Hey all,
I've been a Leaf owner since Oct 2014 and have been looking at the Model S since 2015. When Tesla had their (secret?) firesale in June, I just happened to check their inventory a week or so after the initial date of the firesale so missed out on the really good deals. I put a deposit down on a local car via their website after trying to coordinate putting a deposit down with the CPO salesperson. If you are looking at CPO cars through Tesla, I discovered that there are not many CPO salespeople employed by Tesla so they are all VERY busy. My salesperson rarely got back to me right away, usually getting back to me the following day or not getting back to me at all unless I sent a follow up email/text. They are swamped or at least that is the impression I get or just not very good at returning emails/texts.
I applied for financing via the Tesla website. When I was entering the numbers in, the price for my CPO car was locked in at the original MSRP price and this could not be changed. Moreover, the deposit amount could not be lowered below 10%. I relayed this to my salesperson and was told that this was a known issue. On delivery day, I came prepared to put down my deposit, which was well below 10% of original MSRP. The salesperson helping me that day told me that I needed to put down what was on the website (ie. based off MSRP). I told him I was not planning on putting down that much and he mumbled something about it would delay the delivery process by a few days but he did not seem interested in helping me out. Instead, he just expected me to write a check for a much larger amount. On the plus side, my monthly payment is lower, but that was a less than pleasant experience.
A few days prior to delivery, I was contacted by my original salesperson who told me that I could take delivery of the car but they needed to replace 3 things that were on backorder. I was told I could still take possession of the car and when the parts came in they would give me a loaner and fix these things (headliner, windshield, front chin spoiler). I said that was fine. When I came in for delivery, none of these items were listed on the Due statement so I had to bring it up. The delivery salesperson went inside to check on this and when he returned told me that they would be replacing the headliner and the front chin spoiler but no mention of the windshield. Mind you, the windshield is not cracked but does have some minor pitting. Makes me wonder if there is something else wrong with the windshield if they recommended replacing it in the first place.
Communication can definitely be better. Thought I would share my experience with anyone considering purchasing a CPO car from Tesla. It is definitely a leap of blind faith in many ways. I've left the same comment with the Tesla delivery survey and also sent an email to my original salesperson.
One final note I didn't realize when buying an older CPO is that there is no indication if the car comes with parking sensors or not. I think you have to physically see the car or at least ask your salesperson if the car comes with parking sensors since you really cannot see the car until delivery day (which took me almost 8 weeks after I put the deposit down). They were a stand alone option on earlier Model S cars and they were not bundled with the tech package until mid 2014 I believe (and I think they are a standard option now).
I've been a Leaf owner since Oct 2014 and have been looking at the Model S since 2015. When Tesla had their (secret?) firesale in June, I just happened to check their inventory a week or so after the initial date of the firesale so missed out on the really good deals. I put a deposit down on a local car via their website after trying to coordinate putting a deposit down with the CPO salesperson. If you are looking at CPO cars through Tesla, I discovered that there are not many CPO salespeople employed by Tesla so they are all VERY busy. My salesperson rarely got back to me right away, usually getting back to me the following day or not getting back to me at all unless I sent a follow up email/text. They are swamped or at least that is the impression I get or just not very good at returning emails/texts.
I applied for financing via the Tesla website. When I was entering the numbers in, the price for my CPO car was locked in at the original MSRP price and this could not be changed. Moreover, the deposit amount could not be lowered below 10%. I relayed this to my salesperson and was told that this was a known issue. On delivery day, I came prepared to put down my deposit, which was well below 10% of original MSRP. The salesperson helping me that day told me that I needed to put down what was on the website (ie. based off MSRP). I told him I was not planning on putting down that much and he mumbled something about it would delay the delivery process by a few days but he did not seem interested in helping me out. Instead, he just expected me to write a check for a much larger amount. On the plus side, my monthly payment is lower, but that was a less than pleasant experience.
A few days prior to delivery, I was contacted by my original salesperson who told me that I could take delivery of the car but they needed to replace 3 things that were on backorder. I was told I could still take possession of the car and when the parts came in they would give me a loaner and fix these things (headliner, windshield, front chin spoiler). I said that was fine. When I came in for delivery, none of these items were listed on the Due statement so I had to bring it up. The delivery salesperson went inside to check on this and when he returned told me that they would be replacing the headliner and the front chin spoiler but no mention of the windshield. Mind you, the windshield is not cracked but does have some minor pitting. Makes me wonder if there is something else wrong with the windshield if they recommended replacing it in the first place.
Communication can definitely be better. Thought I would share my experience with anyone considering purchasing a CPO car from Tesla. It is definitely a leap of blind faith in many ways. I've left the same comment with the Tesla delivery survey and also sent an email to my original salesperson.
One final note I didn't realize when buying an older CPO is that there is no indication if the car comes with parking sensors or not. I think you have to physically see the car or at least ask your salesperson if the car comes with parking sensors since you really cannot see the car until delivery day (which took me almost 8 weeks after I put the deposit down). They were a stand alone option on earlier Model S cars and they were not bundled with the tech package until mid 2014 I believe (and I think they are a standard option now).
