From Telsa to Ohio owners:
"August 28, 2015
Various states have laws that were enacted to prevent rogue car salespeople. You can imagine an era when legislators were concerned about stereotypical “car salesmen” trying to sell cars without a license. At Tesla, we sell our cars differently. We don’t use traditional car dealers let alone rogue salespeople. However, our Referral Program has struck a chord with Ohio regulators, who have claimed that aspects of it do not comply with this type of law.
Our Referral Program was never designed to make you a salesperson. Nevertheless, due to the position taken by Ohio regulators, we are making one change to our Referral Program for our customers in Ohio. Now, when someone buys a new Model S through your referral link, the $1,000 credit that you were to receive in your Tesla account will instead go to the person receiving the referral. That person will now get $2,000 (instead of $1,000) off the purchase price. The program otherwise remains as described in Elon’s email to you.
Our apologies for this change.
The Tesla Team"
From Tesla to Virginia Owners:
"August 6, 2015
Various states have laws that were enacted to prevent rogue car salespeople. You can imagine an era when legislators were concerned about stereotypical “car salesmen” trying to sell cars without a license. At Tesla, we sell our cars differently. We don’t use traditional car dealers let alone rogue salespeople. However, our Referral Program has struck a chord with Virginia regulators, who have claimed that aspects of it do not comply with this type of law.
Our Referral Program was never designed to make you a salesperson. Nevertheless, due to the position taken by Virginia regulators, we are making one change to our Referral Program for our customers in Virginia. Now, when someone buys a new Model S through your referral link, the $1,000 credit that you were to receive in your Tesla account will instead go to the person receiving the referral. That person will now get $2,000 (instead of $1,000) off the purchase price. The program otherwise remains as described in Elon’s email to you.
Our apologies for this change.
The Tesla Team"
After multiple calls with Tesla Sales in HQ, as well as the store in Tyson's Corner VA, I've learned the following:
"August 28, 2015
Various states have laws that were enacted to prevent rogue car salespeople. You can imagine an era when legislators were concerned about stereotypical “car salesmen” trying to sell cars without a license. At Tesla, we sell our cars differently. We don’t use traditional car dealers let alone rogue salespeople. However, our Referral Program has struck a chord with Ohio regulators, who have claimed that aspects of it do not comply with this type of law.
Our Referral Program was never designed to make you a salesperson. Nevertheless, due to the position taken by Ohio regulators, we are making one change to our Referral Program for our customers in Ohio. Now, when someone buys a new Model S through your referral link, the $1,000 credit that you were to receive in your Tesla account will instead go to the person receiving the referral. That person will now get $2,000 (instead of $1,000) off the purchase price. The program otherwise remains as described in Elon’s email to you.
Our apologies for this change.
The Tesla Team"
From Tesla to Virginia Owners:
"August 6, 2015
Various states have laws that were enacted to prevent rogue car salespeople. You can imagine an era when legislators were concerned about stereotypical “car salesmen” trying to sell cars without a license. At Tesla, we sell our cars differently. We don’t use traditional car dealers let alone rogue salespeople. However, our Referral Program has struck a chord with Virginia regulators, who have claimed that aspects of it do not comply with this type of law.
Our Referral Program was never designed to make you a salesperson. Nevertheless, due to the position taken by Virginia regulators, we are making one change to our Referral Program for our customers in Virginia. Now, when someone buys a new Model S through your referral link, the $1,000 credit that you were to receive in your Tesla account will instead go to the person receiving the referral. That person will now get $2,000 (instead of $1,000) off the purchase price. The program otherwise remains as described in Elon’s email to you.
Our apologies for this change.
The Tesla Team"
After multiple calls with Tesla Sales in HQ, as well as the store in Tyson's Corner VA, I've learned the following:
- This is all about not directly compensating current owners in these states from being direct salespeople. It doesn't matter where the new buyer is, they can take advantage of the extra $1000 off that was supposed to go to the current owner
- The new buyer will only see $1000 off initially, using a referral code from a Virginia or Ohio owner. This is because the owner's credit is not realized until the buyer's deposit becomes non-refundable
- The new buyer and their DS must work with Tesla HQ to manually map over the extra discount. Once this is done, the discount will appear on the Motor Vehicle Purchase Agreement before you complete delivery
- What does the VA and OH owner see? As referrals get confirmed, they temporarily see their 'credit' go up $1000, but once it gets mapped out, the credit goes down again. I have seen this with three referrals who used my code already
- Does the VA and OH owner get anything? Mostly the satisfaction of knowing they helped someone get into the best car on the road today. It seems that Tesla's opinion that the other prizes, the free installed Powerall and Gigafactory opening tix at 5 referrals, and the discount on a new Model X at 10, do not represent a per referral compensation, so that the VA and OH owners are still eligible for them, but this has not been made clear. I may be the first VA owner to have hit five referrals, so I'll keep everyone posted
