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Did any of you order your Tesla sight unseen?

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I plan on placing my order in the next couple of weeks, but don't live within reasonable range of a store. Did any of you place your order without ever test driving one or stepping foot in a Tesla store? I live in metro-Detroit, so the closest store to me is 250 miles away. They have said the metro-Detroit service center is "coming soon" for a year now, and there are no events in MI this year to test drive one. Just wondering how everyone else handled it.

Also, is there an extra cost to have your car delivered to your home rather than pick it up at the store?
 
Yes. My test drive was in Seattle, after signing the MVPA and making my deposit non-refundable. Glad I did. :)

(Many/most Signature owners will be in this camp too, I think, as their configuration dates came before the test drive events. Some will have gotten rides.)
 
I had a five minute drive. That's almost the same as sight-unseen. I would have ordered even if I hadn't gotten the drive.

There is no difference in delivery fee--every one gets charged the same--even if you pick it up from the factory.
 
I plan on placing my order in the next couple of weeks, but don't live within reasonable range of a store. Did any of you place your order without ever test driving one or stepping foot in a Tesla store? I live in metro-Detroit, so the closest store to me is 250 miles away. They have said the metro-Detroit service center is "coming soon" for a year now, and there are no events in MI this year to test drive one. Just wondering how everyone else handled it.

Also, is there an extra cost to have your car delivered to your home rather than pick it up at the store?

Send me a PM and we can go for a ride and drive. I do not live far from you.

I bought mine sight unseen because I am a signature owner. My brother and father did the same. We could not be happier with our Model S'
 
Most of us Signature owners didn't ... I was lucky enough to have my deadline to confirm the same day as the first test drive here in S. FL.

By and large, the cars were definitely rough production models ....

Take a Sat and drive over ... Schedule in advance and they will take care of you.
 
I ordered mine sight unseen. First time I ever saw one in person was when mine was delivered to my house at 2:30 AM on Sunday June 23, 2013.

No regrets.

To this day I have never been to a "Gallery Store" or "Service Center" since I live 350 miles from the nearest one.

Mike
 
Put my deposit down in March, 2009, and didn't see one in person for two years when I test drove it at the factory. Best thing I ever did.

When Napabill and I put down our deposits, there were not even drawings available. As Colonel Klink said, "I know nothing", except it was to be bigger than the Roadster and have some range, no one knew how much. But some of us had made up our minds, blank as they were, that we wanted electric, and Tesla was the best promise out there. I think most of the sigs ordered sight unseen.
 
I did it. Had never sat in a Model S before I ordered it and only seen a couple in person. (I had ridden in a Roadster before tho, lol). When I ordered it I was traveling in Europe and wanted the car available when I returned, 4 months later.

Watching islandbayy and Ben Goodwin's videos helped me know what to expect with the car though!

I love driving it more than I thought possible, hehe.
 
I also ordered without seeing it in person (and without ever even sitting in any kind of electric vehicle). And like NOLA_Mike, I also first saw a Model S at close range when my car was delivered to me. I had seen one on the road a month before my delivery (but months after my order), though. :)
 
Once again, it falls to me to take the contrarian position. :rolleyes:

I've never met a dissatisfied Tesla owner, but even so, I would not recommend spending $100k on a car you've never driven. It's one thing for the early adopters, who had no choice because the car didn't exist yet. But since a fellow Teslanaut has offered you a test drive, take it! No matter how much you love the Tesla vision, you could still wind up unhappy if some aspect of the creature comforts just didn't work for you: the seats, the touchscreen dashboard, the intentionally spare interior styling, who knows. You might just climb in and look around and be like, "where's the burled walnut?" Cars are deeply personal. You have to like your car.
 
Have to agree with @flashflood. While I ordered in Dec 2009, I would not have signed the MVPA without a test drive which happened in summer 2012. I then got to sit in the car at Santana Row while on a business trip.

Take @michigamodels up on his offer or drive the 200 miles to Columbus. In fact, definitely make the drive to a store. You'll be able to see a variety of vehicles, options, colors, etc. Did you stop at the Woodward Dream Cruise gathering of Teslas? I imagine that would have been a good chance to inspect options as well.
 
Yes. I ordered only having seen on in a parking lot and reading about it online.

Of course after I plunked down my $5K deposit I figured the responsible thing to do was go test drive one within the refund time frame. Fortunately I was only 40 minutes from a gallery, so that was possible...

Needless to say, I kept my order.