Anyone else with delayed license plates?

[Dfuerpo]

I am in Tennessee and I realize this may be different in other states. I picked up my MY August 18 in Knoxville. I was given the 30-day temporary tag and told the permanent plate would come in the mail. This is how it has always been for me here in TN. A few days before the temporary tag was to expire I called and was told that it would be "looked into" and a new temporary tag would be sent to me. To their credit it was sent overnight. Two weeks later, still no plate. I called again and was told by text message that my registration was "on track" and would arrive before the second temp tag expires. He said it usually takes 40-65 days. The second tag expires in three days and I'm leaving town that day. I guess I'll have to make another call and get temporary tag #3. Over the last 30 years I have purchased at least a dozen cars in Tennessee and have never experienced this, the plates always came well within 30 days.

Is anyone else experiencing this? Is this a COVID thing or a Tesla thing?

 

[Earthsiege]

It might just be a Tesla/DMV thing.

Back when I bought my 2014 Mazda 3, I ran into a similar issue, where I didn't receive my official WI plates until ~6 months after purchase. The dealership needed to overnight me three separate temp tags over that time. The reason I was given back then was something to do with missing paperwork between the dealership and DMV.

 

[Jimmologist]

I'm in Knoxville and I'm 15 days into my second 30-day temporary tag. I was also told the same thing about the delay.

 

[Dfuerpo]

Update: Something is going on between Tesla and the State of Tennessee!

The day after my post I called the number for Tesla Knoxville. As before, this gets routed to a Tesla service center in Maryland. When I told the agent my story he said he would transfer my call to the Knoxville team, unlike previous calls. The person I spoke to in Knoxville was very nice and told me that indeed there has been a problem getting cars registered in TN. I could tell that he was choosing his words carefully and was throttling his narrative. He said that a high level Tesla executive, who answers directly to Elon Musk, had been made aware of the TN problem. He also said that another longtime Tesla employee had been promoted to be a full time liaison between Tesla and the TN DMV. He told me that I was the seventh person with this problem he had spoken with in the last week. He also told me that they could NOT issue another temporary permit; 60 days was the limit. Also that if I were to get a police citation for an expired permit, that Tesla would reimburse me.

To my surprise, my permanent plate and registration came the next day from the Nashville Tesla center by Fedex. It included a note on Tesla letterhead that said that the car was registered in Knox County (not where I live) because that is where Tesla is licensed to do business. It said I would have to go the my local county clerk to pay another county wheel tax to get a sticker for my county, but that the plate is valid until next year's renewal date.

Any ideas what's going on? Is the DMV slow-walking Tesla registration under pressure from disgruntled auto dealers? Probably not, but it makes for juicy gossip.

 

[bodosom]

Any ideas what's going on? Is the DMV slow-walking Tesla registration under pressure from disgruntled auto dealers? Probably not, but it makes for juicy gossip.

This seems to a trending issue. I had a problem in NY and there have been multiple issues in CA.

 

[Daniel L]

Almost 3 months for mine to finally arrive. Definitely Tesla's fault because my other car took less than 4 weeks and I bought it around the same time. DMV told me Tesla didn't finish the registration when Tesla said the DMV is backlogged (BS).