The reason for considering changing from gasoline cars to electric cars is that I often wait in the car during this summer. I am afraid of carbon buildup and exhaust fumes when running the air conditioning for a long time, especially in underground garages. With this idea in mind, I started looking for an electric car. At the beginning, I test drove XPeng P7 and JiKe001. I was very impressed with the latter, but when I heard that I had to wait a long time for delivery, I hesitated. It was not until early August that I saw some car experts evaluating the Deep Blue SL03 on Weibo, and I suddenly felt that this car met my needs in all aspects. So I went for a test drive and placed an order on a weekend, starting my life of waiting for the car.
At the beginning, the salesperson said that the car could be delivered around the end of September. I was quite happy, so I sold my gasoline car and suffered from commuting by bike and subway in the hot weather. Then I checked the progress of delivery countless times every day through the APP. During the process, the factory stopped production due to power outage, which made me quite frustrated. The prospective car owners in the group were also quite anxious. In September, some people started to cancel their orders and complain on the phone. Since I placed the order on August 16, I was behind the first batch of users, so I continued to wait by checking the APP. After a month of waiting, the car was finally matched. At this time, some car owners who received the first batch of vehicles reported problems such as gear oil and stalling. I couldn’t help feeling worried. It was not until 10 days later that it showed the car was shipped out. The waiting was really torturous. By the end of September, the only question was whether the car could arrive at the dealership before National Day.
(In fact, all these processes need to be clicked by personnel. If the delivery experts are too busy, they may not have time to update the progress. Until I picked up the car, my progress was still at the stage of final payment already paid….)
On the morning of September 30, the salesperson suddenly told me that the car had arrived at the dealership. I immediately dropped everything and rushed over. Here, I have to complain about Deep Blue’s delivery. There were three or four batches of car owners picking up their cars that day, but it seemed that there was only one delivery expert who was so busy that he was overwhelmed. However, other employees were not responsible for delivery. Plus, it was raining that day, so there were not many customers in the store. This gave people a bad impression. After I entered the store, I sat down and waited. After nearly 40 minutes, the salesperson took me to the workshop to inspect the car. Overall, there were no major problems, except for a protrusion on the bumper near the headlight, which should be caused by the buckle not being fastened properly. In fact, this car was still undergoing PDI in the workshop, so I took a quick look and left.Back to the lobby and sat for more than half an hour. The delivery expert was dealing with a customer who had been waiting since 10 a.m. until now (3 p.m.) due to issues with new car insurance, and might have to wait until the next day to obtain her vehicle. She was furious and a group of people had to appease her for a long time. Finally, it was my turn. As usual, I signed the contract first and paid afterwards, with a 1,400 yuan credit card processing fee. Learning from past experiences, I told him that I only needed the compulsory insurance, whichever company could deliver faster, and then I could drive the car away with a temporary license plate. Therefore, I completed all the formalities after 4 p.m. and picked up my car after washing it in the workshop. Because it was raining heavily that day, there was no need to hold a formal ceremony, and fortunately, they did not tie any red cloth on my car, so I happily drove it away. However, the gifts, including a microphone and a sunshade, would have to be picked up next time, which was a bit disappointing.
In summary, if you want to pick up your car quickly, the first step is to reserve enough time, preferably in the afternoon around 1 or 2 o’clock. If you go in the morning, you won’t be able to complete all the procedures, and you may encounter lunch break. Pay in full and only obtain the compulsory insurance, and that’s the fastest way.
There was no cake or flowers. Mine was probably the simplest car pick-up ceremony, but it happened to be during the National Day, and nothing was so important anymore, haha. The Deep Blue 515 EV is definitely worth having.
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.