Energy saving trust loans [Scotland]

[megd]

A useful thread, thanks everyone. But is anyone able to just summarise the order / timing of everything to help me plan how to do this? (Really don’t want to have to try to fund the gap!)

• Get that I firstly need to get EST approval, as without the interest free loan I might do things differently. And seems I then have three months to ‘claim’ it - but as M3 delivery currently November seems that might be tight, so anyone know if this be delayed at all by EST?
• When do Tesla provide you with this ‘Invoice’, as seems this is what’s required to release funds? Presumably not on delivery, but at some point of confirmation of order or something? And any clues as to how many weeks before delivery that might (usually) be?
• Do I then need to pay final balance to Tesla X days before delivery? I.e. I then need to rely on EST funds coming through before this date.

As I say, any help appreciated - trying to get my head round this to ensure it’s all going to work. Interest free loan seems like a great opportunity to part finance a Tesla, and end-up quids in by the end of 5 years…to some extent anyway!!

 

[Alistairuk]

A useful thread, thanks everyone. But is anyone able to just summarise the order / timing of everything to help me plan how to do this? (Really don’t want to have to try to fund the gap!)

• Get that I firstly need to get EST approval, as without the interest free loan I might do things differently. And seems I then have three months to ‘claim’ it - but as M3 delivery currently November seems that might be tight, so anyone know if this be delayed at all by EST?
• When do Tesla provide you with this ‘Invoice’, as seems this is what’s required to release funds? Presumably not on delivery, but at some point of confirmation of order or something? And any clues as to how many weeks before delivery that might (usually) be?
• Do I then need to pay final balance to Tesla X days before delivery? I.e. I then need to rely on EST funds coming through before this date.

As I say, any help appreciated - trying to get my head round this to ensure it’s all going to work. Interest free loan seems like a great opportunity to part finance a Tesla, and end-up quids in by the end of 5 years…to some extent anyway!!

The timings vary, but for me they were around;

Initial application to EST until receiving acceptance / the loan offer - 6-7 weeks (this was 2020 so height of pandemic - I believe it’s around 4 weeks at moment if all is fine)

Once you have the acceptance from EST you can pay for the Tesla however you want - but until the is point your not technically allowed to pay anything other than initial deposit. This resulted in me having to turn down an end of June delivery)

After you get the acceptance and you confirm you agree you have up to 3 months to submit an invoice and claim form (I believe if you exceed this they’ll extend it if you speak to them before it expires)

Tesla Invoice: Mine appeared 7 days before delivery in my account (September 2020) - I sent it off with the claim paperwork immediately to EST at which point it took 4 weeks for the cash to appear in my bank account.

Fortunately I had sufficient savings to cover the few weeks until the loan appeared.

 

[Sinx]

A useful thread, thanks everyone. But is anyone able to just summarise the order / timing of everything to help me plan how to do this? (Really don’t want to have to try to fund the gap!)

• Get that I firstly need to get EST approval, as without the interest free loan I might do things differently. And seems I then have three months to ‘claim’ it - but as M3 delivery currently November seems that might be tight, so anyone know if this be delayed at all by EST?
• When do Tesla provide you with this ‘Invoice’, as seems this is what’s required to release funds? Presumably not on delivery, but at some point of confirmation of order or something? And any clues as to how many weeks before delivery that might (usually) be?
• Do I then need to pay final balance to Tesla X days before delivery? I.e. I then need to rely on EST funds coming through before this date.

As I say, any help appreciated - trying to get my head round this to ensure it’s all going to work. Interest free loan seems like a great opportunity to part finance a Tesla, and end-up quids in by the end of 5 years…to some extent anyway!!

I applied for the loan on 21 Aug and it was approved 1 Sept; I received my invoice on 2 Sept and submitted it to EST the same day. I'm just waiting to see when the funds arrive - my delivery is 25 Sept so I'm hoping that the final stage will be as quick as the first and that I'll have it in plenty of time.

 

[Bobster1967]

I applied for the loan on 21 Aug and it was approved 1 Sept; I received my invoice on 2 Sept and submitted it to EST the same day. I'm just waiting to see when the funds arrive - my delivery is 25 Sept so I'm hoping that the final stage will be as quick as the first and that I'll have it in plenty of time.

You will get the funds in time as that was the quickest part of the process for me after a long wait for everything else

 

[megd]

Thanks for all your replies.

@Alistairuk - cheers for useful summary, I'm really hoping to avoid having to fill the gap you experienced. Seems crazy that EST expect some people to fill this gap, hardly makes it open for folk who can't afford to do that.
@Sinx - thanks too, if you could let me know how things work for you that'd be helpful - hope all works out ok!
@Bobster1967 - good to hear your experience, sounds positive.

Couple of extra Qs if that's ok?

• Can any of you (or others) tell me when Tesla expect that final payment to be made? Is it on the day of delivery, day before etc?
• Worst case, is there any flexibility to change / delay delivery date if you absolutely had to?

Cheers again - think I'll call EST this week to get the forms and start the process!

 

[Bobster1967]

Thanks for all your replies.

@Alistairuk - cheers for useful summary, I'm really hoping to avoid having to fill the gap you experienced. Seems crazy that EST expect some people to fill this gap, hardly makes it open for folk who can't afford to do that.
@Sinx - thanks too, if you could let me know how things work for you that'd be helpful - hope all works out ok!
@Bobster1967 - good to hear your experience, sounds positive.

Couple of extra Qs if that's ok?

• Can any of you (or others) tell me when Tesla expect that final payment to be made? Is it on the day of delivery, day before etc?
• Worst case, is there any flexibility to change / delay delivery date if you absolutely had to?

Cheers again - think I'll call EST this week to get the forms and start the process!

On the payment I made it early as the funds came in, and that was it out the way, you can pay in parts as well as I was a bit nervous doing the transfer as my bank didn’t recognise Tesla’s so I transferred £90 of the £49490 due after deposit, this showed up on Tesla account 30 mins after transfer so showed me it was setup correct. I then paid the remaining in 2 payments as bank transfers have a max £25k payment level

sure the rule is pay 48 hours before collection

good luck with the timings it does leave you anxious but I found that I was checking the EST account constantly to see where claim was

all I have to do now is send proof of purchase but that won’t be available until I collect the car

 

[Sinx]

Thanks for all your replies.

@Alistairuk - cheers for useful summary, I'm really hoping to avoid having to fill the gap you experienced. Seems crazy that EST expect some people to fill this gap, hardly makes it open for folk who can't afford to do that.
@Sinx - thanks too, if you could let me know how things work for you that'd be helpful - hope all works out ok!
@Bobster1967 - good to hear your experience, sounds positive.

Couple of extra Qs if that's ok?

• Can any of you (or others) tell me when Tesla expect that final payment to be made? Is it on the day of delivery, day before etc?
• Worst case, is there any flexibility to change / delay delivery date if you absolutely had to?

Cheers again - think I'll call EST this week to get the forms and start the process!

My invoice says payment should be made 7 days before delivery

 

[Alistairuk]

Thanks for all your replies.

@Alistairuk - cheers for useful summary, I'm really hoping to avoid having to fill the gap you experienced. Seems crazy that EST expect some people to fill this gap, hardly makes it open for folk who can't afford to do that.
@Sinx - thanks too, if you could let me know how things work for you that'd be helpful - hope all works out ok!
@Bobster1967 - good to hear your experience, sounds positive.

Couple of extra Qs if that's ok?

• Can any of you (or others) tell me when Tesla expect that final payment to be made? Is it on the day of delivery, day before etc?
• Worst case, is there any flexibility to change / delay delivery date if you absolutely had to?

Cheers again - think I'll call EST this week to get the forms and start the process!

The invoice says 7 days before but I didn’t get mine till 7 days before - I sent the cash probably 5-6 days before delivery and my Tesla account updated to show it was fully paid within an hour (others have had different experiences)…

Delaying delivery - depends how long you want to delay it for - the first car Tesla offered me (1 week before end of June) they would allow me to delay a few days but not beyond the end of the quarter - so that’s how I ended up with a September delivery! Once you have a collection / delivery date phone them and ask what’s the latest you can collect - annoyingly if you can’t collect it you basically rejoin the queue to be matched to another car.

 

[longmalx]

Tesla seem geared for EST so they will help you through it - keep your SA in the loop. As soon as I bought the car, the SA asked if I could fund the car without loan short term and when the answer was yes, a car was allocated next day. Similarly when I pinged him to say loan accepted, 2 hours later the final invoice appeared.

 

[megd]

Thanks again @Alistairuk and @longmalx - all good to know.

Especially that Tesla are geared-up a bit for EST financing....hopefully that means they'll help when they can, even if that means having to delay delivery a couple of months as actually for me that would be easier than trying to rejig things to finance the gap before loan arrives.

I tried calling EST this week to get the application form but ended up leaving message (on hold for ages!), but will try again next week and hopefully get the ball rolling.

 

[Alan J]

Thanks again @Alistairuk and @longmalx - all good to know.

Especially that Tesla are geared-up a bit for EST financing....hopefully that means they'll help when they can, even if that means having to delay delivery a couple of months as actually for me that would be easier than trying to rejig things to finance the gap before loan arrives.

I tried calling EST this week to get the application form but ended up leaving message (on hold for ages!), but will try again next week and hopefully get the ball rolling.

I think the Application Form is available on line so maybe try their Web Site, I think I did it that way but it's over 2 years ago.

 

[Sinx]

My invoice says payment should be made 7 days before delivery

I called EST yesterday to ask when I might expect the funds. They said that based on receipt of my invoice on 2 September it should be by around Monday 17th - so that still gives me 5 days before my collection date. I will be watching my bank account very closely on the 17th.

 

[megd]

Cheers @Alan J , but the only one I can find online is this, which must be an old version as it talks about being "up to £50k" - I wish it still was!!
http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk...orts/Electric Vehicle Loan application v1.pdf

Thanks for letting us know @Sinx , hope it arrives safely on the 17th! Out of interest, I presume the Tesla invoice is sent electronically (or appears in your account), but do you forward to EST via email or do you have to print and post it??

 

[Alistairuk]

Cheers @Alan J , but the only one I can find online is this, which must be an old version as it talks about being "up to £50k" - I wish it still was!!
http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/sites/default/files/reports/Electric Vehicle Loan application v1.pdf

Thanks for letting us know @Sinx , hope it arrives safely on the 17th! Out of interest, I presume the Tesla invoice is sent electronically (or appears in your account), but do you forward to EST via email or do you have to print and post it??

You need to call them, they then email you a link which allows you to register with their online thing to submit your application… quite why you need to call them though is anyone’s guess but they’re friendly enough

 

[Alan J]

Cheers @Alan J , but the only one I can find online is this, which must be an old version as it talks about being "up to £50k" - I wish it still was!!
http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/sites/default/files/reports/Electric Vehicle Loan application v1.pdf

Thanks for letting us know @Sinx , hope it arrives safely on the 17th! Out of interest, I presume the Tesla invoice is sent electronically (or appears in your account), but do you forward to EST via email or do you have to print and post it??

Yes their Web Site is a bit pants links for new Electric Cars takes you to the Second Hand Cars Form.

 

[longmalx]

hopefully that means they'll help when they can, even if that means having to delay delivery a couple of months as actually for me that would be easier than trying to rejig things to finance the gap before loan

Definitely, although they’ll just reallocate a later car rather than delay. They said lots of people have this done. When I first chatted to them about the cars they brought this up and talked through the process.

 

[Sinx]

Cheers @Alan J , but the only one I can find online is this, which must be an old version as it talks about being "up to £50k" - I wish it still was!!
http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/sites/default/files/reports/Electric Vehicle Loan application v1.pdf

Thanks for letting us know @Sinx , hope it arrives safely on the 17th! Out of interest, I presume the Tesla invoice is sent electronically (or appears in your account), but do you forward to EST via email or do you have to print and post it??

Yes it appears on your account

 

[Sinx]

Yes it appears on your account

... and yes you email it to EST

 

[megd]

Thanks everyone. I rang EST this morning and have now received an email with link to the online form. It seems they just want to run through some initial screening & wider energy questions before allowing you to apply - hence the need for a call rather than just providing the form online.

Hope to get it filled out soon, and then things can get start moving.

 

[longmalx]

Just a heads up for those applying - while they appear to be processing applications quickly - the processing of payments is going at snail's pace.
I sent my invoice in on the 27th Aug and they are meant to process within 10 days to communicate when payment will be issues. Still hasn't occurred and when I phoned them they have no idea when it might occur due to backlog - very frustrating!