I don’t know the etiquette but I’m cross posting this on this website and the Tesla owner forums because I think it’s important for people to get firsthand accounts of the Tesla ordering and delivery experience. Also, I’m guessing many people had the same thoughts/reservations I did when considering a new Model 3.
Here is some background (you can skip this paragraph if you aren’t interested): I am an electric car enthusiast but was never able to buy one because I travel about 90-100 miles a day. I have owned a Prius for 8 years and 210,000 miles, then an Accord Hybrid. When my oldest son got his license two years ago I decided to buy a new car even though the Accord was only three years old and let him use the Accord. I desperately wanted to go electric but the Model S was $90,000 and the Leaf had only about 100 mile range. I ended up buying a Prius Prime which got about 25 miles of electric range and then a 55 MPG. I can charge at work so I was basically driving about half my weekday miles on electric. I was happy with the car and could have easily kept it for 10 more years.
I decided to finally upgrade to a fully electric vehicle. The reason for writing this isn’t just to introduce myself but to write about what I went through with ordering and picking up the vehicle. I’m sure some people have had great experiences and some have had worse ones but this is just one individual’s experience picking up a Model 3 this past week in NY (Long Island).
As expected, ordering the car could not have been easier. I could have ordered it online in 5 seconds (As most people who end up buying one, I probably configured it on the website 50 times over the last few months) but wanted to go into the store to ask questions about the rumors I heard about free supercharging and possible upgrades (I really wanted white paint and black interior with 18 inch wheels so I wasn’t looking for upgrades anyway). I went to the Manhasset, NY store and they explained the very limited circumstances you can get upgrades but confirmed the 2 year supercharging if I took delivery by the end of the quarter. Most importantly, they had the configuration I wanted in New Jersey and said they could get it in a week. No pressure. No sales manager. No up-sell in any way.
I then had to go through the post ordering process. I financed through Tesla and had them take a payoff my Prius Prime. I have read horror stories about how poorly organized Tesla is once you order the car, how unresponsive they are, how they mess up the financing documents, how they mess up the car payoffs, etc. All I can say is my experience was so perfect from start to finish that it would put any regular car dealership to shame. In one week (and I don’t know how some of you handle going weeks or longer waiting because I was going crazy) they emailed me two or three times and called me. Financing was quick and easy. They assumed I was going to put down a certain amount of money and when I saw the docs I told them I wanted to put down a larger down payment. 30 minutes later the updated documents with the updated numbers appeared in my account. I uploaded all the documents they requested. Literally, the only hitch was because of my insurance carrier and the Manhasset document specialist (Ricki) told me that she would call them directly (ON HER DAY OFF) and take care of it (which she did). Most of my contact with Tesla was through email or text and I never want to buy a car the old way ever again. Every contact with them was overwhelmingly positive. This could not have been an easier or more enjoyable experience.
They called me over the weekend to schedule pickup for 10am yesterday. I told them I couldn’t make it at 10. They said they were really busy this week but could do at 2pm. Again, no problem accommodating my request.
I also heard horror stories about the pickup process and how rushed it can be. Stories about people being given the car and told to read the manual. Stories about people being given 5 minutes with the car and no information. Again, my experience was completely opposite. They told me ahead of time they were delivering 20-25 cars a day this week so I expected the worst. My sales rep Brittany was excited to see me (she knew how badly I wanted this car) and they had someone switch my plates, and go over every aspect of the car. It took more than 30 minutes for him to go over the car. I probably didn’t need so much detail because I’ve been reading these forums forever but he kept showing me every menu, every part of the car. It was just a fantastic experience.
Also VERY important- before he went over the details of the car I asked for some extended time to go over the car myself. I had a five page checklist that I downloaded from the internet for what to review with a new Model 3. He obviously had other owners coming in but had no problem giving me as much time as I wanted. The checklist is crazy long and crazy detailed but we’ve all read the stories about large panel gaps and unpainted surfaces and all the delivery problems. I’m not a “bring a caliper with you” type of person but if I’m spending this much for a car I want to be correct and I want anything wrong noted and fixed. The car was PERFECT. Again- PERFECT. Panels were perfect, White paint perfect. Interior seats perfect. Doors perfect. Windows perfect. Everything was perfect. In all honesty, I expect a new car to not have any issues. The ordering and delivery process was better than any car dealer I ever experienced. The condition of the new car was exactly like every new car I ever bought- not one blemish or imperfection.
As for the car itself, I always read how people love the Tesla experience. I test drove the car but nothing prepared me for how I feel right now. I haven’t stopped smiling for the past two days. I had very high expectations and the car has exceeded all of them. Today I was at a light next to another Model 3 owner. I told him I just got mine. He said “six months in and I still love it as much as the day I bought it”.
I could not be happier.
Here is some background (you can skip this paragraph if you aren’t interested): I am an electric car enthusiast but was never able to buy one because I travel about 90-100 miles a day. I have owned a Prius for 8 years and 210,000 miles, then an Accord Hybrid. When my oldest son got his license two years ago I decided to buy a new car even though the Accord was only three years old and let him use the Accord. I desperately wanted to go electric but the Model S was $90,000 and the Leaf had only about 100 mile range. I ended up buying a Prius Prime which got about 25 miles of electric range and then a 55 MPG. I can charge at work so I was basically driving about half my weekday miles on electric. I was happy with the car and could have easily kept it for 10 more years.
I decided to finally upgrade to a fully electric vehicle. The reason for writing this isn’t just to introduce myself but to write about what I went through with ordering and picking up the vehicle. I’m sure some people have had great experiences and some have had worse ones but this is just one individual’s experience picking up a Model 3 this past week in NY (Long Island).
As expected, ordering the car could not have been easier. I could have ordered it online in 5 seconds (As most people who end up buying one, I probably configured it on the website 50 times over the last few months) but wanted to go into the store to ask questions about the rumors I heard about free supercharging and possible upgrades (I really wanted white paint and black interior with 18 inch wheels so I wasn’t looking for upgrades anyway). I went to the Manhasset, NY store and they explained the very limited circumstances you can get upgrades but confirmed the 2 year supercharging if I took delivery by the end of the quarter. Most importantly, they had the configuration I wanted in New Jersey and said they could get it in a week. No pressure. No sales manager. No up-sell in any way.
I then had to go through the post ordering process. I financed through Tesla and had them take a payoff my Prius Prime. I have read horror stories about how poorly organized Tesla is once you order the car, how unresponsive they are, how they mess up the financing documents, how they mess up the car payoffs, etc. All I can say is my experience was so perfect from start to finish that it would put any regular car dealership to shame. In one week (and I don’t know how some of you handle going weeks or longer waiting because I was going crazy) they emailed me two or three times and called me. Financing was quick and easy. They assumed I was going to put down a certain amount of money and when I saw the docs I told them I wanted to put down a larger down payment. 30 minutes later the updated documents with the updated numbers appeared in my account. I uploaded all the documents they requested. Literally, the only hitch was because of my insurance carrier and the Manhasset document specialist (Ricki) told me that she would call them directly (ON HER DAY OFF) and take care of it (which she did). Most of my contact with Tesla was through email or text and I never want to buy a car the old way ever again. Every contact with them was overwhelmingly positive. This could not have been an easier or more enjoyable experience.
They called me over the weekend to schedule pickup for 10am yesterday. I told them I couldn’t make it at 10. They said they were really busy this week but could do at 2pm. Again, no problem accommodating my request.
I also heard horror stories about the pickup process and how rushed it can be. Stories about people being given the car and told to read the manual. Stories about people being given 5 minutes with the car and no information. Again, my experience was completely opposite. They told me ahead of time they were delivering 20-25 cars a day this week so I expected the worst. My sales rep Brittany was excited to see me (she knew how badly I wanted this car) and they had someone switch my plates, and go over every aspect of the car. It took more than 30 minutes for him to go over the car. I probably didn’t need so much detail because I’ve been reading these forums forever but he kept showing me every menu, every part of the car. It was just a fantastic experience.
Also VERY important- before he went over the details of the car I asked for some extended time to go over the car myself. I had a five page checklist that I downloaded from the internet for what to review with a new Model 3. He obviously had other owners coming in but had no problem giving me as much time as I wanted. The checklist is crazy long and crazy detailed but we’ve all read the stories about large panel gaps and unpainted surfaces and all the delivery problems. I’m not a “bring a caliper with you” type of person but if I’m spending this much for a car I want to be correct and I want anything wrong noted and fixed. The car was PERFECT. Again- PERFECT. Panels were perfect, White paint perfect. Interior seats perfect. Doors perfect. Windows perfect. Everything was perfect. In all honesty, I expect a new car to not have any issues. The ordering and delivery process was better than any car dealer I ever experienced. The condition of the new car was exactly like every new car I ever bought- not one blemish or imperfection.
As for the car itself, I always read how people love the Tesla experience. I test drove the car but nothing prepared me for how I feel right now. I haven’t stopped smiling for the past two days. I had very high expectations and the car has exceeded all of them. Today I was at a light next to another Model 3 owner. I told him I just got mine. He said “six months in and I still love it as much as the day I bought it”.
I could not be happier.