Beware of ordering Tesla in NH!

[bp3nh]

I was excited to take advantage of the FSD transfer option. I own a 2018 M3LR. I placed the order for 2023 ($250) and began the process of selling my 2018, lining up insurance and getting financing for the remaining balance. Today Tesla informed me that my new car had to be picked up in NJ! Or I could pay to have a
car hauler deliver it. No other option, wouldn’t let me pick it up 50 mi away in MA. I canceled my order. They refuse to refund my $250. Bait and switch at its finest. Companies that treat customers like this don’t last long. If you live in a state without a Tesla center BEWARE!

 

[AAKEE]

I was excited to take advantage of the FSD transfer option. I own a 2018 M3LR. I placed the order for 2023 ($250) and began the process of selling my 2018, lining up insurance and getting financing for the remaining balance. Today Tesla informed me that my new car had to be picked up in NJ! Or I could pay to have a
car hauler deliver it. No other option, wouldn’t let me pick it up 50 mi away in MA. I canceled my order. They refuse to refund my $250. Bait and switch at its finest. Companies that treat customers like this don’t last long. If you live in a state without a Tesla center BEWARE!

They sold a ”broken” car to me. 600 miles from home.
Arriving at home i found a dent on the upper part of the right front fender.

Before I left I found a couple of other damages, and the dwlivery people waived with the hand and said ”just make a note in the app and we’ll cover it”.

Arriving home, after sleep and car wash I found the dent in the front fender.
I put it in the app, and they canceled the whole thing as I had driven the car more than 160km ( = 100 miles). They even had the courage to attach links to shops if I would like to fix it myself.

The car had a chipped paint on left rear door, a scratch on the left rear fender and two marks from a pen on the inner door trim on the driver door.
But they clearly f****d me straight.
I was worried before the delivery from reading posts about Teslas in bad shape, and remembered the delivery of my former M3P, wich also was broken on delivery. So I called Tesla which told me they had checked the car and it was in mint condition and without damage. (A clear lie, dunno if they checked the car and lied or if they didnt and lied about that.)

So now I have a Tesla delivered with damage that Tesla doesnt take any responsibility for.

The last word has not been said about this.

 

[glide]

I was excited to take advantage of the FSD transfer option. I own a 2018 M3LR. I placed the order for 2023 ($250) and began the process of selling my 2018, lining up insurance and getting financing for the remaining balance. Today Tesla informed me that my new car had to be picked up in NJ! Or I could pay to have a
car hauler deliver it. No other option, wouldn’t let me pick it up 50 mi away in MA. I canceled my order. They refuse to refund my $250. Bait and switch at its finest. Companies that treat customers like this don’t last long. If you live in a state without a Tesla center BEWARE!

That’s not true at all. You *can* pick it up in MA but you will be required to pay MA sales tax at point of purchase.

No NH resident would ever agree to that. Mt Kisco, NY and NJ are your closest pickup options that would not require you to pay sales tax.

I am no fan of Tesla or the way they do business, but this is purely an issue with the state of MA.

 

[herrlich98]

Yeah, this is the way it is. No Tesla NH service center/sales location to pickup in NH. MA vehicle taxes don't allow this to be done. NJ is the closest state were the registration and taxes allow it to be done. I hope and suspect the ordering process said this but obviously not clear enough for you to catch this. Unfortunate. If you still would like the car I would recommend NJ. It isn't that hard a drive to do in one day. One way car rental down there and then a drive in the new car back. Back in the day the rolled the delivery cost (with added delivery delay) into the delivery charges but then started breaking them out. Tesla actually picked up the rental car cost for me when I did it.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Supposedly there's a service center coming somewhere in New Massachusetts, which would allow deliveries to happen in New Hampshire.

However, New Hampshire is not a ZEV state, so I don't know how delivery there would affect credits.

 

[WyoDude]

I canceled my order. They refuse to refund my $250. Bait and switch at its finest. Companies that treat customers like this don’t last long. If you live in a state without a Tesla center BEWARE!

this isn’t bait and switch

 

[eskudo12791]

So you bought in a state without a showroom and are upset that the "Non-refundable Order Fee" is non-refundable?

 

[GBMaryland]

So you bought in a state without a showroom and are upset that the "Non-refundable Order Fee" is non-refundable?

Yeah, but it IS a bit of an A-Hole move by Tesla. They know there is an issue, and they could have reached out during the order process to let you know up front.

 

[eskudo12791]

Yeah, but it IS a bit of an A-Hole move by Tesla. They know there is an issue, and they could have reached out during the order process to let you know up front.

Tesla hasn't done home delivery for a hot minute how else was the car supposed to get to OP? And 50 miles to drive to a pickup isnt that complex.

 

[ucmndd]

Sounds like someone should have read the order agreement before they paid the $250.

Bait and switch, eh?

 

[cmaster]

New Hampshire resident here with a Model S. I paid $2000 to have my new car shipped here from California. Part of the invoice btw. Added to the total sale of the car.

 

[dafish]

good luck

 

[B_E_V]

Today Tesla informed me that my new car had to be picked up in NJ! Or I could pay to have a car hauler deliver it. No other option, wouldn’t let me pick it up 50 mi away in MA.

If you picked it up in MA, you would have to pay the State of Massachusetts 6.25% in taxes on the transaction. Assuming you purchased the cheapest rear wheel drive Model 3 with a base price of $40,240 that would have been more than $2,500 in taxes. Unless they were quoting you more than $2,500 for the car hauler, they were doing you a favor by refusing to let you "pick it up 50 mi away in MA."

I don't know what they charge now, but after I used carrier direct in 2022, I posted about my experience which included stating:

I used carrier direct to Nashua, NH in March of 2022, at which time it cost $750.

 

[herrlich98]

If you picked it up in MA, you would have to pay the State of Massachusetts 6.25% in taxes on the transaction. Assuming you purchased the cheapest rear wheel drive Model 3 with a base price of $40,240 that would have been more than $2,500 in taxes. Unless they were quoting you more than $2,500 for the car hauler, they were doing you a favor by refusing to let you "pick it up 50 mi away in MA."

I don't know what they charge now, but after I used carrier direct in 2022, I posted about my experience which included stating:

There is a nuance to having it delivered to MA. What happens to NH resident's who purchase a car and pick it up in MA is that everything initially is fine. No MA taxes paid. The taxes are paid when you go to register the car at the MA DMV. Then what happens is some years later the person moves to MA and tries to register the car and the MA taxes are due plus penalties because of how long it has been. I think you can avoid this by selling the car. Or a friend of mine was able to go to the dealership and have them retroactively sign that he had taken delivery of the car in NH. I don't think this is an option for Tesla but if you ever buy a car in MA you can take delivery of the car in NH. For a car I bought a few years ago a couple of sales people drove it up to my home in NH and I took delivery.

 

[B_E_V]

There is a nuance to having it delivered to MA. What happens to NH resident's who purchase a car and pick it up in MA is that everything initially is fine. No MA taxes paid. The taxes are paid when you go to register the car at the MA DMV. Then what happens is some years later the person moves to MA and tries to register the car and the MA taxes are due plus penalties because of how long it has been. I think you can avoid this by selling the car. Or a friend of mine was able to go to the dealership and have them retroactively sign that he had taken delivery of the car in NH. I don't think this is an option for Tesla but if you ever buy a car in MA you can take delivery of the car in NH. For a car I bought a few years ago a couple of sales people drove it up to my home in NH and I took delivery.

If you clicked the State of Massachusetts 6.25% in taxes link you would read:

If a nonresident of Massachusetts buys a motor vehicle or trailer in Massachusetts and takes title to and/or possession of the vehicle in Massachusetts, the sale is subject to Massachusetts sales or use tax, regardless of whether the nonresident intends to use the motor vehicle or trailer in or outside of Massachusetts.

 

[glide]

There is a nuance to having it delivered to MA. What happens to NH resident's who purchase a car and pick it up in MA is that everything initially is fine. No MA taxes paid. The taxes are paid when you go to register the car at the MA DMV. Then what happens is some years later the person moves to MA and tries to register the car and the MA taxes are due plus penalties because of how long it has been. I think you can avoid this by selling the car. Or a friend of mine was able to go to the dealership and have them retroactively sign that he had taken delivery of the car in NH. I don't think this is an option for Tesla but if you ever buy a car in MA you can take delivery of the car in NH. For a car I bought a few years ago a couple of sales people drove it up to my home in NH and I took delivery.

This is not correct. You pay tax in MA at the point of sale. And a NH resident would not be registering a vehicle at the MA DMV.

 

[herrlich98]

What I wrote isn't particularly useful for NH people buying Tesla's. But the quick summary is that if a NH resident purchases a car from MA you should take delivery in NH to 100% avoid and be 100% legal with MA taxes.

I have heard multiple NH people unintentionally not paying MA vehicle taxes in the past and then getting hit with issues when they moved to MA with that vehicle. Maybe this has been fixed in the last few years so this doesn't happen. In other words, it used to happen because you bought the car at the dealer but paid the tax at the MA RMV which a NH resident wouldn't do... or maybe only until years later.

Trying to research this on the internet I found this MA government website Apply for a registration and title for a vehicle purchased from a dealer which isn't super explicit but does imply that the 6.25% sales tax is paid to the MA RMV as part of the registration process.

In any case, yes you *are* liable for the taxes but it might catch you off guard. Or maybe not, they may have changed the process so avoid surprising people.

 

[WyoDude]

What I wrote isn't particularly useful for NH people buying Tesla's.

 

[cmaster]

Hmm....Just have AAA Tow to haul it over to NH? That would avoid having to pay the taxes.

 

[glide]

What I wrote isn't particularly useful for NH people buying Tesla's. But the quick summary is that if a NH resident purchases a car from MA you should take delivery in NH to 100% avoid and be 100% legal with MA taxes.

I have heard multiple NH people unintentionally not paying MA vehicle taxes in the past and then getting hit with issues when they moved to MA with that vehicle. Maybe this has been fixed in the last few years so this doesn't happen. In other words, it used to happen because you bought the car at the dealer but paid the tax at the MA RMV which a NH resident wouldn't do... or maybe only until years later.

Trying to research this on the internet I found this MA government website Apply for a registration and title for a vehicle purchased from a dealer which isn't super explicit but does imply that the 6.25% sales tax is paid to the MA RMV as part of the registration process.

In any case, yes you *are* liable for the taxes but it might catch you off guard. Or maybe not, they may have changed the process so avoid surprising people.

You are conflating two issues.

1.) NH resident purchasing a vehicle in Massachusetts

2.) NH resident purchasing a vehicle (anywhere) and moving to MA within a 6 month period. Then they would be required to register the vehicle in MA and also get hit with sales tax due to length of ownership.