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Where to test drive and pickup?

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Looking forward to ordering a Model S 70D later in the year but I have a few questions about the process.

I'm in Western New York so the closest showrooms are either in Toronto, Ontario (Canada) or NYC. I understand you can order through the website and thats great, but:

If I drive to Toronto (hour and a half ish) will they allow an American with an (valid) American drivers license test drive a car there? Or do I need to goto NYC?
If I choose to pick it up, would my pickup location be in Toronto or NYC?

I thought I saw on the website they'll deliver the car to your house / business if requested - NYC is about a 7 hour drive - would they deliver it that far? Or would it come from Toronto? (or somewhere else entirely)

I guess I'm more questioning the legality of purchasing a car in a foreign country (if you'd call Canada a foreign country hah)

Are the salesman at Tesla high pressure as most American car salesman are? I'd like to go for a test drive sometime June / July and order in October ish

(I know - almost a year away until my lease runs out on my current car - but I'm finally in a position to afford to lease a Model S and I'm pretty excited about it)

Thanks for any help.
 
Looking forward to ordering a Model S 70D later in the year but I have a few questions about the process.

I'm in Western New York so the closest showrooms are either in Toronto, Ontario (Canada) or NYC. I understand you can order through the website and thats great, but:

If I drive to Toronto (hour and a half ish) will they allow an American with an (valid) American drivers license test drive a car there? Or do I need to goto NYC?
If I choose to pick it up, would my pickup location be in Toronto or NYC?

I thought I saw on the website they'll deliver the car to your house / business if requested - NYC is about a 7 hour drive - would they deliver it that far? Or would it come from Toronto? (or somewhere else entirely)

I guess I'm more questioning the legality of purchasing a car in a foreign country (if you'd call Canada a foreign country hah)

Are the salesman at Tesla high pressure as most American car salesman are? I'd like to go for a test drive sometime June / July and order in October ish

(I know - almost a year away until my lease runs out on my current car - but I'm finally in a position to afford to lease a Model S and I'm pretty excited about it)

Thanks for any help.

Please update us if you find anything out
 
So I found an email address for the show room in Toronto - obviously, it was right on the super charger map when I clicked on the showroom haha.

I can go for a test drive in Toronto - that's fine - but the car will obviously be sold in the USA and as such, will need to be delivered to a USA showroom / service center so that it can be registered and inspected.

So... home delivery it is!

Service must also happen in the USA - which might be a problem. I have seen other Tesla's in Western NY - their not common - I'd say probably 1 handful worth - but they are here.

No engine, no transmission - not saying the car is simple by any means, but what really could go wrong in a 3 year lease? Breaks / tires anyone can do - AAA should be able to jump the accessory battery if needed and so long as I can get it home, put it on the charger.

If all else fails - a Prius dealer might be able to look at it? If I really can't get it to a service center? (just based on their both "electric" cars)
 
If you need any warranty work you'll have to schlep it down to the service center. In addition Tesla wants you to service the car ever year ($600). I'd estimate you'll probably have to make at least 4 or 5 trips to the service center over a 3 year period.
 
OP, your excitement is contagious. My suggestion though is put on your rational cap just a moment. ;)

Be sure you understand that while taking delivery at home is an option, you may then also not receive the full treatment you would taking delivery at a SC... e.g. not just signing papers, but someone sitting in the car with you and taking you through every option to answer every question you have, as well as getting your Tesla App to function with your new toy. That's not a problem for some people -- you'll find others grouse loudly after-the-fact about lack of Tesla customer service having made that choice. Personally, I think it's super Tesla gives you an option, and I take huge issue with owners that selected a delivery accommodation option and then complain it's not as grand as they expected it should have been. Just recognize what your choice entails.

On service, take a look at the owner's manual. You can have tires rotated at any tire shop, as well as replace them there too when the need occurs. There is no real requirement for anything else to be done to maintain the base warranty, but a brake flush every couple years is. Yes, folks like me plan to take my car in for the (optional) annual service. Not all do though. Check some of the other threads on this whole service point...

As to what can break, well, MS may have one or two electric motors opposed to an ICE and related components -- but otherwise, MS has all the mechanical things any other car does that could break: windows, 12V battery, wipers, door handles, struts for frunk/trunk, lights, seat movements, etc etc... and a boatload of electronics. Spend some quality time reading through the MS forums here for stories and examples. Not everything has been rosy for everyone, but it has been for others, and things seem to be getting better with new builds perhaps. You need to draw your own conclusions as to reliability and the potential you'll need to get something fixed.

...and I think you are over-simplifying things to assume "any Prius dealer" can work on your Tesla. Unlike Toyota where they have service manuals readily available to the public and there are numerous 3rd party shops that can work on their vehicles, and where many Toyota dealers will even service a Lexus with non-warranty items, Tesla does not provide service information to anyone in 49 of the 50 States. You MUST take your MS to a SC if there are any warranty claims or corrections to be made. You have no choice if you want the problem resolved. Similarly, unless you are the type that is comfortable with DIY and potentially voiding the warranty doing that sort of work, fixing something yourself beyond brakes/tires could be a challenge in these early years owning a Tesla. As to how many times you need to take your MS to the SC, I doubt many people here could truly suggest it will be zero. What the reliability will be with any vehicle is a purely subjective call. I suggest again, spend some time reading threads here and perhaps looking at a site like TrueDelta.com to see what sort of repairs have been reported by not just enthusiasts you find on here on TMC, to come up with a realistic expectation of how many times you may need to take your MS to that SC so far away from your home... Take note if you would, of the quantity of vehicles that seem to have to go in at least once after delivery to correct build faults -- especially for owners that had a build date during the infamous quarter or year-end push. IMHO it would be better for you to set you own expectation that you have to go say once or twice a year to that SC, then not have to make the drive ... than lease your new toy and be disappointed each time you have to take that long drive (or worst-case, a tow) to your SC.
 
Those are all great points, BertL. Thank you.
And no disrespect to Tesla is ment by saying "any prius dealer for service" - for sure, they're wildly different cars.

Our local convention center car show is this week - which I intend to go to. The contenders for my next lease stand at the Model S, Porsche Macan GTS and the Mercedes C63 coupe AMG. Both Porsche and Mercedes have local dealers / service centers here and that for sure would make life incredibly easier if something went wrong.

I guess I'm just getting a bit excited to early haha - nothing is wrong with my current car (2014 Acura RDX) just the prospect of finally being able to get into something a much nicer / much more performance oriented has me jumping the gun a bit. I did actually have transmission problems with the RDX within the first 2 months - nothing major - shift sensor solenoid got stuck (so they claim) but required 3 days of service none the less. So maybe a close by service center is more important then I'm willing to admit.

We'll see if I'm not blown away by the Porsche or Mercedes this week and take it from there.
 
...So maybe a close by service center is more important then I'm willing to admit...
For me, reliability has almost always been my #1 priority, followed by quality service & support to back that up. Those things top performance and luxury creature comforts when I'm selecting a ride. My Tesla is the first vehicle I've owned where I made a conscious decision to take more of a risk with that... but I also wasn't one of the earliest adopters and waited 3 years before ordering my MS to gain more comfort before even considering making a switch to Tesla.

I purchased my first Acura the year the brand hit the US, and was putting 20K+ miles/year on my previous Honda for work around the Southwest... One of my greatest concerns back then before taking my Legend off the lot was how I would get serviced if I was stuck in the middle of no-where with not even 100 Acura dealerships in the whole of the US. There were no cell phones in those days -- but I could always go to one of the hundreds of Honda dealerships if I were up a creek. Same thing when I bought my first Lexus and could go to any Toyota dealer in a pinch before that dealer network expanded. Today I have 5 Lexus dealerships within 30 minutes of where I live... but I have just one Tesla Service Center about 40 minutes south, with another 70+ minutes in the opposite direction. I'm also not logging hardly any miles on my cars the last several years since I started working from home and business travel restrictions became more common. Fortunately, most of the places I frequent, or at least think I may be going to, either have a Tesla SC or I'm never more than a couple hundred miles from one -- so worst case if Tesla Tech Support can't help, Tesla towing could be engaged or my AAA Plus if it's a longer distance. I still worry about reliability given the new tech on my MS, growing software problems not being corrected, Tesla having lots of room to grow becoming more focused on post-sale customer service and satisfaction, and my MS now being my single vehicle housed in my garage -- but as much as I was enamored with the sexy things Tesla and MS brought to the table, I took the time to think it through and get comfortable with my choice on multiple fronts, including what I'd do if I had a failure and needed my MS to get repaired. Do the same. You'll be glad you did.
 
Little more on this...

The first time the salesman from the Toronto showroom emailed me, he said you can have it serviced anywhere in North America - which I interpreted as just the USA. After another conversation - in this case - North America includes Canada.

So I can go for a test drive in Toronto
I can go for Service in Toronto
I'll have to pick it up in NYC if I want to pick it up - I could always fly there (45 minute flight) and drive it home - which would be super fun!

From Buffalo, NY - Toronto is about 1 - 1.5 hour drive - so yearly maintenance - fine. Complete and total break down / needs to be towed - that'll be an expensive tow ride.

Like you said - it's based on such new technologies - there's pro's and con's to it.

I re-ran a build config of the Porsche Macan - even a Macan S as configured is borderline 70k and I'll still need to put premium fuel in it - and according to some friends who have Porsche's - their yearly maintenace is closer to a grand. Porsche nor Mercedes (nor BMW) allow or come with remote starters (a must in cold climates)

We'll see what's at the car show this week and how a test drive goes later in the year - but it might not be so bad.