Snagged a P90D Inventory car for $700/mnth on the new 24 month lease

[esk8mw]

I just received the following 2-year lease term related to the Q3 push and shocked that the P90 deal has basically the same terms.

They need my answer by tomorrow. Not sure how great of a deal this is anymore.

There's a decent chance that discounts of this level will never be seen again. This is a very rare push for profitability ahead of significant investment for the Model 3 which will make it impossible for Tesla to achieve positive cash flow for the next year and a half. I think there will still be some moderate deals at year end but nothing like this again. I'd factor that into the decision. Inventory cars from Tesla typically go about 1-3k off so it looks like a decent deal from my point of view.

Those P90D deals in the 700s are exceedingly rare, mostly pre refresh and (most importantly) now all gone. Also consider that some of the smaller payment numbers might be due to someone living in a state with low/0 sales tax and/or state level EV incentives. I'm picking up my P90D in a couple hours and I feel extremely fortunate to have gotten 1k/mo because I live in a high tax area.

 

[hmmm]

I appreciate the brainstorming.

But no, my work schedule is not flexible at this point (it was when I ordered the car six weeks ago). And it's more expensive to bother with retrieving it myself than just forfeiting the deposit at this point.

On 8/24 when I put the deposit down they gave me 2 options:
1) Go to New Jersey and get the car myself (I'm in Minneapolis).
2) Pay $750 to get it delivered.

Since they said "it will be here by 9/30 guaranteed" and I didn't really need the car any sooner, $750 was an easy choice.

Since that time (33 days) I've been checking in constantly, and constantly being told that the car is "on its way," "delivery in 2-4 weeks," "delivery late next week," "delivery early this week."

Then suddenly it was, "oops, your car never shipped." That was of course, yesterday.

At this point I've been nothing but patient. I actually believe that Tesla will see this as their fault and make it right if it doesn't get here by Friday based on how they have treated other customers in the past. If not, well I guess according to the letter of the law, that's their prerogative, but still wouldn't make it "right."

I totally get it. They completely messed up and I think this is one where anyone reasonably "customer centric" would make it right and honor the terms of your lease, period.

It just goes to show that they have *a lot* to learn to streamline their processes. For example, they have been sitting on the $$ they owe me on my trade-in for almost a month (not a small amount of money...). I have asked twice (nicely) but still no news. I am going to be a good citizen and sit tight until EOQ, but I should not have to ask in the first place.

 

[The805]

I picked up my 90D at the factory yesterday afternoon. Before recapping the delivery experience, I want to thank SoCalJimmy for starting this thread and his very responsive OA who found me a car at 7am on a Saturday morning. While in theory I was getting one of the demo vehicles in turn for the significant discount, I ended up with a new vehicle just out of the factory with 15 miles on the odometer. Frankly, the combination of the significant discount and the 2 year lease offer pushed me over the fence to get a Tesla.

The delivery experience including the factory tour was smooth and enjoyable. The only snag was when my friends at Hertz Rent a Car called me 15 minutes prior to the pickup time for my one way rental to Fremont to tell me the car I had reserved (and had confirmed in person with them on Friday) hadn't arrive, and that they had no car to rent me. I had to drive my car to the Bay Area and leave it there as I was driving the Tesla back home.

The Fremont Delivery Center has a tent set up for the cars being delivered to their new owners. Although busy the staff was organized, and we got our paperwork completed in about 15 minutes. Then we reviewed the car and got the orientation. While the staffer was not necessarily an expert on all the features (I've heard that they brought in lots of new staff to help make these deliveries), she would quickly pull in one of her colleagues to answer any question that she couldn't. On inspection, I did find what might be a small scratch on the rear bumper. No issue, they just put in on a due bill to be resolved later.

After orientation, we went on the factory tour. If you have the opportunity, I highly recommend taking this informative tour (you drive around the factory in a cart while the tour guide explains the various operations). Despite all the technology, we were surprised by the number of manual steps involved in assembly.

Lots of fun playing with the controls/settings on the way home. As you Tesla owners already know, this car moves and it's only a 90D.

BTW, I was already contacted by Tesla by 10am this morning asking me for a convenient time that they could pick up the car (I'm 2+ hours from the nearest SC) to address the scratch and deliver it back to me. Now, that's service.

 

[EinSV]

I picked up my 90D at the factory yesterday afternoon. Before recapping the delivery experience, I want to thank SoCalJimmy for starting this thread and his very responsive OA who found me a car at 7am on a Saturday morning. While in theory I was getting one of the demo vehicles in turn for the significant discount, I ended up with a new vehicle just out of the factory with 15 miles on the odometer. Frankly, the combination of the significant discount and the 2 year lease offer pushed me over the fence to get a Tesla.

The delivery experience including the factory tour was smooth and enjoyable. The only snag was when my friends at Hertz Rent a Car called me 15 minutes prior to the pickup time for my one way rental to Fremont to tell me the car I had reserved (and had confirmed in person with them on Friday) hadn't arrive, and that they had no car to rent me. I had to drive my car to the Bay Area and leave it there as I was driving the Tesla back home.

The Fremont Delivery Center has a tent set up for the cars being delivered to their new owners. Although busy the staff was organized, and we got our paperwork completed in about 15 minutes. Then we reviewed the car and got the orientation. While the staffer was not necessarily an expert on all the features (I've heard that they brought in lots of new staff to help make these deliveries), she would quickly pull in one of her colleagues to answer any question that she couldn't. On inspection, I did find what might be a small scratch on the rear bumper. No issue, they just put in on a due bill to be resolved later.

After orientation, we went on the factory tour. If you have the opportunity, I highly recommend taking this informative tour (you drive around the factory in a cart while the tour guide explains the various operations). Despite all the technology, we were surprised by the number of manual steps involved in assembly.

Lots of fun playing with the controls/settings on the way home. As you Tesla owners already know, this car moves and it's only a 90D.

BTW, I was already contacted by Tesla by 10am this morning asking me for a convenient time that they could pick up the car (I'm 2+ hours from the nearest SC) to address the scratch and deliver it back to me. Now, that's service.

Congrats!! Glad it worked out so well for you!

 

[ba2002]

I just can't believe they're going to stiff you here. And when I say I can't believe it I don't mean it as to say it's happening and i can't believe it's happening. I mean I can't bring myself to believe that they are going to botch delivery, force you to forfeit your lease and keep your deposit. I just don't believe they'd do that.

Kill them with kindness. Explain to your OA the situation and politely remind him what the missed deadline means in terms of your lease and your deposit. Give them a chance to make it good without demanding that they make it good.

I agree with you. Just to be clear, I've been nothing but patient and pleasant with them, and they've been nothing but pleasant and optimistic in return. They really believe the car will be here in time and all will be fine. They are talking like they are going to make everything right etc. I'm just a pessimist and I've heard the same song and dance before (admittedly, not from Tesla, but everyone has had this kind of customer experience at some point). At this point I don't have much choice but to just wait and see what happens. Obviously on Thursday if the car is still 1000 miles away, we're going to have to come up with something.

 

[lakerholic]

Well this all seems pretty clear.

Curious to see what they do. Either deliver the car by 9/30 or give deposits back. The alternative of losing my deposit would be pretty poor customer service. I don't think I could purchase a car from Tesla just on principle if that were to happen.

To be honest, the 36 mo lease numbers, when you factor in being able to qualify for the CA $2500 rebate, are within $20 of the 24 mo lease numbers. If push came to shove, I'd go 36 and ask for some sort of financial make-good to make me happy.

At the end of the day, I'm getting a $144k refresh car for $1250/mo (or $1270/mo for 36mo).. I can't complain too much

 

[SoCal Jimmy]

Well best of luck to all still waiting to take delivery.

As someone mentioned, in CA it's almost worth going to 3 years for the $2500 rebate and enjoying the car for an extra year because we all know your not going to get a P90D or p100d in the future at these lease payments.

 

[davidc18]

I just received the following 2-year lease term related to the Q3 push and shocked that the P90 deal has basically the same terms.

They need my answer by tomorrow. Not sure how great of a deal this is anymore.

This is very very close to the deal I had on the P90DL (for the lease) but we went with the purchase option because I agree that these deals may not happen again.

 

[sbtz]

Well best of luck to all still waiting to take delivery.

As someone mentioned, in CA it's almost worth going to 3 years for the $2500 rebate and enjoying the car for an extra year because we all know your not going to get a P90D or p100d in the future at these lease payments.

Am I miscalculating my 3yr lease payment? For me, there's a $250 difference, and the $2500 credit spread out over 36 months still yields a monthly payment that's $180 more. (24m @ ~$850, 36m @ ~$1100 - $70)

Maybe it's different depending on the deal/discounts, but I'm assuming that most of our numbers are close-ish.

 

[ba2002]

Am I miscalculating my 3yr lease payment? For me, there's a $250 difference, and the $2500 credit spread out over 36 months still yields a monthly payment that's $180 more. (24m @ ~$850, 36m @ ~$1100 - $70)

Maybe it's different depending on the deal/discounts, but I'm assuming that most of our numbers are close-ish.

3 year lease is not remotely close to the 2 year lease for me.

 

[davidc18]

Same here, 3 year numbers were higher than purchasing

 

[Choke639]

I appreciate the brainstorming.

But no, my work schedule is not flexible at this point (it was when I ordered the car six weeks ago). And it's more expensive to bother with retrieving it myself than just forfeiting the deposit at this point.

On 8/24 when I put the deposit down they gave me 2 options:
1) Go to New Jersey and get the car myself (I'm in Minneapolis).
2) Pay $750 to get it delivered.

Since they said "it will be here by 9/30 guaranteed" and I didn't really need the car any sooner, $750 was an easy choice.

Since that time (33 days) I've been checking in constantly, and constantly being told that the car is "on its way," "delivery in 2-4 weeks," "delivery late next week," "delivery early this week."

Then suddenly it was, "oops, your car never shipped." That was of course, yesterday.

At this point I've been nothing but patient. I actually believe that Tesla will see this as their fault and make it right if it doesn't get here by Friday based on how they have treated other customers in the past. If not, well I guess according to the letter of the law, that's their prerogative, but still wouldn't make it "right."

I am having the Same issue. I put deposits on two cars in this last two week span. The first car I reserved was on 9/16 and was suppose to be a local car in Burbank. They called me a couple days later and said the car was coming from the east coast because someone from Florida Reserved it but could not take delivery. It became available the day I was at the dealership. When I called my dealer yesterday he said it was on its way but it is was still in Texas. When I asked him if it will be here by the 30th, he said it shouldn't be a problem and if it doesn't make it in time they would honor the deal. Reading your post makes me worried. The second car I reserved last week and will be picking it up tomorrow in Las Vegas. I sent a email to the finance department on Sunday asking what will happen if the car doesn't make it here by the 30th but no one has responded to me. I really hope Tesla will honor the deal as it was their mistake and their delay. It would be really poor business practice on their end if they try and switch the deal on me.

 

[lakerholic]

The 3 year numbers I received were $95/mo higher than the 2 year numbers. Taking the $2500 and spreading it over 36 mo, yielded me an effective payment that was $25.55 more than the 2 year numbers (and, of course, a year longer). I was slightly off on my calculations.

 

[sbtz]

The 3 year numbers I received were $95/mo higher than the 2 year numbers. Taking the $2500 and spreading it over 36 mo, yielded me an effective payment that was $25.55 more than the 2 year numbers (and, of course, a year longer). I was slightly off on my calculations.

That's awesome - I'd just do 3yrs with it... and goodness, what a beautiful car you have ordered. I wouldn't be able to give it up after 24 months I hope to see you around town - mine will be your twin, except for the wheels (which I would've killed for).

 

[SoCal Jimmy]

The 3 year numbers I received were $95/mo higher than the 2 year numbers. Taking the $2500 and spreading it over 36 mo, yielded me an effective payment that was $25.55 more than the 2 year numbers (and, of course, a year longer). I was slightly off on my calculations.

Mine was similar on the first lease but the second was totally skewed towards the 24 month making better sense.

 

[hmmm]

These leases were/are all over the place then... I am sure there is match behind the perceived madness(?) In my case, the monthly payments for a 3yr lease were btwn 35 and 40% higher than for a 2yr lease, all else being equal.

 

[GTIceman]

I also think these deals might be gone for good, but remember there was a batch of cars that seemingly disappeared when Tesla couldn't meet demand so we might see the $20k discounts again, unlikely that $40k will pop up.

Q4 would be nice or even a push again next year when they realize the delivery targets will slip due to Model 3 demand to try and get people in the Model S

I am optimistic as too much was going on right now that it wouldn't be totally prudent for me to buy or lease at a huge rate when I am in the process of moving

 

[hmmm]

These leases were/are all over the place then... I am sure there is match behind the perceived madness(?) In my case, the monthly payments for a 3yr lease were btwn 35 and 40% higher than for a 2yr lease, all else being equal.

^"math not match.

 

[u00mem9]

This is a very rare push for profitability

It is a rare push for meeting delivery targets. It is potentially a chance to game the system on GAAP / non-GAAP profitability as the RVG impact reverses direction. I see this happening in Dec, and going forward. Is anyone really going to buy a car in the first 2 months of any given quarter? Almost anyone can wait a month for Tesla to get in desperate-mode again. Thus they will have to build inventory cars for those months to keep the factory full, and prepare for the end of quarter surge in sales. No way to put this genie back in the bottle.

 

[esk8mw]

It is a rare push for meeting delivery targets. It is potentially a chance to game the system on GAAP / non-GAAP profitability as the RVG impact reverses direction. I see this happening in Dec, and going forward. Is anyone really going to buy a car in the first 2 months of any given quarter? Almost anyone can wait a month for Tesla to get in desperate-mode again. Thus they will have to build inventory cars for those months to keep the factory full, and prepare for the end of quarter surge in sales. No way to put this genie back in the bottle.

I guess we will have to wait and see. We do have precedent, though. Tesla pushed pretty hard for sales in Q4 2015 to meet the 2015 targets (which they did) and gave some deals. Come 2016, prices were right back to full price and inventory cars were 1-3k off. Q1 and Q2 of 2016 didn't bring any deals. Then Q3 comes along and Elon recognized an opportunity - it was the last quarter before heavy Model 3 spend and production issues were finally sorted out and 2k/week+ are being produced. Elon told his employees to blow out the pipeline and sell everything in Q3 (usually reserved for Q4), so they did. Going forward, Model 3 spend will prevent TSLA from showing profits until Model 3 ships in volume.

It's truly a unique situation we are in and I do not expect this level of discounting going forward. As I said, Q4 will bring some deals I'm sure, but not to this level. If we see this level of discounting in Q1 2017 I'll admit you were right.