Hey everyone.
I've read many horror stories on these forums, and I wanted to share my experience with the Tesla purchase and delivery process.
The short story is my wife and I are 100% satisfied with the car and the entire process from order to delivery. The folks in the DFW area and specifically the Fort Worth SC where excellent to work with. All issues with the car were corrected on delivery day with the exception of a paint defect on the DS rear door, which we came to a very satisfactory agreement to fix.
I would highly recommend the Fort Worth SC to take delivery if your in the area..
The long story:
We made a request for information on a MY back in April. We had two vehicles at the time and were just looking at Tesla. We received a call the next day from a SA, and he provided answers to all of our questions and asked us if we would like to schedule a test drive. Since we live out in the middle of the TX oil patch, SCs are few a far between, and working out here... well it's difficult to get time off. My wife and I had plans to go to San Antonio in September and since were weren't in a hurry to purchase, we scheduled our test drive for the end of September.
At the end of August we confirm our test drive on 9/26 with our SA (based in DFW) and all is good... except we've been reading the forums, and watching videos about poor build quality. We figured we still have a month before the test drive, and we'd see what battery day brings, maybe the quality would improve.
We placed an order on 9/14 and asked to be postponed until March since we were still making payments on our truck, but it would be paid off by Feb. We were able to sell our (failing) car to Carvana for a good price, leaving my wife with a F350 Diesel to drive the kids to school and pickup groceries. We don't own a RV anymore so the F350 just sat most of the time, but now it was my wifes DD. Lets just say our fuel costs went up slightly, expectedly yes, but still it got us thinking, why do we have this towing beast with nothing to tow? I posted it for sale for an above average price a week later the truck was sold too, right before our trip to San Antonio!
I called our SA on 9/22 and said "Hey, you know how we postponed our order until next year?" SA: "yea?" Me: "Yea, um, we need it now." SA: "Oh... ok ill look around and see what's available. We ordered a WHT/WHT MYP with tow and no FSD. and my SA found one... in one day! IN TX! We got a VIN on 9/23 scheduled to pick up in Fort Worth on 9/29.
I got the process rolling with my CU for financing, got insurance and everything was ready to go within a few days before our trip. We still had not test drove any Tesla yet but if we didn't like it we could always pull the plug if we didn't like it. I picked up a rental car for our trip (cheap right now) and we headed down to San Antonio for our test drive.
About halfway into our trip i get a call from the San Antonio gallery... "sorry we sold the MY you were going to test...end of quarter and all that...sorry" I called my SA and ask him WTF? He said he was sorry but the EOQ is crazy and my car was actually ordered as a demo car, but it was never test drove. "These things happen all the time." I asked if we could drive a M3P, because it's close to a MYP and we were rescheduled a test drive for 9/27.
We both loved the Stealth MYP with FSD we test drove, and we were hooked. However we inspected the MYs on the lot and we were not encouraged. Paint problems, panel gaps and misalignments all over the place. We prepped our checklist got some jugs of water (hatch leak test), some quick detail spray, some microfiber towels, an open mind and a lot of hope.
We returned home from San Antonio and the next day at 5AM, I left my wife at home and took another rental car, one way to the Fort Worth SC. The plan was to take the rental to the SC and inspect the car and if the MY was acceptable, return the rental and get a ride back to the SC. My SA actually was able to get me an uber ride back to the SC!
When I arrived at the SC I was ready to reject the car, (even though we didn't own another car at that point, we were able to borrow one from a friend). I was fired up, ready for a fight, I saw it and it.....It was almost perfect, but still I spent two hours on the exterior alone. I took pictures and put post it stickers on every single defect....I used 8...
1. Loose plastic trim around the RHF wheel arch.
2. Hood slightly misaligned
3. spoiler loose on LH side
4 paint chip on hatch LH near spoiler
5 paint chip on RHR door edge
6 scratch on hatch near spoiler
7 light scratch on black plastic on rear bumper
8 paint defect on LHR door
The bumper color match and all the other panel gaps and alignments were perfect!
They said I had to accept delivery to gain access to the inside, but when I pointed out the issues they immediately took the vehicle inside and started working on it. I took that time to get lunch and return the rental car. After getting back to the SC I "let myself" in to the area where they had been working on my car, and it was unlocked!... lucky me!
I started on the interior inspection, I found a dirty headliner.. that's it.... otherwise perfect. The SC manager caught me and asked if he could help and I said, "I'm just inspecting my car.." "oh did you accept delivery?" "no, not yet, just checking it out first" "Ok let me know if I can help" "Actually, can you guys clean the headliner while i finish my check list?" "oh yea no problem." They cleaned the headliner and I finished my checklist. I accepted delivery at 4:45PM
I arrived at the SC 11:00 AM and left for the 5 hour drive back home at 5:00PM. Everything was taken care of except #8 which will require a body shop visit, but we made an agreement to get it fixed at a local shop.
The folks at the Fort Worth SC were very patient and accommodating. I spent over 3.5 hours going over every detail of the car no matter how small, taking pictures and asking questions, and i never felt rushed or pushed. I was ready for a fight and never got one! They fixed everything on the spot!
Again, I recommend the Fort Worth SC to anyone taking delivery in the DFW area.
Thanks to everyone on this forum for providing information, and things to look for when taking delivery.
We are extremely happy with our new MYP!
BTW how do you get rid of the stupid grin on your face AND get below 400WH/MI?
I've read many horror stories on these forums, and I wanted to share my experience with the Tesla purchase and delivery process.
The short story is my wife and I are 100% satisfied with the car and the entire process from order to delivery. The folks in the DFW area and specifically the Fort Worth SC where excellent to work with. All issues with the car were corrected on delivery day with the exception of a paint defect on the DS rear door, which we came to a very satisfactory agreement to fix.
I would highly recommend the Fort Worth SC to take delivery if your in the area..
The long story:
We made a request for information on a MY back in April. We had two vehicles at the time and were just looking at Tesla. We received a call the next day from a SA, and he provided answers to all of our questions and asked us if we would like to schedule a test drive. Since we live out in the middle of the TX oil patch, SCs are few a far between, and working out here... well it's difficult to get time off. My wife and I had plans to go to San Antonio in September and since were weren't in a hurry to purchase, we scheduled our test drive for the end of September.
At the end of August we confirm our test drive on 9/26 with our SA (based in DFW) and all is good... except we've been reading the forums, and watching videos about poor build quality. We figured we still have a month before the test drive, and we'd see what battery day brings, maybe the quality would improve.
We placed an order on 9/14 and asked to be postponed until March since we were still making payments on our truck, but it would be paid off by Feb. We were able to sell our (failing) car to Carvana for a good price, leaving my wife with a F350 Diesel to drive the kids to school and pickup groceries. We don't own a RV anymore so the F350 just sat most of the time, but now it was my wifes DD. Lets just say our fuel costs went up slightly, expectedly yes, but still it got us thinking, why do we have this towing beast with nothing to tow? I posted it for sale for an above average price a week later the truck was sold too, right before our trip to San Antonio!
I called our SA on 9/22 and said "Hey, you know how we postponed our order until next year?" SA: "yea?" Me: "Yea, um, we need it now." SA: "Oh... ok ill look around and see what's available. We ordered a WHT/WHT MYP with tow and no FSD. and my SA found one... in one day! IN TX! We got a VIN on 9/23 scheduled to pick up in Fort Worth on 9/29.
I got the process rolling with my CU for financing, got insurance and everything was ready to go within a few days before our trip. We still had not test drove any Tesla yet but if we didn't like it we could always pull the plug if we didn't like it. I picked up a rental car for our trip (cheap right now) and we headed down to San Antonio for our test drive.
About halfway into our trip i get a call from the San Antonio gallery... "sorry we sold the MY you were going to test...end of quarter and all that...sorry" I called my SA and ask him WTF? He said he was sorry but the EOQ is crazy and my car was actually ordered as a demo car, but it was never test drove. "These things happen all the time." I asked if we could drive a M3P, because it's close to a MYP and we were rescheduled a test drive for 9/27.
We both loved the Stealth MYP with FSD we test drove, and we were hooked. However we inspected the MYs on the lot and we were not encouraged. Paint problems, panel gaps and misalignments all over the place. We prepped our checklist got some jugs of water (hatch leak test), some quick detail spray, some microfiber towels, an open mind and a lot of hope.
We returned home from San Antonio and the next day at 5AM, I left my wife at home and took another rental car, one way to the Fort Worth SC. The plan was to take the rental to the SC and inspect the car and if the MY was acceptable, return the rental and get a ride back to the SC. My SA actually was able to get me an uber ride back to the SC!
When I arrived at the SC I was ready to reject the car, (even though we didn't own another car at that point, we were able to borrow one from a friend). I was fired up, ready for a fight, I saw it and it.....It was almost perfect, but still I spent two hours on the exterior alone. I took pictures and put post it stickers on every single defect....I used 8...
1. Loose plastic trim around the RHF wheel arch.
2. Hood slightly misaligned
3. spoiler loose on LH side
4 paint chip on hatch LH near spoiler
5 paint chip on RHR door edge
6 scratch on hatch near spoiler
7 light scratch on black plastic on rear bumper
8 paint defect on LHR door
The bumper color match and all the other panel gaps and alignments were perfect!
They said I had to accept delivery to gain access to the inside, but when I pointed out the issues they immediately took the vehicle inside and started working on it. I took that time to get lunch and return the rental car. After getting back to the SC I "let myself" in to the area where they had been working on my car, and it was unlocked!... lucky me!
I started on the interior inspection, I found a dirty headliner.. that's it.... otherwise perfect. The SC manager caught me and asked if he could help and I said, "I'm just inspecting my car.." "oh did you accept delivery?" "no, not yet, just checking it out first" "Ok let me know if I can help" "Actually, can you guys clean the headliner while i finish my check list?" "oh yea no problem." They cleaned the headliner and I finished my checklist. I accepted delivery at 4:45PM
I arrived at the SC 11:00 AM and left for the 5 hour drive back home at 5:00PM. Everything was taken care of except #8 which will require a body shop visit, but we made an agreement to get it fixed at a local shop.
The folks at the Fort Worth SC were very patient and accommodating. I spent over 3.5 hours going over every detail of the car no matter how small, taking pictures and asking questions, and i never felt rushed or pushed. I was ready for a fight and never got one! They fixed everything on the spot!
Again, I recommend the Fort Worth SC to anyone taking delivery in the DFW area.
Thanks to everyone on this forum for providing information, and things to look for when taking delivery.
We are extremely happy with our new MYP!
BTW how do you get rid of the stupid grin on your face AND get below 400WH/MI?
