So, what happens if you're out of town when your car is ready for delivery?

[daniel]

@daniel - if you already have travel plans, I'm absolutely positive that Tesla will work with you. I honestly would not worry about this.

Yeah, I make my travel plans 6 months to a year in advance, sometimes much longer for places that book up early. I'm not actually worried, I was just wondering how it works, especially with some people reporting that they have a hard time communicating with Tesla. With half a million reservations, communication has to be a nightmare. And I was wondering if I would even be able to get hold of someone to talk to about it before I place my order. I'm happy to postpone my order so that delivery happens when I'm home, but for that I need to be able to talk to someone before I've put the order into their system.

You will be fine. The only one I would watch out for is the 6 week trip.

Even then, let them know the blackout dates. They should be able to shift things around a bit.

My delivery estimator page says Dec 2017 to Feb 2018, and the six-week trip doesn't happen until July. But I'll be gone for 3 weeks in January/February.

@bonnie: I believe you got your invite. Does the invite include a contact person, or do you only get a contact person after you place your order on line?

 

[bonnie]

And I was wondering if I would even be able to get hold of someone to talk to about it before I place my order. I'm happy to postpone my order so that delivery happens when I'm home, but for that I need to be able to talk to someone before I've put the order into their system.

My delivery estimator page says Dec 2017 to Feb 2018, and the six-week trip doesn't happen until July. But I'll be gone for 3 weeks in January/February.

@bonnie: I believe you got your invite. Does the invite include a contact person, or do you only get a contact person after you place your order on line?

The invite doesn't include a contact person. I assume that person will be assigned after a delivery is scheduled. A friend took delivery this last Wednesday - he had an assigned Delivery Specialist.

I'm guessing your *local* store is 4+ hours away in Seattle. I'd either call there to talk to Sales directly or plan on dropping by if you are in Seattle for another reason.

 

[Graffi]

Daniel, since you live in Spokane, WA are you sure that you do not want to wait for the "D" model? I realize it will be a longer wait but the extra benefit of all four wheels moving the car will be so much more valuable when driving in snow and slush. Even living in San Diego, CA, I am still debating this (with myself, not my wife - if she decides first then that is what it will be, LOL).

 

[ForeverFree]

+1 from another Southern Californian.

When we head up to the mountains, the AWD is a real difference-maker.

Of course, my wife opted not to wait on her M3 ...

 

[alloverx]

Pre-sign forms and then pay me to pick up your ride. I will drive it to your garage and plug it in.

 

[daniel]

The invite doesn't include a contact person. I assume that person will be assigned after a delivery is scheduled. A friend took delivery this last Wednesday - he had an assigned Delivery Specialist.

I'm guessing your *local* store is 4+ hours away in Seattle. I'd either call there to talk to Sales directly or plan on dropping by if you are in Seattle for another reason.

I will phone them as soon as I get the invite. Depending on when it comes, it could be awkward. My "delivery estimator" says Dec - Feb and right now I'm about 5 weeks out from a 3-week trip. But I gather that except for you and one other special case, no invites have gone out outside of CA yet. If I get the invite in a month I should be good. If it gets into April then we're into my heavy travel season. At this point, invites mostly CA only and their deliveries mostly 4 weeks out, I find it hard to believe that I'll get a delivery date inside the estimator window.

I'm really not worried. I'm just curious how it will go down, and of course as impatient as everyone else.

Daniel, since you live in Spokane, WA are you sure that you do not want to wait for the "D" model? I realize it will be a longer wait but the extra benefit of all four wheels moving the car will be so much more valuable when driving in snow and slush. Even living in San Diego, CA, I am still debating this (with myself, not my wife - if she decides first then that is what it will be, LOL).

The RWD Model 3 will be a safety improvement, and probably a handling improvement, over the Roadster. I'd have to wait an additional year for the AWD. Spokane does get snow, but it melts after a while. Nothing at all like North Dakota, where I drove a Honda Civic, and then the Prius.

I'm not going to wait a year just to get AWD. Unless we get a lot of reports of lemons in the first batch (which would surprise me greatly) I will get the car when I can, and in a year I might trade up to P-AWD, or just AWD if the need for speed has worn off after a year without the Roadster. (I drove the Zap Xebra for four years and loved it! It did 0-35 in about half a minute.)

Pre-sign forms and then pay me to pick up your ride. I will drive it to your garage and plug it in.

Thank you for your kind offer.

 

[DriveMe]

I'm not flying home from my vacation in Maui just to take delivery on a damn car. Even this car.

When you get your invitation you will have an option to postpone your order. Based on the screenshot posted in another thread, it looks like you can select specific delivery month:

 

[daniel]

@DriveMe. Thanks for posting that. That still leaves me out, though, because after March, there's no month until October that I'll be home all month and available to take delivery on any day they choose at short notice.

However, Tesla has always treated me very well. More than once when speaking with a Tesla person they've told me they appreciate their Roadster owners because we're the ones who made everything else possible. I'm not going to worry about problems that have not yet arisen. When my invite comes I'll phone them, and if I cannot get a good answer, I'll just order 4 weeks before I'm going to be home. If I still cannot get a satisfactory answer, then I'll get upset. Not before.

 

[daniel]

In other threads I'm seeing that people are getting a phone call from Tesla after they place their order, to confirm details. Is this universal? Does everyone get a phone call soon after placing their order on line? If so, this would solve my problem, because that would let me place my order as soon as the invite comes, and then just explain when I'll be home and let them schedule production and delivery accordingly.

 

[ruby110]

We are in the same boat. We have our invite but we will be out of the country four weeks from now. I called Tesla three times and basically got the same answer each time: they can’t schedule the delivery and we have 7 days from when it is delivered to pick it up. If we don’t pick it up it goes to someone else.

They said to place the order four weeks before our return which is what we plan to do. What bothers me is that a couple of people in Calf. said their car was delivered in two weeks. We're on the east coast.

 

[run-the-joules]

In other threads I'm seeing that people are getting a phone call from Tesla after they place their order, to confirm details. Is this universal? Does everyone get a phone call soon after placing their order on line? If so, this would solve my problem, because that would let me place my order as soon as the invite comes, and then just explain when I'll be home and let them schedule production and delivery accordingly.

I did not yet get a call, nor a VIN. Been one week.

 

[daniel]

Well, we've entered the time frame when I cannot place my order and expect to be home when the car comes, so I've quit checking my TeslaAccount page. With luck the invite comes while I'm gone and I can place my order and hope to get the car soon after I return. My window is December-February but it will surprise me if they make that. It will surprise me if I even get the invite during that time frame, much less get the car delivered.