FAQs regarding reserving Model 3 when it is revealed.

[1208]

I wasn't around for the X or S reveals, so...

1. Will a reserve option be placed on the Tesla website the same day/hour/minute?

2. Will it be first click first served on the website. Those who are first to click reserve get lower production number?

3. Will I need to continually press F5 key to compete with others to get on to the website?

4. If I can reserve will I need to place a deposit?

5. If not at what point will some sort of deposit be needed?

6. If I decided to back out at any point would I lose a deposit?

 

[bigbear]

We don't know ****, join the club.

 

[MikeC]

I wasn't around for the X or S reveals, so...

1. Will a reserve option be placed on the Tesla website the same day/hour/minute?

2. Will it be first click first served on the website. Those who are first to click reserve get lower production number?

3. Will I need to continually press F5 key to compete with others to get on to the website?

4. If I can reserve will I need to place a deposit?

5. If not at what point will some sort of deposit be needed?

6. If I decided to back out at any point would I lose a deposit?

1. Will a reserve option be placed on the Tesla website the same day/hour/minute?

No idea.

2. Will it be first click first served on the website. Those who are first to click reserve get lower production number?

People will probably be invited to configure in order of reservation, but when you confirm and finalize will determine your production number (along with batching by location, car type, and paint color).

3. Will I need to continually press F5 key to compete with others to get on to the website?

Depends on how obsessive-compulsive you are.

4. If I can reserve will I need to place a deposit?

Most likely, yes.

5. If not at what point will some sort of deposit be needed?

N/A

6. If I decided to back out at any point would I lose a deposit?

No, so far deposits have always been fully refundable.

 

[gene]

I'm buying two!

 

[aronth5]

I wasn't around for the X or S reveals, so...

3. Will I need to continually press F5 key to compete with others to get on to the website?

Yes, and don't be surprised if the site crashes or at the very least experiences delays with the large number of people trying to place a reservation.

 

[nwdiver]

Trying to recall the S reveal timeline...

1. Will a reserve option be placed on the Tesla website the same day/hour/minute?
Yes... or within days.

2. Will it be first click first served on the website. Those who are first to click reserve get lower production number?
Sigs come first. For the S that required a $40k deposit and were the first 1000 cars after founders. My bet is the M3 will require a $20k deposit for sigs and ~$2500 deposit for production... simply based on cutting the prices roughly in half from the S/X. The actual reservation #s turned out to be less important than how the car was optioned in terms of delivery order. I was res# ~5k but got VIN # ~3k since I ordered a P85.

3. Will I need to continually press F5 key to compete with others to get on to the website?
See #2 :wink:

4. If I can reserve will I need to place a deposit?
See #2

6. If I decided to back out at any point would I lose a deposit?
No; The deposit only becomes non-refundable after you actually place your order ~1M before delivery.

 

[Model 3]

As BigBear say, we only have to guess....

2. Will it be first click first served on the website. Those who are first to click reserve get lower production number?

3. Will I need to continually press F5 key to compete with others to get on to the website?

2. No, it will be a LIFO queue (or "stack"), Last In, First Out (or First In, Last Out).

3. No, the order page will magical appear in your browser if you just wait. No need to reload! You will only be pushing your self at the back of the queue every time you hit the F5!

(And now I will have the Tesla servers for my self the first hours! )

 

[flankspeed8]

With regards to Signatures, is it generally available to anyone who is willing to pony up the high deposit early on, or are there special invitations to prior owners, insiders, etc? Would it be expected that Sigs would sell out the first day? I didn't follow the timeline of the previous launches so this is all new to me. Getting ready for the reveal as I would love to know the physical dimensions because I now have a tiny garage that I have actually scraped the side mirror of my Volt if I am not careful enough.

 

[strider]

For the X reveal, they took deposits that night in person. They enabled on-line deposits the next day IIRC. Not sure if they'll do that same for the 3. I'll be bringing my checkbook if I get an invite to the party. Assuming they handle the 3 the same as the S and X, your reservation number is based on order of deposit. However, when it comes time for production, they have batched similar configs together and also produced higher-end cars earlier such that many cars were delivered out of reservation order. Also, the plan is for production volume to be markedly higher on the 3 and so shipping and other things may have as much bearing on your delivery as your reservation #.

Signatures are available to anyone that ponys up the cash and is willing to deal with early production cars. The Founders series are the restricted ones which is what you may be thinking about. We have no idea how many Sigs will be offered so no idea if they'll sell out first day. They keep a wait list as some people back out (we did that with our Model S) so if you want a sig then I'd sign up for one.

Tesla has always honored refunds prior to configuration so if you can do without the money (no idea how much yet) it's fairly risk free (the risk is Tesla going out of business which I believe to be a small risk at this point.

 

[MiamiNole]

Do the Tesla galleries play any role in the reservation process at all? Moreso, do you think they would possibly accept reservations in person at the galleries prior to reservations going live online? Or are there even any advantages at all to having a gallery locally as far as reservations go?

 

[LoL Rick]

For the X reveal, they took deposits that night in person. They enabled on-line deposits the next day IIRC. Not sure if they'll do that same for the 3. I'll be bringing my checkbook if I get an invite to the party.

That's the thing I would like to know. As a Florida resident they probably wouldn't even consider me, but I would totally arrange a trip to CA (and pay for it) to be there. Anybody know how to get invited?

 

[strider]

Do the Tesla galleries play any role in the reservation process at all? Moreso, do you think they would possibly accept reservations in person at the galleries prior to reservations going live online? Or are there even any advantages at all to having a gallery locally as far as reservations go?

Galleries have historically not been involved other than to answer questions and to help you fill out the online reservation form. The only place that reservations have been taken prior to online reg going up is the actual reveal party.

That's the thing I would like to know. As a Florida resident they probably wouldn't even consider me, but I would totally arrange a trip to CA (and pay for it) to be there. Anybody know how to get invited?

There will be much speculation around this. For Model S (I wasn't around for the reveal but was for other parties leading up to shipping) they invited Roaster owners and folks who already had Model S reservations. For the Model X reveal I believe it was also Roadster owners and Sig and early production S owners. At some of the earlier parties they did invites by geography but lately they've been opening it up. For Model 3 Idk what they'll do. There are a lot of owners now so I'm not sure how they'll winnow it down. Maybe Roadster, Sig S, and Sig X? I guess it will depend on how large of a party they've planning to have and they'll probably start with the above and expand until they hit capacity. There's also a lot of coordination on this board of folks who would like to be someone's +1.

 

[JeffreyR]

@LoL Rick asked, "[Does] anybody know how to get invited [to the Model ≡ reveal]?"

That is the question on everyone's mind on this topic!

Folks that were invited to the Model X reveal may have an idea, but I doubt there is a hard and fast rule. I would work w/ your local Gallery and see what they have to say. One "trick" I was considering was putting a deposit on an existing model, then transferring it to a Model ≡. That may just get things complicated, but it does show you have the money to spend and are highly motivated.

 

[Nomad]

I spoke with a rep in Indy a few days ago. He said he expects the reservation amount to be $2,500. I'm excited for that information to be made concrete, hopefully in advance of the March unveiling.

 

[Yggdrasill]

1. Will a reserve option be placed on the Tesla website the same day/hour/minute?

2. Will it be first click first served on the website. Those who are first to click reserve get lower production number?

3. Will I need to continually press F5 key to compete with others to get on to the website?

4. If I can reserve will I need to place a deposit?

5. If not at what point will some sort of deposit be needed?

6. If I decided to back out at any point would I lose a deposit?

1. Hard to say, but likely reservations for everyone won't open until after the launch event, as a bonus for everyone attending the launch they will be allowed to reserve first.

2. On the Model S/X, you got assigned a production number after Tesla recieves your reservation payment. So mailing a check might not be the fastest way to do it. I know I'll be sitting ready with my credit card. 5 minutes after opening the site for reservations, Tesla will have my money. (Of course, the production number doesn't really dictate when you recieve the car. Deliveries will likely be of higher spec cars first, California first, and then roughly arranged by production number.)

3. Likely yes, unless you are at the launch event.

4. Likely yes.

5. Probably 1-5k USD for production and 5-20k for signature. We will have to see.

6. Likely no, at least not until the car has entered production.

 

[macpacheco]

In proportion Model S/X sig deposit is more like 25% of typical sig configs.
Fair would be Model 3 sig deposit like US$ 10-15k. US$ 5k is too cheap. US$ 20k over half of base price (too high).
But we would need to know how much a M3 sig would cost (dual motor, larger pack, autopilot enabled, ...).
Would a M3 sig cost around the price of a Mirai (US$ 60k) ?

 

[strider]

In proportion Model S/X sig deposit is more like 25% of typical sig configs.
Fair would be Model 3 sig deposit like US$ 10-15k. US$ 5k is too cheap. US$ 20k over half of base price (too high).
But we would need to know how much a M3 sig would cost (dual motor, larger pack, autopilot enabled, ...).
Would a M3 sig cost around the price of a Mirai (US$ 60k) ?

I expect a fully loaded Model 3 to reach in the realm of $85k. Tesla has stated they're following BMW 3-series/Audi 4-series pricing and the M/RS versions are quite expensive.

 

[fword101]

So what do you guys think my chances are of reserving a signature edition the day after the event?

 

[bigbear]

So what do you guys think my chances are of reserving a signature edition the day after the event?

anywhere from good to no chance...

 

[Yggdrasill]

So what do you guys think my chances are of reserving a signature edition the day after the event?

I think pretty good. Europe has had it's own dedicated signature quota, and the people reserving Model 3's at the event are almost entirely buying North American signatures. But it is possible the European quota would sell out on the first day, so I wouldn't wait too long with ordering.

There's of course also the chance that Tesla increases the number of signatures substantially. We might see them offer 10.000+ signatures, instead of ~1200 NA signatures and ~500 European signatures like they did with the Model X.