicle but without telling the customer until it’s arrived in the UK ?

The first advice I got from Tesla about my Raven X was to tell me that “it had arrived in Europe” a week or two before I took delivery in Edinburgh. At that time, and I believe still so now, MS and MX are built in Fremont, shipped across to whatever port of departure in the states (by train I think) stripped down into containers then shipped across to Zeebrugge on container ships and reassembled in Tilburg before being shipped to UK.
M3 on the other hand are shipped complete on car transporter ships.

 

[Rdt123]

Interesting - thanks mate the lease company did say they find Tesla different to deal with and I may hear before them !

 

[Tonybvi]

Just found the email below which was the first I got from Tesla after ordering in August. This email came on 15th October for a 26th collection:



Hi Tony,


I hope you are well!


I just wanted to provide you with an update on your Model X!


It is currently getting ready to make its way over to us here in the UK, we therefore have a collection date for you of Saturday the 26th of October at 12pm.

 

[Rdt123]

Amazing Tony - nothing for two months then 11 days notice. I live in Teesside and expecting Leeds. Guy today says Birmingham !

 

[WannabeOwner]

So when they say matched im presuming this means Tesla receive the order and ship the vehicle but without telling the customer until it’s arrived in the UK ?

Yup, that's about the top and bottom of it. As others have said Tesla have dramatically reduced the number of options to streamline production and so that they can make for "stock". Generally your best bet is to phone and ask what they have lying around (if you are flexible on colour etc.) because if they have something suitable "in stock" it avoids the wait, but I don't know if that fits well with using Leasing. Probably works better on the continent where they can aggregate all left-hand-drive cars for all countries. For example, to maximise convert-to-cash in the last few days of the quarter they erected a tent on the docks in Holland and shipped cars to anyone local who could collect - pretty much "straight off the boat"... I can't find the article but a figure of 600 cars a day sticks in my mind.

I guess Leasing should be fine, finance-wise, but I've typically had only 48 hours to pay-and-collect by the time paperwork is resolved (probably compounded when V5 needs to be in name of company and it wasn't all straight from the get go at their end). The amount of manual messing around they do with invoices / credit note must cost them a fortune.

Heathrow is probably worst for MS / MX handover. They can shift 100 - 200 cars a day there, and only a few are non-M3. I picked up an MS there in November and they were a bit apologetic that all they had was the group PowerPoint presentation for M3 ... mine was a replacement for existing MS so not a problem for me, but I'm not sure that is the right approach for punters shelling out £100K for the first time! and for sure the M3 layout is not the same as MS / MX. But there are staff on hand, so if I had needed some help I am sure they would have made time for me.

I expect that MS / MX handover at any of the other, smaller throughput, sites would be much more personal.

Tesla have reliance on the hassle of purchase soon being forgotten once customers get the pedal-to-the-metal ...

11 days notice

Luxury!

 

[Tonybvi]

I’m glad I live up here because Edinburgh have been great, and still continue to be so. Once the standard typical Tesla frustrations of no communication were over the car, when collected from Edinburgh was thoroughly prepared and the Edinburgh team (both sales and service) couldn’t be more friendly and helpful. I have had the car for the best part of 4 months now and put around 4000 miles on the clock. No issues whatsoever. Thank you Edinburgh.

 

[Tonybvi]

I also forgot to mention that collection was a one on one experience with 15 or so minutes on our own to look the car over then a good 30 minute handover. After that we were again left for as long as we liked to play with the car and ask for any clarification we wanted. A thoroughly pleasant handover and better than I have had with previous ICE cars.
Please note I have no relatives working for Edinburgh Tesla (!!!) but simply want to highlight a good operation given all the adverse comments re Tesla collection experience on this forum.

 

[Rdt123]

It’d be quicker for me to drive there than Birmingham !

 

[Plagued]

Didn't know this was a change. Is this just for overseas orders?

I'm pretty sure it's a complete change in the way they operate bought on by the model 3. When my brother first bought his (pre facelift) model S you got notifications that it was entering production and how far along it was, then you could see they'd loaded it onto train, then a boat. He's has three other Teslas since and with his Model 3 he ordered, heard nothing at all until getting a delivery date in three weeks and then had to phone up the day before collecting to see if they had actually received his payment as he got no notification and to check the the collection was still happening... oh and could he have the registration plate for insurance.
My collection was a little more informed (but not a lot) and I was able to pull most of the data (like if they'd received my payment) from the source code on my order page.
In theory building and matching after production is a better solution to actually make a large volume of cars and get them out to people. It means that someone who's car has an issue doesn't have another 3 month wait while it goes back into production, but it does mean that it's a worse experience for everyone . Match that with their post sale QA and you get a lot of disgruntled customers. Ultimately the customer satisfaction is still so good due to the quality of the product that it's not reducing sales enough to cause Tesla a problem. Maybe when it does they will start to properly address it.

 

[Rdt123]

Good points. I think it’s fine to work like this with a limited number of combinations for high volume sales. The problem comes with rarer models and combinations where it really needs to be custom built - I don’t see why they can’t let you track that all the way through