I decided to purchase a Tesla Model Y, so I wanted to document my experiences with both the company and the car. Buying a Tesla is certainly a unique process compared to buying any other car. If you are thinking about buying your own Tesla, you might find these experiences helpful.
Day 0: Placing the Order
I placed my order back in early August on Tesla’s website. At the time, the expected delivery timeframe was stated as 4-8 weeks.
As expected, the initial process is very similar to shopping for anything else online; you select the car model, configure some additional options, input your credit card details to pay the ordering fee ($100 in this case), and create an account. At the end of this, you are greeted with a playful screen of a… hedgehog?
After this initial step is where things got interesting. In less than 24 hours, I got a text from Tesla letting me know to complete checkout.
You do this by logging to your account on Tesla.com and performing a series of additional steps, which include entering information about the registrant, the pickup or delivery location, confirming whether you are paying in full vs loan vs lease, entering your trade-in vehicle info (if you have one), and even applying for a loan with Tesla Financing if desired. In my case, I’ll be picking up the car at a nearby service center with their “Touchless Delivery” since COVID-19 is still ongoing.
After those steps, you may also be asked to enter your insurance information, or upload an image of your existing car insurance depending on what state you live in.
Day 1-2: The Phone Call and Email
Before I completed the checkout steps, I actually received a phone call (also within a day) from a “Tesla Advisor” that also asked me to complete checkout, including going ahead and applying for a loan rather than waiting. He said that completing checkout is important to be prioritized for a “match” (aka getting a car assigned to you).
The following day (2 days after initial order was placed), I received a longer more detailed email from the Tesla Advisor with similar information.
Days 3-40: The Wait
I heard nothing else from Tesla for a long time, other than period texts updating me of the expected timeframe of my order. The first one arrived on day 7 after ordering, with an updated ETA of 4-7 weeks (down from 4-8 weeks). The second arrived exactly 2 weeks after that on day 21, with an updated ETA of 3-5 weeks.
The 3rd update arrived 15 days later on day 36, with an updated ETA of 2-4 weeks. Clearly, the ETA wasn’t proceeding exactly as planned.
Deliver Once a Quarter?
When I tried to read about others experiences on forums and community websites, I discovered a general consensus that Tesla generally ships out a batch of cars once a quarter. The locations closer to Tesla’s headquarters or factories (e.g., California) are prioritized closer to the end of the quarter. So far, that experience lines up with what I saw, as the ETAs kept pointing toward the end of September.
I also checked in with my Tesla Advisor, who replied that the ETA he is seeing is indeed the last week of September.
This “deliver once a quarter” is further corroborated by Tesla’s estimated timelines for new orders on their website. As I got the estimated timeframe updates on my order (3-5 weeks and then 2-4 weeks), it was actually a match for new orders’ ETAs on their website. Essentially, even though I placed my order near the beginning of August, it doesn’t really make much difference compared to ordering anytime until early September.
Once Sep 9 or so passed, however, the timeframes shot back up, and now reads 6-10 weeks as of Sep 13. So if you are ordering a Tesla, keep in mind that there could only be deliveries once a quarter, so plan accordingly.
What’s Next
There’s nothing left to do here except wait for another few weeks and see if I can take delivery near the end of September as claimed. In the mean time, one thing that Tesla does once you place your order is give you a referral link that you can use to sign up others. If someone orders a Tesla car using your referral link, both you and they get 1000 free supercharging miles. So if you are interested in ordering a Tesla, go ahead and give my referral link a try if you want to get your free 1000 supercharging miles.
