Pick up or Delivery?

I had mine delivered with no problems. I actually live near the factory, kind of, and simply couldn't get down there to pick it up before the end of their 9/14 qtr. So they offered to deliver for free.

When you think about it, it's pretty darn cool that a car company will actually bring the car to YOU!

Aw, splurge and pick it up at the Fremont factory and enjoy the ride home! Worth the experience if you have the time.

Definitely go do the factory tour and enjoy the road trip home.

Blu Zap said:

Aw, splurge and pick it up at the Fremont factory and enjoy the ride home! Worth the experience if you have the time.

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And pay the state of California a massive tax bill for the pleasure of this?

flankspeed8 said:

And pay the state of California a massive tax bill for the pleasure of this?

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I was thinking the same thing, but didn't say anything, thinking I was missing some detail. But perhaps the other posters missed that the Op is in NM and not CA. Now, it is possible to arrange delivery over the border, then drive to Fremont and do the tour and drive back.

How does that work? Where do they do it, and does Tesla have a program for this? I would think the ideal spot would be Incline Village, but I don't know if there is a Tesla Store or Service Center near there.

Cyclone said:

I was thinking the same thing, but didn't say anything, thinking I was missing some detail. But perhaps the other posters missed that the Op is in NM and not CA. Now, it is possible to arrange delivery over the border, then drive to Fremont and do the tour and drive back.

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donv said:

How does that work? Where do they do it, and does Tesla have a program for this? I would think the ideal spot would be Incline Village, but I don't know if there is a Tesla Store or Service Center near there.

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We would have to do a search for it, but I recall reading on this forum where someone in either WA or OR arranged it with them to have the car delivered into their state, sign it over, and then drove down into Freemont for the tour. Sounded like a good deal especially with WA charging zero sales tax on EVs at the moment. Maybe @breser remembers the story as he is in the area.

Now, there's a thought! I'm in Florida. How cool would that be to fly out there and pick it up from the factory and drive it across the country home? My wife wanted a corvette and we were going to go up to Kentucky and do the same. The MS experience, I'm sure, will be completely different! Interesting thought.

Will we have any idea what day the car will be ready for pick up? Would Tesla consider that if I'm flying from Florida to pick it up? I realize their production schedule varies, but . . . that would be cool.

chriSharek said:

Now, there's a thought! I'm in Florida. How cool would that be to fly out there and pick it up from the factory and drive it across the country home? My wife wanted a corvette and we were going to go up to Kentucky and do the same. The MS experience, I'm sure, will be completely different! Interesting thought.

Will we have any idea what day the car will be ready for pick up? Would Tesla consider that if I'm flying from Florida to pick it up? I realize their production schedule varies, but . . . that would be cool.

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I would talk with your rep at your local store about arranging pickup in a nearby state to CA, and then drive it home from there. That may be a bit much for Florida, but you have to decide. Just note that if you pick it up at the factory, you have to pay CA taxes on it vs. Florida's taxes. I don't know about Sarasota, but Fort Lauderdale's 6% taxes are less than California's.

For me, I'm looking at an inventory car in Texas. Since Tesla is unable to sell directly in Texas anyway, the process is you pay for the car in advance, then pick it up (or have it delivered) in Texas. They cannot collect Texas taxes and give you a temp plate. You pay taxes when registering. I could then drive it home to NC and pay our 3% tax on the car. That said, if I end up ordering new, I would just have it delivered to NC and perhaps take a road trip post-delivery to CA for a factory tour.

I took delivery at a SC, and while it was a nice experience, I don't think I'd have missed anything important if it had been delivered at home. The personalized walk-through is no doubt extremely useful for people of a less technical bent, or less interest in the car, or less time to poke at it. For me, I knew almost everything my DS showed me, and the few new things I would have picked up on my own while exploring the menus. Not to criticize in any way: it was a nice tour and very thorough, but if you're the video-watching, forum-reading, menu-poking type, you can get by fine without it.

Is there a standard distance short of which they will not deliver, beyond which they will? I am 210 miles from my dealership, and am not enthusiastic about a 420 mile round trip. I have always assumed they would drop it off.