Friday, January 3, 2020

Taking Delivery - easier than buying a new phone.

When the day finally came, I was as excited as Augustus drinking from the chocolate river.

The amazing thing about the whole process of buying a Tesla is that, while only a small deposit was needed to place the initial order ($1000, which I believe has gone down to $100), everything else was done online - from filling out all the personal details, to uploading a scanned copy of the my drivers license and auto insurance information. I did not have to deal with people at all! This is a huge departure from traditional wheeling and dealing with car dealerships and I love it!
Doing everything online is the only way to buy a car.
A simple text message to Alvin ensured that I the appropriate referral codes applied to get the free supercharging credits and deals was applied to my purchase.
All the funds were transferred online and I even had the Tesla app loaded on my phone and online accounts created in a few minutes. My car showed up on the account page and in my app immediately upon delivery.

I headed down from home to the delivery center on my delivery day, met with my delivery associate Maria who had me sign on 2-3 docs, accepting the car, the temp plates and checklist. She logged into a computer, enabled my Tesla app and bam! there was my Model 3!

She walked my though the features, settings and operations, most of which were very intuitive. The best part...

..no,, not the screen protector still being on! Purchasing a car with 4 miles on the odometer! and of course the little red line showing up on the Tesla screen. This moment genuinely brought a tear to my eye! 

Better than the first time I ever had ice cream and maybe a few others things:-)
Of course the next thing I had to check for the true indication that this build was the real deal - the Driving screen having this feature:
TRACK MODE! Yeah Baby!
Hoooooray ]!!!!!
I did have one snafu. As I set to drive some 120 miles back home, about 4 miles away from the Tesla facility as I hit more straight roads, I noticed that the I had to hold the steering wheel about 10 degrees to the right to steer straight. I let the Auto Pilot calibration complete, pulled over and powered off and on the car, reset the system, but nothing. So I called in and the Tesla service center first suggested all the things I had tried, then they immediately asked me to turn around and come back.
When the car is in service!
Despite the service center being busy, they performed an all-wheel alignment and had me out of there in about an hour or so. So I was able to experience what it is like to have the vehicle serviced, both from a customer service standpoint and from an Tesla app standpoint. The steering wheel alignment has been straight ever since.

Buying a Tesla is simply an amazing experience. I recommend that when you buy your Tesla, buy new and experience this first hand! Be aware of the various promotions and work with your Tesla Advisor.