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Financing through USAA

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Going through the Tesla/USAA gong show right now.
Delivery was supposed to happen tomorrow AM so of course I get a call at 4:45pm confirming I have a check for them. Yeah, no..... that’s why I sent you the dealer funding request that you wouldn’t schedule an appointment without!
My ISA dropped off the map once I sent that and we setup the appointment— no indication that I had to handle all the legwork myself.
The woman who called today made sure to blame the fact that I wasn’t financing through them, as often as possible, and seemed sure that I must know how to fund an auto loan with no input from the seller.
She insisted that ACH is the fastest; else wire transfer or check is slower, which of course I know is not true. (My bank confirmed ACH can take up to 72h so I have no idea how this will go).

Also, when we were rescheduling my appointment l said the only day I can commit to without confirming with my wife is next Thursday, and I was told they can’t hold a car for that long. Thanks for the flexibility!

Anyway, just got off the phone with USAA who insist plenty of members have had DFRs sent in by Tesla.

After a lengthy hold she wasn’t able to find any reason I couldn’t fill out the DFR and submit it myself on behalf of Tesla, but recommended against it lest it cause problems with the dealer if they’re not okay with me doing that. Well, I got news for ya, none of this pay-for-a-car-without-seeing-it stuff is a good idea!! :)

I have a 5:15 appt tomorrow for pickup and I’ll probably submit the DFR myself but I have zero confidence the money will actually arrive in time.
Oh wow. So sorry...I got lucky then. I submitted DFR to Tesla. they spent a day doing something with USAA and it was all good. I have taken a DFR to a dealership before and used it like a check. Maybe print out USAA’s instructions to take with you? Good luck!!!
 
Thanks! I realized I can't submit the DFR anyway, at least not at this point. It requires a title application to be sent along with it, plus the Dealership License Number and so on, which I don't have.

I looked at the emails from my ISA which ask for my bank information so they can prepare documents for the bank, AND my Tesla account says "We will coordinate payment with the financial institution you have provided". So, I think we're on the right track, I think my ISA just dropped the ball somewhere along the way, and/or the woman who called me is misinformed about the process. We'll see, I'm sure it'll work itself out at some point. Thanks to the pioneers who have gone before me, I expect they've figured out a way to work the process by now; I don't plan to be rushing all over Fremont at rush hour with my ISA and my wife, faxing documents from Office Max, when she's got an appointment to get to, and I've got a trip to leave for.

I'm sure they're all insanely busy and being pushed to move cars. Bummer, I was looking forward to Christmas morning tomorrow morning, but I don't have a lot of time before I go out of town tomorrow night so I'm happy to give them a few days to sort it out, I'm not in a huge hurry.
 
Thanks! I realized I can't submit the DFR anyway, at least not at this point. It requires a title application to be sent along with it, plus the Dealership License Number and so on, which I don't have.

I looked at the emails from my ISA which ask for my bank information so they can prepare documents for the bank, AND my Tesla account says "We will coordinate payment with the financial institution you have provided". So, I think we're on the right track, I think my ISA just dropped the ball somewhere along the way, and/or the woman who called me is misinformed about the process. We'll see, I'm sure it'll work itself out at some point. Thanks to the pioneers who have gone before me, I expect they've figured out a way to work the process by now; I don't plan to be rushing all over Fremont at rush hour with my ISA and my wife, faxing documents from Office Max, when she's got an appointment to get to, and I've got a trip to leave for.

I'm sure they're all insanely busy and being pushed to move cars. Bummer, I was looking forward to Christmas morning tomorrow morning, but I don't have a lot of time before I go out of town tomorrow night so I'm happy to give them a few days to sort it out, I'm not in a huge hurry.
I hope it all worked out ok today. Plenty of us have just brought the DFR to delivery and handed it over, and that was that. No reason you shouldn’t be able to as well. My loan was activated about a week or so later, apparently after Tesla sent all the paperwork in.
 
I called USAA and requested a cashiers check and got conflicting answers. First person I called said not possible. Second person I called (after having delivery date and MPVA) put me on hold for a while, then came back and said they could do it.

We'll see what actually happens. I want to take in a check to avoid any extra hassle for everyone on delivery day.

Edit: If I could go back in time I would just finance through Tesla to avoid the hassle. But now that they sent me the MVPA, my Tesla account will not let me change the financing details, so at this point the path of least resistance is to just move forward with USAA. Really wish I had financed through Tesla even if paying an extra few tenths of a percent to avoid stress of potential issues with USAA.
 
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Got an update. My ISA was out of the office, and I think the woman filling in was just confused that I wouldn't have a check for them or be submitting a payment via ACH. But this is a good reason to pick up in person (I'll be going to Fremont) rather than do home delivery; all it takes is one home delivery person who doesn't know the process to screw it up.

My ISA confirmed that USAA is no problem, they do it every day, everyone in the Fremont Delivery center will be fine, if not he's in the office and we can call him up to sort it out. He said USAA is the only company that doesn't pay until AFTER the car is delivered. That makes no sense to me. Every other bank in the country just hands over money without proof of collateral (eg, a title application with the bank as Lienholder)?

Ultimately the fact that the woman who called me was confused about the process only caused me anxiety, it didn't actually screw up the delivery; the delivery prep folks ended up calling an hour later to push it by a week anyway. Turns out my car had "software problems" so they gave us a new VIN. We're picking up in Fremont on Thurs, supposedly.
 
I just got my USAA auto insurance renewal and it went up a crazy 30%. They blamed the wildfires. It's still cheaper than others, but, ouch.

Yep. I know it's a thread drift. Apologies.
USAA did this to me (+40%) about a decade ago, and blamed it on (wait for it) "a 15% increase in the statutory rates in your state" which obviously left a 25% gap in explanation which the phone rep didn't even understand when I raised the obvious point. The worst part was USAA transferring me to the "save the business" rep when I called to cancel, just like the cable company does. Pathetic. I assured the USAA phone rep that surely USAA had been giving me their 'best rate' already and that there was surely nothing she could do to get my premium down out of the stratosphere. I've never gone back, after decades of loyalty. I'm 100% confident USAA's algorithm decided that I was such a loyal customer that I'd put up with a huge increase. Wrongo.
 
Got an update. My ISA was out of the office, and I think the woman filling in was just confused that I wouldn't have a check for them or be submitting a payment via ACH. But this is a good reason to pick up in person (I'll be going to Fremont) rather than do home delivery; all it takes is one home delivery person who doesn't know the process to screw it up.

My ISA confirmed that USAA is no problem, they do it every day, everyone in the Fremont Delivery center will be fine, if not he's in the office and we can call him up to sort it out. He said USAA is the only company that doesn't pay until AFTER the car is delivered. That makes no sense to me. Every other bank in the country just hands over money without proof of collateral (eg, a title application with the bank as Lienholder)?

Ultimately the fact that the woman who called me was confused about the process only caused me anxiety, it didn't actually screw up the delivery; the delivery prep folks ended up calling an hour later to push it by a week anyway. Turns out my car had "software problems" so they gave us a new VIN. We're picking up in Fremont on Thurs, supposedly.

That is encouraging. Please update how it goes at delivery.
 
Didn't read through the whole thread, but for our S we decided not to finance with USAA and instead I became an Alliant Credit Union member. Alliantcreditunion.org.

Move most of my daily banking to Alliant, still with USAA for car/home/valuable property insurance.
 
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USAA sent this after loan completed...

“The vehicle does not qualify for the USAA Total Loss Protection plan. Refer to your Total Loss Protection Terms and Conditions document. You were not charged due to a non-qualifying vehicle.”

Grrrr - your post just prompted me to check and I received and apparently signed the same document.
 
I'm in Texas and financing through USAA. ISA contacted me on Aug 1, got MVPA on Aug 6. Signed everything, paid the downpayment and sent my ISA the dealer funding request that same day.

The next day (Aug 7) my ISA scheduled my deliver for Aug 28 - she said the car will take 2 weeks to ship and they won't ship it until it is payed in full (hooray for consumer friendly Texas). On the USAA webpage the loan still shows up as "My auto loan - pending". Should I be worried about being delayed due to this? I emailed my ISA, but she never responded.
 
My local delivery center will not accept the Dealer Funding Request. They want a wire transfer or check. I'm glad I called to verify this otherwise I wouldn't have been able to pick up my vehicle. Had to get tesla to submit a dealer funding request, then USAA is supposed to mail a bank check.

Regarding the total loss protection - I was not turned down for this. Submitted my loan application last week and it shows up on my financing paperwork.
 
My local delivery center will not accept the Dealer Funding Request. They want a wire transfer or check. I'm glad I called to verify this otherwise I wouldn't have been able to pick up my vehicle. Had to get tesla to submit a dealer funding request, then USAA is supposed to mail a bank check.

Regarding the total loss protection - I was not turned down for this. Submitted my loan application last week and it shows up on my financing paperwork.
Yeah, showed up in mine too until the day after car delivery.
 
I tried USAA , just gave up
Navy Fed did it fast and furious on emails. And rate was better.
Usaa has gotten to big.
BUT, they have one special rider. 20% add to your pay out if totalled. We all know an adjuster will low ball you on total price. Oh, they use fair market value to pay you off. Anyone care to figure that out?
This will bring it up to help you buy new Tesla.
 
Hey guys!

I know this thread is a little dated, but its the #1 result in google and this site for this info, so figured Id try to get it answered in here for other people googling:

I saw this thread on reddit about USAA loans: New USAA Loan Process : teslamotors Where it looks like they may now just send you a check , and you dont have to worry about all that DFR stuff.

However, every experience with USAA I can find on the internet is dated sometime in 2018. Has anyone in the last 6 months used USAA for their loan and picked up their car? how did it go?

Did you bring in your DFR at the time of pickup? Did you send it via an email before hand? Or did this new system with a check work?
 
I financed through usaa for my 3. It was an easy process overall, just had to hassle Tesla to actually fill out and send in the dealer funding request form.

when I first sent the form to my SA, I got a date for pickup on my car. I called the delivery center about a week before pickup to ask of I needed to bring a check or anything, they said I am good to go. So didn’t need to bring the form, payment was already taken care of. Just had to sign a few papers

About a week after I got my car, the usaa loan pending was still on my account so I called usaa and they said that Tesla never sent in the completed form. So after going through many channels, finally got in touch with someone and they had the form filled out and completed within 2 days after my call.

overall easy experience, just need to stay on top on Tesla to get everything completed.