Factory Pickup, Retail Store Pickup, Or Delivery

[LockMD]

Well if both of us are looking, maybe we will find it. I was simply going to the reservation map and survey - after changing my signature line - to ask goofyone to update my marker with my number and change upgrade response from a no to a yes. As to where I was. I went back to bed after cleaning out my alert box. I needed some more time with my zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzs. Z

Yeah that's where I'll post my number too while asking goofyone to add my second number to the map too.

 

[goofyone]

...and you drive out with a new car with your plate from your trade-in attached, temporary registration, and a certain number of days to contact your insurance company - they deal with the DMV.

... and you have no trade-in, you drive out with a 30 day paper plate/tag, temporary registration and a certain number of days to contact your insurance company- they deal with the DMV

(yes- I've simplified the whole process) but my point is,-

so you are contacted by Elio to select your options - with the possibility that your car will be ready in the next week and....
Assuming no trade-in
and you (and many low number owners) want to drive to the factory to pick it up-
who/how will you close the deal? loan officer on site?
after the deal can they issue a temp reg, from Louisiana that'll get me back to fla and (require me??) time to deal with the DMV
with trade-in?? not knowing the trade-in value ahead of time, when you drive down??
Seems to me, Elio will HAVE to have the showrooms operational to sell cars.
This the (logical?)extension of too much time to think about it.???

Any ideas??

It benefits both the buyers and EM if they allow us to finalize the purchase ahead of delivery, likely nearly entirely online. My guess is when we finalize our order with Color, Transmission choice, Options, and type of delivery EM will also want to make sure the financing or payment is set up as they will want to get paid for that custom ordered vehicle. This would also provide us with full documentation including our eventual VIN # with which we could fully arrange insurance and in many states even receive tags all before we pick up our vehicles. Having all this done ahead of time is convenient for buyers and would also reduce the amount of work involved on EM's side upon delivery. When receiving our new vehicles pretty much all that would be required is showing your ID, inspecting the vehicle, and signing some quick forms merely confirming everything is as promised and that you accept delivery of the vehicle. This procedure would also be exactly the same whether you elect to pick up your vehicle in Shreveport or have it delivered somewhere else.

As for trades I expect that if EM offer trades it will be via a third party and they will likely just cut you a check for the trade amount. It is possible the trade-in company will have representatives in Shreveport to handle that and/or you may be able to handle it locally. For more specific trade-in discussion we have a thread for that also: http://www.elioowners.com/threads/trading-in-your-old-car-when-getting-your-elio.2294/

 

[Jambe]

...including our eventual VIN # with which we could fully arrange insurance and in many states even receive tags all before we pick up our vehicles.

That's how it works in Utah. When you have your VIN you can get your plates and take them with you to pick up your Elio.

 

[#491]

In last weeks' Town Hall Meeting they apparently said there likely wouldn't be 'Marshalling Centers' the first year. Given that the first year's production run is likely to be sold before it even starts, even showrooms might not be needed immediately. While EM is getting good at drumming up excitement, having showrooms for a car that you can't get for a year is a lot of overhead. It will be interesting to see what they do.

I also wondered about shipping them. A typical Auto Transport has two rails - not so good for the third wheel. I suppose you could rig up a dolly for the third wheel that would straddle the rails, or ship them on a flat bed, but as light as they are, and given they're only going to 60 different locations, getting a lot of them on one truck would seem to make sense. You certainly couldn't have any fluids in them if you were going to ship them vertically, but crated, like smaller tractors, might make sense. Or maybe they induce us all to come to Shreveport and pick them up there!

I suspect they will be shipped in a crate which will allow for rail and sea as well. Some assembly at the dealer.

 

[Oldfarmer]

I was doing some thinking this morning on the treadmill. What type vehicle will the Elio be transported with to dealerships? Modern day trucking uses those contraptions that park the vehicles above or below each other and have tracks for 4 wheels in parallell. Now with the 3 wheeler and the 3rd wheel in the middle, you couldn't use it.

I guess you could get a flat bed and put them side by side one head to foot so the front ends are opposite of each other. I guess the typical flat bed could haul 8 to 10 at a shot, unless they use a high end car hauler and stack top and bottom, then you get 16 to 20 per load.

I'm sure some of you may have ideas on this.

They may ship 'crated' with the wheels off. Similar to how many tractor companies ship. Crates are heavy duty and stack neatly. Once at the dealer, they "slap" it all together. basically just bolt on the wheels.

 

[Rickb]

There are no Dealers........so when they ship my Elio.....I know it will be turn key ready to roll.....Elio's concierge delivery service.

 

[Jambe]

I suspect they will be shipped in a crate which will allow for rail and sea as well. Some assembly at the dealer.

Very unlikely. Rail cars are not like auto transport trucks, they have a floor, not two rails. They are not going to be shipped overseas--at least not for several years.

 

[Karg]

Hey Jambe where do you live, I live in Farmington.

 

[Jambe]

I'm just south of Logan. I sent you a private message.

 

[goofyone]

Very unlikely. Rail cars are not like auto transport trucks, they have a floor, not two rails. They are not going to be shipped overseas--at least not for several years.

Even if they are shipped overseas they would just go in large vehicle transport ships which also have floors. Shipping vehicles in volume overseas from the USA is on these ships is actually not that expensive as we import way more vehicles than we export which means that right now these ships are floating away half empty anyhow.