Amount Due at Time of Pickup - California

[zyzz]

Hi All,

Ive been researching model 3s for a while and finally placed an order for a black lr awd a few hours ago. I noticed on the est. fees due at time of pickup is about 10k... that seems rather wild and I havent read any mentions of this online.

Im under the impression i owe 5k at time of pickup (2500 down, 2500 at pickup).

Are taxes and fees also due at the same time or will those fees be rolled into the loan? I am accustomed to the fees being rolled into the monthly payments. I think this may still be the case because when i was going through the info entry, it stated the cars monthly payment was lower by about $33 than i anticipated - 727 vs 760 - would this explain the discrepancy in pricing?

What has been your experience in california? How much cash did you have to put down to pickup?

 

[Nine2Five]

When i picked up my car, I brought my Downpayment check and my credit unions check so the car was payed in full, Not sure how you are financing though?

 

[Big Earl]

The balance is due at the time of pickup-delivery. Whatever your balance is depends on how much you decided to put down.

Unless you’re talking about a lease.

 

[davewill]

Your using Tesla's financing? Not too many people here are because if you have decent credit, you can certainly find a better rate elsewhere.

 

[zyzz]

Correct, I am financing. I have good credit, I just thought it would be easier for the purchase to go through tesla's financing and if i didnt like their terms i could go to a CU or bank? Is that realistic?

Last time I bought a car was 7 years ago and i paid cash so I am pretty unfamiliar with the financing process altogether

 

[Treetop235]

I used Tesla, they don't finance but locate someone for you to finance. But ... I had to come up with $11,000 if you count the $2,500 down payment. I was quite surprised as well, as my last car I only paid $1,000 down and drove away.
So seems they don't roll all the costs into financing, which they should. Probably a shortcut.

 

[davewill]

Correct, I am financing. I have good credit, I just thought it would be easier for the purchase to go through tesla's financing and if i didnt like their terms i could go to a CU or bank? Is that realistic?

Last time I bought a car was 7 years ago and i paid cash so I am pretty unfamiliar with the financing process altogether

Sure, you should be able to still shop for a better deal.

I went to a local credit union that had the best rates I could find (2.99%, 66 months) and had them approve me for a loan a little bit bigger than I thought I'd need. Once I had ordered it, and entered online that I was using third party financing, and how much I was putting down, Tesla generated a Motor Vehicle Purchase Agreement (MVPA) online showing those details. I forwarded a copy to the credit union, and I'll take the signed copy with me to the CU shortly before delivery day and pick up a check to take with me to the delivery appointment. In my case, I'm financing everything except my $2500 deposit.

For you, the first step would be to find a loan and get approved, then you should be able to go online at Tesla and change the payment information, which will trigger generation of an appropriate MVPA.

 

[zyzz]

Thanks for your help, Davewill & TreeTop. Appreciate it.

 

[jjrandorin]

Correct, I am financing. I have good credit, I just thought it would be easier for the purchase to go through tesla's financing and if i didnt like their terms i could go to a CU or bank? Is that realistic?

Last time I bought a car was 7 years ago and i paid cash so I am pretty unfamiliar with the financing process altogether

You may be thinking like a traditional dealership, where you get your pre approval through the dealership, and then decide what you want to do (and they try to convert you to a better rate on site or something).

Not sure about tesla financing, but if you are not financing through tesla, you are effectively paying cash.... just with some combination of your cash and the bank / credit union you choose cash. For tesla its a cash purchase.

If you are going through their financing, your down payment will be subject to whatever terms they have laid out for you based on your credit score and debt to income ratio... just like any other bank.

Most peoples recommendation here would be to go to outside financing (check where you bank for example if they provide good rates). In december when I got mine, I put a very large down payment down, but because I decided on the performance model 3 I could not pay for it all in cash, so financed part of it with my credit union (navy federal). I got 3.59% for 72 months which was pretty good at that time, especially for that term. I doubt I am going to take the amount i borrowed to 72 months but I have the option to if I want, and I dont feel bad about it since I put like 70% down.

Anyway, it was easy to get approved through my credit union for the amount, pick up a bank check, and fill it out at the tesla delivery center. They knew exactly how to process it, and they had no issue taking a personal check from me for the part I paid myself and didnt finance.

Your terms should be in your account.. and if you want to roll the 1200 delivery fee and tax and stuff in there, just tell them (provided you can absorb that in the debt to income ratio etc. As you surmise, that is likely the difference in your figures and theirs. In general every 1k adds around 25-30$ a month so...

 

[javawolfpack]

Check the pinned Google Sheet:
Tesla loan comparison spreadsheet - auto updates hourly

There is a reasonably easy credit union in Pasadena (How To Join) that only requires you to donate to their local library to join and their rate is lower than Tesla's. Mind you to get the lowest rate you need to meet the terms "All rates (APRs) shown include a 0.50% discount for Automatic Payment from a PFCU Checking Account and an additional 0.50 discount for an active PFCU Visa account." But even if you only do the auto payment from a checking account there, it's still lower than Tesla.