New experience and cancelled my order

[mcho3]

I have made almost 20 car purchases and price range from 18k to 130k.
Tesla buying experience so far has been unique and would not repeat.

I have been told inaccurate information and wasn't explained that I would be dealing with, my local sales rep, inside delivery rep in California, auto financing rep Nevada (who I can only contact via email)
1.
I was told that Tesla will match trade in value acquired from any dealerships including Carmax. Encouraged to go to Carmax since they offer more trade in value compared to Tesla. After I made two trips to local dealership for valuation for my car, and returned it to Tesla. I was told that they only honor Carmax valuation and sorry it was my mistake from my sales rep.
He told me, many times Carmax will show better trade in value, however their valuation came in $7000 less.
2.
Sales person also told me, my trade in value would be $75,000 after he took all the info and told me that my monthly payment would be $xxxx and only thing that will change it is if I were to get a higher trade in value from Carmax. I was surprised to be contacted by my delivery rep and he's valuation was lower and was able to get it increased because I had written trade in value from my store rep.
3.
Then I was told, I would get sales tax credit for my leased trade-in. I asked several times if that was true and repeatedly told "yes" because I am trading in my car to Tesla. I figured 3 verbal confirmation was enough and since Tesla doesn't have used car department I must be wrong. Well that wasn't true, no sales tax credit for lease trade in.

Even now, I never got any communication from financing department regarding if after $10,000 down payment we can roll in tax to my total loan amount. 3 days and no response. I had three reps trying to find out information from financing department but no response by any of them. One just told me I should reach out to the financing department my self and ask if rolling in tax is possible. BUT I DID THREE DAYS AGO...

I feel like they are quick to hook you, since they know they have a great product, and details can be worked out later after order and deposit is placed and customer is emotionally committed. They just don't care.

So how does it end
Tesla offered 2 year free maintenance, which will be value of $1500 and take it or leave it.
They don't care if their staff is miscommunicating to their customers, making false promises.
I am just another unhappy customer joining the club. But they don't care since there are many others who will replace me.

 

[P85DPB]

Sorry about your misfortunes- but that could have easily been addressed by having all your agreements in writing. Not just at a Tesla dealership but just in general when negotiating and going into contracts!

 

[glide]

Sorry about your misfortunes- but that could have easily been addressed by having all your agreements in writing. Not just at a Tesla dealership but just in general when negotiating and going into contracts!

Don’t blame the victim

 

[cgrubbe]

Ah the wonders of a tech company trying to play car dealer. I think its actually less painful to spend a day haggling with the local econobox dealer and their 4 square than trying to get someone from Tesla Finance to respond to email or answer their phone.

 

[Prunesquallor]

My rule had been to give yourself a bridge loan, sell the old car later (e.g. CarMax) and remove it from the new car buying equation.

 

[shrfu31]

Not a Tesla apologist, but if I am reading this right I am seriously not seeing the problems here.

1. They told you Carmax. You then went to dealerships other than Carmax. Then when you brought in "Dealership my friend could be a part of with a ridiculously high valuation" you got upset because they wouldn't take it? Then why not just sell it to the other dealership and call it a day. All my paperwork had my trade in as a part of it. Last minute someone was willing to pay a higher price than Tesla. Duh, sold it to them instead.

2. Sounds like a communication issue you got ultimately resolved because you had it in writing. Good job!

3. Sales tax decrease is a little sticky. First off, this highly depends on what STATE you are in. This is out of Tesla's control. In some states, the trade-in you do, DECREASES the price calculated for sales tax. So if you are buying $130,000 with a $75,000 trade-in, some states would base their sales tax on $55,000 (the remaining amount to be financed or whatever) vs the whole original $130,000. Again, not a Tesla issue at ALL. And even if their sales rep told you something incorrect, how could they fix it in your eyes? Just cover your side of the taxes or something? Let's be reasonable.

Dude, for someone who has done "almost 20 car purchases and price range from 18k to 130k." your thing about rolling tax into the loan is really weird. As long as you are credit worthy enough any number of banks, credit unions or shady loan sharks will give you the amount of money necessary to buy the car including taxes, registration fees, or for the premium floormats. Especially if you have 75K worth of equity involved in the loan already? Your post makes 0 sense.

So you don't like the Tesla buying experience. Yet you come to a Tesla-centric website to complain....but you don't have a Tesla....and will not repeat the limited experience you had. Wow. Good luck!

 

[wp746911]

The tesla car buying experience wasn't smooth for me either. Hard to pin it down- just lots of misinformation or lack of information. I got different emails from different people who said different things. I agree- I don't think salesmanship for retail cars is their strong suite. For whatever its worth, the ownership has been great though.

 

[posity]

If you go onto the process of buying a Tesla expecting everything to be a well-oiled machine without flaws, then you are probably not the right person to be buying a Tesla. The company is still very young, learning the ropes, and proud of the fact that they do everything a bit different than their stodgy old 100+ year old competitors. They don't have all the procedures in place for every process - it's clear they are 'winging it', trying to hold on to a crazy rocket ship that is taking off (hopefully without crashing).

I purchased a Tesla because I believe in what they are trying to do. And from poking around here and elsewhere, I knew I would have to cut them some slack. The car is not perfect. The company is not perfect. But it is the best darn electric car ever made, bar none. If you need your hand held, cannot roll with the punches, cannot handle the unknown, want everything your way at your price, then go buy a gas guzzling ICE car and kwitcherbitchin.

 

[jboy210]

That is a convoluted buying process. Lots of moving parts and worse, human opinions on worth and what other humans will do. I am not surprised the numbers did not total.

I hope Tesla figures this out and trains their people not to make promises until everything is in writing from all parties.

 

[mcho3]

Sorry about your misfortunes- but that could have easily been addressed by having all your agreements in writing. Not just at a Tesla dealership but just in general when negotiating and going into contracts!

I didn't even think about it since he was so confident, and to a point my wife was asking me if I had trust issue!!!

 

[mcho3]

Don’t blame the victim

None taken, it was such a poor representation of their brand image. Made me think is that why John McNeill leave Tesla.
I thought he was going to develop executive department just to deal with situations like mine...

 

[mcho3]

Ah the wonders of a tech company trying to play car dealer. I think its actually less painful to spend a day haggling with the local econobox dealer and their 4 square than trying to get someone from Tesla Finance to respond to email or answer their phone.

Till now I don't have any response to the questions I sent over past Saturday, and supposedly two reps and store manager is trying to reach out to them.

 

[rush6410]

I am just another unhappy customer joining the club. But they don't care since there are many others who will replace me.

Actually you are not a customer. If you are going to base your entire opinion of Tesla without owning one, you are the clear loser. Tesla by far has the highest customer satisfaction of all manufacturers several years running. When you actually have owned one weighing the entire experience of ownership then your opinion may carry some validity.

 

[mcho3]

My rule had been to give yourself a bridge loan, sell the old car later (e.g. CarMax) and remove it from the new car buying equation.

no kidding, Only reason I kept in the equation was because "I got sales tax credit"...

 

[mcho3]

Actually you are not a customer. If you are going to base your entire opinion of Tesla without owning one, you are the clear loser. Tesla by far has the highest customer satisfaction of all manufacturers several years running. When you actually have owned one weighing the entire experience of ownership then your opinion may carry some validity.

I am glad you had a positive experience and you are enjoying your car.

 

[mkspeedr]

Having gone through the Tesla buying process 6 times - every has been progressively more painful. I love the vehicles but they must fix the delivery process. Luckily you only buy the car once and you drive it daily. Just deal with the pain of buying it and enjoy the car.

 

[cgrubbe]

Actually you are not a customer. If you are going to base your entire opinion of Tesla without owning one, you are the clear loser. Tesla by far has the highest customer satisfaction of all manufacturers several years running. When you actually have owned one weighing the entire experience of ownership then your opinion may carry some validity.

I am an owner. I've dealt with the same sort of issues.

The cars are second to none, more fun to drive than almost anything with 4 wheels. The "dealership" side of things is where Tesla has much room to improve.

 

[mcho3]

Not a Tesla apologist, but if I am reading this right I am seriously not seeing the problems here.

1. They told you Carmax. You then went to dealerships other than Carmax. Then when you brought in "Dealership my friend could be a part of with a ridiculously high valuation" you got upset because they wouldn't take it? Then why not just sell it to the other dealership and call it a day. All my paperwork had my trade in as a part of it. Last minute someone was willing to pay a higher price than Tesla. Duh, sold it to them instead.

2. Sounds like a communication issue you got ultimately resolved because you had it in writing. Good job!

3. Sales tax decrease is a little sticky. First off, this highly depends on what STATE you are in. This is out of Tesla's control. In some states, the trade-in you do, DECREASES the price calculated for sales tax. So if you are buying $130,000 with a $75,000 trade-in, some states would base their sales tax on $55,000 (the remaining amount to be financed or whatever) vs the whole original $130,000. Again, not a Tesla issue at ALL. And even if their sales rep told you something incorrect, how could they fix it in your eyes? Just cover your side of the taxes or something? Let's be reasonable.

Dude, for someone who has done "almost 20 car purchases and price range from 18k to 130k." your thing about rolling tax into the loan is really weird. As long as you are credit worthy enough any number of banks, credit unions or shady loan sharks will give you the amount of money necessary to buy the car including taxes, registration fees, or for the premium floormats. Especially if you have 75K worth of equity involved in the loan already? Your post makes 0 sense.

So you don't like the Tesla buying experience. Yet you come to a Tesla-centric website to complain....but you don't have a Tesla....and will not repeat the limited experience you had. Wow. Good luck!

Sales rep told me Carmax or any other dealership and they would match it. I would have sold it to the other company which gave me higher valuation but, Tesla rep told me if i were to trade the car into them they will give me sales tax credit for my lease car. It appeared to be a simpler transaction to deal with one dealership. Additionally, with sales tax credit i would have come out $2000 ahead.

About the loan, i am 13 months into leasing my Range Rover and I managed to place 24,000 miles on the car. At this rate I am estimating to be over by 30,000 miles. Which brought my attention to Tesla with it's unlimited mile warranty for 8 years. I have negative equity for $24,000, $10,000 down payment plus $14,000 in tax, I just started to add up.

I was just sharing my experience, since isn't that what forums are for? there are many topics and this is just one thread. I am not saying Tesla model S, X, 3 are bad cars. I probably will end up with one in the future.

Hey if I offended or upset you guys for sharing my experience sorry, just pass over the tread.

 

[mcho3]

I am an owner. I've dealt with the same sort of issues.

The cars are second to none, more fun to drive than almost anything with 4 wheels. The "dealership" side of things is where Tesla has much room to improve.

I agree, they have great product but their "front office" needs some work.

 

[mcho3]

Having gone through the Tesla buying process 6 times - every has been progressively more painful. I love the vehicles but they must fix the delivery process. Luckily you only buy the car once and you drive it daily. Just deal with the pain of buying it and enjoy the car.

yes, I think I will soon recover from the experience and have a second go little later in the year. Maybe different location but I will be ready next time.