Picking Up Your Tesla on Delivery Day
Once you've pulled up to Tesla at your appointment time, you walk in to their office, tell the sales rep that you're there for a "pick-up" and then you basically hit a few buttons on the app to accept your new car, while the Tesla sales rep checks out your trade-in vehicle, takes the plate off of it (if you're keeping your plates), and voila!!
My sales rep asked if I wanted a bow on the car for pictures – I said DUH. We took some photos, checked out the car, said goodbye to the jeep, and we were off! Don't forget to take off your Sunpass if you live in Florida and order yourself a new one (ahead of time if possible!).
I still need someone to pinch me because I can't believe I was able to get my dream car for my dream price, but being patient and putting in the time & energy to do all the research that I did, made this so worth it.
Personalizing Your Tesla: Must-Have Accessories
A few things to consider once you have your car is the following:
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Tinting your Tesla - I am a huge believer in getting tint on your car windows. It helps with UV protection, heat reduction, glare reduction, privacy and security and safety! I went with 18% tint on the driver and passenger doors, and 70% tint on my windshield. If you're in Palm Beach County, I highly highly highly recommend Tint Palm Beach - Tommy is the sweetest, hard-working soul. He comes to you so you don't have to wait around for hours while your car is being tinted at a shop. He doesn't have a website but his phone number is 561.401.7512 or plug "Tint Palm Beach" into your google search. He also gave me a deal on my Tesla's tint for purchasing my car with Fort Lauderdale Tesla.
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Ordering organizers for your center console - I purchased this directly from Tesla because I trust them the most, but you could also do some research and order some on amazon as well. This helps me stay organized with my sunglasses, key fobs, transmitters, etc.
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Order iPhone cables (if you don't already have the new iphone USB-C) - I got these ones from Amazon. You can charge two phones at once, and they charge fairly quickly. The Tesla has a wireless charging dock in the center console, but sometimes we need a quick charge, while holding the phone.
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Order a license plate frame - your new Tesla will not come with one, and the license plate looks pretty bare without it. I got this one "[Powered by the Sun]" (https://shop.tesla.com/product/powered-by-the-sun-license-plate-frame) on Tesla.com.
Learning Curve: Tips for New Tesla Owners
Things I didn't know before getting my Tesla:
- There is no Sirius XM with Tesla. They have their own music system and it's OK in my opinion. I still prefer my Spotify over it.
- You can't really use your Tesla screen without the Premium Connectivity. I totally thought paying $9.99/month for this was bogus - mainly because i thought that this was just to access Tesla's music, but it's really to use the full screen suite. Without it you can't use navigation, live traffic visualization, sentry mode, satellite-view maps, video streaming, caraoke, music streaming (from Spotify), internet browsing, phone notifications, software update, etc. SO YEAH. It doesn't really make sense to not have this. You can pay $9.99/month or $99 for the year.
- Don't buy a charging adapter - the car comes with one! Luckily I found mine before buying one, but no one told me that it came with an adapter. These come in handy if you're using any chargers that aren't Teslas.
- Find out if your apartment building (if you live in one) includes electric car charging as an amenity. I did not know this when I got my Tesla, but after a few weeks of charging, I was looking everywhere for my bill, only to find out that it was covered! A friend of mine also has free charging in her building, and to me this is a huge plus. I drive for free for as long as I live in my apartment building! You may be able to too! I highly recommend looking into this as it could truly sway your purchase into getting one sooner!
- Be patient, like with any new technology there is a bit of a learning curve. I'm only seven-ish weeks into owning my Tesla and I'm still learning new features and tips & tricks every day and every time I drive it.
- There is no key! Well, no key-key. There's a credit-card key that I keep in my wallet. But nothing to go on like a typical fob ring. You phone/Tesla app is the key and so is the key-card (that you can give to valet or something).
- As an EV (electric car owner) you can register your car with your state (at least I know this is true for Florida) so that you can ride in the HOV lanes, also known as the carpool lanes that are special lanes on public roads reserved for vehicles with more than one occupant. Go to your local DMV to fill out the form and pay $5 for an annual decal or $10 for a biennial decal. Here is the HOV Decal form for Florida.
- Order your new Sunpass transponder before you get your new car. I made the mistake of forgetting this tiny detail and didn't order my new Sunpass until the day I got my car. It took up to a month for me to wait for this after getting lost in the mail.
- If you're going on a roadtrip and need to use Superchargers along the way, be aware that Superchargers have high demand times - during peak times or high-demand periods, such as holidays or busy travel seasons, Tesla may adjust Supercharging rates to reflect increased electricity costs or to manage congestion at Supercharger stations.
- Tesla recommends that you charge the car to only 80%. I do charge mine up to 100% because I live in a busy apartment building and am not sure when the next opportunity will happen for me to charge my car.
- Make an appointment at your DMV to get a specialty license plate. I am still waiting for my DMV appointment, but excited to get a fun plate to put on it!
All in all, Tesla really has this all dialed in. They've thought about everything. From the sleek and clean design of the car to the extremely nice app to control every part of the car when you're near it or not, to the reward system in place for friends and family to reap the benefits of knowing someone with a Tesla - the list just goes on and on.
Tesla Referral Benefits - Maximizing Discounts and Features
Check to see if Tesla is still doing a $7,500 tax credit. This applies to leases as well. It's an incredible deal and is ultimately what helped me feel comfortable and to be able to afford a Model Y.
The main differences I'm noticing with Tesla when comparing it to my Jeep or other non-EV vehicles is that pretty much everything to do with the car is controlled with the screen. For instance, when you want to have your wipers turned on, you usually just pull down on the stick by the wheel, but with this feature you have to have it turned on in your controls from the Tesla screen.
It's little things like that that do take some time to learn and re-train your brain, but it's been a fairly easy learning curve for the most part.
Exploring Tesla's Additional Features
You can always add features to your Tesla like enhanced autopilot, full self-driving capability, auto lane change, navigate on autopilot, summon and more. These are essentially just software upgrades that you can get added to your car.
My Tesla came with 3 months of free Full-Self Drive and it's been so fun to try it out. You definitely have to still keep your hands on the wheel for a majority, but it feels totally futuristic to have it drive FOR YOU.
If you are wanting to get a Tesla, I highly recommend it and hope that by me laying out my process and findings have been helpful to you.
I definitely encourage you to use my referral link as you will get discounts and features for free! Right now they're offering 1 year of Premium Connectivity and 3 months of Full Self-Driving Capability when you purchase through my referral link!
This could change, and does change a little bit every few months, but I've seen that the 3 months of Full Self-Driving has been a consistent offer.
But make sure that you use this link and that it's applied before you pay the $250 to order it. It cannot be applied after the fact.
Excited for the Future of Tesla
Let me know if you have any questions - I could talk about Tesla and the whole experience, all day. Getting an electric vehicle takes some prep and some learning, but it's best to know what you're getting into and how to make it as smooth of a transition as possible.
Thank you for following my Tesla journey. I hope these insights help you make the most of your Tesla ownership experience. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or want to share your own Tesla story!