In hopes of allaying some fears, I wanted to post this to detail my pick-up experience yesterday.
I arrived at the delivery center in Austin about 30 minutes early. The parking lot was a labyrinth of Model 3's. There was not one additional parking space to park my car. If you use this delivery center try not to go around to the back. It is almost impossible to turn around if there are available spots. The best strategy if there are none available is to hover in the front area until a space becomes available. The deliveries are scheduled every 15 minutes. They have more cars then they could deliver then if they remained 24 hours a day. Each weekday they receive an additional delivery.
The front desk personnel welcomed me in and took the keys for my trade-in. All paper work had been completed as per Texas deliveries. I then went to the rear waiting area that provided water and coffee. My delivery specialist met me on arrival also and went to find my car. After a 20 minute wait he appeared in the waiting area. He said that he had located the car and the pre-inspection was complete. He explained the new policy of a two day Grace Period. The new policy allows the recipient to take the car home and report within 48 hours of delivery any defects that they notice or if they are completely unsatisfied with the car and demand either a new car or a refund. The customer is to call the The Tesla Customer Support with there findings. The delivery specialist was very candid he said there is just not enough time to inspect and record defects at delivery. Also defects detected by a road test will not be detected by the pre-inspection.
The car a white/white P3D+ looked fine to me. It was raining, the car was on a delivery bay made the feasibility of performing a complete inspection unlikely. The delivery specialist sat in the car with me and we programmed several of the automatic functions. I had read enough from the Forum entries and the manual that I was confident I could at least drive home. Overall the delivery process while brief was sufficient.
I kept the car in chill mode for about a block and then went to performance mode. Better to learn now then later.
The car rode exceedingly well. The handling was by far better then my trade-in, a 2017 Audi S-6 and on par with my favorite1996 air-cooled 911S. When I arrived home I checked the air pressure of all the tires. My experience is that dealer's prep almost always miss fills the tires. Recommended tire pressure is 42 lbs. At one hour after returning home each tire measured between 42 and 43 lbs.
Today under bright illumination I carefully examined the exterior and interior finish. There were a few areas that required some wax. There maybe an asymmetric gap in the trunk alignment by 1-2 mm otherwise everything else appears perfect. I received an update last night and I am charging the car without any problems.
I apologize for the length of this review but I thought it might help those who are getting skittish about the delivery process. I was a first day reservation holder and like others in Texas I was cancelled once for delivery. My point is that at least in my case the wait was worth it.
My advice is to be prepared at delivery. Know the questions you plan to ask and delay the process if you feel rushed.
I arrived at the delivery center in Austin about 30 minutes early. The parking lot was a labyrinth of Model 3's. There was not one additional parking space to park my car. If you use this delivery center try not to go around to the back. It is almost impossible to turn around if there are available spots. The best strategy if there are none available is to hover in the front area until a space becomes available. The deliveries are scheduled every 15 minutes. They have more cars then they could deliver then if they remained 24 hours a day. Each weekday they receive an additional delivery.
The front desk personnel welcomed me in and took the keys for my trade-in. All paper work had been completed as per Texas deliveries. I then went to the rear waiting area that provided water and coffee. My delivery specialist met me on arrival also and went to find my car. After a 20 minute wait he appeared in the waiting area. He said that he had located the car and the pre-inspection was complete. He explained the new policy of a two day Grace Period. The new policy allows the recipient to take the car home and report within 48 hours of delivery any defects that they notice or if they are completely unsatisfied with the car and demand either a new car or a refund. The customer is to call the The Tesla Customer Support with there findings. The delivery specialist was very candid he said there is just not enough time to inspect and record defects at delivery. Also defects detected by a road test will not be detected by the pre-inspection.
The car a white/white P3D+ looked fine to me. It was raining, the car was on a delivery bay made the feasibility of performing a complete inspection unlikely. The delivery specialist sat in the car with me and we programmed several of the automatic functions. I had read enough from the Forum entries and the manual that I was confident I could at least drive home. Overall the delivery process while brief was sufficient.
I kept the car in chill mode for about a block and then went to performance mode. Better to learn now then later.
The car rode exceedingly well. The handling was by far better then my trade-in, a 2017 Audi S-6 and on par with my favorite1996 air-cooled 911S. When I arrived home I checked the air pressure of all the tires. My experience is that dealer's prep almost always miss fills the tires. Recommended tire pressure is 42 lbs. At one hour after returning home each tire measured between 42 and 43 lbs.
Today under bright illumination I carefully examined the exterior and interior finish. There were a few areas that required some wax. There maybe an asymmetric gap in the trunk alignment by 1-2 mm otherwise everything else appears perfect. I received an update last night and I am charging the car without any problems.
I apologize for the length of this review but I thought it might help those who are getting skittish about the delivery process. I was a first day reservation holder and like others in Texas I was cancelled once for delivery. My point is that at least in my case the wait was worth it.
My advice is to be prepared at delivery. Know the questions you plan to ask and delay the process if you feel rushed.
