Thursday, August 6, 2015

The Pick-Up / Taking Delivery

Tesla arranged for my wife and I an Enterprise Rent-a-car to drive from Indianapolis to Cincinnati, so we could leave it there and then drive the Model S back home. There was just a slight confusion with the rental staff as to whether it was going to be returned or was a one-way rental; but after a quick email to my DS (and him calling Enterprise back while we were on the road), all of that was sorted out without my needing to worry about it. First point of the day scored by Tesla!

So after a couple of hours of driving through country where you're assaulted by "Jesus Lives" and other billboards threatening eternal damnation for people like me, we finally made it to the most progressive location in Ohio - the Tesla Service Center.

It's as everyone says: once you see your new car in person, it's just sexy. No pictures will ever do a Model S any amount of justice. Even the public notary they brought in for the signing was liking the look of it. It was just sitting there, charged and waiting. And if I had any 2nd thoughts about my options (e.g. all black, standard wheels), they vanished in an instant.

So, we took a walk around, basking in its radiant glory, and then sat down for the paperwork. That literally took like 3 minutes or so, and then I had the keys. Meanwhile, my wife was doing her thing, inspecting for damages and such. She actually found a few scuffs and imperfections - most of which they fixed right on the spot. A couple of very minor defects on the front bumper were a bit too deep to fix right there, so what did they immediately offer to do? Without any fuss, "ah, well, we'll just order you a new bumper and have someone come out and replace it for you." --- Damn. 2nd and 3rd points of the day scored by Tesla. They do NOT mess around!

I had also ordered the all-weather floor mats and brought those along; and they installed them for me right there. I'm glad they did, because there is apparently a bit of "screwing" involved with the anchors, and I'm glad they did that instead of me. Probably simple, but you never know. 4th score of the day.

Since I had pretty much exhausted the Internet's entire repository of Tesla videos, I was pretty familiar with how to operate the car; so the walk-through was abbreviated at my request, but they still answered any miscellaneous questions I had, expertly. All-in-all, the whole staff just seems to actually enjoy working with the brand... it's really like there is a real passion there. Fantastic experience, overall. Tesla experience is, so far, anything but run-of-the-mill.


2 comments:

  1. "She actually found a few scuffs and imperfections - most of which they fixed right on the spot. A couple of very minor defects on the front bumper were a bit too deep to fix right there" - Could you describe the "few scuffs and imperfections" and the "minor defects"?
    Thank you in advance!

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    Replies
    1. The bumper defects were kind of like very small "gouges" or "chunks" taken out of the edge of the bumper cover's paint... in that gap between the bumper and headlight. Probably, the bumper cover was stored on its edge or something and bumped something. There were two: one on each side. Tesla, without any hesitation offered to replace the entire bumper cover.

      The other issue was a scratch on the back quarter panel, back above the rear wheel, kind of on top. Probably, it was a scratch by one of the train unloaders or during some sort of transportation step. That was very superficial and they were able to buff it out / polish it smooth right there on the spot.

      Sorry, they are all very small and I'm finding it impossible to get show up in any pictures!

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