Positive experience with Tesla, Carvana, and Tesla/Wells Fargo Financing Logistics (DFW, Texas)

[andyaycw]

Since there can never be too much positive news, I thought I'd write about my experience of buying a new M3P, selling my old MS to Carvana, and the logistics and timeline of the Tesla/Wells Fargo car loan.

If anything, perhaps this will simply serve as an updated data point on what folks should expect for each of these steps.

Overall: I had a great experience with all 3 steps. I love my new M3P, selling my old MS to Carvana was pretty simple for the most part, and instructions for setting up online access to make my auto loan payments came via email in just a matter of days.

Ordering, purchasing, and picking up the new M3P

Quite possibly the most straightforward experience ever. No delays. Here's my timeline:

• May 5: Placed online order for a new M3P (white/white)
  • Initial estimated delivery date (EDD): May 26 to June 9
• May 20: VIN was assigned, after which my EDD was updated and now reflected June 1 to June 8
• May 29: I received an email notification to schedule my delivery.
  • My available delivery dates were June 4 and June 6. I chose June 4
• June 4 (a Sunday): Picked up the car. Although the instructions in the Tesla app told me it would be all done remotely, there were a few Tesla employees helping people get checked in, verifying IDs, showing them where the cars were, and printing paperwork like temp registration plates + other docs needed to eventually get the car titled through the DMV.

Hiccups/confusions/frustrations I had:

• When I was asked to provide insurance through the Tesla app as one of the pre-delivery tasks, one page told me to wait until I got a confirmed delivery date. Another page told me that I needed to provide insurance to avoid delays with the order process. These messages were a bit contradictory, but ultimately, the correct thing to do was to wait for a confirmed delivery date before providing any proof of insurance.
• When I got a confirmed delivery date, I decided to use Tesla insurance. I followed the instructions by setting the effective date to just a few days prior to my actual delivery. However, 2 sections of the app told me that my insurance wouldn't be effective until after I took delivery of the car. My actual policy declarations page on the other hand, showed it was already in effect. I called Tesla insurance customer service who assured me all was fine, that it was already covering the new car, and that it must be a glitch with the app.
• As for the condition of the actual M3P itself, I've been driving it for a few days and only 100 miles so far, and it is a huge upgrade from my old 2015 Model S 70D. No regrets. A few things that caught me by surprise though:
  1. There's a creaking/squeaking noise in the headliner above the front passenger sun visor. It's easily replicated by my pushing up on it. It rattles/squeaks constantly when I'm driving so it's very annoying. I've scheduled a mobile service to come and check it out for me.
  2. The turn signals don't seem to detect my input sometimes, even when I click it down 2 notches instead of just 1 notch. It seems that I have to hold it down about a 1/2 second longer than I'm used to in order for the car to consistently understand that I want the turn signal to...well, signal.
  3. The auto windshield wipers turned on by themselves on a sunny day with not a cloud in the sky. Toggling it to Off and then back to Auto fixed it temporarily. No big deal, I never really expected auto-anything to work perfectly (same reason why I do not use auto high beams), and I can easily toggle this manually if it ever gets out of hand.

Selling my old car to Carvana

So overall, I would recommend Carvana to anyone just looking for an easy, hassle-free process to get cash for their old car. My experience, however, was not without its hiccups. Here's my (rough) timeline:

• May 31: Submitted my info online to get an instant offer on the car. Came back at $21,6xx. Good enough for me, so I accepted and uploaded the documents they initially requested
  • To the best of my memory, requested documents were things like a copy of the car title, driver's license, and maybe 1 or 2 other easy things
  • Carvana came back and requested additional documents a few times. They wanted a photo of the MCU touchscreen showing it was operational, a copy of the build sheet (I was able to retrieve a copy of this from my Tesla online account), and a copy of my current vehicle registration.
• June 1: Carvana tells me I'm approved for the sale, and to schedule a delivery or pick-up slot, payment method, etc. I opt to pay $100 to have them come to me to pick up the car
• June 5 (Monday): A Carvana rep texts me to give me a 1-hour heads-up they're on their way to my house.
  • When they arrive, they inspect the vehicle, give me some papers to sign, and I give them the keys and title. They had an iPad/table where they confirmed the price of the car was correct, and then they hit "approve payment" (or something along those lines) at which point they tell me I should receive the ACH payment within 1 to 2 business days
  • Note: the inspection they did of the vehicle was pretty quick. They just took photos of the exterior, then hopped in the car (presumably to make sure the MCU worked, get info on the odometer reading, etc.) and that was pretty much it.
  • Carvana rep drives off and lets me know that she's gonna leave the 2x keyfobs in the car in a locked case and that the tow truck should be here no later than the end of business day tomorrow to retrieve the car.
  • The tow truck for Carvana comes a few hours later.
• June 6: The ACH payment is already reflected in my bank account.

Things that caught me off guard/challenges I had:

• I was expecting the Carvana tow truck to come at the same time as the Carvana rep. This wasn't the case, and I felt weird leaving my car on the street with no license plates and no registration sticker.
• Carvana had trouble verifying my ownership of the vehicle because I had the car registered in TX, but titled in CA. There was also a confusing Carfax entry that seemed to suggest I had a TX title. As a result, there was a lot of back and forth because they wouldn't accept my CA title as proof of ownership.
  • Initially, Carvana said I needed to give them the TX title because Carfax said a new title had been issued
  • I called the TX DMV, who stated that was incorrect and they gave me a written letter to that effect
  • Carvana wouldn't take the letter because they said Carfax specifically referenced a "title document number"
  • I asked for this "title document number" to see if maybe I could match it with something else. Carvana refused, stating it was "private and proprietary data" that could not be shared with a customer.
  • I resorted to purchasing a Carfax report myself to see what this mysterious "title document number" was
  • Turns out the "title document number" was the 17-digit "transaction ID" for my "registration-only" application when I got the car registered in TX
  • I wrote a letter explaining the situation to Carfax
    • Title numbers are only 7 or 8 digits long, so the fact that Carfax shows 17 digits is clearly a mistake
    • See (again) this TX DMV letter confirming no TX title was ever issued, and I only ever registered the car here
    • See this copy of my "registration-only" application confirming the "title document number" on Carfax is not referencing the issuance of a new TX vehicle title
    • If I got the car titled in TX, I would have had to surrender my CA title. Therefore, the fact that I still have my CA title is even further evidence that I never got the car re-titled in TX
  • After all that, Carvana accepted the explanation. I thought I was in the clear, until...
  • Carvana then asked me for a copy of my current registration, so I uploaded my TX registration good through the end of August
  • Carvana rejected it and asked me for my CA registration
  • I did an online chat with Carvana and explained that there is no CA registration because I live in TX now where the car has been registered for the past 8 months
  • Carvana online chat rep told me because I have a CA title, I need to have it registered in CA. They said this was a Carvana policy. They also told me the registration needed to be valid for a minimum of 75 days.
  • I decided to tackle the easy issue first by explaining that the current date of June 1 to August 30 is more than 75 days.
  • The rep came back and said no, that's not correct, and that it is only 60 days.
  • At that point, I knew I wasn't going to get anywhere. So I thanked the rep, ended the chat, and called to speak with a rep over the phone instead, which finally did resolve the issue.
    • Note: apparently, when you call Carvana over the phone, they have the ability to review your documents in real-time. The rep I spoke with said he was actively chatting with someone in another department reviewing what I had sent in for my TX registration to see if it would be acceptable. It took some time, maybe 15-20 minutes of me being on hold, but I think calling and speaking with someone is the way to go if there's anything even mildly complex about your situation.

Car Loan Logistics Through Tesla/Wells Fargo

Nothing much to say here. I picked up the car on Sunday, June 4, the loan was officially "active" on June 6, and on June 7 (today) I received the initial email from Wells Fargo (something along the lines of 'congratulations on your new car, we have your auto loan, keep an eye via USPS mail for the welcome package and instructions on setting up your loan').

I always intended on paying off the car loan as soon as I got my old car sold. All part of me living a debt-free lifestyle. To minimize interest charges, I decided not to wait for the package via USPS. I was able to register online immediately after I got the email from Wells Fargo, and paying off the loan was super easy. There's a specific option to get a payoff demand online, after which you're given the option to enter your bank information to authorize the ACH payment.

Absent any last-minute issues, the loan will be paid off effective tomorrow June 8, and I will have paid a grand total of 3 days worth of interest charges totaling about $11.

 

[Tha_Ape]

I will agree that Carvana is easy and in my case, offered me exactly what I paid for my car 4yrs ago (it was 2yrs old when I bought it).

On the negative side, they were EXTREMELY late. I scheduled a 1:30pm appointment, the driver called and said they were running a little behind and had one appointment before mine, should be there around 2pm. I said "no problem, I'm working from home today so I have a little leeway". Then they text at 3pm "I'm finally on my way, GPS says 20-30min away". They arrived 1hr later a little after 4pm... so this "1 appointment before mine" was total BS. I personally believed they pushed me to the end for their convenience.

The process after that was extremely easy. Looked at the car for about 2min, I spent more time signing documents than they did looking at the car (admittedly I'd cleaned it and it was in great shape). I had my check and they were out of there in 10min.

------------------------

The overall process was easy, but in my case, they didnt give a hoot about my schedule. I was fortunate I was working from home and had a light schedule that day.

 

[Martin Sanks]

Very helpful write up for newcomers to Tesla

 

[M3DZ]

I took delivery of my M3P in March and the passenger visor rattle/creak started soon after. The tech knew exactly what the issue was and fixed it within 5 minutes by peeling the window seal down and prying the trim to access the back of the pillar speaker. The issue/fix is detailed here:

I also had the rear door hidden latch release cable rattle with both doors at separate times. I followed the instructions from this video and it’s holding up so far:

 

[Mahesh Keskar]

Love this write up, thank you for sharing!

You mentioned the Carvana quote was good enough. Did you see or get higher offers but because Carvana was the easiest to use for the whole transaction (initially), that’s why you went with them?

Just curious because I think about what the value is of convenience to us consumers.

Thanks!

 

[andyaycw]

Love this write up, thank you for sharing!

You mentioned the Carvana quote was good enough. Did you see or get higher offers but because Carvana was the easiest to use for the whole transaction (initially), that’s why you went with them?

Just curious because I think about what the value is of convenience to us consumers.

Thanks!

Coincidentally, Carvana was the highest offer I got.

To the best of my memory, other places I considered: Tesla's trade-in offer which was something like $15,000, Driveway was also around $15,000, AutoNation was the 2nd highest at $20,000, and Vroom (I think, possibly mixing this up with another company) was not buying Tesla's at all when I tried to get an offer. I think I checked with a few more places, but those are the only ones I remember off the top of my head.

One thing I have heard is that prices can fluctuate quite a bit though if you're trying to sell to one of these places. I saw the same thing with Carvana. Within the time span of about 4 weeks, Carvana's offer on my car went from $21,000 up to $22,000 down to $20,000, then back up to $23,000. By the time I was ready to sell, it went back down to $21,600.

 

[Mahesh Keskar]

Coincidentally, Carvana was the highest offer I got.

To the best of my memory, other places I considered: Tesla's trade-in offer which was something like $15,000, Driveway was also around $15,000, AutoNation was the 2nd highest at $20,000, and Vroom (I think, possibly mixing this up with another company) was not buying Tesla's at all when I tried to get an offer. I think I checked with a few more places, but those are the only ones I remember off the top of my head.

One thing I have heard is that prices can fluctuate quite a bit though if you're trying to sell to one of these places. I saw the same thing with Carvana. Within the time span of about 4 weeks, Carvana's offer on my car went from $21,000 up to $22,000 down to $20,000, then back up to $23,000. By the time I was ready to sell, it went back down to $21,600.

Fascinating, particularly on the relatively rapid fluctuation in price. Thanks again!

 

[brianbcc]

Fascinating, particularly on the relatively rapid fluctuation in price. Thanks again!

Same here.
Online Tesla purchase was so simple and with great communication via text.
Ordered on a Tuesday and picked up in Fremont on Thursday.
Carvana easily beat Shift and CarMax with a quote for my old car, much more than i thought it was worth on KBB.
They came out and within an hour, it was all complete and i receive the ACH funds the following morning.

 

[SoupCan]

Wow, really thorough post and helpful as well. I am taking delivery next week in Texas. You mentioned paying via an ACH transfer. Was this through the app?

I want to pay the down payment and was told I had to use the app and it wants me to link a bank account. I would usually have no issues with that until I saw the Pay with Plaid and read their TOS. This prompted a quick Google search on Plaid and I will not use it.

I am just interested to know if you had to use Plaid in the app or if Wells Fargo was able to pay Tesla another way. We seem to have some different issues purchasing in Texas.

Side note - I looked at Carvana as well when deciding what to do with my old car. I ended up using Carmax and was paid a full $5k more than Tesla offered and $3k more than Carvana.

 

[brianbcc]

Wow, really thorough post and helpful as well. I am taking delivery next week in Texas. You mentioned paying via an ACH transfer. Was this through the app?

I want to pay the down payment and was told I had to use the app and it wants me to link a bank account. I would usually have no issues with that until I saw the Pay with Plaid and read their TOS. This prompted a quick Google search on Plaid and I will not use it.

I am just interested to know if you had to use Plaid in the app or if Wells Fargo was able to pay Tesla another way. We seem to have some different issues purchasing in Texas.

Side note - I looked at Carvana as well when deciding what to do with my old car. I ended up using Carmax and was paid a full $5k more than Tesla offered and $3k more than Carvana.

I recall that I paid Tesla via ACH direct (I also didn't want to go through Plaid)... So basically instead of using Plaid to utilize bank login info, I just connected Tesla to my bank directly via ACH (skipping the Plaid intermediary and login data).
To me, it was the lesser of two evils

 

[cwerdna]

Since Shift came up, Shift Technologies Files for Bankruptcy Amid Wind Down is no longer a choice.

shift.com confirms.

 

[SamKeown]

When you transferred to Carvana, what did you do to remove your details from the Tesla computer. When you select REMOVE and transfer you have to select individual and insert the individual's details. What information did you use for Carvana?