Thinking of buying a Tesla? Like many Tesla owners
I think this is the best car I have ever owned, and with new features being added
every few weeks via free software updates,
it's like getting a new car again and again and again, but there are aspects of the purchase experience that I think
everybody should know before buying one. Some are just tips to make sure you get the most out of the buying experience,
but, some of what I'm going to tell you is to prepare you for an experience that is
eventually going to get you the car that you want,
but in truth is not the experience that it should be. Many of these issues are because Tesla does not maintain public lots
filled with pre inspected ready to buy inventory, so they aren't the kinds of problems
you've probably experienced at a traditional dealership, but it's Tesla sales model
that means that the price you have to pay for Tesla is
lower than what you'd have to pay if they had to carry all the costs associated with a traditional dealership model. Yes!
Tesla needs to fix their sales process, but it isn't fixed yet.
Hopefully, by going into the purchase knowing what I'm about to tell you, you'll have a better time with it, nonetheless.
Number One: use a referral link from any existing Tesla owner to place your order.
Even if you're ordering from a showroom or over the phone, have a referral link handy to give to your sales advisor
so they can apply it while creating your order.
Tesla gives all owners one to share, and using it earns both the referrer and the purchaser free benefits. Right now,
it's free super charging, but often Tesla sweetens the incentive package to spur more sales.
It can never hurt you to use a referral link to purchase a Tesla, and the full details of what the program is all about
can be found at the referral link itself. To be clear,
this is an official Tesla program. Valid referral links will start with either a
ts.la or a Tesla.com like the referral link I'm showing on the screen right now.
And yes, that is my referral link.
It will be super awesome if you use it, but the point is to use a referral link... any
referral link from an existing Tesla owner when you place your order.
Number Two: once you place your order, be prepared for frustratingly slow or even
non-existent communication. Yes, it is entirely unacceptable
when buying such an expensive car for your emails and voicemails not to be responded to in a timely manner,
but this is exactly the kind of experience that happens
way more frequently than it should, and by "more frequently than it should," I mean the stories of
unresponsive sales and delivery advisers are posted nearly every day on Tesla forums.
This post is from just two days ago, and it elicited multiple replies from others going through the same thing right now all over the US.
Some do get a great advisor who
actively manages the process for the customer like you'd expect, but that seems to be the luck of the draw.
You might end up with an advisor that won't return emails whose voice mail boxes are so full,
you can't even leave them a message. One bit of advice often posted bears repeating.
It's helpful to get to know the local sales or delivery manager at your sales center because they're often way easier to get ahold of
than the randomly assigned sales or delivery advisor Tesla assigns to your order.
Number Three: be prepared for or even ask Tesla to offer you
incentives to take an inventory car that may or may not match the configuration that you ordered. This happens
especially at the end of every quarter or like it is now when I'm making this video. Like other major auto manufacturers,
Tesla is a publicly traded company that has to report their financials quarterly.
So, that means like other major auto manufacturers,
they often provide sales incentives at the end of the quarter to boost their sales figures.
They do not like calling them "sales incentives,"
but that is exactly what they are. While you can't technically haggle on the price of a Tesla,
you can often get additional free Supercharging, upgraded wheels, upgraded interior...
Sometimes, they'll even upgrade your battery capacity all for free. If you're willing to take a demo model with some miles on it,
You might even get a good discount on the price. Even if you're firm on a configuration that you want,
it can't hurt to ask your Tesla sales advisor to check inventory for any models
they can match you to that might come with some of these incentives.
Tesla even lets you search their inventory yourself.
So, you can start the process with a few cars in mind. Don't consider this list to be complete,
however, as inventory can turn over faster than this list gets updated.
If you don't see something you want online, a Tesla sales advisor might still be able to find one for you
that includes a free upgrade or two.
Oh, and speaking of miles, all new Teslas will show is having 50 miles on the odometer in the pre delivery paperwork.
That's because they have no idea how many miles it's actually gonna have by the time it gets to you.
It does not mean that it's a demo car that's been taken for test drives.
That's just the standard number that they use in the pre delivery paperwork for all new Teslas.
Number Four: you might not get a VIN assigned to you until the day of your delivery,
but even if they new assign you a VIN before that, they might switch it before your appointment.
Tesla will change where they're sending entire trailers of cars to maximize deliveries as new orders come in.
So, sometimes that means the car that was supposed to end up in your region ends up shifted to a different region.
This happens enough that I can tell you
it doesn't seem to present the problem for financial institutions and
insurance companies that you might think it will. You just need to make sure they know what your actual VIN is when you pick up
your car and that seems to be all they care about.
Number Five: elated to their ever-changing regional allocation of cars, be prepared for them to cancel your delivery appointment
last minute. I'm gonna call a spade a spade.
There is no excuse for a technology company to have such horrific logistical systems,
but they do. Your delivery advisor often has inaccurate information on where your car actually is, and it can sometimes be extremely
last-minute when they realize your car isn't going to make it for your appointment.
Sometimes your car arrives at the delivery center on time
but with damage that they have to repair before turning the car over to you.
This isn't different than any other dealership around the world.
Dealers are getting cars that have damage all the time that they then fix to new condition
before putting them on the lot to try to sell the customers in the first place.
Tesla's process is to get the customer into the car first, then do those repairs.
I can see both sides of the coin on this.
I know we were really happy to be driving this Model 3 around as we were waiting for our appointment to make some
adjustments on the doors.
Sometimes, Tesla find something that prevents them from being able to turn a car over to you at all,
like a cracked windshield, in which case they'll just change your delivery appointment or match you to a different car entirely.
If you have anything in your life that would make picking up a Tesla difficult to manage,
don't turn your life upside down to meet what they want to do as far as delivery appointment.
Make them arrange their logistics to meet your needs.
That way, a cancelled delivery appointment won't put you out a vacation day or a plane ticket or whatever else you might have done to make
a delivery happen the way they wanted it done. That said, if you delay delivery long enough for a car they already have in their
possession, they can and will rematch it to somebody that can pick it up sooner, but these cars are all exactly the same.
So, if getting rematched is more convenient to you, don't sweat it.
Number Six: don't count on Tesla's local delivery people to find all the things that might be wrong with your car.
As soon as you get your car, check it over for fit and finish and be prepared to find things that might need to get fixed.
But, don't worry. As long as you let Tesla know about any delivery defects, they will fix them.
As you already hopefully understand by now,
Tesla has some serious growing pains, and fit and finish is one of them. Weird body panel gaps and paint flaws
often slip through their QC (quality control) process, but Tesla will absolutely fix them
as long as you let them know about them in a timely manner.
You generally have two days after picking up your Tesla to do this,
but it's always best to be able to show it to the sales advisers right at delivery.
Luckily, a few enterprising Tesla enthusiasts have created a checklist for you to go over your car
when you pick it up. A lot of these things are nitpicky items, and the whole list is geared towards a Model 3,
but even if you're getting a Model S or X,
this checklist will give you an idea of the kinds of things that you should be looking for.
Number Seven is appropriately numbered because you have 7 days, or
a thousand miles after taking delivery of your Tesla to try it out and return it for a full refund if you're not satisfied.
That's right. Every new Tesla comes with a one week satisfaction guarantee.
As scary as I might be making buying a Tesla out to be, it's as low risk as buying a new car can be.
Of course, Tesla knows they can offer this because once you start driving a Tesla,
you probably won't want to be driving anything else.
In short, I made this video to help you go into the process with the right expectations...
...which would not be wrong to say that I was hoping to lower your expectations.
However, even people with some pretty horrific
delivery experiences keep saying again and again that these cars are worth it.
Nobody else makes a car with the safety of a Tesla.
Nobody else makes a car that can do so much of the easy parts of driving for you.
Nobody else makes a car that keeps getting better the longer you own it.
I cannot recommend the Tesla purchase process, but I can wholeheartedly recommend
owning a Tesla. Hopefully, now that you know what the purchase process is like,
you'll have an easier time getting what will likely be the best car you've ever owned.
Don't forget that referral link. It's in the video description as well as pinned in the comments below.
Be sure to subscribe for more tips and tricks on owning a Tesla.
I really appreciate you watching The Tech of Tech, and I hope to see you next time.