Are Tesla Delivery Dates Accurate? (We Checked)

Tesla is one of the largest producers of electric vehicles in the world.

However, customers can get disappointed with the delivery date Tesla provided when making an order if they lack prior knowledge of what to expect after making an order.

Thus, if you have just ordered your Tesla or are about to and will like to know all about the delivery date, this article explains just that.

Join us as we explore if Tesla’s delivery dates are accurate and whether the company is prone to deliver late.

We will also look at whether the delivery dates are getting better, if the delivery times vary from state to state, and signs that signify you may not get your car on time, among others.

You may also want to familiarize yourself with Tesla’s ordering process.

Here’s the Short Answer to Whether Tesla Delivery Dates Are Accurate:

Tesla delivery dates are not accurate and this inaccuracy has been going on for years. Due to high demand, Tesla has been finding it difficult to keep up with its delivery dates. Some factors Tesla doesn’t have control over, such as suppliers and distance, also affect the delivery dates. 

How Precise Are Teslas Estimated Delivery Dates?

Tesla not meeting its estimated delivery date has been going on for years now. We can see this in the company’s inability to meet its annual target delivery every year, making its delivery dates less reliable among its customers.

According to Evspeedy, in its research from 2015 to 2022, Tesla met its delivery target in the years 2017 and 2019 alone. delivering 103% of orders in 2017 and 102% in 2019.

It has struggled to meet delivery targets in the remaining years so far. 2018 was the worst of them all, seeing 245,240 deliveries out of 500,000 target deliveries.

Other years saw over  90% of deliveries being met. There are no figures for 2022 yet, since the year hasn’t ended.

So far, not only has waiting too long frustrated many Tesla customers, some have even lost hope while waiting.

From the above data, it is obvious Tesla estimated delivery dates are rarely precise.

In most cases, Tesla will give customers an estimation of around 8 weeks, depending on the model and trim of the car. However, many factors can affect these dates, making them take twice or thrice longer than promised.

Owing to these factors, some buyers have had to wait up to 9 months and longer for certain models, while Tesla had promised earlier delivery dates to most of the affected customers.

One of such model is the Tesla Model X LR. This model from research takes over 9 months on average to get delivered to customers. However, Tesla still promises customers an earlier delivery date than this.

Note that knowing the factors delaying your order can help you understand why your Tesla is taking too long to get to you. Also, this knowledge will help you manage your patience better while waiting.

Factors That Affect Tesla Estimated Delivery Dates

Below are some of the major reasons Teslas are always delayed:

Tesla Overconfidence

Most Tesla clients are aware of and understand the delay in delivery when they order their cars from Tesla. However, the problem lies with Tesla not preparing for such delays.

They promise delivery dates they can’t meet up with, and postpone dates only to disappoint further. If Tesla can see things as they are instead of being overly confident about delivery dates, we believe the disappointment will reduce drastically.

This will further help the company improve its strategy to offer better services to its customers.

Issues with Suppliers

Tesla has been going through a shortage in its supply chain. Needed products and materials like microchips have been coming in small supply, especially in 2022.

Not only Tesla, but most electric companies have also seen worse supplier problems with chip supply this year.

Location

Where clients make their order matters a lot in getting their cars on time.

For locations that are far from Fremont, California, customers may have to wait longer.

This is because delivery to a farther location from Tesla’s manufacturing company involves more complexities than nearer locations.

Car Model

The popularity of the Tesla models that customers order also determines how fast the car will get to them.

For cars that have high popularity, thus high demand, getting them on time may not be feasible.

There will be many people waiting for their turn to get such a model before it gets to your turn. But, Tesla models with lower popularity get faster delivery as few customers are making demands for them.

However, to solve the problem of late delivery, Tesla is building new factories to deliver vehicles to its customers in less time.

With these new factories, productivity will increase according to Tesla, and meeting the estimated delivery dates will get better in the future.

With Tesla aiming to produce 1.4 million EVs in 2022 with the help of the new factories, we believe the increased production capacity will reduce the inaccuracy in delivery dates just as Tesla has planned.

What Tesla Models Are More Prone to Late Delivery?

The Tesla Models, 3, Y, and X, have had the highest late delivery rate of Tesla orders so far in 2022. A major reason for this is the high demand for the models.

According to Insideevs, models 3 and Y are leading California electric vehicle sales so far. These models top the competition in their categories with market shares of a higher percentage than other models.

Model Y reports a market share rate of 54.2% among luxury compact SUVs, while Model 3 tops the competition with a 60.8% market share among the section of near-luxurious cars.

These models have the highest unit sold with 42,320 and 38,993 sales respectively, for the first 6 months of this year.

The high demand rate has not only caused these models to suffer late delivery than other models, but has caused the waiting period to increase over a long period.

From research, buyers of Tesla Model Y have had to wait averagely, almost 6 months after placing an order to receive their cars during the second quarter of 2022. Tesla had postponed new orders to 2023.

There are also reports that Tesla is tripling the Model Y waiting period for customers that do not include the full self-driving option in their purchase.

This means longer waiting periods for these categories of customers. By tripling, these customers may need to wait up to a year and a half or more to get their Model Y.

However, for the Model 3, buyers now wait averagely, over 3 months to get their cars after placing orders. This is according to reports from the second quarter of 2022.

Note that the previous years’ wait periods have reported lesser days than this in this model. According to Insideevs, the waiting period 2 years ago for Model 3 was an average of 20 days, while a year ago, it was 50 days.

Model X, however, has had a longer waiting period than these models. The reasons are problems in the production ramp of the new version after shutting down the previous version.

Also, Tesla has reported difficulty building this model because of the interior trim. Thus Tesla had to delay production for a while.

But for many customers of Tesla that have paid for the Tesla Model X, the delay in production has led to most buyers waiting for a longer period.

From reports, some buyers have waited for over a year and are still waiting. And so far, Tesla has not clarified how much longer buyers will have to wait.

Do Tesla’s Delivery Times Vary From State to State?

Tesla’s delivery times vary from state to state. However, this depends on the distance of the state to Fremont California, the location of Tesla’s factory.

Customers who order from the states that are closer to the factory are likely to get their orders faster. This is because states nearer to the manufacturing company have lower risks on the road.

However, states farther from the manufacturing location involve transporting to a longer distance that may take days or weeks. Also, transporting to states involves some factors and risks that might lead to further delays.

One of such factors includes the driver needing to take a break between long journeys. For certain journeys, the break may be for a day or more if the delivery involves several days or weeks.

However, risks involve cases of vehicle breakdown on the road. Repairing such vehicles may take days and extra effort.

While delivery may vary from state to state, note that this is not dependent on state policy or laws. Contrarily, it mainly depends on factors and risks that accompany delivering orders over long distances. 

What Can You Do to Check the True Delivery Date?

Customers can do little to check the true delivery date of their Tesla cars. This is because Tesla itself has no control over the dates that it appoints for most of its delivery.

While most Tesla customers have experienced disappointments again and again on their delivery dates, others could only wait and hope Tesla delivers on time.

Note that if there will be a postponement, Tesla may inform you, or you may find out about it when you log into your Tesla account.

However, while customers can’t check the true delivery date of their Tesla car, they can get certainty the delivery date is near when they get their Vehicle Identification Number (VIN).

The VIN means your car parts are available, and that Tesla is building your car during the period of appointment.

While we can not guarantee the number of days customers will have to wait after they have gotten their VIN, customers have reported getting their Tesla cars only a few weeks later.

Getting your VIN from Tesla, however, signifies the delivery date is close, but not the exact date, as there may still be postponement during this period.

Related: Are Teslas As Comfortable As Similar Cars? (Checked)

Are Teslas Delivery Dates Improving?

Some Tesla models’ delivery dates have seen improvement, while others have only gotten worse. This is because factors that affect the delay in delivery dates affect some models more than others.

Newer models especially have suffered longer delivery periods than previous models of Tesla, such as the Model Y.

However, while the delivery period of the affected models is yet to see any significant improvement, buyers continue to wait longer periods than in previous years to get their orders.

Thus, it is apparent the delivery date has only grown worse, so Tesla had to move some of its recent orders to next year for some of these models.

Delivery for Model X for example, was moved to next year, with customers with orders from last year still waiting to get their cars.

However, for the older models, the waiting period has seen some improvement. This is mainly owing to a lower demand rate, as most customers shift demand to newer models.

To get your Tesla earlier, you may consider the older models as delivery dates for the newer ones have only grown worse.

Related: What Noise Do Teslas Make? 6 Sounds (Explained)

What Are Indications That Tesla Cannot Deliver on Time?

There are no noteworthy indications that Tesla cannot deliver on time. However, customers can track their car’s shipment to get updates about the status of the order.

Through monitoring, customers can get updates and know when their cars are going to take longer than the estimated delivery date.

Note the car carrier has to have this future to use it. But in certain cases where customers cannot track their order, Tesla will notify customers if there will be a postponement to the delivery date.

Note that these dates may see further delay because of some factors Tesla might have not foreseen before the previous calculations.

Also, the model that customers ordered can signify late delivery. This is because new models with higher demands have longer waiting periods than others. Thus, customers that ordered such models should be prepared to wait longer periods.

This is the reason we propose Tesla customers ordering new cars should not wait for a sign before they prepare for a delay in delivery. Instead, when ordering any of the Tesla models, buyers should prepare and plan for the delay that is likely to happen.

Also, the preparatio n should align with the model of the car you ordered. For each Tesla model, we advise customers to prepare for a delivery period that resonates with past orders’ delivery dates.

Related: 10 Reasons Teslas Have Been Recalled (Explained)

What Are Your Options When Tesla Pushes the Delivery Date?

Customers don’t have many options when Tesla pushes the delivery date. So far, the popular option among buyers waiting to receive their order is to wait.

However, in certain situations where customers need to try another option, they can reach out to Tesla’s support service for inquiries. Note that most customers have complained about the futile result they got from this.

According to them, customer support couldn’t provide answers to most of the questions they asked about their orders. But this shouldn’t discourage you from finding out from customer support, as your experience may be different.

Some customers may want to consider other car models if they are impatient. There is also the option for customers to cancel their order in such circumstances.

However, canceling a car order with Tesla may warrant some fee. As stated by the company, Tesla may charge order fees, order deposits, and transportation fees as liquidated damages.

Related: Why Do Some Teslas Have Dual Motors? (Explained)

Was this article helpful?