Lock in price before Mar 14 for June delivery

[Videotape]

Long time lurker here. This forum has been very helpful in answering my questions and nudging me towards choosing Tesla as my new car.

I have driven BMWs for the last 18 years and my cureent bmw 4 series which I love dearly will be returned at lease maturity in June.

I have test driven both the model S and 3 but still bouncing back and forth on whether to get a used AP2/2.5 S or new AWD M3.

With the upcoming price increase on March 14th, if I place my order for M3 now, will I be able to:

1. Lock in the current pricing and defer delivery until my BMW lease matures in June? I have read threads here on people being able to defer delivery but it requires a new ViN to become available when they are ready to get the car. Not sure if the price gets locked in by making the $2.5k deposit or not.

2. If I decide to go for Model S instead, I’m assuming it’s easy to apply the same deposit to a CPO S.

Looking for feedback on whether this strategy will work or not.

Thanks
Shah

 

[jjrandorin]

This is March, they are not going to want you to delay delivery of a car until june. I am not sure exactly what happens if you keep refusing cars to hit your due date... and they likely dont know either because you want the lower price, but dont want to take the car for 2.5 to 3 months.

If you are coming from the BMW world you might b used to ordering a car and it taking that long to get one from germany (this would be the time to order for june lease turn in).

Tesla does not have a huge backlog, unless you are trying to get the base model.. which you are not if you are looking at the AWD model. They would match you to a car within 1-2 days if you order now, and if you insist on a 2019 you might be able to delay them 3-4 weeks (end of april beginning of may). You may have to eat that last lease payment (which is likely less money than missing out on the reduced price.

Thats what you need to look at. How many lease payments will it take for you to overlap with both cars and eat up the lower price? My guess is, even eating 2 payments you probably still come out ahead.

 

[commasign]

Looks like you’re in the Bay Area. One of my family members had good success using a lease swap service. They found someone to take over the last 9 months of her Mercedes C-class lease. This allowed her to get into a Model 3 and get full tax credit last year.

Otherwise, agree with the above reply. Just eat the early return costs (you’ll at least save on insurance) or keep both cars for a few months.

 

[SoCalMom]

We ordered on 3/7. The day after, I got the text message saying to prepare for delivery between 3/22 and 3/29. I called them immediately to inform then that I would not be available on those days. I was able to push out the date to the second week of April. According to the person I talked to, they will not match me with a VIN until that date. If I am able to take delivery sooner, I can call back to let them know.
I think the only way for you to know for sure if they can delay it until June is to call and ask. I would even call and ask more than 1 person to see what they say and also find a way to get the details in writing if possible.

 

[Big-T]

You mean before Monday March 18th right? The price isn’t changing tomorrow......right?

 

[Moze1021]

I have similar scenario. Don't want to take Delivery until June. Placed an order Saturday. System has me set up to get a VIN match aligned with June delivery.

 

[Videotape]

Thanks everyone for the responses. Looking at the model 3 ordering FAQ, it appears that once a VIN is assigned, the $2.5k deposit becomes non refundable. I believe this implies I will need to make a decision on used MS vs M3 fairly quickly.

 

[Videotape]

I have similar scenario. Don't want to take Delivery until June. Placed an order Saturday. System has me set up to get a VIN match aligned with June delivery.

Were you able to do this online or over the phone ?

 

[Zaxxon]

You mean before Monday March 18th right? The price isn’t changing tomorrow......right?

This is correct.

 

[Videotape]

You mean before Monday March 18th right? The price isn’t changing tomorrow......right?

You are correct. The price increases Mar 18th.

 

[Moze1021]

Were you able to do this online or over the phone ?

Have to talk over the phone.

Also I'm 100% sure in getting an M3..I wouldn't mess around with doing this if you aren't.

 

[werne2j]

I have similar scenario. Don't want to take Delivery until June. Placed an order Saturday. System has me set up to get a VIN match aligned with June delivery.

For the record, I called my local service center to do this same thing and they claimed it was not possible

 

[Galve2000]

Back in my day... 3-4 months out delivery was possible.

I ordered my Model S in March 2015 for delivery in June 2105

my car has a build date of May 2015.

I get that they are churning out Model 3s non-stop now....

as an aside... i am sad that the price is (possibly/probably) going up next week.

I will probably need a new Model S in a year or so... the cost of the S has come down from what I paid years ago. (even when u factor in the old tax credit..) which is nice.

but i wish i could order now to get the cute $3,000 discount.

 

[Moze1021]

For the record, I called my local service center to do this same thing and they claimed it was not possible

I'll let you know in June how it works out