They're closing their stores...

When I requested a test drive in a state with no dealerships I was directed to a store out of state.

These stores will no longer exist.

The messaging is also very clear, sometimes it’s ok to read between the lines...

We’re closing stores where you test drive + we’re pushing returns hard in the marketing = we want to move past test drives

This is a new annocument, other parts of the site don’t even have the right mileage and days for returns last I checked, give them some time before the site is consistent with the new reality

>They're closing their stores...

Does this include their dealerships? There are plenty of dealerships that offer test drives.

EDIT: I assumed that the "stores" were the places in malls etc. that don't have (say) a whole bunch of machinery for the service center etc.

Tesla doesn't have "dealerships" (which are not owned by the manufacturer), only "stores." The places you're thinking of are the places they're closing. Apparently they will keep some of them open, but they will be considered "galleries" rather than actually selling anything.

Tesla only has stores. Even in the states that even let them have that much.

Their “dealerships” don’t sell you a car, you just get handed off to the website

You won’t be able to test drive _the specific car you are buying_ before committing to purchasing it. You’d only be able to test drive another instance of that model, but not the specific one you’d be committing to for X years. This deprives you of the ability to, e.g., avoid purchasing a particular instance of a vehicle that has some annoying defect or flaw.

That's industry standard, isn't it? Who test drives specific new cars before buying? Would you be as okay with buying a new car after is was test-driven by several random strangers?

Have you ever purchased a car through a dealership? When you buy a car off the lot, chances are good many people have test driven it, and unless you have zero anxiety about the purchase, you were one of those people

You can always refuse delivery if you are not happy with the car

Defects and flaws will be repaired for free though

Do you also get a replacement car for the time you can't use the one you bought?

Wow! How nice of them.

Seems like a US-centric problem, in the UK the 'credit score' is completely worthless and different for each credit agency (there are three main agencies).

Loans, mortgages, etc. are based on your whole credit history, and if you take out a loan it will be marked on your history and when you cancel it within the 14-day cooling off period the credit history will be updated to say it's closed.

Unless you're doing this multiple times in six months or so, it won't affect anything (maybe your credit score might go down a bit when you take out the loan but it goes back up after a few months when it's updated again normally - but a this credit score doesn't mean anything it doesn't matter).