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Tesla's no-dealership model has been an unmitigated disaster. I have never heard of any other company making people wait months for repairs, nor have I heard of

Tesla's no-dealership model has been an unmitigated disaster. I have never heard of any other company making people wait months for repairs, nor have I heard of any other company repeatedly making delivery estimates that are wrong by months, nor have I heard of any other company delivering cars over a year after they were paid for.

oh_sigh 5y ago
Alternatively, you don't have a listing on Tesla's site saying that a car costs $40k, and then when you call them up to buy it, they say they are adding a "$25k dealer premium", so you can have it for $65k. That's what actually happened to me when I was about to buy a rav4 prime a year ago. So instead I just went and bought a model Y for $50k, and am extremely happy with it. And also blacklisted Larry H Miller from ever getting my business again. But I guess I haven't had to deal with repairs, so maybe things will get worse.
agent86 5y ago
Is the model a disaster, or is Tesla's implementation of it a disaster? Or is Tesla's implementation of it given the confines they were working under a disaster? If you look at Rivian and Lucid, their performance in this space hasn't exactly been stellar either. You are absolutely correct that these things typically do not happen with the major car manufacturers, and that Tesla needs to get its act together. But it is worth considering the other car manufacturers have been doing it at scale for a much longer time often with better understood materials and technology. People often ask "What are the other carmakers going to do to compete?" and this is exactly one of those things that they'll bring to the table.
kaczordon 5y ago
Weird I got my Tesla within a month delivered to my place. Looks great and drives great no issues so far. Definitely prefer this to going into a dealership.
ajross 5y ago
Everyone is different, I guess. I loved the experience. Placed the order, got an email, set up the bank transfer, they called me exactly one time to confirm the delivery time, then dropped off the car. I spent less time[1] buying my Model Y than I have on some products from Amazon. The opinion and memery about this brand is just unbelievable. Cars are big and complicated devices and selling them is equally complicated, and I'm sure there are people who have bad experience buying them, as is basically inevitable. But the overwhelming majority of owners think it's great. [1] If you don't count the incessant, obsessive checking to see what the current delivery estimate is, of course.
- adfgadfgaery 5y ago
  >But the overwhelming majority of owners think it's great. I don't care at all what the overwhelming majority of owners think. Maybe 95% of customers are happy to have saved a few hours in a dealership, but when the 5% are without a car for six months that's pretty cold comfort. The problems I am discussing are very serious. It is not enough for them to be uncommon; they must be unheard of.
  - givemeethekeys 5y ago
    Compare that to the competition: - No one I know likes going to the dealership.. so that's close to a 100% dissatisfaction rate for a dealership experience, compared to 5% for Tesla.
    - adfgadfgaery 5y ago
      No one I know likes wearing a seatbelt.
throwtheacctawy 5y ago
mywittyname 5y ago
> I have never heard of any other company making people wait months for repairs, This is sadly quite common right now. If you own any vehicle with Tesla production levels, it's possible there's a shortage of certain parts for it.

oh_sigh 5y ago

Alternatively, you don't have a listing on Tesla's site saying that a car costs $40k, and then when you call them up to buy it, they say they are adding a "$25k dealer premium", so you can have it for $65k. That's what actually happened to me when I was about to buy a rav4 prime a year ago. So instead I just went and bought a model Y for $50k, and am extremely happy with it. And also blacklisted Larry H Miller from ever getting my business again. But I guess I haven't had to deal with repairs, so maybe things will get worse.

agent86 5y ago

Is the model a disaster, or is Tesla's implementation of it a disaster? Or is Tesla's implementation of it given the confines they were working under a disaster? If you look at Rivian and Lucid, their performance in this space hasn't exactly been stellar either. You are absolutely correct that these things typically do not happen with the major car manufacturers, and that Tesla needs to get its act together. But it is worth considering the other car manufacturers have been doing it at scale for a much longer time often with better understood materials and technology. People often ask "What are the other carmakers going to do to compete?" and this is exactly one of those things that they'll bring to the table.

kaczordon 5y ago

Weird I got my Tesla within a month delivered to my place. Looks great and drives great no issues so far. Definitely prefer this to going into a dealership.

ajross 5y ago

Everyone is different, I guess. I loved the experience. Placed the order, got an email, set up the bank transfer, they called me exactly one time to confirm the delivery time, then dropped off the car. I spent less time[1] buying my Model Y than I have on some products from Amazon. The opinion and memery about this brand is just unbelievable. Cars are big and complicated devices and selling them is equally complicated, and I'm sure there are people who have bad experience buying them, as is basically inevitable. But the overwhelming majority of owners think it's great. [1] If you don't count the incessant, obsessive checking to see what the current delivery estimate is, of course.

adfgadfgaery 5y ago
>But the overwhelming majority of owners think it's great. I don't care at all what the overwhelming majority of owners think. Maybe 95% of customers are happy to have saved a few hours in a dealership, but when the 5% are without a car for six months that's pretty cold comfort. The problems I am discussing are very serious. It is not enough for them to be uncommon; they must be unheard of.
- givemeethekeys 5y ago
  Compare that to the competition: - No one I know likes going to the dealership.. so that's close to a 100% dissatisfaction rate for a dealership experience, compared to 5% for Tesla.
  - adfgadfgaery 5y ago
    No one I know likes wearing a seatbelt.

throwtheacctawy 5y ago

mywittyname 5y ago

> I have never heard of any other company making people wait months for repairs, This is sadly quite common right now. If you own any vehicle with Tesla production levels, it's possible there's a shortage of certain parts for it.