My Model S 85D Story. Ordering to Delivery!

[Zishan]

Just got my plates and reg sticker. I think it came a week ago, but I rarely check my mail.

They will ask you for your insurance in due time. It won't need the Tesla added, but I think they just need a copy of your current policy. No biggie.

As for delivery, I'm curious how it works now. Before, you place a $2,500 deposit. The cost to ship is $2,000. If you reject the car, I presume they only refund you $500. Now, with the $100 deposit, I'm not sure how the transportation works, keep up informed.

During my purchase, the car had some issues not disclosed in the pictures, that is outside of normal wear. Tesla has basically shrugged it's shoulders and said it was priced accordingly. I certainly hope this doesn't happen to you however. I'm still working on this, so don't want to go into too much detail.

Good luck,
- Zishan

 

[cucubits]

Just got my plates and reg sticker. I think it came a week ago, but I rarely check my mail.

They will ask you for your insurance in due time. It won't need the Tesla added, but I think they just need a copy of your current policy. No biggie.

As for delivery, I'm curious how it works now. Before, you place a $2,500 deposit. The cost to ship is $2,000. If you reject the car, I presume they only refund you $500. Now, with the $100 deposit, I'm not sure how the transportation works, keep up informed.

During my purchase, the car had some issues not disclosed in the pictures, that is outside of normal wear. Tesla has basically shrugged it's shoulders and said it was priced accordingly. I certainly hope this doesn't happen to you however. I'm still working on this, so don't want to go into too much detail.

Good luck,
- Zishan

Thank you! Yes, they changed the initial payment from $2500 deposit to $100 fee. A bit took me by surprise that this $100 is not deducted from the total value of the car, it's just a "reservation fee". No biggie so far. Yes, I'm very curious about shipping too.

 

[rafacq]

Cucubits...

1. Insurance. Scan and make an image or PDF file of your current insurance card. Upload to your Tesla account.

No, it does not have to show the Tesla! When you buy a car and drive it out of the delivery center, it is automatically covered by your current insurance policy. I was told by my insurance company I had 30 days to contact them and provide the car details/VIN. I called them the day after I got delivery.

2. Finance. Contact your loan officer and get pre approved. They will give you a pre approved letter. I scanned it and uploaded it to my Tesla account.

Once I received the final MVPA (motor vehicle purchase agreement), take it to your loan company so they can finalize the loan. I did that on a Friday and got a check from my credit union for the total amount of the car.

The amount included the loan and my down payment. I then scanned the check and uploaded it to my Tesla account. I flew to San Diego the following Wednesday to pick up the car. There I handed the check to Tesla.

Note, the day before delivery, I received via overnight FedEx from Tesla the official paperwork. You must bring this to your delivery appointment.

3. Delivery. The pictures I got from Tesla we’re low resolution. Overall, the car looked ok. At delivery I noticed small paint issues. The worse was a 2” dent in the hood, which you had to search for to see it. Aside from these, mechanically the car was perfect.

I could have argue about the small paint issues, but I figured, for the price I was buying the car, I could have them fix for two or three hundred dollars (a dentless paint repair main fixed them like magic for $250).

4. Time, it took me 13 days from order to delivery. Add a week or two if you are having your car shipped! I had a great time driving our car from California to Dallas .

Please keep us posted on your progress. Feel free to reach out to me if I can be of any help.

 

[cucubits]

Thanks for the detailed explanation. It will help!

So far so good, the sales rep sent the semi-automated "welcome to tesla" email and asked me to confirm pickup or shipping. The car is in Bellevue, WA. I with I could go get it, I spent a few months this year for work in Bellevue

I told him I'd choose shipping but he put the wrong service center for delivery. I specifically asked to have it shipped to Plano and for now he put Dallas. No biggie, I'm sure this can be changed in time.

In the mean time I got the financing part done. I'll go with Alliant Credit Union as it was suggested around the forum. They have a specific section for Tesla loans and it's amazing how fast it was. I filled out some details and got the approval email in under a hour. I didn't get a great rate but I expected it since I recently financed my wife's car. No biggie here either (got 3.7% for $34k for 60 months). Offer it good until Dec 22. I really really really hope it won't take that long.

 

[cucubits]

Small update. After I submitted the initial info on Tesla website (DL, address, finance), it asks me to upload my insurance. It looks like in TX I'll need to have the Model S on my policy before delivery.

The thing is, I'm not willing to start paying insurance for it when who knows how long it'll take to get here. I'm wondering if they'll manage and start shipping or they'll wait for my insurance proof. It would make sense to have it by delivery time, but that's still weeks away.

 

[Zishan]

I had to go back and look thru my emails, but originally they requested my insurance, didn't matter if the Tesla was on there or not. Then later they emailed stating they needed the Tesla insured so they could get the temp tag and registration started.

Excerpt from my email:

TX now requires that the customer upload a copy of insurance with the Tesla already added before we can get you a temp tag or file for your registration. Can you work on getting the Tesla added to your insurance please and send me a copy. The checkout system should be changing over tomorrow so we will need to reupload your Tesla account information as well as your docs.​

I think that should all be done once the sale is finalized, you have seen the car, and then exchanged payment.....but hey, this is Tesla we're talking about.

 

[rafacq]

Small update. After I submitted the initial info on Tesla website (DL, address, finance), it asks me to upload my insurance. It looks like in TX I'll need to have the Model S on my policy before delivery.

The thing is, I'm not willing to start paying insurance for it when who knows how long it'll take to get here. I'm wondering if they'll manage and start shipping or they'll wait for my insurance proof. It would make sense to have it by delivery time, but that's still weeks away.


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That is weird. I picked my car in California. All I had to upload was a copy of my current insurance. I never saw that message in my process.

Call your insurance company. Maybe they can give you a letter showing the car will be insured on your delivery date. I would also ask Tesla if you can bring proof of insurance to your delivery appointment. Then you can have it insured the day before and they will print your proof of insurance card. I agree, I would not want to pay insurance when the car is still owned by Tesla!

When I arrived in Dallas I took my car to Plano SC for the inspection. There, I gave them a copy of the car insurance, it was needed to register the car in Texas.

 

[dannycamps]

When I purchased both of my Teslas (one used, one new/inventory) all I had to was upload a copy of my current insurance policy to get delivery scheduled. I didn't actually add the Tesla to my policy until the day I took delivery which is what my insurance company instructed me to do.

I know in other states (eg., MA as per Rich Rebuilds), you need to have the car listed on the policy before they will deliver but doesn't appear to be the case in Delaware. Note that Tesla did need to see the car on the policy before they issued the temp tags but that was done the day of delivery.

 

[cucubits]

Even though I said I would be patient, it's very very hard just to sit and wait doing nothing. I may have messed up a bit my timeline.

All this took place on Friday. Important because my Tesla sales rep had Friday and Saturdays off.

The initial checklist on Tesla website asks for financing option and details and it says those numbers will be used for the contract and MVPA. All good here, I put the numbers I had in my approval email from Alliant and quickly submitted the list, without waiting for final confirmation from Alliant. Not an hour later, another email comes from Alliant that the amount they can finance would be slightly different (she claimed they can finance only 70$ LTV, which would come out about $3k less than I asked for). No biggie, I'd just pay a bit more and have lower monthly payments, not a problem. On the other hand, I had already submitted the form on my Tesla account and it did say there that any further changes would possibly delay delivery. Great!

I quickly emailed my sales rep asking to abort any paperwork and wait for me to confirm new finance numbers, but I knew this would be pointless as he was off. What may help is that he does work on Sundays and probably the delivery rep won't even start on my contract before Monday. Who knows, we may still be good.


Another bonus from all this mess (in my head it sounds way worse than it actually is), is that with Alliant messing up my calculations, I've done some more digging around and I asked for one more finance offer. Apparently RBFCU approved me for %2.95 APR but I will see only Monday if that's for the whole amount I asked for or they have similar LTV limits. Since I'll have to give Tesla new details anyway, I may as well go with them. We'll see.


Fun fact, just today driving around Dallas, I saw 2 (two) red facelift Model S-es

 

[rafacq]

Even though I said I would be patient, it's very very hard just to sit and wait doing nothing. I may have messed up a bit my timeline.

All this took place on Friday. Important because my Tesla sales rep had Friday and Saturdays off.

The initial checklist on Tesla website asks for financing option and details and it says those numbers will be used for the contract and MVPA. All good here, I put the numbers I had in my approval email from Alliant and quickly submitted the list, without waiting for final confirmation from Alliant. Not an hour later, another email comes from Alliant that the amount they can finance would be slightly different (she claimed they can finance only 70$ LTV, which would come out about $3k less than I asked for). No biggie, I'd just pay a bit more and have lower monthly payments, not a problem. On the other hand, I had already submitted the form on my Tesla account and it did say there that any further changes would possibly delay delivery. Great!

I quickly emailed my sales rep asking to abort any paperwork and wait for me to confirm new finance numbers, but I knew this would be pointless as he was off. What may help is that he does work on Sundays and probably the delivery rep won't even start on my contract before Monday. Who knows, we may still be good.


Another bonus from all this mess (in my head it sounds way worse than it actually is), is that with Alliant messing up my calculations, I've done some more digging around and I asked for one more finance offer. Apparently RBFCU approved me for %2.95 APR but I will see only Monday if that's for the whole amount I asked for or they have similar LTV limits. Since I'll have to give Tesla new details anyway, I may as well go with them. We'll see.


Fun fact, just today driving around Dallas, I saw 2 (two) red facelift Model S-es

I financed my car with American Airlines Credit Union. Once I had my MVPA showing the total amount I had to pay Tesla, I took it to the credit union, told them I needed to borrow $20K and I had the rest in my checkbook. Within 30 minutes I had the check for the full amount due to Tesla. I uploaded a copy of the check to Tesla, and gave it to them at delivery. I did not have to upload any finance paperwork to Tesla, just a copy of the check. If you are not financing with Tesla, I don’t understand why there would be a delay.

The MVPA will show the total amount due to Tesla and it will also show the total amount you are financing. When they register the car, they will tell the state there will be a lien holder.

If you work in an airline related business, AACU had great rates. I got 2.35% but .25% discount for autopay and another .25% discount for direct deposit. That made my final loan rate at 1.85%.

 

[cucubits]

You're right, that's the process. No need to panic. I was worried that delaying the MVPA (since I don't have the exact numbers I'll finance) would delay my whole thing. Not the case since they haven't shipped the car this way yet.

Of course, being veteran's day today, I'm not going to get anything done. I will talk to RBFCU tomorrow.

 

[cucubits]

All good so far. Now we're in the middle of the hardest part: waiting with nothing to do on my side. I ended up going with RBFCU. They seem cool to work with used Tesla, approved me for the whole amount I asked for and they gave me a better rate than Alliant.

Now we're waiting for the delivery guy to prepare the MVPA but I think that will happen only once the car is here. I wish I could track the progress somehow. It would help even to know that they did or did not book a shipping truck sometimes in the near future.

 

[rafacq]

All good so far. Now we're in the middle of the hardest part: waiting with nothing to do on my side. I ended up going with RBFCU. They seem cool to work with used Tesla, approved me for the whole amount I asked for and they gave me a better rate than Alliant.

Now we're waiting for the delivery guy to prepare the MVPA but I think that will happen only once the car is here. I wish I could track the progress somehow. It would help even to know that they did or did not book a shipping truck sometimes in the near future.

When I received the Tesla FedEx with what was supposed to be the final MVPA, the MVPA did not show I was financing $20K. To Tesla, I was paying the full amount via certified check. They had a copy of the check and the check did not showed any information how I came up with the money.

When I arrived in San Diego and handed over my paperwork, I explained to the delivery person I was financing $20K and there was a lien holder. This is important as when Tesla registers the car, they must report the lien holder name to the state. The lien holder will keep the car title until the lien is paid off. Guess we all know this.

Why I’m saying this? I’m telling you this to let you know that the Tesla delivery person, updated the MVPA at that moment, and produced a last minute, final, updated MVPA which showed my credit union as lien holder. Once I made it back home, I faxed a copy of the final MVPA to the credit union. My loan officer was thankful, but what was the most important thing to my lender was finally getting the vehicle title, which took a little aver 2 months. I had to talk to the credit union title department several times, as automated letters were sent to me stating they needed that title. Luckily they were happy to document my calls to them and they expressed no big concern, as in their experience, Tesla was always slower getting their cars registered.

I can’t recall if you told us, what year, model, miles is your car? All I remember is it is in Washington state. Wish I could have saved you $2K in truck shipping fees. I would have driven it back for free! But then it would have added about 2.000 miles to the odometer.

Congratulations again. May the force give you patience. I promise it will all be quickly forgotten once you get the car and start enjoying it!

 

[cucubits]

Thanks for the kind words. it's a 2016 facelift 75D with a little over 40k miles for $44k.
Other hard constraints were: Red color, dual motor, facelift, without sunroof and with premium package. This particular one checked all the marks.

Also, budget was a concern (I really struggled to find one under $45k) and I wanted as late year as possible for the warranty. I'm happy with what I found if it all works out and it's in a shape similar to what the pictures show.

 

[cucubits]

Unexpectedly it appears that things are moving along.

The delivery advisor contacted me today with the MVPA. He didn't say yet where the car is currently but he did mention, same as the sales rep, that it takes about 2-3 weeks from the order date. Today is day #8 since placing the order.

Since you guys picked up your cars around here you probable won't be able to answer this but I'll ask anyway. For me it seems like a mistake but who knows. On the MVPA, they added the $2k delivery fee to the car price so that when they calculated the state vehicle sales tax, it was to the whole sum. Basically they're making me pay vehicle sales tax on the shipping fee. This can't be right, can it? I asked him too but no answer so far.

One more question for now. Since they're not allowed direct sales in Texas, he told me the car will have to be paid for before delivery (he actually said before it crosses the state line ?!). I sort of understand this and it should be fine, but, in this case, what happens in the worst case scenario if there's something very wrong with the car which would warrant me to refuse delivery once it gets here, after it's paid. How does this work? How does the refund process work in this case?

 

[rafacq]

Unexpectedly it appears that things are moving along.

One more question for now. Since they're not allowed direct sales in Texas, he told me the car will have to be paid for before delivery (he actually said before it crosses the state line ?!). I sort of understand this and it should be fine, but, in this case, what happens in the worst case scenario if there's something very wrong with the car which would warrant me to refuse delivery once it gets here, after it's paid. How does this work? How does the refund process work in this case?

Sorry, I can’t answer your questions as I didn’t have my car shipped to Dallas. As I’ve mentioned before, I flew to San Diego and drove my car back. I saved the $2K and had a blast driving the car back.

Congratulations again!

 

[cucubits]

Just checking in!
Things are moving along, at least on my side. I've finalized the loan from RBFCU today (very easy process, they know how Tesla works). They're going to send the confirmation to Tesla today and they'll send the check straight to Tesla. In the mean time, I'm going to pay my part on my Tesla account and then we wait again

 

[cucubits]

After paying for it, time seems to have slowed down even more. Especially since we're in radio silence again since yesterday. I've asked them to send me at least a confirmation when the receive the notice from the credit union (this was done yesterday) and still nothing from Tesla.

Fun fact, just noticed, David McBride is my delivery dude too. Hard to get a quick reply from him so far.

 

[BulldogsRus]

After paying for it, time seems to have slowed down even more. Especially since we're in radio silence again since yesterday. I've asked them to send me at least a confirmation when the receive the notice from the credit union (this was done yesterday) and still nothing from Tesla.

Fun fact, just noticed, David McBride is my delivery dude too. Hard to get a quick reply from him so far.

Petty said it best..."the waaaiting is the hardest part!"

 

[cucubits]

Most likely I wouldn't mind and the wait wouldn't be so painful if there was more communication and transparency from Tesla.

In my case, I think they haven't even thought about touching the car until I paid for it and just now they will start thinking about planning to get it shipped my way...