concerns on ordering a Tesla

Concerns
1. Take everything you read on TMC with a grain of salt. Think of it this way, most people come here to post about problems they're having, and only a few of the people are singing praises about Tesla. So you read a thread and think this car has tons of problems. Look at any car forum, it's the same.
2. Yeah, this sucks, no doubt about it.
3. For now, yes, this is true. I hope it changes in the future

I think the pros outweigh the cons.

Zbjonk said:

Perhaps the forums are a skewed sample and not reflective of the overall experience?

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^^^this. i would not let the little things like creaks or loud ac etc to steer you away from an MS purchase. keep in mind that Tesla addresses all of these and more proactively each time you bring your car in. They listen to you concerns and usually always go above and beyond to make sure you are 100% satisfied and happy customer. yes we nit-pick on these forums and give Tesla a hard time, but I would view it more as constructive criticism that helps steer them to even better service than it is today.

As above, only thing I'd add is that the "lots of little problems" concerns are getting fewer and fewer as Tesla gains experience and streamlines the manufacturing process. I had LOTS of little issues (Vin 1267), but haven't been in for anything for over 6 months.
That said, this is still very much a young company and you are going to be a relatively early adopter. If you like everything proven, perfect and can't stand quirks, it may not be the car for you. But I think you will find, like almost everyone else, that any minor quibbles are far far outweighed by the advantages.

Even with as many problems as I've had with my CPO, I still think my issues are an outlier and in general, as everyone already said, its just the people with problems speaking up more here and Tesla is better at getting these taken care of. Personally, I would plan on a visit 2-3 weeks after receiving the car for any follow up items and then 90% of people (just a random guess) won't need to interact with Service again for the foreseeable future.

Of all things, service concerns should not be the deal-breaker. I've had nothing but positive experiences with service centers. VIN 4375 has been in for service (minor issues) maybe five times over the last 2.5 years but it doesn't really matter because they will drop off a loaner when they pick up the car from your house.

Zbjonk said:

Have been intensely looking at a model s and even put a deposit on a cpo which I lost because it was not in great condition as I expected.

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Can you please describe what kind of condition of that CPO car made you give up $1000.

MikeC said:

Of all things, service concerns should not be the deal-breaker. I've had nothing but positive experiences with service centers. VIN 4375 has been in for service (minor issues) maybe five times over the last 2.5 years but it doesn't really matter because they will drop off a loaner when they pick up the car from your house.

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Meanwhile, my CPO has been in service 4 times in 3 months and will go back again next month. But still, I agree, it should not be a deal-breaker.

Zbjonk said:

.../

Concerns:
A lot of people seem to have a lot of small issues that require frequent servicing /...

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Doesn’t Consumer Reports have statistics on this very topic?

Anyone who knows what their score is for the Model S relative to other ‘premium’ cars?

freeewilly said:

Can you please describe what kind of condition of that CPO car made you give up $1000.

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I'm curious about this as well. This is beyond bad service if Tesla kept your deposit on a cpo car based on a disagreement about the condition.

According to this video posted October 27, 2014 the Model S has “Average Reliability”. And then, that was “far better” than the Merc S Class or the Cadillac XTS…

And I would assume that reliability for the Model S has improved since then…

It also depends on what other cars you are comparing with. Ferrari's are notoriously unreliable and expensive to maintain. That doesn't mean a Honda Civic is a better car than a Ferrari.

My car (very early VIN) had a bunch of little problems (and a battery cell replacement), haven't been to the service center in nearly a year.
At 47k miles. My wife's car, bought in September 2014 has only been to the service center to replace a wiper blade.

EdA said:

.../ My wife's car, bought in September 2014 has only been to the service center to replace a wiper blade.

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I assume you don't need to visit a service center to replace those. Replacing wiper blades on a 2012 European VW Passat Station wagon (Of course!) for instance, is quite easy...

SwedishAdvocate said:

I assume you don't need to visit a service center to replace those. Replacing wiper blades on a 2012 European VW Passat Station wagon (Of course!) for instance, is quite easy...

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The wife insisted I take it in (20 minutes away) and have them do it.
The car was ~1 month old and it was a Saturday.

Her car is over 12k miles now and is the primary road trip car, although we've taken 3 two-Tesla road trips this summer!
(None more than 300 miles round trip)

Zbjonk said:

The car had deep gashes to the paint ( nickel size) several odd areas. It was covered up with poor paint or something that easily flaked off. I was concerned about how the car was maintained with such a poor repair repair job. Tesla couldn't tell me much about the car other than it wasn't involved in an accident that they were aware of. I was surprised to hear that the deposit is non-refundable 72 hours after ordering. Not the customer service I expected.

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You made the right choice walking away!

On my car, there was a scratch on the hood and a scratch on the rear passenger fender and rear bumper. Those got noted and Tesla paid for the car to be repainted. Fast forward to the first detailing after the 30 day wait period, and the paint on the passenger front fender came off. Tesla felt it was the detailer's fault, but the detailer felt it was a previously shoddy paint job. I ended up having to pay for a repaint out of pocket. Upthread, I linked to the thread I opened about this. Photos are in that thread. As someone in a different post mentioned, if two parts of the car had paint problems that Tesla had to take care of, when a third part crops up shortly thereafter, Tesla should have stepped up to it rather than it being the customer's problem.

Zbjonk said:

The car had deep gashes to the paint ( nickel size) several odd areas. It was covered up with poor paint or something that easily flaked off. I was concerned about how the car was maintained with such a poor repair repair job. Tesla couldn't tell me much about the car other than it wasn't involved in an accident that they were aware of. I was surprised to hear that the deposit is non-refundable 72 hours after ordering. Not the customer service I expected.

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I would expect your deposit to be transferable to a new car. Not fully lost. I would ask. And if they don't comply, escalate it.

Max* said:

I would expect your deposit to be transferable to a new car. Not fully lost. I would ask. And if they don't comply, escalate it.

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+1000! Trust me, they do NOT want to piss off a perspective customer, especially if the car was not in the condition it should have been.

Regardless, I can't speak to the CPO vs new argument, but I will say - I love my MS. Best thing I ever did. Are there little "issues"? Sure. Would I have not bought the car if I knew them? Nope.

I think Tesla service is generally here to stay (Until they start cranking out 500,000 Model IIIs a year; even then, let's hope they ramp up just as much on the service side.)

I have a squeak/rattle in the dash. Bugs me, but not enough to do anything about it yet. Next time it's in for something, I'll mention it.

Knock on wood, my car was only in for service once. Had to be flat bedded from my driveway. Sad moment indeed, especially at 1500 miles! The ultimate issue - the wiring harness between the front motor and batteries was out of acceptable tolerance. So I had a loaner P85d for three days. On top of that, Tesla was going to rent me a car because I had to be on the road EARLY Monday morning (This happened on Sunday) and they wouldn't be able to get me a loaner fast enough (Though they were even reaching out to the SC manager's cell to see what they could do.)

These alone are what keep me. EVERY car you buy is going to have an issue. Every. No way around it. It's all in the service. Tesla is the TOP when it comes to service. No one else comes close. So even if service does slip at some point, you might as well get in now and enjoy every bit of it. On top of that, I certainly wouldn't let service dictate what I buy. I've had two Acuras now. Had a horrible experience with the stealership on an issue with the first Acura. Still bought a second Acura (Just at a different stealership with equally crappy service.) The cars have been great. I expect my MS to be just as great and better. I'm not worried about a few trips to the SC once in a while!

PatD said:

+1000! Trust me, they do NOT want to piss off a perspective customer, especially if the car was not in the condition it should have been.

Regardless, I can't speak to the CPO vs new argument, but I will say - I love my MS. Best thing I ever did. Are there little "issues"? Sure. Would I have not bought the car if I knew them? Nope.

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Read my experience here and you can see why I feel the Op made the right choice walking away.