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I am posting my story wondering if anyone will read it or frankly care. The statement bellow was originally intended for Tesla, at least whichever department handles complaints (if there even is one) but my post purchase survey gave me little room to deliver my account of my experience and my search for a customer inbox/ phoneline has been fruitless. I even swung by Tesla's Miami Gardens store yesterday to ask for where to route my concerns and was told I would get a call from the store manager before the end of day but never heard back. My only plan left is to post to every social media page I can hoping to get some ones attention (starting here). To summarize for those that don't have the patience to read, I love my Model 3, clear defects and all, but Tesla might be the shittiest company I've ever had the displeasure of dealing with.


Under traditional circumstances I rarely take the time to submit in-depth survey responses. Working in wealth management means time is a valuable commodity. I usually give positive numerical indicators, write a sentence or two and go about my day, but the team at the Tesla Aventura store (and my owner, so called advisor Israel) set such a new low bar that writing my account of the events will hopefully serve as therapy for the trauma I went through.
Prior to my new model 3 I was driving a 2019 Lexus ES350. I was relatively happy with the vehicle but wanted something new as my lease term was coming to an end. I swung by my local Tesla store at the start of the month which led to my one positive experience. Israel offered the overnight test drive right off the bat and made taking the car for the evening a quick and straightforward process. I was immediately hooked and he even let me take a model y for a night to have a basis for comparison. I was undecided as to which car to take (3 rwd, 3 awd, or Y awd) and explained that financials would play a part in my decision. In particular my lease had a significant amount of equity and I would have to weigh the benefits of trading it to Tesla vs selling it to a third party.
This lead to my first series of issues, to get a trade offer from Tesla I would told I would have to submit an order and choose which model I wanted (although I could change motor options), that I understood but found inconvenient and ultimately delayed the process as my trade would have factored into the 3 vs Y debate. The bigger issue was my owner “advisor” (and the rest of the store staff) having a fundamental misunderstanding of how different trade-ins work. Israel had told me on multiple circumstances that while Tesla trade offer would likely be lower than the competition (I already had an offer of 28k from carmax that I got in 15 mins from them) that the tax benefits would outweigh the additional capital received (a misrepresentation that would cause me much heartache as I will detail below). As a result I patiently waited for Tesla's trade offer (which took 4 days, which is 3 days and 23 hours longer than any local dealership).
While waiting, despite multiple conversations with my “advisor” I came to learn many things about my soon to be car that he should have done me the favor of explaining proactively. For instance the lack of floor mats, lack of a charger, the reinstatement of tesla’s referral program (I have two friends who could have provided me a code prior to ordering), the removal of the ultrasonic sensors on the 2023 model, and the switch from intel to amd on the entertainment system. The truth is he was functionally useless after the test drive. The best was yet to come. Once the trade came back, I needed to update the order (from awd to rwd), which took the store staff 5 hours and the next steps were financing and setting up delivery. I was hoping to take delivery on the weekend (between the 9th and 11th of December) to avoid taking time off work, but one issue remained on the loan application, the sales tax was being assessed on the full purchase price. I spoke to Israel and 3 other staff members at Aventura as well as the staff at the FT Lauderdale store and got different answers each time. In the process of trying to figure the issue out Tesla automatically canceled a delivery apt I had for the 11th. All this could have been easily avoided.
From the beginning I was transparent about my Lexus being a lease and had accurate payoff data. If the staff was well educated and listened they would have told me that lease trades don't get sales tax credit (which is what I thought till Israel told me otherwise). Unfortunately only the store manager figured it out (although he wasn’t confident in his answer) and I had to call a friend who works at Land Rover to get a straight answer (as a favor). Ultimately I had to sell my vehicle in a rush to a third party (in this case back to Lexus) to not lose $2k on the transaction. I was unable to recover my Sunday delivery appointment and was pushed to Tuesday (13th). I still had to dispose of my Lexus over the weekend which left me riding a bicycle to work (in a suit) for a day and half. In that time I begged Isreal to make things right by getting me a sooner delivery appointment (or at least throw in a charger and floormats cause my ****ing $50k car doesnt come with either). I basically got the we are sorry, tough *sugar* response. When my delivery day came I was rushed out the door after pairing my phone. I attempted to ask my delivery rep questions about the car but he was clearly overworked and not in the mood.
My vehicle itself is still the car I fell in love with. It’s fun to drive and has a cool factor that's off the charts. Unfortunately in less than a week I already got bit by Tesla’s notorious build quality issues and had an issue with the plastic cover breaking on the driver’s chair. The silver lining was meeting a mobile tech who restored faith in the idea that some of Telsa’s employees give a **** about the brand. Coming full circle I’ve come to learn that barely a week after my delivery Tesla is giving prospective Model 3 buyers 10,000 free super charger miles and an additional $3,750 (on top of the incentive I got) for taking delivery in the next two weeks. I thought the point of Tesla’s buying process was elimination of the typical dealer bullshit and having to wait to buy a car at the end of the month was part of an antiquated sales model, but clearly I bought too deeply into Tesla’s marketing hype. A week ago I couldn't get a single concession (that I only asked for as a result of issues caused by misinformation provided by Tesla employees), and now new buyers are getting 4 grand and 2 years of charging just because. I read Tesla’s brand loyalty scores are rapidly dropping and I learned all too quickly why firsthand. At the very least this experience has taught me never to get so excited about a brand/product that emotion creeps into the buying process.
Owning a Tesla (for a short week) has been akin to a toxic relationship, at the best of times the daily experience with the vehicle has been boatloads of fun but long term the anguish and abuse lead me to believe that it's not going to be worth it. I’m stuck in a sense for likely the next 2-3 years but if you ask me now if I would purchase another Tesla or recommend it to a friend I would give a resounding no.
 
Buying a new car should be a pleasant experience, sorry to hear it wasn't for you. There are definitely pros and cons to the Tesla purchasing model. Hopefully you can put it all behind you and try to enjoy the car moving forward. No car is perfect but as you have experienced so far, the Model 3 is great vehicle. Sure, you can tell the majority of the money went into the powertrain and technology vs. interior materials and build quality but this is the trade-off you make with Tesla vs. some of the other luxury brands.

Regarding Tesla trade-ins, yeah this is an area where they need a lot of work. I get that they really just want to sell an EV and they are not in the used car business but they need to improve in this area. When I purchased in early 2019, they pretty much just used Kelly Blue Book values to determine trade-in. You could tell they just didn't have the proper process in place to accurately value trade-ins. This worked in my favor when I purchased in 2019 since they were offering KBB, which was higher than Carmax at the time. Since then they have lowered their trade-in offers quite a bit. I think they run it through the Manheim MRR auction value and offer 10% less or something. And if you are trading a Tesla forget it, they will be thousands less than 3rd party dealerships. You can tell they don't want those used cars back. This is where Tesla should invest in developing their used car business and make even more money.

As for the recent pricing changes, yeah that is tough to swallow but this kind of stuff happens with other car brands as well. You just don't hear about it as much since the transactions go through a dealer. End of month deals with large discounts, December to Remember deals on Lexus, etc. Don't forget all the other add-ons that traditional dealerships have such as dealer fees, required "dealer packages" and ADM. The other factor to consider is the current macroeconomic situation with rising interest rates, inventory surplus and the impending EV tax credits coming next year.
 
I can't really comment on the lease part, but the offer I got for my M3P order was pretty dang quick. So quick that I just took it to the local used car lot and got much more money than what Tesla offered.

I'm not sure why you are complaining about the switch from Intel to AMD. They didn't tell you about a much faster processor which improved the experience. Where is the problem?

What vehicle did you end up ordering? Mine came with floor mats. To be honest, I don't think I've ever seen a car without floor mats.

Being in Michigan and not being able to buy a Tesla off the lot, I will say the entire car buying experience is different and for the better. I just bought it online, which meant I did all the quick research online. We test drove at a service center and it was very low pressure. We asked a few questions and received answers, but the entire buying process was much more in our own hands.

I suspect your traditional buying experience was not up to par of other dealers. However, for us buyers than can only buy online it is VERY plesant because we DON'T need to deal with any human until just before delivery :)
 
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I am posting my story wondering if anyone will read it or frankly care. The statement bellow was originally intended for Tesla, at least whichever department handles complaints (if there even is one) but my post purchase survey gave me little room to deliver my account of my experience and my search for a customer inbox/ phoneline has been fruitless. I even swung by Tesla's Miami Gardens store yesterday to ask for where to route my concerns and was told I would get a call from the store manager before the end of day but never heard back. My only plan left is to post to every social media page I can hoping to get some ones attention (starting here). To summarize for those that don't have the patience to read, I love my Model 3, clear defects and all, but Tesla might be the shittiest company I've ever had the displeasure of dealing with.


Under traditional circumstances I rarely take the time to submit in-depth survey responses. Working in wealth management means time is a valuable commodity. I usually give positive numerical indicators, write a sentence or two and go about my day, but the team at the Tesla Aventura store (and my owner, so called advisor Israel) set such a new low bar that writing my account of the events will hopefully serve as therapy for the trauma I went through.
Prior to my new model 3 I was driving a 2019 Lexus ES350. I was relatively happy with the vehicle but wanted something new as my lease term was coming to an end. I swung by my local Tesla store at the start of the month which led to my one positive experience. Israel offered the overnight test drive right off the bat and made taking the car for the evening a quick and straightforward process. I was immediately hooked and he even let me take a model y for a night to have a basis for comparison. I was undecided as to which car to take (3 rwd, 3 awd, or Y awd) and explained that financials would play a part in my decision. In particular my lease had a significant amount of equity and I would have to weigh the benefits of trading it to Tesla vs selling it to a third party.
This lead to my first series of issues, to get a trade offer from Tesla I would told I would have to submit an order and choose which model I wanted (although I could change motor options), that I understood but found inconvenient and ultimately delayed the process as my trade would have factored into the 3 vs Y debate. The bigger issue was my owner “advisor” (and the rest of the store staff) having a fundamental misunderstanding of how different trade-ins work. Israel had told me on multiple circumstances that while Tesla trade offer would likely be lower than the competition (I already had an offer of 28k from carmax that I got in 15 mins from them) that the tax benefits would outweigh the additional capital received (a misrepresentation that would cause me much heartache as I will detail below). As a result I patiently waited for Tesla's trade offer (which took 4 days, which is 3 days and 23 hours longer than any local dealership).
While waiting, despite multiple conversations with my “advisor” I came to learn many things about my soon to be car that he should have done me the favor of explaining proactively. For instance the lack of floor mats, lack of a charger, the reinstatement of tesla’s referral program (I have two friends who could have provided me a code prior to ordering), the removal of the ultrasonic sensors on the 2023 model, and the switch from intel to amd on the entertainment system. The truth is he was functionally useless after the test drive. The best was yet to come. Once the trade came back, I needed to update the order (from awd to rwd), which took the store staff 5 hours and the next steps were financing and setting up delivery. I was hoping to take delivery on the weekend (between the 9th and 11th of December) to avoid taking time off work, but one issue remained on the loan application, the sales tax was being assessed on the full purchase price. I spoke to Israel and 3 other staff members at Aventura as well as the staff at the FT Lauderdale store and got different answers each time. In the process of trying to figure the issue out Tesla automatically canceled a delivery apt I had for the 11th. All this could have been easily avoided.
From the beginning I was transparent about my Lexus being a lease and had accurate payoff data. If the staff was well educated and listened they would have told me that lease trades don't get sales tax credit (which is what I thought till Israel told me otherwise). Unfortunately only the store manager figured it out (although he wasn’t confident in his answer) and I had to call a friend who works at Land Rover to get a straight answer (as a favor). Ultimately I had to sell my vehicle in a rush to a third party (in this case back to Lexus) to not lose $2k on the transaction. I was unable to recover my Sunday delivery appointment and was pushed to Tuesday (13th). I still had to dispose of my Lexus over the weekend which left me riding a bicycle to work (in a suit) for a day and half. In that time I begged Isreal to make things right by getting me a sooner delivery appointment (or at least throw in a charger and floormats cause my ****ing $50k car doesnt come with either). I basically got the we are sorry, tough *sugar* response. When my delivery day came I was rushed out the door after pairing my phone. I attempted to ask my delivery rep questions about the car but he was clearly overworked and not in the mood.
My vehicle itself is still the car I fell in love with. It’s fun to drive and has a cool factor that's off the charts. Unfortunately in less than a week I already got bit by Tesla’s notorious build quality issues and had an issue with the plastic cover breaking on the driver’s chair. The silver lining was meeting a mobile tech who restored faith in the idea that some of Telsa’s employees give a **** about the brand. Coming full circle I’ve come to learn that barely a week after my delivery Tesla is giving prospective Model 3 buyers 10,000 free super charger miles and an additional $3,750 (on top of the incentive I got) for taking delivery in the next two weeks. I thought the point of Tesla’s buying process was elimination of the typical dealer bullshit and having to wait to buy a car at the end of the month was part of an antiquated sales model, but clearly I bought too deeply into Tesla’s marketing hype. A week ago I couldn't get a single concession (that I only asked for as a result of issues caused by misinformation provided by Tesla employees), and now new buyers are getting 4 grand and 2 years of charging just because. I read Tesla’s brand loyalty scores are rapidly dropping and I learned all too quickly why firsthand. At the very least this experience has taught me never to get so excited about a brand/product that emotion creeps into the buying process.
Owning a Tesla (for a short week) has been akin to a toxic relationship, at the best of times the daily experience with the vehicle has been boatloads of fun but long term the anguish and abuse lead me to believe that it's not going to be worth it. I’m stuck in a sense for likely the next 2-3 years but if you ask me now if I would purchase another Tesla or recommend it to a friend I would give a resounding no.
First off, it sounds like your advisor was garbage. All the advisors at my local SC seem to give a crap and made the delivery process painless.

As far as price changes go, I fail to see what is wrong with a retailer offering sales from time to time to move inventory. At least it's transparent as opposed to the usual dealer BS where the guy sitting next to you pays something completely different. I picked up my 3 one week before the discount started. Too f'ing bad for me, but I'm not complaining. It's how retail works. In fact, Tesla adjusts price all time, both up and down.

Enjoy the car and don't let one turd of an advisor ruin it.
 
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First off, it sounds like your advisor was garbage. All the advisors at my local SC seem to give a crap and made the delivery process painless.

As far as price changes go, I fail to see what is wrong with a retailer offering sales from time to time to move inventory. At least it's transparent as opposed to the usual dealer BS where the guy sitting next to you pays something completely different. I picked up my 3 one week before the discount started. Too f'ing bad for me, but I'm not complaining. It's how retail works. In fact, Tesla adjusts price all time, both up and down.

Enjoy the car and don't let one turd of an advisor ruin it.
I appreciate your reply and offer a counter point. Most retailers offer some sort of price protection for a period of 14 to 30 days. In of itself the price change is a pain point, but when you add the poor experience with multiple advisors, broken component within a week, and now multiple questions about the vehicle being to achieve stated range targets and it starts to paint a picture of a what feels like an aggressively anti consumer company.
 
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I can't really comment on the lease part, but the offer I got for my M3P order was pretty dang quick. So quick that I just took it to the local used car lot and got much more money than what Tesla offered.

I'm not sure why you are complaining about the switch from Intel to AMD. They didn't tell you about a much faster processor which improved the experience. Where is the problem?

What vehicle did you end up ordering? Mine came with floor mats. To be honest, I don't think I've ever seen a car without floor mats.

Being in Michigan and not being able to buy a Tesla off the lot, I will say the entire car buying experience is different and for the better. I just bought it online, which meant I did all the quick research online. We test drove at a service center and it was very low pressure. We asked a few questions and received answers, but the entire buying process was much more in our own hands.

I suspect your traditional buying experience was not up to par of other dealers. However, for us buyers than can only buy online it is VERY plesant because we DON'T need to deal with any human until just before delivery :)
Me bringing up the processer switch was an example of the advisor lacking fundamental knowledge about the car. While that point had no real impact the active misinformation he provided about non existent tax benifits on my trade did. Had I not validated on my own I could have lost thousands on my trade based on incorrect assumptions provided by my rep. My biggest problem with this was the lack of responsibility and accountability provided by my local Tesla staff. It's seems they or the company don't care and I'm getting the impression they are being emboldened by a fiercely loyal client base who will never hold them accountable.
 
Most retailers offer some sort of price protection for a period of 14 to 30 days.

Im not sure why you mentioned this, unless you can point to a Car dealer offering 14-30 days of price protection. What happens for the sale of a toaster or blender return policy / price protection has nothing to do with a vehicle.

Im not sure why people do this, TBH. The story you told is proof enough of poor treatment without needing to add points that dont correlate (like this one).
 
Im not sure why you mentioned this, unless you can point to a Car dealer offering 14-30 days of price protection. What happens for the sale of a toaster or blender return policy / price protection has nothing to do with a vehicle.

Im not sure why people do this, TBH. The story you told is proof enough of poor treatment without needing to add points that dont correlate (like this one).
Car dealers don't, but Tesla seems to go out of its way to stress that they are not dealers (the poster i replied to even said retailer). In one example of my interactions with the local team I was trying yo recover my Sunday delivery and highlighted how in any dealer in town where you are purchasing an inventory vechile (ie my car was on the lot) there is no question about your ability to take your new car with you same day once it's paid for. The staffs reply was to hang on my verbiage and highlight that they are not a dealer (when I clearly just meant establishment that sells cars which I assumed they where). The end of month/quarter purchase tactic is what I consider traditional dealer bullshit, which I thought I would aviod with Tesla and yet my advisor used pressure sales tactics to intice me taking delivery in the early month and provided misinformation about my trade to descorage a third party sale. At least in my experience I feel like I got many of the worst aspects of dealer culture with none of the benifits. Ulimately the mistake was mine and I fully understand it, but its still part of my overall negative purchase/ ownership experience. Also as I stated this forum is just a sounding board for me after my complete inability to locate so much as an email address to route my complaints directly to the company. Ultimately I'm well aware I only have three steps I can reasonably take from here. Stick with the car up to the point where as I can sell it with minimal loss, never purchase a Tesla again, and tell the people in my sphere of influence never to purchase a Tesla. That's pretty much it.
 
I am posting my story wondering if anyone will read it or frankly care. The statement bellow was originally intended for Tesla, at least whichever department handles complaints (if there even is one) but my post purchase survey gave me little room to deliver my account of my experience and my search for a customer inbox/ phoneline has been fruitless. I even swung by Tesla's Miami Gardens store yesterday to ask for where to route my concerns and was told I would get a call from the store manager before the end of day but never heard back. My only plan left is to post to every social media page I can hoping to get some ones attention (starting here). To summarize for those that don't have the patience to read, I love my Model 3, clear defects and all, but Tesla might be the shittiest company I've ever had the displeasure of dealing with.


Under traditional circumstances I rarely take the time to submit in-depth survey responses. Working in wealth management means time is a valuable commodity. I usually give positive numerical indicators, write a sentence or two and go about my day, but the team at the Tesla Aventura store (and my owner, so called advisor Israel) set such a new low bar that writing my account of the events will hopefully serve as therapy for the trauma I went through.
Prior to my new model 3 I was driving a 2019 Lexus ES350. I was relatively happy with the vehicle but wanted something new as my lease term was coming to an end. I swung by my local Tesla store at the start of the month which led to my one positive experience. Israel offered the overnight test drive right off the bat and made taking the car for the evening a quick and straightforward process. I was immediately hooked and he even let me take a model y for a night to have a basis for comparison. I was undecided as to which car to take (3 rwd, 3 awd, or Y awd) and explained that financials would play a part in my decision. In particular my lease had a significant amount of equity and I would have to weigh the benefits of trading it to Tesla vs selling it to a third party.
This lead to my first series of issues, to get a trade offer from Tesla I would told I would have to submit an order and choose which model I wanted (although I could change motor options), that I understood but found inconvenient and ultimately delayed the process as my trade would have factored into the 3 vs Y debate. The bigger issue was my owner “advisor” (and the rest of the store staff) having a fundamental misunderstanding of how different trade-ins work. Israel had told me on multiple circumstances that while Tesla trade offer would likely be lower than the competition (I already had an offer of 28k from carmax that I got in 15 mins from them) that the tax benefits would outweigh the additional capital received (a misrepresentation that would cause me much heartache as I will detail below). As a result I patiently waited for Tesla's trade offer (which took 4 days, which is 3 days and 23 hours longer than any local dealership).
While waiting, despite multiple conversations with my “advisor” I came to learn many things about my soon to be car that he should have done me the favor of explaining proactively. For instance the lack of floor mats, lack of a charger, the reinstatement of tesla’s referral program (I have two friends who could have provided me a code prior to ordering), the removal of the ultrasonic sensors on the 2023 model, and the switch from intel to amd on the entertainment system. The truth is he was functionally useless after the test drive. The best was yet to come. Once the trade came back, I needed to update the order (from awd to rwd), which took the store staff 5 hours and the next steps were financing and setting up delivery. I was hoping to take delivery on the weekend (between the 9th and 11th of December) to avoid taking time off work, but one issue remained on the loan application, the sales tax was being assessed on the full purchase price. I spoke to Israel and 3 other staff members at Aventura as well as the staff at the FT Lauderdale store and got different answers each time. In the process of trying to figure the issue out Tesla automatically canceled a delivery apt I had for the 11th. All this could have been easily avoided.
From the beginning I was transparent about my Lexus being a lease and had accurate payoff data. If the staff was well educated and listened they would have told me that lease trades don't get sales tax credit (which is what I thought till Israel told me otherwise). Unfortunately only the store manager figured it out (although he wasn’t confident in his answer) and I had to call a friend who works at Land Rover to get a straight answer (as a favor). Ultimately I had to sell my vehicle in a rush to a third party (in this case back to Lexus) to not lose $2k on the transaction. I was unable to recover my Sunday delivery appointment and was pushed to Tuesday (13th). I still had to dispose of my Lexus over the weekend which left me riding a bicycle to work (in a suit) for a day and half. In that time I begged Isreal to make things right by getting me a sooner delivery appointment (or at least throw in a charger and floormats cause my ****ing $50k car doesnt come with either). I basically got the we are sorry, tough *sugar* response. When my delivery day came I was rushed out the door after pairing my phone. I attempted to ask my delivery rep questions about the car but he was clearly overworked and not in the mood.
My vehicle itself is still the car I fell in love with. It’s fun to drive and has a cool factor that's off the charts. Unfortunately in less than a week I already got bit by Tesla’s notorious build quality issues and had an issue with the plastic cover breaking on the driver’s chair. The silver lining was meeting a mobile tech who restored faith in the idea that some of Telsa’s employees give a **** about the brand. Coming full circle I’ve come to learn that barely a week after my delivery Tesla is giving prospective Model 3 buyers 10,000 free super charger miles and an additional $3,750 (on top of the incentive I got) for taking delivery in the next two weeks. I thought the point of Tesla’s buying process was elimination of the typical dealer bullshit and having to wait to buy a car at the end of the month was part of an antiquated sales model, but clearly I bought too deeply into Tesla’s marketing hype. A week ago I couldn't get a single concession (that I only asked for as a result of issues caused by misinformation provided by Tesla employees), and now new buyers are getting 4 grand and 2 years of charging just because. I read Tesla’s brand loyalty scores are rapidly dropping and I learned all too quickly why firsthand. At the very least this experience has taught me never to get so excited about a brand/product that emotion creeps into the buying process.
Owning a Tesla (for a short week) has been akin to a toxic relationship, at the best of times the daily experience with the vehicle has been boatloads of fun but long term the anguish and abuse lead me to believe that it's not going to be worth it. I’m stuck in a sense for likely the next 2-3 years but if you ask me now if I would purchase another Tesla or recommend it to a friend I would give a resounding no.
I actually read your feedback and as a recent first time Tesla owner, I can feel some of that pain. I think the general idea on what Tesla is trying to do is great. Contactless delivery, remove the middle men (dealership), transparent pricing, etc. The gotcha is that, you take away the people and all you have is a rigid system that doesn't leave room for any grey area. The reason why they can't help you is likely because of that, they simply can't. They don't have access to whoever the GM/VP is that can make the call so they just follow the rule book (if there's even one) and it's simply "Within specifications".

What I think of Tesla's vision is pretty cool. However, I think I am actually thinking of a dramatized version of what Tesla is doing, versus what they are actually doing, lol. The hope is that other car manu, especially traditional ICE manu can see that there's something to learn from how Tesla is doing thing and hoping they implement the good stuff (for consumer) into their business model in the future.
 
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given our experience with Tesla trades - they suck. They will offer you wholesale basically - my wife traded in her 2017 MS for a 2021 LR Model S. . . and they kept changing the price so finally I sent them a demand letter on my law firm stationery that we intend to close the deal as set forth in the original offer. They bitched at us for a while but it was THEIR writing on their paper coming from their business - I'd win. And its not like it would cost me a dime - and their sales agreement has an attorneys fee clause which in my state is made reciprocal - so they'd be screwed.

In order to close the deal simply we accepted $1000 in swag credit and 5000 supercharger miles that expired when the warranty did - two years later she still had the $1000 in credit and she is buying my key fob, homelink and rubber floor mats for me - but it was ROYAL PITA.

We have discovered if you are buying a tesla to simply buy a tesla and pay cash for it - easiest, least hassle deal on the planet. And DO NOT pay for it until you see it - meaning bring a cashiers check from a local bank - preferably Wells Fargo since they bank with Wells they can verify the check using their own banker.
 
We have discovered if you are buying a tesla to simply buy a tesla and pay cash for it - easiest, least hassle deal on the planet. And DO NOT pay for it until you see it - meaning bring a cashiers check from a local bank - preferably Wells Fargo since they bank with Wells they can verify the check using their own banker.

Can you elaborate on reasons to not pay for it until you see it? I'm sure there are, just haven't had experience with Tesla to know the pitfalls. Thanks!
 
Can you elaborate on reasons to not pay for it until you see it? I'm sure there are, just haven't had experience with Tesla to know the pitfalls. Thanks!
Your location says "USA" so we have no idea where you are. In states tesla is allowed to sell in (which is most but not all of them) you can get a cashiers check and take it with you when you pick up the car.

if you live in a state that does not allow direct sales, then you have to pay ahead of time since the car is actually sold to you in CA then "delivered" to you in those states where direct sales is not allowed.
 
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OP had two separate transactions. One was to order a new car, and the second, selling his used Lexus.

He, like most of us, was trying to get all his Stars lined up to get the best overall deal.

Unless buying from stock, ordering a new Tesla is pretty straight forward and can easily be done from your smart phone. With trade ins, you must shop around to get the best deal. Timing for delivery when you are getting out of a lease can always be a challenge.
 
Can you elaborate on reasons to not pay for it until you see it? I'm sure there are, just haven't had experience with Tesla to know the pitfalls. Thanks!
what if the wheels are damaged? Or the paint took a shot during shipment? Or its really bad orange peel. Or the door leaks? Or the washers don't work or anyone of 1000 different problems that you can easily check at delivery?

It might be new. It might have a warranty - but the Tesla fans are notorious for telling you that you love the car, pay for it or lose it.

Moreeover, if its a substantial thing - like lets say your Delivery form says 15 miles and the vehicle has 400 on it - indicating it was obviously used as a tester - should you pay full price?
 
what if the wheels are damaged? Or the paint took a shot during shipment? Or its really bad orange peel. Or the door leaks? Or the washers don't work or anyone of 1000 different problems that you can easily check at delivery?

It might be new. It might have a warranty - but the Tesla fans are notorious for telling you that you love the car, pay for it or lose it.

Moreeover, if its a substantial thing - like lets say your Delivery form says 15 miles and the vehicle has 400 on it - indicating it was obviously used as a tester - should you pay full price?
Then don't accept the vehicle and/or have them fix it? No different than any other car purchase.
 
Can you elaborate on reasons to not pay for it until you see it? I'm sure there are, just haven't had experience with Tesla to know the pitfalls. Thanks!

Then don't accept the vehicle and/or have them fix it? No different than any other car purchase.

It amazes me that people are willing to pay someone $45k+ for something sight unseen. Unless you live in a state that Tesla isn’t allowed to sell in, don’t pay until you physically see the car and are willing to accept it. There are numerous threads of people who paid ahead of time to only have issues with the car at delivery and reject it. There’s others where the car was delayed in transit and was not actually there at delivery. Some, during the pandemic when Tesla had 8+ month wait times would get a VIN assigned and pay to only have the VIN unassigned and be paying for car they never received. It takes weeks, sometimes months for Tesla to refund the money. You’re still on the hook from your financial institution to make the payments while you wait for the refund.
It’s a lot easier to get things corrected when the business doesn’t already have your money.
 
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I was ever hopeful that I'd get a good delivery experience and was foiled again - it really sucked.

Here is how they do it today:

I ordered online Jan 14 sitting in my easy chair watching an NFL playoff game. I ordered a Blue Model 3 Performance with a white / black premium interior. The car in the flesh is gorgeous - wife loves it - I love it - and the performance makes me laugh - even coming from a Porsche 911!

Anyway - on Jan 17 I received a text that my VIN had been assigned - woo hoo! 10 min later I got the text that my delivery could be scheduled - wow. I logged on and I could have it delivered Monday, Jan 23 at 10am - OK - great.

In the meantime my 911 sold. Cash in the bank toward the M3P. We drive over to the local Tesla yard the day before delivery and see the vehicle sitting in the prep area. . . yay! The car is actually here.

I fill out the information for insurance, etc. I go to the bank and pick up a check this morning - and drive over to Tesla to pick up the vehicle.

We get there 10 min early - and the sales office doesn't open til 10 - we go into Service and let them know we are there. They go back and notify the sales staff.

1005. No one. 1010 Nothing. 1015 a woman comes out and tells me it will be another 10 min, they had another delivery set for 10am? WTF? I asked her if it was going to be 10 min or 30? Just be honest- lmk so I can plan the rest of my day. She BS's me with 10 min.

1020, 1025 -- I wander over to the side of the sales area and see someone working on my car - detailing it. It's plugged into the supercharger.

1030. 1040. 1045 - 1050 - someone comes out and says my vehicle is ready.

I bitch loudly about wasting an hour of my time because a) they had someone else scheduled and b) the vehicle was not ready - respect is the name of the game going both ways in life - I got zippo. Finally because I would not put up with the saga they brought out the manager of the store - he tells me that the prep guy prepped the wrong car - ok - stuff happens. And keeps happening apparently.

I asked him who was supervising this yesterday - since we came over and saw the vehicle sitting unprepped in their inside prep area. I got the look I always get - folks - I'm a lawyer - I've been asking questions now for 37 years. I know what to ask. And how to listen,

I then asked him if they had working telephones and why they could not call me to respectfully inform me that the vehicle would not be ready until 11 - that might have annoyed me a little but I would not have wasted an hour in their stupid waiting room. I understand - its hard to find help Its hard to keep help. It's virtually impossible to match a VIN on an order to a VIN on a car to a VIN on a prep form - I understand thats asking too much.

Next- I drive off - and music streaming and calendar sync does not work . . . . two more things I have to deal with them about now.

Tesla delivery truly sucks. I got 2000 supercharging miles for my trouble. That'll work.
 
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I was ever hopeful that I'd get a good delivery experience and was foiled again - it really sucked.

Here is how they do it today:

I ordered online Jan 14 sitting in my easy chair watching an NFL playoff game. I ordered a Blue Model 3 Performance with a white / black premium interior. The car in the flesh is gorgeous - wife loves it - I love it - and the performance makes me laugh - even coming from a Porsche 911!

Anyway - on Jan 17 I received a text that my VIN had been assigned - woo hoo! 10 min later I got the text that my delivery could be scheduled - wow. I logged on and I could have it delivered Monday, Jan 23 at 10am - OK - great.

In the meantime my 911 sold. Cash in the bank toward the M3P. We drive over to the local Tesla yard the day before delivery and see the vehicle sitting in the prep area. . . yay! The car is actually here.

I fill out the information for insurance, etc. I go to the bank and pick up a check this morning - and drive over to Tesla to pick up the vehicle.

We get there 10 min early - and the sales office doesn't open til 10 - we go into Service and let them know we are there. They go back and notify the sales staff.

1005. No one. 1010 Nothing. 1015 a woman comes out and tells me it will be another 10 min, they had another delivery set for 10am? WTF? I asked her if it was going to be 10 min or 30? Just be honest- lmk so I can plan the rest of my day. She BS's me with 10 min.

1020, 1025 -- I wander over to the side of the sales area and see someone working on my car - detailing it. It's plugged into the supercharger.

1030. 1040. 1045 - 1050 - someone comes out and says my vehicle is ready.

I bitch loudly about wasting an hour of my time because a) they had someone else scheduled and b) the vehicle was not ready - respect is the name of the game going both ways in life - I got zippo. Finally because I would not put up with the saga they brought out the manager of the store - he tells me that the prep guy prepped the wrong car - ok - stuff happens. And keeps happening apparently.

I asked him who was supervising this yesterday - since we came over and saw the vehicle sitting unprepped in their inside prep area. I got the look I always get - folks - I'm a lawyer - I've been asking questions now for 37 years. I know what to ask. And how to listen,

I then asked him if they had working telephones and why they could not call me to respectfully inform me that the vehicle would not be ready until 11 - that might have annoyed me a little but I would not have wasted an hour in their stupid waiting room. I understand - its hard to find help Its hard to keep help. It's virtually impossible to match a VIN on an order to a VIN on a car to a VIN on a prep form - I understand thats asking too much.

Next- I drive off - and music streaming and calendar sync does not work . . . . two more things I have to deal with them about now.

Tesla delivery truly sucks. I got 2000 supercharging miles for my trouble. That'll work.
Cry me a river at least you got something. Local staff basically told me to eat *sugar* 🤣
 
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