I placed my order for a Tesla Model 3 Long Range on October 19, 2019. Here’s what happened while waiting for the car. Here’s the video I made.
New Owners Workshop
After a few weeks, I received an invitation to attend a new owners workshop held at the dealership where I placed my order. If you decide to go, you will be able to get a more detailed look at their cars’ features. There is a dedicated person for each Model. Aside from the cars, you will also learn more about their solar roof products, batteries, and home chargers. I did not really benefit from the presentation. I have already done a lot of research into the car which made me decide to purchase one. We already have solar on our house.
What was helpful was meeting a specialist to help me complete my Tesla profile. Your profile needs to have the following.
- Copy of your driver’s license
- Copy of your insurance
- Delivery location
- Payment method
- Trade-in information (if applicable)
I had most of the information provided. I planned to finance the purchase through Tesla. This part was a bit weird because my car would not be ready until 6-10 weeks. Generally, pre-approval for financing is only valid for 30 days. The specialist informed me that they have “in house” partnerships with banks and the validity of the pre-approval can be extended without running additional credit checks. He was able to get me pre-approved.
I got more information regarding my trade-in. I planned to trade in my 2016 Prius. He updated the mileage information and VIN. I was able to get an estimate within a few hours – it showed up on my profile. Because Tesla is the dealer, the prices are the same across the board. They are able to give me my final price along with the trade in. Simple!
Rebates
In California, there is the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project. It is a rebate for owners of electric vehicles and hybrids. Prior to December 3, 2019, the amount was $2500. Afterwards, it was lowered to $2000 and less vehicles are eligible. Luckily, the Model 3 remained on the list, but I “lost” $500 because I still didn’t have the vehicle.
You also get a Federal tax credit. Below are the amounts and expirations.
- $7500 up to December 31, 2018
- $3750 January 1, 2019 – June 30, 2019
- $1875 July 1, 2019 – December 31, 2019
- $0 after December 31, 2019
It was important to get my vehicle delivered before December 31, 2019 or I won’t be able to get my Federal tax credit. If for some chance I don’t get the credit, I would still purchase the car. This was not the reason why I buying the vehicle.
Soft matched to a VIN
In the morning of December 21, 2019, I come to find out I was soft matched to a VIN. This means the vehicle is in pre-production and has been assigned to me. There is a small chance that it doesn’t pass quality control and I can get a different VIN, this is why it’s a soft match.
That night, I received another notification informing me that the car is in transit and that I will be scheduled for my delivery date. Very impressed that within a day, the car is in preproduction and that it’s in transit to the dealership.
I was scheduled for delivery pick up Christmas Eve 2019 the following day. I called to confirm this on December 23 and found out that slots were available that night. Rather than waiting for the following day, I took the slot and got my car.
Why did it take long?
I found out by talking to different people but it turns out that in October and November, Tesla only built cars to fulfill orders for outside the United States. This put a major delay on my order. They started fulfilling orders for the United States on December 1. Even then, they focused on non-west coast orders because it took longer to deliver the cars to the other states. The factory is in Fremont, California. They need to deliver cars prior to the Federal tax credit deadline. In addition, I ordered the white interior and Long Range. Tesla builds their cars in batches. The most common order configuration is Standard Range and black interior.
The video linked above has more details. It is a 21 minute video but I shared timestamps to different sections. Take a look if you have time and/or are interested in more details.
If you are in the market for a Tesla, please use my referral link so we both get free super charging miles credit https://ts.la/sherwin24159.
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