Rejected 4 cars, was told they would not request more cars for me

[cquin]

What are your expectations around making the original post? Ranting? Informing people of tesla's poor panel gap quality? Making conversation?

On a side note, there are many times when a business does not want a customers business. for just about any car dealer, if one pulled out a caliper and didnt buy a car, they would likely tell you (either politely or less politely) to go pound sand and take your business somewhere else.

This would be kind of like taking a meat thermometer with you to a restaurant, and checking the doneness of your steak before you cut into it, and sending 4 of them back because you asked for medium rare and the temperature of the meat was wrong. You are certainly within your right to do that, but its also a quick way to look like a $#^^%#$% or in less virtually colorful terms "look very difficult to please".

If it was visible to your naked eye, you should have kept going with that. I dont blame them for saying they would not order another car for you. Its a virtual certainty that you would "continue to be the same type customer" after delivery of the car and they are likely hoping you choose to move onto another brand.

Let me be clear... you are well within your rights to make whatever search criteria you want to in your search for a car. They are also well within their rights to not desire to do business with you because they do not feel your expectations and their product will align.

My BMWs have had much better panel gaps than my tesla does. My wifes X3 is an extremely well made vehicle, its fast, its comfortable, since its an M40i, it has a nice exhaust note when you start it up, has 350+HP, and even pops and crackles when you get on the accelerator. Its a very nice car... that I cant stand to drive since I got my model 3.

I am willing to deal with some of the issues tesla has to have the driving experience. it appears you are not. Thats fine of course, but I dont think you should buy a tesla, at least not yet. I would suggest waiting until one of the german brands comes out with an EV and taking a look then. They will have better panel gaps, and a large dealer network (and likely worse range, and slower, and not handle nearly as well, and a less expansive charging network).

I am willing to deal with some issues. As I said, about 50% of the cars in the lot were OK enough that it was not enough of an immediate eyesore. maybe 1.5x gap size on one side not 3x.

I was just curious how many people find something like that and eyesore they cant ignore. I figured it would be less than 25%, else Tesla would be in trouble. It is still a pretty large percentage so far though...

 

[OCR1]

I have attended five deliveries which resulted in rejecting two cars and accepting three. Nobody at the service center was upset with me over the two rejections. They agreed in both cases that QC issues were unacceptable and apologized. I don’t know if you just have really bad luck or you are being too picky.

I always bring my tape measure to the delivery center and do a thorough inspection before I accept the car. I’m comfortable with panel gap variations of up to around 4mm. In one case the trim on the front door was not aligned with the back door. I pointed that out and they took it back to the service center and fixed it perfectly in about 15 minutes.

It’s hard to know why they said no after four rejections. It could be because they felt you were being unreasonable. But there are Model 3’s out there with variances of 4mm or less and they are not that hard to find.

But people don’t buy a Model 3 because of perfectly aligned panels, which I’m sure you already know. Only you can decide if the overall package is worth overlooking some alignment issues which are most likely just cosmetic and won’t affect the ownership experience or reliability of the car.

 

[ucmndd]

The company is under no obligation to keep wasting their money and time trying to satisfy you. After 4 tries I’d probably tell you to take a walk too.

 

[patrick40363]

Also one side of the trunk is more flush than the other. Most other cars at the delivery center were even. The other pic shows the front or rear door misaligned. Most other cars at delivery center also had even doors.
View attachment 446182 View attachment 446183 View attachment 446184

Service dept can easily fix the gap issue. If you rejected 4 cars you were always looking for an excuse not to buy. It happens.

 

[Glamisduner]

Damn that sucks, I always say reject it if there is a defect they can't likely fix to your standards. It's not like they give you several options on the lot to pick from. 4 in a row is crazy!

One of my doors still sticks out away from the body more than it should, it's very noticeable when the light hits it right and it casts a shadow on the panel and it bothers me still.

Also I would like to note, that you can likely just re-order the car from the website if service refuses to order another one for you, at worst create another Tesla account to re-order.

 

[cquin]

Service dept can easily fix the gap issue. If you rejected 4 cars you were always looking for an excuse not to buy. It happens.

Right that makes sense, I enjoy wasting time and they did take it in to fix and could not, so maybe read what I posted. And i was clear from the beginning exactly what was too much of an eyesore.

 

[OCR1]

On my last trip to the delivery center I had some time to kill so I wandered around and looked at all of the cars being delivered. There were quite a few of them that had some definite issues with gaps, paint, and cosmetics. I’m pretty sure that every one of them ended up being delivered that day without issue. Some may have left with some post delivery items but they did end up selling them.

So it’s clear that most of the buyers just don’t pay that much attention to these things. It may be easier for Tesla to let go of the occasional customer that is too hard to please because they know they will sell these cars in short enough time to other customers.

 

[EVDRVN]

My display was a little bit offset, but I find it okay and didn't returned my car.

View attachment 446237

I would be more concerned about your steering wheel issue.

 

[juliusa]

I rejected 4 M3's in a row, once each Saturday, all mainly due to significantly different taillight gap on left vs right side. Maybe I'm too perfectionist but it really bothers me. Anyone know if there are specific policies limiting how many times you can reject cars?

Seems like 4 is their limit based on your experience. Surprised a consumer would have a limit that high - after the second, wouldn't it be time to find a different manufacturer? Certainly after the third.

 

[Glamisduner]

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Seems like 4 is their limit based on your experience. Surprised a consumer would have a limit that high - after the second, wouldn't it be time to find a different manufacturer? Certainly after the third.

Competition is non existent, if it was an ICE car, then sure just walk to the dealership next door

 

[hocr]

Sounds like the gaps are too much for you now. Enjoy your Leaf or other Asian imports for a few more years. I have been casually inspecting random model 3s after reading about Qc issues and they have usually been fine panel gap wise. Door alignment in the rear seems common though. Just slightly.

 

[CMoZ]

As a long time auto enthusiast I think people are making way too much of the panel gaps in particular you want to talk about expensive cars with panel gap issues look no further than Ferarri. a pretty well known Enzo Ferarri Quote was "I don't care if the door gaps are straight. When the driver steps on the gas I want him to *sugar* his pants." EVERY" brand has panel gap/alignment issues. This is way overblown because everyones looking for issues due to the early QA problems and all the press it got. I can show you some cars with perfect panel gaps but it's hundreds of hours of work by a craftsman to get there on an entire car. And sometimes some tricky body filler tricks.

 

[KenC]

I pulled out the calipers the fourth visit, not no aid in the decision but to record the measurements. Eye balling it from many feet enough was enough to make the decision. And also to notice front door not aligned with back door. That is 3 times the gap in one side compared to the other BTW.

LOL, and that's when they told you not to come back. And, since you admit you could make a decision by eyeballing, the calipers could be seen as a passive-aggressive move. Why document a car you're not going to buy? Just go around, without a salesperson and do a check, and check cars of your friends.

As I already mentioned, some parts can be fixed quite easily. Door alignment being one of them. Also trunk alignment. If you had shown us a body panel that was misaligned that was not an easy fix, that would be one thing, but what you showed should be an easy fix.

 

[mtndrew1]

There are brands that have impeccable assembly, panel gaps, and paint consistency. Tesla is not one of these brands. While Tesla should be better at this (and *is* better than they were in the past) the gap shown would not cause me to reject a car.

The car I owned with the most perfect assembly consistency and paint quality was a VW GTI and it needed to be towed back to the dealer with less than 100 miles on the odometer. The next six months with that car were no better and then I was involved in a very serious accident with the car. I was glad to be rid of it.

If perfect assembly quality is most important when shopping for a car there are dozens of German and Japanese models to choose from that will satisfy that constraint.

 

[SMAlset]

I guess No Soup for you! I assume that bothers you as much or more than the gaps. So what will you be driving in the future now that it won’t be a Tesla.

 

[Uncle Paul]

I own a small business, and from time to time I decide to fire a customer.

Some are overly demanding, slow paying, and seem to take delight in their ability to sniff out something that is not perfect.

I let they know that due to their standards, it has become unprofitable for me to maintain them as a customer, so, unfortunately I am cutting them off. They are often stunned at the news.

This thread reminds me of the revolutionary statement from Bob Lutz that..."to much quality can kill a company."

Reality is that most commercial products are not of perfect quality. There will most always be some variances from the perfect.

Understandably, many customers desire perfect. The product must stand head and shoulders above all their competition in every aspect, and still deliver at a price below the others.

I, however agree, that in many cases the panel gaps from Tesla need improvement, but a car can still be a terrific car, even with some cosmetic flaws.

Elon wanted all his cars to essentially be built by robots. Precision would be assured. Much to his dismay, the robots were not able to put the cars together, due to the nature of vehicles. He side lined many of the robots and hired the best people he could find in Silicon Valley. The assemblers seem not to be able to bolt the parts on all that well either.

Elon is just as upset as their customers. He wants the precision too. He is working on it...

 

[Xenoilphobe]

Ever? Elon Musk said this:
"Our car needs to be designed and built with such accuracy and precision that, if an owner measures dimensions, panel gaps, and flushness, and their measurements don't match the Model 3 specs, it just means that their measuring tape is wrong.

"Some parts suppliers will be unwilling or unable to achieve this level of precision. I understand that this will be considered an unreasonable request by some. That's ok, there are lots of other car companies with much lower standards. They just can't work with Tesla."

So all the fanboys criticizing my caliper, remember your what your god has said.

They are still insourcing, just glad they got rid of the Model S front suspension supplier. Now that it's in sourced, no more rattles on the RAVEN.

Also if Tesla offered you a $15,000 discount, would you take the car with the gap?

I think you should stick with your Toyota. Also don't ever caliper yourself, you might not like what you find, but we still like you..

 

[Uncle Paul]

Just noticed that my very beautiful girlfriend has one ear slightly higher than the other... gonna miss her

Vehicle are man made items. Gonna be some flaws. Kind of brings character to the ownership experience.

 

[qdeathstar]

I never said I am buying any of those, or that the gaps were perfect.

Not needed when it is noticeable from 10 feet.

If you aren’t going to measure them then I can’t take you serious.

 

[hcdavis3]

I think this is all bull crap. I have a couple of panel gaps. Ain’t buying an Audi or a iPace. Enjoy the car.