Toyota admits being hurt by Tesla, gives tepid response

wow, that is odd. but still doesn't explain why someone who has taken a test drive can't get the 3 day return policy

 

Why you can't buy a Tesla in some states
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but you could do that if you didn't test drive. am i missing something? (besides intelligence)

 

Tesla stores aren't as wide spread as other dealer networks, so getting a test drive may not be easy for some. This policy is to ease their concerns.

An used car dealer, that we have bought cars from before, has a five day, no question return policy, and that was before they did direct internet sales. Not sure why Tesla excludes buyers that had a test drive, if can sit in, and play around with, a display car, and sit get the benefit of the 3 day policy.

 

right, that's the part i don't understand

 

You are approaching it backwards.
The normal rule was “no refunds without cause”.
Now, to alleviate some people’s concerns who didn’t get a test drive but are still willing to buy, they offer people who haven’t had a test drive a three day return policy.

 

Just a guess on my part. There are plenty of people who just test drive a Tesla for fun. I've had people tell me they did it. They had no intention to buy and couldn't afford any new car, probably.

But if someone is a serious buyer and fully intends to buy, this plan allows them to buy without a test drive at no big risk. And lessens the test drive demand. And maybe the people test driving for fun actually save up to buy, get convinced and/or spread the word to their friends on how cool it was.

Mike

 

May give one a look at when the lower priced offerings actually become available, but a lot can happen in two years.

 

Put another way ... MANY owners bought, "sight unseen". Especially back when it was either an X or a S. You'd maybe test drive once back then, ok - then you pay full price up front - then you see YOUR actual car for the 1st time. BAM! ... paint issues - fit n finish - software glitchy - intermittent black screen - autopilot goes in & out - squeaky windows, mirrors, suspension etc. Nothing that will put you on the side of the road. But after 2 dozen or more trips to the SC? especially if it's an hour or more away? On cars costing 3 figures? Off putting - even tho it's a great car. It was so bad for some owners (thousands) Tesla settled a class action for inoperative systems. Here's a shot of just one of the settlement checks we got;

Still love the cars, still love the company, but ....
lets keep it real. Other auto companies have had a century to get their quality dialed in. So what do you expect. They are getting better. Do your 3 days, & if that car has a few rattles, issues squeaks etc ... Tesla gives buyers 3 days. It's a clever way that Tesla did a CYA.
Still, with other electric cars now matching Tesla range, & some coming online that can match the sportynes, handling, style? With the Tesla safety & infrastructure for driving long range, they are really, still the only game in town despite their warts.
.

 

I am not sure what a defection is and not sure whether a defection indicates a "trade in" on a new car. Also, I like my statistics served as number of data points, not a "rate," which is meaningless.

 

This may help: https://www.marketing91.com/how-to-reduce-customer-defection-and-bring-down-defection-rate/

From the link:

I agree numbers would give a fuller picture, but surely you realize half of the defections add up to a number Toyota is concerned with, even if you aren't?

edit---------------------------------

Digging further (this is an interesting quandary), in the last 5 years in the US, the Prius has sold about 440,000 units.
I would think the number of Prius customers is higher than this, but I think 5 years of sales is a fairly good, if conservative, estimate.

So 9% of that would be about 40,000 people who moved on to another brand.
Half of that would be 20,000 Prius customers that have moved on to Tesla. It may be a bit higher however I would be confident on a number between 20,000 and 25,000.

 

Here is a nice article giving Toyota and Prius some respect.

The Toyota Prius is the most important car of last 20 years

 

same rag that writes all the bad stuff about tesla, probably did the same to prius once upon a time. they'll be singing tesla praises in 10 years

 

funny you should mention this, because the author's name made this list;

Tesla wins in Security and Sales, however, the headlines are mostly negative: #Pravduh Report 6 – TECH2

The guy actually seems to write very little, but since, like you said, the rag enjoys ragging on Tesla, well there you go. Good money in writing fake news.
.

 

prav duh! is that dumb russian news?

 

A rate is meaningless?
The biggest number on every car's dash is the speedometer. Seems like miles per hour is a rate...but maybe that is just me. When you want to know how fast your internet connection is you specify it in Mbps, typically. The is Megabits per second...or the rate of data transfer per second.

I'm guessing the the "defection rate" is probably the number of car buyers per month that trade in one brand for another. This seems like a very meaningful number.

Mike