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New Tesla owner - Jumping the line?

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Kuhz

Active Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,972
2,190
Mars
Hello,

I am a new Tesla owner (since late ‘17) and debating placing a deposit on a Model 3. My OA says that I will jump the line if I place a deposit as I’m now an owner.

Does anyone have any info regarding this? How far ahead will my reservation get?

Back in February I read about a first day non owner who got tired of waiting and ordered through their Tesla owner relative and got an invite to configure within a week.

Ideally I would like to get a SR with AWD or even RWD and still make the $7500 credit cutoff (I know, so does everyone else ;). Also if I don’t make the rebate cutoff, the deposits are refundable correct?

Thank in advance
 
From reports here and on other forums the owner priority for new reservations has gone away. You may get a little bump but probably not to the front of the line. That's based on only a couple of reports though, so you can place a reservation and let us know when you get to configure. Yes, the reservation deposit is refundable.
 
I agree with dsvick. There is no evidence I’ve seen that new owner orders get priority. I’m an owner and I ordered on launch day 2 years ago. Non-owners still got their cars before me. My belief is that Tesla will maximize profits by selling to whomever will order the most expensive car first. I don’t see the $35k SR version being available before the $7500 tax credit is reduced to $3750. As long as non-owners are willing to buy LR, AWD, or Performance versions for higher prices, those cars will get priority over owner SR sales. My 2 cents.
 
There is no evidence I’ve seen that new owner orders get priority.

Au contraire. ALL of the evidence is the owners get first dibs of whatever is in production. Yes, if you want SR, or white or AWD, you will have to wait until those models/trims go into production, but still, owners will be first in line for those cars (over non-owners). (Of course, the list of owners is growing since some M3 owners are now also in line for another car.)
 
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You got screwed. Your account must have accidentally not been marked as you being an owner because owners were jumping the line at least well into February. Some were becoming Tesla owners (S or X,) reserving a 3 and getting an invite to configure in as little as two days.

I agree with dsvick. There is no evidence I’ve seen that new owner orders get priority. I’m an owner and I ordered on launch day 2 years ago. Non-owners still got their cars before me. My belief is that Tesla will maximize profits by selling to whomever will order the most expensive car first. I don’t see the $35k SR version being available before the $7500 tax credit is reduced to $3750. As long as non-owners are willing to buy LR, AWD, or Performance versions for higher prices, those cars will get priority over owner SR sales. My 2 cents.
 
It would make sense that brand new S/X owners would still get a bump ahead of non-owners. There is no reason for Tesla not to. And honestly, based on what I've seen on these forums, it's not going to make a huge difference to the current queue because few current owners are exercising this option at this time.
 
Hello,

I am a new Tesla owner (since late ‘17) and debating placing a deposit on a Model 3. My OA says that I will jump the line if I place a deposit as I’m now an owner.

Does anyone have any info regarding this? How far ahead will my reservation get?

Back in February I read about a first day non owner who got tired of waiting and ordered through their Tesla owner relative and got an invite to configure within a week.

Ideally I would like to get a SR with AWD or even RWD and still make the $7500 credit cutoff (I know, so does everyone else ;). Also if I don’t make the rebate cutoff, the deposits are refundable correct?

Thank in advance

The deposit is fully refundable at any time. Why not just place a reservation and see what happens? That's the best way to answer your question.
 
After the large batch in Feb, invites for new reservations for current owners have been pretty much non-existent. Tesla is probably altering their methods for priority invites (i.e. 5% current Tesla owners/95% general reservations in a batch).

But really, it’s all speculation and there is no pattern on how they pick the batch reservations (until AFTER we trend the data)
 
I made a deposit, S owner for several years.. did it march 9th of just LAST MONTH.. still no invite but until last Thursday I didn't see anything but a trickle of invites go out to ANYONE at all... Thursday and sometimes Wednesday are "invite day" and everyone posts when they get invites to configure so people know. So there was a pause on invites ANYWAY in the last few weeks so we can't tell yet if it's effecting current owner orders.. IMHO I read a lot all over the place and some people who ordered DAY ONE who are owners don't have invites, so I think it's geographic. So I would first research if your closest Tesla center has even delivered any 3's and if so how many... I think thats an indication. People are still posting like "first Tesla spotted in Atlanta" etc so I do think some cities on the east coast get those invites way slower then others. FYI the email and the site STILL says owners get priority as a THANK YOU but there is no iidea at all what that means time-wise. People in January had great luck.. February and March so far have been pretty sparse. I'm here for the ride, hoping to get lucky. I don't live in a great city for it :)
 
February and March so far have been pretty sparse.
My brother in Atlanta (current S owner) placed a 3 deposit on Feb 12 2018 and received his configure invite on Feb 15. Taking delivery tmrw (sample photo at left).
So I would bet that once the weirdness surrounding quarter-end has passed, that OP will receive his invite to configure as part of the first batch of April invites that go out. It sounds like OP will defer at that time, since he wants SR. But then when SR is eventually made available, he'll be racing with other current S/X owners to configure ahead of the tax credits eroding further. That's my $1 bet.
 
IMHO I read a lot all over the place and some people who ordered DAY ONE who are owners don't have invites, so I think it's geographic.

fwiw, there are <20 owners on the spreadsheet who have not been invited to configure, almost half of which are in California. (or have not updated the spreadsheet). If you are a current owner, I'd be calling them to make sure that your account shows your ownership in their system.
 
fwiw, there are <20 owners on the spreadsheet who have not been invited to configure, almost half of which are in California. (or have not updated the spreadsheet). If you are a current owner, I'd be calling them to make sure that your account shows your ownership in their system.
super weird that someone with a car in the system would not show up as an owner.. but yeah who knows. I would put money on it being people who didn't update :)
 
My brother in Atlanta (current S owner) placed a 3 deposit on Feb 12 2018 and received his configure invite on Feb 15. Taking delivery tmrw (sample photo at left).
So I would bet that once the weirdness surrounding quarter-end has passed, that OP will receive his invite to configure as part of the first batch of April invites that go out. It sounds like OP will defer at that time, since he wants SR. But then when SR is eventually made available, he'll be racing with other current S/X owners to configure ahead of the tax credits eroding further. That's my $1 bet.

That’s my plan. Sounds like a lot of people who already got their invites are holding out for the SR, so I’m wondering how that would play out? Will everyone who deferred before me get invites for SR first (fair/plausible) or will it be a free for all? The current timing with SR and federal credit running out is what makes me nervous. That $7500 (plus my states incentive) and SR is a make or break deal (hence why I inquired about the refund)
 
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I'd bet on free for all.

I bet they slowly release the big additions to the configurator. If you think you about, a TON of people have deferred likely for AWD, leather color or SR battery. If they let anyone who deferred order one of those options the second it becomes available, they might fill up a few months on production on just that configuration. My guess is it will be a rolling invite based on the original priority. The hope is when these new options are available that weekly production is high enough it's easier to build them, enabling them to get through bigger numbers of cars faster, but who knows.
 
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Hello,

I am a new Tesla owner (since late ‘17) and debating placing a deposit on a Model 3. My OA says that I will jump the line if I place a deposit as I’m now an owner.

Does anyone have any info regarding this? How far ahead will my reservation get?

Back in February I read about a first day non owner who got tired of waiting and ordered through their Tesla owner relative and got an invite to configure within a week.

Ideally I would like to get a SR with AWD or even RWD and still make the $7500 credit cutoff (I know, so does everyone else ;). Also if I don’t make the rebate cutoff, the deposits are refundable correct?

Thank in advance

We have a MX and reserved a 3 this morning. The sales person my husband talked to said we'd get an invite to configure in a couple weeks, with delivery 4-6 weeks after that. I have no idea how legit that is given the backlog in reservations and I have enough experience with Tesla not to believe much until there's actual movement in the process online.
 
Received notice to configure last Thursday.
I am a 2013 Model S owner in Canada who submitted a Model 3 reservation on day 1.
They initially indicated that I would have to wait until late 2018 to even configure my Model 3.
Like 70% of other reservation holders are doing, I thought I would also pass on the first request to configure.

In the end my wife convinced me that getting it in 4-8 weeks was too good to turn down.

With any luck the snow will be gone before the car arrives.