Issue with Registration Fees and Sales Tax

[Syaoran]

TLDR:
Tesla says I should pay $823.50 Registration + $262.21 Sales Tax
Oregon DMV says I should pay $542 Registration($193 if transferring) + $262.21 Use Tax
Tesla says pay their full amount and they will refund later. Anyone have experience with Tesla refunding?

Full:
I am having a little battle with Tesla about registration and other fees. Called my SA and they had one of their "experts" from their titling team call me. They want to charge me $823.50 for registration and $262.21 for sales tax. I am picking up in Washington but since I am from Oregon, and the car will be registered in Oregon, the sales tax does not apply. The titling person didn't know that and also didn't know Oregon's title and registration fees.

Oregon does have a USE Tax, that is the same amount as the sales tax I'm being charged, for out-of-state purchases. My SA could not confirm if the sales tax charge would be going to pay the USE Tax or not. If they don't pay it and I don't pay it then I get slapped with a 5% (of the total cost of the car) fine.

Registration/title in Oregon is $542 for new EV plates/title/registration, $193 total if I transfer plates. SA did not know why it was $823.50. They said they would reach out to their DMV team but that I should pay it anyway and I will get refunded later. I'm suspicious that won't happen since even the Oregon DMV advised me against doing that. Anyone else experience something similar and actually get their refund from Tesla?

 

[pipp]

Cut and paste from another thread: I had a $300 credit at purchase and after hounding them for 10 weeks they relented and paid. Not sure what they would have done if I hadn’t hounded them. Some SA from a local dealership was unlucky enough to answer the phone for the last hound, and he was sympathetic enough to provide an email address of a department that was actually able to do something about getting the check processed: [email protected]

 

[Syaoran]

Cut and paste from another thread: I had a $300 credit at purchase and after hounding them for 10 weeks they relented and paid. Not sure what they would have done if I hadn’t hounded them. Some SA from a local dealership was unlucky enough to answer the phone for the last hound, and he was sympathetic enough to provide an email address of a department that was actually able to do something about getting the check processed: [email protected]

Thanks, I sent them an email with all the info from the Oregon DMV and asked them to update my order with the correct amount. Will see if they do.

 

[Syaoran]

Ok got an SA that looked into it. They are of the mind that I shouldn't be paying any registration fee at all because they will give me a trip permit and I should go into the Oregon DMV and pay all the fees there.
They are going to talk with the Portland Manager and see if they can figure out why the registration fee is $823.50 when it should be $542. They did confirm that the "Sales Tax" listed on the sale is for the Oregon Privilege Tax (aka Use Tax for out-of-state purchases).

 

[.Slug]

When I took delivery of my 2022 Tesla Model 3 Performance, about a week later I got a refund check in the mail from Tesla for about $40 related to overpayment of registration fees. They will refund you. We got refunded without even realizing there was an issue. In case it also helps, we recently purchased a Hyundai Pallisade and the same thing happened. Hyundai also refunded us without us bringing up the issue.

 

[rdeca]

I received a check from Tesla regarding overpayment of registration fees, they automatically sent it to me after I bought my car in 2019. I don't recall how long it took though.

I'm jealous of your sales tax, mine was around $3800.

 

[Syaoran]

I was told repeatedly by my SA that they would transfer plates, when I came in to pickup my model 3 today they flat out refused to do it. They also only gave me a 3 day trip permit till the 26th and the DMV is closed till the 27th. I will be asking the DMV if I can transfer my plates and pay the titling fee and have them reject Tesla's registration. There is a $612 difference if I transfer my plates vs get new plates.
Oregon charges double registration for new plates for new cars.

The good news, only one issue with the car and that is a piece near the front light that looks a bit bent.

 

[tezlam3]

do not try to get a refund... tesla does not want to give you anything... have it fixed right away and dont pay extra

 

[ForumLeech]

TLDR:
Tesla says I should pay $823.50 Registration + $262.21 Sales Tax
Oregon DMV says I should pay $542 Registration($193 if transferring) + $262.21 Use Tax
Tesla says pay their full amount and they will refund later. Anyone have experience with Tesla refunding?

Full:
I am having a little battle with Tesla about registration and other fees. Called my SA and they had one of their "experts" from their titling team call me. They want to charge me $823.50 for registration and $262.21 for sales tax. I am picking up in Washington but since I am from Oregon, and the car will be registered in Oregon, the sales tax does not apply. The titling person didn't know that and also didn't know Oregon's title and registration fees.

Oregon does have a USE Tax, that is the same amount as the sales tax I'm being charged, for out-of-state purchases. My SA could not confirm if the sales tax charge would be going to pay the USE Tax or not. If they don't pay it and I don't pay it then I get slapped with a 5% (of the total cost of the car) fine.

Registration/title in Oregon is $542 for new EV plates/title/registration, $193 total if I transfer plates. SA did not know why it was $823.50. They said they would reach out to their DMV team but that I should pay it anyway and I will get refunded later. I'm suspicious that won't happen since even the Oregon DMV advised me against doing that. Anyone else experience something similar and actually get their refund from Tesla?

My Oregon delivery shows a “sales tax” and I think it’s a legit but poorly labeled and poorly explained charge. And I am seeing posts like yours on the Facebook Tesla Oregon Owners group for charges similar to yours. I would consider the charges to be approximate and something to clean up later. Worst case scenario is you have to sort of loan Tesla a few hundred dollars and get the money later. There’s no real competitor to Tesla and I think it’s worth the trouble. But don’t let it go.