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Tesla delivery day checklist

Most cars are fine. Twenty minutes of inspection before you accept makes any problem much easier to resolve.

CCaroline · 2023 Model Y ownerUpdated September 20262 min read

Before the day

  • Complete every task in the Tesla app: payment, insurance, registration details, trade-in.
  • Have insurance active from the delivery date, with proof on your phone.
  • Sort out home charging, or know where you will charge in the first week. See the home charging guide.
  • Book a daytime slot if you can. Paint flaws are hard to see under artificial light or in rain.

Paperwork first

Confirm the VIN matches your documents, and that the configuration is what you ordered: paint, wheels, interior, seat layout, tow hitch. Check the odometer reading is low and recorded. Confirm any referral benefit or included software shows on your account.

Exterior

  • Walk the car slowly in good light. Look along each panel for scratches, chips, runs, or mismatched color.
  • Compare panel gaps side to side, especially around the hood, liftgate, and where doors meet fenders.
  • Inspect all glass, including the roof, for chips and cracks.
  • Check every wheel for curb damage and that the tires match.
  • Open and close every door, the hood, and the liftgate. They should latch cleanly without rubbing.
  • Open the charge port and check the door sits flush when closed.

Interior

  • Seats, headliner, and carpets: stains, scuffs, loose trim.
  • Every window up and down, and that each one seals when the door closes.
  • Seat adjustments, seat heaters, steering wheel adjustment.
  • The screen: no dead pixels, responsive to touch.
  • Both key cards present and working, and your phone set up as a key.
  • Included items: check what your order specifies, such as charging equipment and the tire repair or tow eye kit.

Functions

  • All exterior lights, turn signals, and wipers.
  • Air conditioning and heat.
  • Cameras: pull up each view and check for a clear image.
  • Speakers, USB ports, and wireless phone chargers.
  • Plug in at the delivery center if there is a charger, to confirm the car charges.

If you find something

Point it out before you accept, photograph it, and get it documented in writing, normally as a due bill or a service appointment opened on the spot. Minor cosmetic issues are routinely fixed after delivery at no cost, provided they are recorded on the day. For anything significant, such as body damage, a wrong configuration, or a warning on the screen, you are entitled to decline the vehicle and wait for another.

In the first week

Drive on the highway and listen for wind noise and rattles. Run the car through a wash and check for water ingress. Report anything through the app promptly. Issues raised in the first days and first few hundred miles are treated as delivery issues far more readily than ones reported a month later.

Ordering a Tesla?

Take a referral link with you.

It costs nothing and adds Tesla's current referral benefit to an eligible order: right now, three months of Full Self-Driving (Supervised) or $400 off solar. What the offer does and does not cover.

Your referral linkOwner link · 2023 Model Y
https://ts.la/caroline96933
Open referral link

Open it before you place your order. On an eligible order, Tesla shows its current referral benefit at checkout. Tesla controls that benefit and can change it. I receive a referral benefit if you order through it.