Hi,
I have a family member who's been thinking about changing to a fully electric car, so I recommended they check out Tesla (as I would certainly have one myself if I could afford it). We've just been along to the Crawley showroom today, had a test drive drive in a Model 3, and they loved it so much they immediately (and unexpectedly) decided to buy one (luckily I remembered I actually know someone who has one, and that referral codes are a thing, so was able to get their code for the free Supercharger miles). The sales assistant was very nice and helpful, but I've come away quite confused about a couple of things.
He did the first part of the order on the computer there - picked a car from the inventory section matching the specs they wanted (which were relatively standard - a silver Model 3 Long Range) and took the details for the deposit etc. Then the next section we ended up doing on family member's phone, as for some reason it appeared they already had an account so we had to reset the password for it. But on entering their home address for delivery, the website then said they were unable to deliver there (the address is within Greater London), and the only options it gave were to pick it up at either Southampton or another place I didn't recognise. The assistant then told us that the place in the second option didn't actually exist any more (or something like that?) so we couldn't choose it (even though it appeared that the website would have allowed us to). So that left the only option being to pick it up from Southampton, which really isn't what we were expecting or prepared for at all.
He then said that he should be able to arrange to have it picked up from Southampton and delivered to their home anyway, but it would be by some sort of third-party transport company. This worried me, as I was expecting that there would be some sort of handover where we would inspect the car and point out any damage etc, which obviously wouldn't be possible if it's just dropped off by a third party company. And what happens if that company damages it? In response, he admitted that it would make things somewhat more complicated if there were any issue like that.
So I asked if it could be delivered to the showroom/service centre instead and we pick it up from there, as then obviously they would be able to inspect the car and any damage before we even go near it. He said they can't normally do that, but he might be able to arrange it that way in this case. So we ended up proceeding with the option to pick up from Southampton selected, as that's what he said we needed to do (as there was no other option), but it all seems quite odd to me and I'm not really sure what exactly is going to happen now.
I've just been looking into things more online tonight, and I've noticed on the inventory page, most of them seem to be listed as being in London (and a smaller number in Dublin), and there's certainly one matching their spec that says London. I have no idea what the one he clicked on to order said though (I didn't see it that closely and didn't know what to look for at that point). Is it possible that he chose the wrong one, and should have chosen one that was actually in London to avoid all these issues? I see other people here mentioning picking their cars up recently from places like Heathrow and Bluewater, any of which would have been good for us.
Also, the initial part that he did on the computer (including paying the deposit etc) seemed to have some sort of finance option selected (as it was showing monthly payments rather than the actual total price), even though they intend to pay for the car in full with no finance. Could this have made any difference to anything? (we haven't got as far as the actual final payment section yet, as they also want a trade-in valuation which seems to require photos etc to proceed beyond that stage, so waiting for those to be taken before we can proceed and see what happens after that)
I would appreciate it if anyone has any insight into any of this. Thanks
I have a family member who's been thinking about changing to a fully electric car, so I recommended they check out Tesla (as I would certainly have one myself if I could afford it). We've just been along to the Crawley showroom today, had a test drive drive in a Model 3, and they loved it so much they immediately (and unexpectedly) decided to buy one (luckily I remembered I actually know someone who has one, and that referral codes are a thing, so was able to get their code for the free Supercharger miles). The sales assistant was very nice and helpful, but I've come away quite confused about a couple of things.
He did the first part of the order on the computer there - picked a car from the inventory section matching the specs they wanted (which were relatively standard - a silver Model 3 Long Range) and took the details for the deposit etc. Then the next section we ended up doing on family member's phone, as for some reason it appeared they already had an account so we had to reset the password for it. But on entering their home address for delivery, the website then said they were unable to deliver there (the address is within Greater London), and the only options it gave were to pick it up at either Southampton or another place I didn't recognise. The assistant then told us that the place in the second option didn't actually exist any more (or something like that?) so we couldn't choose it (even though it appeared that the website would have allowed us to). So that left the only option being to pick it up from Southampton, which really isn't what we were expecting or prepared for at all.
He then said that he should be able to arrange to have it picked up from Southampton and delivered to their home anyway, but it would be by some sort of third-party transport company. This worried me, as I was expecting that there would be some sort of handover where we would inspect the car and point out any damage etc, which obviously wouldn't be possible if it's just dropped off by a third party company. And what happens if that company damages it? In response, he admitted that it would make things somewhat more complicated if there were any issue like that.
So I asked if it could be delivered to the showroom/service centre instead and we pick it up from there, as then obviously they would be able to inspect the car and any damage before we even go near it. He said they can't normally do that, but he might be able to arrange it that way in this case. So we ended up proceeding with the option to pick up from Southampton selected, as that's what he said we needed to do (as there was no other option), but it all seems quite odd to me and I'm not really sure what exactly is going to happen now.
I've just been looking into things more online tonight, and I've noticed on the inventory page, most of them seem to be listed as being in London (and a smaller number in Dublin), and there's certainly one matching their spec that says London. I have no idea what the one he clicked on to order said though (I didn't see it that closely and didn't know what to look for at that point). Is it possible that he chose the wrong one, and should have chosen one that was actually in London to avoid all these issues? I see other people here mentioning picking their cars up recently from places like Heathrow and Bluewater, any of which would have been good for us.
Also, the initial part that he did on the computer (including paying the deposit etc) seemed to have some sort of finance option selected (as it was showing monthly payments rather than the actual total price), even though they intend to pay for the car in full with no finance. Could this have made any difference to anything? (we haven't got as far as the actual final payment section yet, as they also want a trade-in valuation which seems to require photos etc to proceed beyond that stage, so waiting for those to be taken before we can proceed and see what happens after that)
I would appreciate it if anyone has any insight into any of this. Thanks