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Used Model S Purchase Experience (Arkansas Buyer)

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Figured I'd keep an updated journal about my used Model S purchase experience. I've read a ton of these already and although some have scared the living daylights out of me, but most have given me to the right information to "just be patient". My expectation for delivery is 3 weeks from purchase date. My preference would have been for 1-3 days from purchase date.


Condensed Timeline for TLDR people:
  • 7/8/2019 - 2pm - Purchase Car
  • 7/8/2019 - 3pm - Complete my side of paperwork
  • 7/9/2019 - 10am - Call/Text/E-mail from Remarketing Sales Advisor
    • Call said welcome to the family and I'm here if you need anything
    • Text said welcome to the family and email coming shortly
    • Email had questions about my delivery and payment methods as well as notifying me of needing to replace the windshield.
  • 7/9/2019 - 11am - Called Advisor, no answer, voicemail full
  • 7/9/2019 - 11am - Emailed advisor, answering questions about payment method and preferred delivery method
  • 7/9/2019 - 11am - Texted advisor to let them know e-mail is in inbox and that I'm "super excited"
  • 7/10/2019 - 1pm - Emailed advisor asking "when do you think we can schedule pickup as I'll have to fly in to pick it up"
  • 7/15/2019 - 10am - Emailed advisor saying "just checking in to see when we can schedule delivery."
  • 7/15/2019 - 10:15am - Advisor emails back saying "let me check, if I don't get back to you by today, reach back out tomorrow"
  • 7/15/2019 - 10:40am - Advisor emails back saying the windshield should be fixed, but it's not confirmed yet. She is submitting the paperwork anyway and a delivery advisor will be assigned today.

2016 - 2019 - "The Research":
  • Experience in Teslas beforehand
    • Friend A had a 2016 MX 90D that I drove
    • Friend A upgraded MX 90D to MX 2017 MX 100D. Got to drive this one too
    • Rented an MX 100D for a week long vacation in Sonoma/Napa
    • Friend B has a 2018 MX LR AWD that I've been in
  • Knowledge of Tesla and Tech beforehand
    • I research everything to death, so I feel like I know a TON.
    • I've been silently stalking forums and YouTube channels for about a year
  • Scoured EV-CPO for close to a year
    • I have very strict requirements on what my next car would be
    • Must be electric
    • Must have adaptive cruise control
    • Must be all wheel drive
    • Must have free supercharging.... So yes, my next car would be a Tesla :)
    • I've very cheap, so price limit was only 40k
      • If you're an e-bay dealer out there, I'm sorry about the constant low-ball offers :)

July 8, 2019 - 2pm "The Purchase":
  • Within 10 minutes of seeing a 2015 Model S 85D for 40k with AP1, I clicked the "Buy Now" button.
  • Within 2 minutes of click "buy now" I had filled out the credit car deposit form and clicked "Place Order"
  • Within 2 minutes of clicking place order, I received an e-mail from Tesla saying my order was complete with an order number and the details of my car:
    • Model S 85D
    • All-Wheel Drive
    • Deep Blue Metallic Paint
    • Body Color Roof
    • 19" Silver Cyclone Wheels
    • Black Next Generation Seats
    • Piano Black Décor
    • Black Alcantara Headliner
    • Free Supercharging
    • Autopilot Hardware 1 with Convenience Features
    • Premium Interior and Lighting
    • Smart Air Suspension
    • Ultra High Fidelity Sound
    • Subzero Weather Package
  • I am not trading in a car, nor financing, I am paying cash for this car. I figured, that going 100% cash would make things seamless and frictionless as possible...

July 8, 2019 - 3pm "The Paperwork":

I completed all of the assigned "tasks" for delivery of my "new to me" car within 45 minutes. 5/6 tasks completed and the last task is delivery and says "You will be contacted by a Tesla delivery specialist to arrange for payment and delivery of your Model S."
  • Now that I've got this pretty car in my account I get to to click the "Manage" button.... Oh I'm so excited at this point.
  • 5 seconds - I Select cash for payment method
  • 5 seconds - I select no trade in
  • 45 seconds - I enter our registration details (names and addresses)
  • 5 minutes - I scan and upload our drivers license pictures (front and back)
  • 20 minutes - I shop around for insurance
    • Progressive wins at $105/mo
    • Geico comes in at $196/mo
    • Current provider comes in at $233/mo
  • 10 minutes - I secure insurance for a car I've never seen and don't know when I'll be able to see
    • Signed up for the Progressive policy with a start date of 7/15/2019
    • I figured that I wouldn't be able to get the car in less than a week after reading this forum.
  • 5 minutes - I upload the new insurance documents to my Tesla account.

July 9, 2019 - 10am "First Contact":
Congratulations and welcome to the Tesla family!

This vehicle is located near our Dallas delivery center, here are the photos:2015 Tesla Model S 5YJSA1E21FF112712 | False, Fa | Tesla

I was informed that the windshield will be replaced and can take about week to complete.


I also see Arkansas registration and vehicle is in Texas. Were you planning to have this vehicle transported? I am checking on our DMV rules for pick-up. TX is a no sale state so paperwork will be completed in your home.

Registration details, financing and insurance need to match and everyone will be required to be there to sign for vehicle at delivery.


Do you plan to finance?
 
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July 15, 2019 - 11am "Transfer to Delivery"

The windshield repair was a week ago and they requested 5-7 days and I think it should be done and waiting for my service team to give me the thumbs up.

I wasn’t able to get a GPS on the vehicle while work is being done and unsure of location so once it is complete we will likely have to move it to the delivery location for pick-up.

I have submitted the paperwork and a delivery advisor will be assigned today to schedule with you after we know work is completed. That will trigger your MyTesla account page to update with balance due at delivery and you can choose and ACH payment or wire transfer.

My Tesla Acount now has an address for delivery, but still says ""You will be contacted by a Tesla delivery specialist to arrange for payment and delivery of your Model S.""
 
Congratulations!

2015 85D for $40k is a good deal. I think the going rate is about $50k from Tesla. And I did sell mine for $40k (and yours is WAY better optioned) to a private party, so getting one from Tesla for the same price is a good deal!

I also wanna reiterate a point that I usually make: I think right now a 85D is an UNBELIEVABLE value for ANY car.

$40,000 for an amazing looking electric car with a range of 270 miles and a 0-60 time of 4.2 sec which is super fast but somehow feels even faster, with free supercharging for life, with an extremely established and joy-to-use autonomous driving mode is literally unbeatable.
 
7/15/2019 - 10pm - I logged into tesla.com and saw a new task for me. "Make a payment."

So, like Philip J. Fry I said "TAKE MY MONEY" and put my checking account and routing numbers in and clicked submit. Within seconds I got a receipt via email and now my account shows "Your Model S is fully paid."


Here’s hoping that I get an email/text/call tomorrow from someone who will schedule delivery of this blue baby!!! I'm beyond excited. My family has heard nothing but 85D facts for a week. :)
 
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Congratulations!

2015 85D for $40k is a good deal. I think the going rate is about $50k from Tesla. And I did sell mine for $40k (and yours is WAY better optioned) to a private party, so getting one from Tesla for the same price is a good deal!

I also wanna reiterate a point that I usually make: I think right now a 85D is an UNBELIEVABLE value for ANY car.

$40,000 for an amazing looking electric car with a range of 270 miles and a 0-60 time of 4.2 sec which is super fast but somehow feels even faster, with free supercharging for life, with an extremely established and joy-to-use autonomous driving mode is literally unbeatable.

Yeah, I feel like I'm stealing it. Clean history too. The only thing I can think of is no one wants only a 10k mile warranty (this one has 89k miles)

To me, there is no other car under 55k (M3 LR ) even close to this one. I'm so excited, but trying to keep calm before I actually get in the driver's seat "just in case".
 
So I thought it would get more complicated. Nothing too much to overcome though.

7/16/2019
- Issues with registration...

I emailed my sales advisor to "check in" for the day and was greeted with this:

My delivery team is having a conflict with AR and TX.

Both AR and TX are self-registration states. We are not able to get a temporary tag. This is the temporary license plate you need to drive away with.

Unfortunately each state is different and this is the first time I have had 2 states with the same DMV rule.

Hold on, I will reach out to the delivery team.

Followed almost immediately by this one:

To keep this vehicle, we need to move it or transfer to a different state that will allow Tesla to register your vehicle. There is a DMV conflict.

I have (2) states, your state and the state the vehicle is in both are self-registration. This is rare to have this. Neither state will allow Tesla to register the vehicle.

The closest state with ability to register is Nashville TN.

This is your decision because this is a transport.
We can transfer to a different vehicle that does not have a conflict to avoid additional fee for transport.

Very disappointing news since Dallas is a 6 hour drive from Northwest Arkansas, Nashville is 9+, and Kansas City which wasn't mentioned is only 3. I really didn't want to pay $2,000 for a transfer if I didn't have to.

So I went to the "interwebs" and found out that I can pull my own temporary tags at the Arkansas. So I called my Advisor.... AND GOT THROUGH! I told her about my willingness to go get my own temporary tag.

She checked with her Delivery team and they said I can pick up in Texas as long as I bring my own temporary tags from Arkansas.

After running to the DMV and getting a temporary tag (Free by the way) with the bill of sale and my drivers license, I came back and uploaded it to my Tesla Account and updated my Sales Advisor.

The next email was an introduction to our Delivery Advisor! We then scheduled the delivery for Monday in Dallas.

Great, I went ahead and scheduled your appointment at the Dallas Service Center.

The registration paperwork will later be mailed to you to take to your DMV office to register your vehicle.

Definitely not a "seamless" process and had to do some grunt work for me to do on the ground in Arkansas, but nothing insurmountable.

I will say the sales advisor is an excellent resource for getting information. It's not instant feedback, but its friendly, prompt, and helps with the "anxiety" one feels when buying a car online having never seen it.

Here's hoping Monday goes seamlessly!! We fly into DFW an hour before our appointment. :)
 
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So what state's taxes did you have to pay if you live in Arkansas and the car is in Texas?

Can you tell me what fees Tesla charges on their end? Dealers charge doc fees, etc, how much does Tesla charge? In other words what was your "out the door" cost?

Thank you
 
So what state's taxes did you have to pay if you live in Arkansas and the car is in Texas?

Can you tell me what fees Tesla charges on their end? Dealers charge doc fees, etc, how much does Tesla charge? In other words what was your "out the door" cost?

Thank you


Great questions.

I will pay Arkansas sales tax (6.5%) when I register the car after Tesla mails me the title.

In the bill of sale there were ZERO fees. No doc fees, destination fees, nothing.

9D6F2F71-BEBB-46EB-88AB-3B2745F56CE7.jpeg



The website said $40,000 and I've given them $2,500 via credit card deposit and $37,500 via ACH. My account now says "Your Model S is fully paid "

8CA9D758-3E9A-4C2C-9EEE-696F81E07F97.png



I asked my delivery advisor what we need to bring and he said "insurance, drivers licenses, and temporary tags".

I'm bringing a credit card and check book "just in case".
 

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7/19/2019 - Confirmation

Checked in via e-mail with our delivery advisor and he said everything is great for Monday 7/22 at 11am.

Missed a call a few hours later from a Dallas, TX number. It was the service center. In the voicemail they said I need to confirm my appointment by the end of the day or it will be pushed back. Whew, glad I dont have a full Voicemail box like Tesla reps! :)

Called the service center back and confirmed. He asked if I had any questions and explained the process.
  • They'll walk us through the car and answer any questions we have while going through the walkthrough
  • Sign some paperwork then drive off into the land of Tesla ownership!
He said they'll try and detail it today or early Monday for us. He even said if we arrive early we can start early and leave sooner. I've heard delivery experiences with hour long waits, so I'm not expecting that at all though.
 
Honestly, that’s a nice deal. Really the only downside will likely be rock chips and a bit of a sandblasted windshield (IF they don’t replace it) - all due to the mileage. I recommend a paint kit from Dr. Colorchip. Easy to use and will likely “hide” most of them at normal viewing distances.
 
I'm so excited for you. I was feeling cautious reading through the steps you've went through and cringed when the two state registration issues came up. The stuff Tesla has to go through with the different states is kind of sad and causes a lot of issues and long waits for many. But hey, good thinking on your part to check with your state!

I only wish this story had an ending but guess if you can wait for Monday so can I! Have a good flight, hope the car is everything you want and the ride home is extra sweet. Post pictures from Dallas if you can.
 
7/22/2019 - Delivery

We Flew into DFW. Took an Uber into the service center.

We walked into the service center and we were the only people there. Told the front desk who we were and that we had an appointment for pickup. He said "great, I'll go get your delivery specialist."

He came back a a minute or so and said it'd be a few minutes but she'd be right with us. (We were 30 minutes early)

So we looked around at the red model 3 for a bit and talked about our upcoming trip back to Arkansas.

I wandered around to the glass door and saw a blue pre face-lift Model S sitting there all nice and sparkling. The had to be ours.

37904042-052A-4603-BDA1-6BDAADF4FC27.jpeg



Our delivery specialist came right out (5 minutes at the most) and had us sign the delivery document.

Then she explained that our car only has one fob and they'll be sending a mobile service unit out to us to program another one.

After that she asked if we had any experience with tesla vehicles before and I said yes, but the wife doesn't she she took us over to the car (it was ours in the delivery room) and explained everything, somethings more than once.


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This car was detailed to perfection! For a 4 year old car with almost 90,000 miles on it, you couldn't find but a couple spots of wear on it. Simply fantastic!

She walked us through charging, the hatch, opening doors, setting up profiles, the hundreds of touch screen settings, child latches for our car seats and told us about the center console and heavy duty winter mats this thing had as added options already with the car.

She asked if we had any questions, and after answering a few questions patiently she asked for our temporary tags and mounted them to the license plate holder and asked if we wanted to drive it out. After one look at the ramp with concrete sides we both said "no you can drive it down!"


So after she drove it down the ramp and parked for us we made a quick stop at chick fil a then proceeded to spend the next 90 minutes trying to get out of Dallas stuck in traffic. Thank goodness for autopilot :)

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Our first supercharge stop didn't coincide with our meal time and we needed to fully load up to make it from Ardmore, OK to Tulsa, OK. So I set the charge limit to 100% and we went for a walk.

We came back when it said there were 10 minutes left and then it dropped to 5 minutes left. It stayed on 5 minutes left for over 20 minutes before the wife finally had enough and said let's go!
One interesting thing I saw was that the rated range said 271 miles but I thought brand new this thing could only do 270. And this battery has almost 90k miles on it.

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Our 2nd and final supercharge stop was at the Hard Rock Casino in Tulsa. We watched the sunset then walked in to get some food. The smell of smoke and scents to cover up smoke was so bad we immediately turned around and walked to Taco Bueno across the street.

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After a couple tacos and burritos we were charged up for the last 90 miles (it charged at over 400mph at one point). So we hopped back in and headed home. AP all the way home until our exit from the highway.

Upon getting home and plugging in to the HPWC my friend gave me (he had 3 from referrals), I was delighted to see the car had dual chargers for 80A total capacity. Top speed so far has been 61mph.

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All in all a little over 13 hours from garage door to garage door. What a great day and absolutely perfect experience!

This car is AMAZING! Simply stunned at the performance and luxury this machine brings with it.
 

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Interesting. Here, back in 2013, when getting a new Tesla, I remember hammering home to Tesla that I needed a "manufacturer's certificate of origin" and "bill of sale", which are the only two items needed in NY to do self-registration. NY doesn't do temporary tags, but does hand out plates on the spot at the DMV -- if you have an MCO or a title.

For a used Tesla, the equivalent of the MCO is simply the properly signed and transferred title for the car. Make sure you get that, you'll probably need it for the permanent plates. Some people have had *serious* delays (as in, several months) because Tesla failed to do their title paperwork.
 
For a used Tesla, the equivalent of the MCO is simply the properly signed and transferred title for the car. Make sure you get that, you'll probably need it for the permanent plates. Some people have had *serious* delays (as in, several months) because Tesla failed to do their title paperwork.

I made sure that was part of the registration packet. She said it is usually mailed out to my house 7 days after delivery. If I don't have it in 10-11 days I'll start getting nervous and sending emails.

The temporary tag is good for 30 days and I've heard stories of Tesla taking 60 to just find the title. Hopefully that's not the case here.
 
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Great write-up and very good looking car. Our 2013 P85+ has a bit over 70K miles on it and I have to admit these cars clean up nice. It REALLY helps that Tesla didn't go goo-gaw with the styling and just went for classic beauty - still looks good years later. Once you had it at home and had a chance to wash it. I'm sure a few sins will be revealed, but hey, it isn't a $90K new one!

How did your wife like it? Did she drive at all? My wife didn't drive it for the first 8 months we owned it (note: and we had a Volt so she was familiar with plug-ins) and then her Volvo alternator went out and she had to drive it for a week while I waited for parts. That started this journey:

1. Wife will not drive it
2. Wife asks to drive it
3. Wife tells me she is taking my car
4. Wife no longer tells me she is taking my car...just takes it
5. I now have to ask permission to drive "my" car

It's a slippery slope...
 
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Great write-up and very good looking car. Our 2013 P85+ has a bit over 70K miles on it and I have to admit these cars clean up nice. It REALLY helps that Tesla didn't go goo-gaw with the styling and just went for classic beauty - still looks good years later. Once you had it at home and had a chance to wash it. I'm sure a few sins will be revealed, but hey, it isn't a $90K new one!

How did your wife like it? Did she drive at all? My wife didn't drive it for the first 8 months we owned it (note: and we had a Volt so she was familiar with plug-ins) and then her Volvo alternator went out and she had to drive it for a week while I waited for parts. That started this journey:

1. Wife will not drive it
2. Wife asks to drive it
3. Wife tells me she is taking my car
4. Wife no longer tells me she is taking my car...just takes it
5. I now have to ask permission to drive "my" car

It's a slippery slope...

LOL! We were a one car family and she did the majority of the driving so this will start off as hers. She LOVED it! She's never had a car that wasn't a hand me down that she purchased herself so this is a first. She loves the sound system, ride quality and touch screen. Autopilot..... She'll come around eventually :)

After getting out of Dallas she took over and drove. Since she'll be the primary driver I wanted her to get some experience. So after some getting acclimated in a small town we took it back on the the highway.

Once on the highway I attempted to explain autopilot to her and how to operate it. Oh man do I need to get better at teaching. Lol.

She engaged it and felt autosteer and cruise take over. She did NOT LIKE that one bit. (She's never used cruise control before.) She immediately took back over and wouldn't talk to me!!

After 15 minutes of explaining better, she was ready to try again.

Over the next 3 hours she was navigating detours, construction, slow cars, and traffic jams like a pro!


And yeah, when I got home and did a better inspection, it not a new car and has some wear, but it's wear I'd expect after maybe 15-20k miles. Not 88k. Definitely well kept by the previous owner.
 
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