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Certified check or personal check

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You can also bank transfer the amount. I’m about to do that… a check is so old school dealership :)

It's not about being old school, but not giving Tesla money before you are happy with the car.

Tesla will have to give it back to you in case of rejection, but I do not want to tie that money up for weeks while I go through that process.
 
I had no problem with them accepting a large personal check
Where at?
Was it for the full price of the car, or just a loan or lease downpayment?
Did you ask in advance if a personal check would be okay, or did you just show up with one?

The website said no personal checks, and two different delivery center reps both told me the same over the phone. With Tesla's constant sales numbers pressure, I'm kind of wondering what would've happened if I didn't ask and just showed up with a personal check... 😆

That said, I don't begrudge Tesla at all for (sometimes?) not accepting person checks. I sure wouldn't accept a personal check for a ~ $50k+ car purchase. It's been a while since I bought a car from a dealer, but I recall dealers not accepting personal checks either (for full "cash" payment).
 
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Why not just use ACH? Same principle and easier
Many of us don't see a reason to pay for a car before it's in front of us, ready for us to take the keys. I actually did prepay for a car once, but for most car purchases in my life, I've paid as I picked up the car, whether it's new or used, dealer or private seller.

Personally I do trust Tesla to eventually get me the car I ordered, so I considered pre-paying, but ultimately I just didn't see a reason to. Certainly Tesla doesn't need my money to build the car in today's market. There's no such thing as a highly custom Tesla build, and if I didn't end up buying the car, someone else would in short order! (Actually I ended up spotting a config I wanted in inventory a few days after I ordered, so probably what really happened is I took someone else's cancelled order. :))

Now for ACH itself...if I was going to prepay, I would be fine with normal ACH. However the Plaid payment service Tesla uses for ACH requests your banking login and password. DO NOT GIVE THAT OUT, not ever, not to anyone! Asking customers to give that out is a HORRIBLE security practice.

If you want to prepay for a new Tesla I suggest wiring the money. The wire instructions should be in your MVPA (Motor Vehicle Purchase Agreement), if I recall correctly.
 
My check was at the Fremont, CA delivery center. I asked ahead if I could make the down payment on the Tesla 3 LR when I arrived to pick up the car. The check was for about 25% the price of the car.

==>The car was financed by US Bank
 
Many of us don't see a reason to pay for a car before it's in front of us, ready for us to take the keys. I actually did prepay for a car once, but for most car purchases in my life, I've paid as I picked up the car, whether it's new or used, dealer or private seller.

Personally I do trust Tesla to eventually get me the car I ordered, so I considered pre-paying, but ultimately I just didn't see a reason to. Certainly Tesla doesn't need my money to build the car in today's market. There's no such thing as a highly custom Tesla build, and if I didn't end up buying the car, someone else would in short order! (Actually I ended up spotting a config I wanted in inventory a few days after I ordered, so probably what really happened is I took someone else's cancelled order. :))

Now for ACH itself...if I was going to prepay, I would be fine with normal ACH. However the Plaid payment service Tesla uses for ACH requests your banking login and password. DO NOT GIVE THAT OUT, not ever, not to anyone! Asking customers to give that out is a HORRIBLE security practice.

If you want to prepay for a new Tesla I suggest wiring the money. The wire instructions should be in your MVPA (Motor Vehicle Purchase Agreement), if I recall correctly.
Yeah, the Plaid process is a security issue given you are trusting your entire online bank account to a third party (it's not using some kind of controlled authorization like OAuth), but it seems it's getting quite popular, as a lot of places use Plaid now. One way to address the security issue is to set a temp password, use it only for this transaction and change it immediately after the money is over.
 
I know this thread is pretty old now, but I'm taking delivery this Tuesday (6/21/22) and Tesla informed me they do NOT take personal checks anymore. So it's either cashier's/certified check, or ACH or Plaid system or wire transfer.

Since my bank is nearly 1000 miles away, I guess it's ACH or plaid (this is what I get for moving and not switching banks lol).
 
I know this thread is pretty old now, but I'm taking delivery this Tuesday (6/21/22) and Tesla informed me they do NOT take personal checks anymore. So it's either cashier's/certified check, or ACH or Plaid system or wire transfer.

Since my bank is nearly 1000 miles away, I guess it's ACH or plaid (this is what I get for moving and not switching banks lol).
You could open a bank account now, write yourself a check, cash it with the new bank, and have the money ready for Tesla on Tuesday.