Wow! Buying a Tesla....best experience ever! Even at the dealer and when not a preorder!

datechboss101

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Honestly, its why I like the Tesla version better. No unnecessary mark-ups and reasonably priced and consistent pricing throughout the country. Plus, there isn't a middle man in the transaction (i.e.: stealership); just you (the buyer/potential vehicle owner), the manufacturer, and bank (if financing or leasing). This should have been the car buying model here in the states since the beginning of the auto industry, but I guess legacy manufacturers wanted franchisees, which allowed and created the space for negotiations.
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Diehard

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Shocked that they sell for the price they advertise?

Is this a generational thing?

-Crissa
B.S. on the sticker is as American as apple pie. In many places around the world taxes and fees are part of the price and what you see is what you pay. If I am buying a piece of art or craft from the artist, I never negotiate even though I know I can get the piece for lower price. In a yard sale negotiation is a part of the fun. As far as buying a new car, I have never purchased one for myself because I can’t see doing it without negotiation and I don’t have the stomach for what it can turn into. CT is the first vehicle I am buying new because of everything that is posted here.

All that said even most B.S. free American company can't help B.S. a little. By putting the wrong price as default on their site. I wonder when CT is released, Elon would come out and say the orginal price we announced included the "Potential savings".

Tesla Cybertruck Wow! Buying a Tesla....best experience ever! Even at the dealer and when not a preorder! 1616525624489
 
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datechboss101

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B.S. on the sticker is as American as apple pie. In many places around the world taxes and fees are part of the price and what you see is what you pay. If I am buying a piece of art or craft from the artist, I never negotiate even though I know I can get the piece for lower price. In a yard sale negotiation is a part of the fun. As far as buying a new car, I have never purchased one for myself because I can’t see doing it without negotiation and I don’t have the stomach for what it can turn into. CT is the first vehicle I am buying new because of everything that is posted here.

All that said even most B.S. free American company can't help B.S. a little. By putting the wrong price as default on their site. I wonder when CT is released, Elon would come out and say the orginal price we announced included the "Potential savings".

1616525624489.png
Tesla needs to remove the potential savings tab. Gas prices will fluctuate day by day, and not every area has the same rate ($/kWH). Should just be straightfoward with the actual cash price, but we can't live in perfect world.
 


TheLastStarfighter

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Tesla's "potential savings" tab is ridiculously conservative, at least here. Based on my car usage I'd save around $500 per month. Way, way more than the $60 the site suggests. Gas is expensive in Canada.
 

HaulingAss

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Tesla's "potential savings" tab is ridiculously conservative, at least here. Based on my car usage I'd save around $500 per month. Way, way more than the $60 the site suggests. Gas is expensive in Canada.
Yeah, that's why they base all savings on the average prices around the country (because they recognize there is quite a bit of geographic variation). The biggest determinant of how much you actually save might be how much you drive. They use an average amount for that too. I have zero problem with it since they fully disclose the methodology right there if you have any interest in it. And, like Crissa said, it's almost like a friendly customer service reminder so you don't forget to weigh the savings if you are cross-shopping with an ICE vehicle. I like to click back and forth between the two numbers once I have read the assumptions.

The last thing I want to see is people choosing the ICE vehicle out of ignorance simply because they are not comparing dollars to dollars.
 

datechboss101

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I think Tesla's savings tab is important.

Too many people forget that electric cars are cheaper to operate.

-Crissa
I looked at the website especially at the Potential savings tab.. It's really backwards, but hopefully they will update it to show the Federal tax credit discount instead of gasoline savings. Either way, you are still paying 1/3 of the price for electricity under the national average of $0.129 per KWh, unless the house where a Tesla owner charges their Tesla's have a solar roof with solar panels.

The screenshot picture is from the M-S LR with minimal configuration.
Tesla Cybertruck Wow! Buying a Tesla....best experience ever! Even at the dealer and when not a preorder! 1616599262765
 

DarinCT

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Tesla has one killer advantage and that is their dealerships service centers. Sure, they are ahead on many categories (safety, FSD, price per pack kWh, branding, etc.) With significant effort and cash, other companies compete or can catch up. They cannot compete on distribution. Dealerships suck, dealerships are an added cost to the consumer, and dealerships exist for reasons that don't matter any more. In other words, even if Mercedes or Lexus or Cadillac or Ford was able to compete on FSD, pack size/mileage, cost, safety, etc., they will still not be able to compete on dealerships.

My experience at the service center was underwhelming (unreturned messages, late appointments, test drive vehicle not ready, overwhelmed personnel). Yet, it was still better than any ICE dealership experience I've had.

Personally, I think that Starlink and corporate culture are two different types of advantages that the others will never be able to compete on but that's not what this thread is about.
 

HaulingAss

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I looked at the website especially at the Potential savings tab.. It's really backwards, but hopefully they will update it to show the Federal tax credit discount instead of gasoline savings. Either way, you are still paying 1/3 of the price for electricity under the national average of $0.129 per KWh, unless the house where a Tesla owner charges their Tesla's have a solar roof with solar panels.

The screenshot picture is from the M-S LR with minimal configuration.
1616599262765.png
When there is a federal tax credit they include it in the savings. Currently, there is not, so they don't. If the tax credit gets re-instated, they will add it with not too much more than the flip of a switch.
 


HaulingAss

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They have showrooms. The difference is only who gets to determine the out the door price, so why quibble at the word choice?

-Crissa
I can understand quibbling with the use of the word "dealer". Because most people would rather have their wisdom teeth pulled than have to negotiate with a dealer. The word "dealership" carries a lot of emotional baggage with most people as it evolks feelings of repulsion.

Elon experienced dealerships at a young age and listened to others stories who had negative and irrational dealership experience, and he said "This is not right, I can do better". And Elon did it in a sensible way and the customers said, "This is good and sensible and how it should be." And God saw it was good and he shone his light upon Elon. But God was not happy with the dealerships and he cast a thunderbolt down from the heavens. The dealers trembled for they knew God was displeased and they had treated the customers unfairly and deceptively. God said "I have given Elon cars that run on thunder, for you have sinned. Repent and be made whole."

But the dealers were full of pride and they said "But the electric cars you gave Elon catch on fire and run on coal and have roofs that fly off and bumpers that cannot handle a little rain. We have better electric cars coming, cars with consistent panel gaps, a whole bunch of them next year."

God cast another thunderbolt from the heavens and bellowed, "That's what you told me last year, and the year before that, and the year before that and the year before that and you are trying my patience. Elon has cars that run on thunder from the heavens and all you have are overpriced cars that run on my early mistakes from eons ago that I buried to start anew.

The dealer's trembled for they could see how angry God was and they begged for a new chance. God said, "Elon has shown you the way of the gentle shepard but your hearts are hardened and filled with greed and deception. I should smite you from the face of the earth." The dealers were afraid but they knew they could not change their deceptive ways, all their milk and honey flowed from their trickery, deceit and additional dealer markups and they did not know how to be sensible and righteous and so their days were numbered.

Electriviticus 4: 20
 

VI Tesla

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Hello future Cybertruck owners!

If you are like me and you are drooling over any information that comes out about our Cybertruck, and you constantly search YouTube and the internet trying to find any information you can on it, then let me fill you in on how awesome it's going to be to actually buy the Cybertruck!

I have owned ICE vehicles all of my life; however, my wife and I recently purchased a Model Y. Remember as you read this that this was not a preorder, but rather a phone call to a Tesla dealer location that had this Model Y on their lot and is the same way I have purchased ICE vehicles in the past. While we did not get the 1000 supercharger miles that we wanted by using my Cybertruck referral number (see that post here), it was the best car buying experience I have had.

If you have ever purchased an ICE vehicle then you probably understand my angst buying an ICE vehicle. For me, the process is usually as follows. First you walk on to the car lot pretending that you don't want a salesperson to bother you, but you're intentionally giving the "excuse me I need help" vibe as you look at a car you like. Then, like sharks to blood, the sales people come a stormin in (I am kidding...most have been very helpful). Then you take the test drive. Then your salesperson ask you "what do you want to pay a month?" and the infamous dance of me thinking I am smarter than them while they gracefully make me pay too much money as I am thanking them to do so begins. The salesperson goes and talks to the sales manager perched on high (literally elevated above the showroom a foot or two for me most of the time) and comes back with an offer $150 more a month than you wanted. After a few negotiations and me saying I'm leaving, they magically meet the magic monthly number I asked for, because they are doing me a favor, as it is the end of the month. Then you head to finance and that's where they assault my wallet with overcharged fees and free "services for life" that cost me $3500 up front. Finally, 6-8 hours later I am driving home, having had a cavity search I didn't even know I was getting.

Now let's talk Tesla. We called the dealer and they had a standard Model Y on the lot that we wanted. We put down a $100 deposit (non-refundable) to hold the vehicle. We drove to the dealer, test drove a vehicle (not ours) of the same model, and decided we wanted the vehicle. Our sales person stated the paperwork was in our email. I logged in and it was there. My wife and I both signed, I pulled up my insurance card and showed them, signed about 3 pages of paper (10 total pages or so), and received a short description of how to drive our vehicle. There were no oil changes and priority BS services for life. There were no hidden fees, only title and taxes. I was utterly shocked.

From the time I stepped on the lot until I left with our new Tesla...it was 45 minutes. There were no hidden fees, and I worked with my salesperson from start to end. Holy heck what a great car buying experience. I am now really excited to take possession of my Cybertruck. Remember, this was a car lot purchase, not an online purchase I was picking up. So the preorder purchase can only be so much better!
Our experience was the same but we did the pre-order route, this was back in 2019. Two weeks later we got the call it was ready. We scheduled a time that would work for us to pick it up, we even had a trade in (which was super simple process, of course didn't get much but just wanted the old ICE gone). We even threw them a curve ball, we had our trade in Subura Forester loaded for a family vacation. kids bikes and all. They like to get trade ins off the lot ASAP as there's not much room, but they were kind enough to let us do al the paper work then transfer everything to the M3, kids car seats and all....and there was room to spare.
Same paperwork process as with you and quick tutorial. To top it off they gave our two girls 5 and 7 at the time a model 3 toy car each. We left the lot with the same feeling, did that just happen....?
What an amazing experience. This just doesn't make it into the chats enough when people are comparing EVs. It a small piece of the process but it set the tone for ownership. I wonder what the traditional OEM experience is like now, I know a few of them have moved to online purchase but they still have the dealership model to support. Anyone have first hand experience?
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