Owners with No AP - Thoughts/Plans/Speculation on What Happens Next

[shifteru]

So I'm in the camp of: "I paid what the car was worth and I'm happy with it" even though I've now only had the car for just over a week and the price dropped $1000 ($500 difference in AP and $500 in paint). It happened one day after my return period expired, but that wasn't enough to make me want to return and rebuy anyway even if it happened within it. It is what it is, and like I said, I love the car.

However, if it is at all true that people who bought in 2019 and chose to not get AP are now getting it free (not talking about new buyers who get it "included" for a higher price) then heck yeah I'm going to be bothered by it. Who wouldn't in this case?

 

[Scott7]

However, if it is at all true that people who bought in 2019 and chose to not get AP are now getting it free (not talking about new buyers who get it "included" for a higher price) then heck yeah I'm going to be bothered by it.

No need to worry then, as AP is not free for all 2019 buyers.

If it were there'd be about a million threads on it here, facebook, etc, along with news stories on all the EV sites. There's just the one person in this thread that took delivery after the price changes and talked themselves into a bargain.

 

[caskater47]

That’s the mess here. The salespeople won’t talk to me after delivery. They shuffle me to the service people.

Corporate shuffles me to sales. Sales shuffles me to service. I wait for return calls that never happen. In the meantime, I can’t get a clear answer much less someone willing to make it right. It is frustrating to say the least.

Welcome to Tesla ownership. They are the only company that sits on both ends of the spectrum. They make amazing cars but with deplorable customer service.

 

[shifteru]

No need to worry then, as AP is not free for all 2019 buyers.

If it were there'd be about a million threads on it and there's nothing anywhere I can see, except one person in this thread that took delivery after the price changes and talked themselves into a bargain.

Good point. And I’m not worried enough to do anything about it either way, but if it were true, it would be the principal of it that bothers me more than the dollar value.

 

[phantasms]

Meh. The longer I wait the better the software will get and the more likely the chance of getting it for free some day.

 

[Zero CO2]

Oh wait....so the price of EAP raised the price by $2k?

What are they doing about the $3k price they sold to tens of thousands? ( shhhh - I forgot....we aren't supposed to talk about that ). ( sweep that under the rug right? )

You paid for your M3 what you thought is was worth at the moment in time you signed the paperwork and made your financial commitment ... Tesla moves fast and is transparent about its price changes and they make mistakes ... theyt made a mistake on my power liftgate... however i went directly to the OA/service center and was made whole as i had a legitimate complaint

i doubt you will be willing to go back to the old model ... timing your decisions matters ....

 

[caskater47]

i doubt you will be willing to go back to the old model ... timing your decisions matters ....

What exactly is "the old model"? If you mean fixed pricing then remember that Tesla didn't invent no haggle pricing for cars. Saturn did. Yet Saturn still managed to maintain stable pricing by following the annual model refresh cycle. So far I've seen zero benefit to Tesla's "move fast and loose" approach. By constantly changing the price (often lower) they leave a lot of money on the table. They could easily adopt the annual model cycle for.price changes while keeping constant software updates flowing. That would make customers feel a lot better about their purchase and Tesla would make more money.

 

[Bluedogger]

Ordered my LR AWD in Canada without AP end of February (still waiting...) after the price drop for 67100 (paint and white interior). The same car now with the included AP is 69800. So that’s an extra $2700 CDN plus taxes for the AP.
Still contemplating switching the order to the new price or waiting for a free trial and deciding then if it’s worth it.

 

[Garlan Garner]

You paid for your M3 what you thought is was worth at the moment in time you signed the paperwork and made your financial commitment ... Tesla moves fast and is transparent about its price changes and they make mistakes ... theyt made a mistake on my power liftgate... however i went directly to the OA/service center and was made whole as i had a legitimate complaint

i doubt you will be willing to go back to the old model ... timing your decisions matters ....

I don't know why its so difficult to understand that its not about how much anything costs.
Its not even about the price of things changing.
I have never complained about the price of the car changing. Why? Because they never promised that it would go up or down with "GET IT NOW" type of rhetoric.

If someone says to you "Hurry up and buy this because the price will go up IMMEDIATELY if you buy it later" and then it doesn't ..and even goes down on top of it.....

Call that what you want. I call it lying.

Am I a tesla fan - absolutely!!! But that doesn't mean they are perfect.

Oh and BTW not only did the price go down...right now "AT THIS MOMENT" its free. Owners with No AP - Thoughts/Plans/Speculation on What Happens Next

Their website should have said...."BUY Autopilot NOW because very soon its going to be free".

 

[jrh007]

I don't know why its so difficult to understand that its not about how much anything costs.
Its not even about the price of things changing.
I have never complained about the price of the car changing. Why? Because they never promised that it would go up or down with "GET IT NOW" type of rhetoric.

If someone says to you "Hurry up and buy this because the price will go up IMMEDIATELY if you buy it later" and then it doesn't ..and even goes down on top of it.....

Call that what you want. I call it lying.

Am I a tesla fan - absolutely!!! But that doesn't mean they are perfect.

Oh and BTW not only did the price go down...right now "AT THIS MOMENT" its free. Owners with No AP - Thoughts/Plans/Speculation on What Happens Next

Their website should have said...."BUY Autopilot NOW because very soon its going to be free".

This is absolutely correct. When your company’s sales model is based on referral and consumer goodwill, this is a really damaging set of behaviors for a company to engage in because it makes people feel misled.

 

[Gillie]

I would also be interested in what happens next. I did not purchase AP because I thought it was "neat" but not really worth it, but now I am considering dropping the $10k for FSD ($3k for AP and $7k for FSD). I may do it by the end of the month considering Elon's ominous tweet.

 

[Tribaltech]

When I ordered my car in October, I think EAP was $5000 - didn't seem worth the price but really liked it during the trial. I contemplated the $2,000 AP offer last month but ultimately passed. Now AP is "free" for all new cars (and the post-purchase add-on is now $3k instead of $4k) - I can't help but wonder if they will incentivize owners without AP in some other way to take the plunge (perhaps to standardize future software, etc.).

I'm not expecting it to be free - nothing is - but maybe $1000 when they need a surge of extra revenue? They can say it's part of their commitment to standardizing safety. Probably not in the next 60 days, but it's been such a wild pricing/configuration ride since January, who knows?

Obviously, this is all pure speculation (wishful thinking?) - but curious to hear your takes on it!

As a EAP owner I can say that AP is not worth all that money and the hype associated with it. It’s more headache than a utility/ convenience. 99% of the times I prefer driving just with simple TACC because AP usually will do something stupid that’ll freak me out or jerk the car or slam the breaks under an overpass or do weird moves around curves that all cause me concern. So to make my drive more peaceful I just use the TACC.

AP is not worth it and I just wish they provide an option to do plain cruise control even without Traffic Awareness but I understand that I might be the exception wanting that.

 

[Garlan Garner]

I really believe it might be a good option to have the opportunity to rent the options - if your car has the hardware.

Maybe a monthly rental or something like that.

Especially since there are so many people who opt to NOT purchase the high priced options without trying it for themselves.

 

[Knightshade]

As a EAP owner I can say that AP is not worth all that money and the hype associated with it. It’s more headache than a utility/ convenience. 99% of the times I prefer driving just with simple TACC because AP usually will do something stupid that’ll freak me out or jerk the car or slam the breaks under an overpass or do weird moves around curves that all cause me concern. So to make my drive more peaceful I just use the TACC.

AP is not worth it and I just wish they provide an option to do plain cruise control even without Traffic Awareness but I understand that I might be the exception wanting that.

So two thoughts-

1) Up until this week you absolutely had the option for plain old cruise control. Don't buy AP and you get...plain old cruise control.

2) My experience with EAP is completely the opposite of yours... the vast majority of all the miles on my 3 have been driven with EAP engaged and it's been excellent. Certainly not perfect, but it's literally the reason I bought the car and has made my 70+ mile a day commute 10,000 percent better than before.

 

[Perry]

It's not "free" for new cars, it's a "mandatory option" that raises the rice of the cars to cover it.

AP is indeed given for free because they raised the price to cover it right after they lowered the price by more than that earlier in the year. The same P3D car I bought in 2018 can be had now for 7K less which more than makes up for the 3K loss in tax rebate if that's your argument for the lowering of the prices. So new buyers get AP for free.

AP will eventually become free for everyone and before the end of this year, I predict that AP will be pushed out through a software update to all cars that don't currently have it since it's just such a rudimentary option that many new cars have these days.

 

[dbldwn02]

Let's keep in mind that people who paid $3 or 4k for FSD months or years ago got screwed. Plain and simple. Everyone seems to forget that while car dealerships change prices all the time, you don't pay for software 2, 3 or 4 years in advance. That's one reason everyone needs to stop comparing Tesla's price changes to dealerships.

Please give me an example of a consumer company that wouldn't refund the difference of a pre-paid, 100% undelivered piece of software. I can't think of any.

I say this while still loving my car but still feel slightly burned for buying FSD for $3k, 2 years ago. If the price of my car dropped $5k after I bought it, (which it has since then), then so be it. That's technology...get over it.

 

[OCR1]

Where is this rumor that AP is free coming from? Did I miss something? Prices went up $2,000 last week to cover the price of Autopilot. How is that free?

The only confusion was on the SR $35K model. Tesla sent out an erroneous description for this model stating that Autopilot was included. They confirmed this was an error and numerous people have posted that when they went to pick up their $35K car they were asked to pay an additional $3K plus tax if they wanted to add Autopilot.

 

[Thp3]

I would also be interested in what happens next. I did not purchase AP because I thought it was "neat" but not really worth it, but now I am considering dropping the $10k for FSD ($3k for AP and $7k for FSD). I may do it by the end of the month considering Elon's ominous tweet.

It’s a good plan to wait and see what happens on April 22. It’s not an ominous tweet, but likely a warning that the value of FSD could increase as well as its purchase cost.

Note that Tesla’s running with EAP are almost five times safer that non-Tesla cars without EAP by US government safety statistics. So what value do you put on reducing your exposure to car accidents? AP is now a serious improvement for reducing car accidents. In a year or two that should start showing up in car insurance rates. Personally, I’m fine with just avoiding accidents.

 

[turtlesz]

I would also be interested in what happens next. I did not purchase AP because I thought it was "neat" but not really worth it, but now I am considering dropping the $10k for FSD ($3k for AP and $7k for FSD). I may do it by the end of the month considering Elon's ominous tweet.

Good that you are inclined to buy the software. Just be prepared there is a chance FSD and AP is given away free next year. Don't go in thinking prices will always be increased for FSD, there is a chance that Tesla will want to raise cash and give it away free for new cars or drop upgrade price to 1-2k at an end of quarter push.

 

[Shaft]

Can someone post a picture of their account page showing the reduced/free cost of AP? Particularly for owners who took delivery between end of Feb and March 2019. I guess those on the trial would be able to show it?