A Tesla Christmas

A surprise can be a tricky thing to pull off

I decided that this year I was going to surprise my wife Jeannie with something she’s wanted for a long time now: a Tesla Model Y. We don’t usually exchange gifts and when we have, it was never anything this big but I wanted to do it and felt she would also be safer in a bigger car.

When we travel we rent a Tesla so I already knew she was comfortable driving one and enjoyed it. She had mentioned that if she ever got one she would want a white exterior and the 7 seat option.  As it turns out, the only other options left are the range, interior color and the style of rims. I wanted to get the car before the end of the year to make sure we would get the $7500 tax credit. That meant buying a car they already had in inventory and since the only white, seven seat, long range Model Y they had in inventory had a black interior, that’s the one we would be getting.

Wanting this to be a surprise, I planned carefully. When I paid the $250 order fee to hold the car, I used a credit card that is only in my name (we each have one for exactly this reason - to buy gifts for each other). When I paid for the car I did it in such a way as to be unlikely to be noticed since I manage our finances. When I added it to our insurance prior to picking it up, I made sure that doing so would not send Jeannie a confirmation email. When I provided Tesla with the registration information, I was going to list Jeannie as a co-registrant but that would have resulted in her receiving an email asking her to upload a picture of her driver’s license so I registered it in my name only for now figuring we can add her afterwards. With everything done, I was told we could take delivery of the car on December 31st at noon, just 12 hours before the tax credit deadline.

To make sure Jeannie wouldn’t schedule anything for that day, I told her that I had a family activity planned for that day. I told her and the kids it would be a surprise and that they would need their IDs and should wear comfortable shoes. This was all just to make sure she would not suspect anything.

We would need to be able to charge the car at home so I looked into ordering the wall connector. It said it would take up to two weeks to ship so I figured it was safe to order it. A few days later I received an email that it had shipped and would arrive on Friday evening. Oh no! Since that would be before we pick up the car, I went to the UPS website where I changed the delivery address to my brother’s house as he lives next door to us. Friday morning an email arrived from UPS confirming that the Tesla Wall Connector would be delivered that day to my brother’s address. Great. I had accounted for every contingency. Or so I had thought.

As my son and I returned home from lunch that day, the UPS truck passed us heading out of our neighborhood. As the two of us walked into house, Jeannie asked me, “Did you buy something from Tesla?” Now, I don’t lie to my wife. Not even a white lie. But she caught me off-guard so I quickly replied, “No.”

She said, “Well, look in the bathroom.”

I turned around and looked in the bathroom by our front door. Sitting on the floor was a box marked, “Tesla Wall Connector” with a shipping label that had my name and our address rather than of course my brother’s address next door.

Jeannie explained how the conversation had gone with the UPS driver when he came to the door.

Jeannie: “What is this?”

Driver: “It’s for your Tesla.”

Jeannie: “We don’t have a Tesla.”

Driver: “Surprise!”

She said she still didn’t believe I bought a car so she asked me what this was for. I’m a tech guy so who knows, right?

Knowing that the jig is up, I smiled and said, “Merry Christmas.” That’s when it hit her that I really had bought her a Tesla.

The process of buying the car and picking it up was very smooth. I had already downloaded the Tesla app to my phone and created an account. Jeannie had done the same thinking we could use the app as the key when we rent a Tesla but we didn’t get that to work. I found and selected the car right in the app. I paid the $250 order fee from the app. I did the registration from the app. It provided me with the wiring instructions for payment and updated when they received the money. It later told me what date we could pick up the car and let me choose between two times.

When the day came to take delivery, we took an Uber to the Tesla Service Center in North Austin so that we could drive the car home together. When we arrived, they just needed to see my driver’s license and had me sign a form that I was picking up the car. I told the person helping us (who coincidentally had lived in my hometown of Irvine, California - it truly is a small world) that I had some concerns about build quality as I had heard stories. I had downloaded and printed out an extensive checklist. He said, “Your car was built at our original factory in Freemont, California. I will be surprised if you find a single thing wrong with it.” That gave me confidence.

We walked out to the back parking lot that was filled with new Teslas each with a tent card on the dashboard with the name of the owner. We found ours and approached it. At that point I just had to tap a button in the Tesla app to accept delivery and the app became my key to the car. It also allowed me to give Jeannie a digit key so that her phone would also act as a key. We examined the car thoroughly inside and out. The Tesla employee was right. We didn’t find a single issue with the car.

I had planned to surprising Jeannie when we drove into the Tesla parking lot but UPS spoiled that. Still, she was surprised and very much loves the car. One advantage of her knowing early was that I was able to call an electrician about getting the wall connector installed in the garage. Tesla estimated between $750 and $1500 for installation. Since our electrical panel is on the opposite side of the house from the garage, it’s a more elaborate install and thus will cost $2000. Oh well.

It seems that no matter how well one plans a surprise, there will always be at least one contingency for each there was no plan.