Ordering to Delivery
- Details
- Last Updated: Wednesday, 26 February 2025 14:55
The Process
Ordering
A year after moving to our retirement dream house in Tauranga, Tesla in 2016 finally opened on-line pre-ordering for the Model 3 and we placed our refundable $1500 down a couple of weeks before the grand reveal, joining one of the 300,000 others to do the same. This process was really an expression of interest, not an actual order.
This shot up to about 400,000 after the reveal. Little did we know it would be another 3 years before any right hand drive model 3's would arrive in New Zealand.
After a totally unexpected illness and subsequent the loss of my dear wife in 2018, our dream property was sold and I moved back to Auckland to be closer to family purchasing a smaller property in Avondale with settlement early September.
Purchase
In May 2019 the long awaited email from Tesla arrived requesting I design my Model 3 on their website for a four month delivery. This stage was where options:- colour, wheels, upholstery, and software features are selected and the pricing calculated and fixed. Another $3000 deposit was required. All the pre-delivery payments were deducted from the final payment.
Important Tip: Tesla at times has offered rewards via referral codes. When starting the design process one may be asked for such a code. DO NOT SKIP this step as I did. All Tesla owners have one attached to their account and entering one from an existing owner qualifies both for rewards. Once my design was entered the option to enter a code had vanished! Rewards have ranged from $1000 of free supercharging, to a free Tesla when a benchmark number of referrals have been reached - 50, 100, 500 etc. Latest referrals are done through ones loot box on the phone app where one gains points instead. You can request one from an existing a Tesla owner acquaintance or use mine:
https://ts.la/athol43279
While this was a painless exercise, it was disappointing to find that the colour and configuration originally fancied were not then available in N.Z. Because we had planned frequent trips between Tauranga and Auckland at about 220Km each way, we decided a long range model would suit us best, as its near 500 Km range might allow a return trip on a single charge. Unfortunately the only choice available with long range was the more expensive performance model, however, Tesla did make it available with reduced options for a special price to those with pre-orders and so that was the choice made. The total difference being about $10,000.
The options available at design time were different for NZ, with upgrades for colour and boy racer performance features:- spoiler, 21 inch wheels, bigger brakes with red calipers - nothing I was interested in. However, the cost of these was similar to the Self Drive software upgrade, so I took than instead on the basis that by the time I'm over 80 I might need a chauffeur? Its even possible it might actually be available by then!
Note that in 2019 there was no Government subsidies available and at that time even the RWD base model would not have qualified.
Finally an email arrived confirming delivery mid Sept 2019 and it was therefore time to get some insurance quotes. Obviously it was going to be higher than the current car, but the quote was reasonable, all things considered. The problem here is that when quoting, insurance wanted a purchase date and registration plate, which I didn't yet have and this caused problems at delivery. So make sure your quote will be valid when you get possession.
Delivery
After the final invoice arrived and was paid, a phone call from Tesla advised of a date and time to collect it from the K' Rd service centre. These days they have a huge separate delivery location near Auckland Airport. One also needs the Tesla phone app installed prior delivery.
I was provided with a personal 30 minute introduction where the important features were explained and my phone set-up as a key. Once this is done and blue-tooth connected, its all one needs to access and drive. Generally the app should be installed as soon as you have an account, at least when designing the car, as its the main point of contact with Tesla. The car also comes with two smart cards to use instead of the phone and can enable access from other phones. Put one card in a safe place and the other in your wallet in case of problems with your phone. e.g Lost, misplaced, or flat battery.
After contacting insurance to advise them of the missing details I discovered the quote had expired and no longer valid. Not wanting to drive anywhere until arranged, Tesla staff had to move the car to a holding area to make room for the next buyer. An hour or so later, after going through all the quote process again, adding driving history for the last 5 years, plus named drivers and their history, and finding the premium had now almost doubled, I was finally able to leave!
Driving home was quite scary. It was now raining and K' Rd had major road works, so driving a brand new car for the first time very stressful. Tesla's are highly configurable, but it was some time before I felt comfortable enabling any performance or autopilot options.