Nightmarish Tesla Model 3 delivery - need help

[singhdaljit]

I reserved my Model 3 two plus years ago by going to the showroom, waiting 5 hours in line and ordered the car when I was invited for the Dual Motor version.

My car came to the showroom in early September, so I got the loan from a credit union and went to go pick up the vehicle at my assigned appointment.

Unfortunately, the vehicle that was being given to me had a chipped roof, two punctures in the steel frame by the trunk and bubbles in the side panels between the passenger window and the back window. Anyway, I did not take delivery of the vehicle. I had to cancel my loan because it is tied to a particular VIN and the Credit Union was already charging me interest on the loan.

I was very disappointed but waited for a new vehicle to be assigned. Again, I went to see the vehicle and found a dent in the hood. Tesla said it would be a few weeks for the hood to be fixed.

Now, another new vehicle is available. Since the last two vehicles have had issues, I asked Tesla if I can see the vehicle before I initiate a loan. It is just a BIG hassle to try and redo the loan if there more issues with the vehicle.

Now, Tesla will not let me see the vehicle first. Shouldn't a customer be allowed to see a vehicle that they have been assigned? I just don't understand why this is such a NO NO for them.

What should I do? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[woodisgood]

Ugh, sorry. I agree given the last two deliveries and subsequent loan issues, they should let you see the car before initiating the loan.

You might be able to get that all done on the same day if you can coordinate between your sales advisor and loan agent. We were able to do that (had a good ISA and loan agent) two months ago. Perhaps some group emails to get everyone on the same page? That way you could go to the delivery center in the AM, check out the car, and your loan officer would be on standby ready to send loan docs right away...

 

[outie]

On your delivery appointment just go see the car. Tell them you don't have money for it (yet). Get the loan and pick up the car assuming it is done within a 1 day or 2?

 

[djgarrett21]

How far are you from the delivery center? If you know it is there it might be in spot on the lot where you can see it. It seems like they show up pretty dirty.

 

[Daniel in SD]

On your delivery appointment just go see the car. Tell them you don't have money for it (yet). Get the loan and pick up the car assuming it is done within a 1 day or 2?

It would be a bummer to do this and have them sell your flawless Model 3 to someone else but this does seem like the best course of action. Tell them you forgot the check at home. haha

 

[timk225]

The punctures are weird, but otherwise, the chip and bubbles are 2 of the most crybaby whiner first world problem things I have ever seen! Get Tesla to knock off $1000 for them, get them fixed, and get on with life!

And to you it's a "nightmare"!

 

[Powered By Jay]

Ask Tesla to match or beat you credit union loan rate and you won’t have to go through the hassle with your credit union if the next one is also rejected.

 

[jpk195]

I saw my car before securing financing, but not by design. Long story short, my bank doesn’t send payment to dealers, and I had to leave after seeing the car, go to the bank to get the check, and come back to pay for it later in the day. You might be able to do something similar if your bank doesn’t need the VIN until they cut you the check.

 

[AnesDragon]

I reserved my Model 3 two plus years ago by going to the showroom, waiting 5 hours in line and ordered the car when I was invited for the Dual Motor version.

My car came to the showroom in early September, so I got the loan from a credit union and went to go pick up the vehicle at my assigned appointment.

Unfortunately, the vehicle that was being given to me had a chipped roof, two punctures in the steel frame by the trunk and bubbles in the side panels between the passenger window and the back window. Anyway, I did not take delivery of the vehicle. I had to cancel my loan because it is tied to a particular VIN and the Credit Union was already charging me interest on the loan.

I was very disappointed but waited for a new vehicle to be assigned. Again, I went to see the vehicle and found a dent in the hood. Tesla said it would be a few weeks for the hood to be fixed.

Now, another new vehicle is available. Since the last two vehicles have had issues, I asked Tesla if I can see the vehicle before I initiate a loan. It is just a BIG hassle to try and redo the loan if there more issues with the vehicle.

Now, Tesla will not let me see the vehicle first. Shouldn't a customer be allowed to see a vehicle that they have been assigned? I just don't understand why this is such a NO NO for them.

What should I do? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

With your given history with Tesla, I can see why you are so squeamish. You are a good paying customer and Tesla is by no means cheap. Although they screwed up in the past, I think it is in your probability that your 3rd attempt will be more likely to be a success. After all you probably are very excited to take ownership of Model 3. It is a great vehicle to drive and it would be nice to go in with positive attitude and get a nice deliverable car. Some minor defects are easily taken care of anyway. Third time will be the charm. Good luck to you! I took delivery of P3D+ at the end of the third quarter and loving every minute I drive the car.

 

[ewoodrick]

Now, another new vehicle is available. Since the last two vehicles have had issues, I asked Tesla if I can see the vehicle before I initiate a loan. It is just a BIG hassle to try and redo the loan if there more issues with the vehicle.

Now, Tesla will not let me see the vehicle first. Shouldn't a customer be allowed to see a vehicle that they have been assigned? I just don't understand why this is such a NO NO for them.

What should I do? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

You are not buying a car the way that every other car has been sold. You are buying a car from the Internet . The process works pretty much like Amazon. You buy, it ships, you receive, you send back. You start cycle again.

To complicate things a little more, there are thousands, no, hundreds of thousand of people in line waiting for their vehicles.

Regrettably, the sheer volume has overwhelmed just about every portion of Tesla and they are working hard to bring the quality back to where they were at the beginning of this year.

Even Amazon allows you so many returns before the decide that their products and process just may not be suitable for you.

Maybe you want to just cancel for now and wait a few years to get the fit and finish up to a point that allows you to be satisfied. Don't forget that they didn't scrap the cars you rejected, they found other people that were happy to take them, either as-is or repaired.

 

[singhdaljit]

The punctures are weird, but otherwise, the chip and bubbles are 2 of the most crybaby whiner first world problem things I have ever seen! Get Tesla to knock off $1000 for them, get them fixed, and get on with life!

And to you it's a "nightmare"!

@jpk195 - The "nightmare" is having to go back and forth for the past month and a half. A chipped roof will likely lead to a crack and worse. If a person is buying a new car, they should not have to accept such flaw as a normal thing. Perhaps you need to raise your standards a bit.

 

[super20g]

They should fix obvious flaws before scheduling delivery to the consumer... No one would prefer to show up and have to accept delivery of a new car with visible defects at any price point... Then you have to turn around and drop off the new car to service who in my case royally screwed up the car to the point I had to ask for a replacement which is turning into a big hassle...

 

[FlyinDelorean]

Contact an attorney and invoke Lemon Law in your state. No choice. Protect your interests.

 

[ngogas]

@singhdaljit - sorry about your luck. May the third one is the lucky one. Some of the things that are minor, see if you can live with them replacing this items.

 

[Knightshade]

Contact an attorney and invoke Lemon Law in your state. No choice. Protect your interests.

That makes no sense. He hasn't actually purchased a car yet.

 

[Raechris]

OP lemon laws do not protect against cosmetic issues only serious safety related (chip in glass not enough) issues that have had three unsuccessful repair attempts. Then the pain and suffering of dealing with throwing good money after bad, a state agency, a court and a lawyer. If you had experienced this fresh hell before you would not have suggested this. It is a waste of ones limited time on earth.

 

[FlyinDelorean]

Not necessarily - in certain states if the car is out of commission or has a material defect for a certain period of time, and it has not been corrected by the manufacturer or dealer after a certain period of time, then you would, yes, be covered under Lemon law provisions. However, it varies from state to state. Wait, he didn't buy the car yet? I thought he left the dealership with it like that. If thats the case, then you're right. Sorry!

 

[Kichwas]

The punctures are weird, but otherwise, the chip and bubbles are 2 of the most crybaby whiner first world problem things I have ever seen! Get Tesla to knock off $1000 for them, get them fixed, and get on with life!

My first car was a new 1996 dodge neon that had... chips and bubbles in the paint that I didn’t notice for the first few weeks.

Within a year the paint was peeling off. By the time I got rid of the car about ten years later it was missing about 40% of it’s paint and rusting in exposed areas.

Dodge claimed it was an isolated issue. Go google dodge neon paint peeling... but they refused to fix it once I was off the lot. Fixing it privately would have involved removing the whole car’s paint down to even removing the primer... because the bubbles I saw when new were just the start of the peel... they were the clie that the actual problem was the entire primer job for that entire run of cars...

This is NOT a small issue.

 

[S4WRXTTCS]

Unfortunately I think you're out of luck.

Now what you might be able to do is to ask them if you can buy an inventory car, and maybe get a discount on it. If it's an inventory car then you can take a look at it before initiating the loan (assuming it's a SC near you).

If I was in your shoes I'd reluctantly re-initiate a loan approval, and then take a look at the car before accepting delivery.

If it's not suitable I'd walk away completely. There are plenty of competitors coming online, and so it's only going to be a year or two before we have a lot of choices.

Where no one in their right minds would put up with this crap. The crap being even showing people cars that are bad.