Paying Tesla bill in two countries (USA & Canada)

[S & E Orillia]

I bought my Model Y LR in Ontario Canada in Sept 2021. My Tesla account had a Canadian address and Canadian credit card for purchases. I am a snowbird and go south for the winter to Florida for 5+ months. I tried to changed my Tesla account to (USA) Florida address and USA credit card for purchases. Your Tesla account allows you to edit your account by changing your address and add a new credit card. But it would not allow you to change the credit card billing address Country. I got help from a special department of customer service in October 2021 to change the Country to USA. This allowed me to have a Florida address & use USA credit card for the winter while in the USA.

I call Tesla customer service, prior to leaving Florida to get the right information I need to change the account back to Canada. I follow their instructions.

Now my problem, when returning to Canada (winter is over) and I need to cross over from New York. I used the last USA Supercharger (paid with USA credit card), before crossing. I used my cell phone to change (edit) my Tesla account back to a Canadian address and add a Canadian credit card as instructed. At no time did it ask me for the billing address of the Canadian credit card. I cross over and need to Supercharge at a Canadian location. I Supercharge and get a bill as usual. But my Tesla account says that the Canadian credit card did not go thru. I look at my Tesla account and see that the billing address is still Florida. I call Tesla customer service and find out the special department to handle this is only open Monday thru Friday during the day and they are closed. I have called & e-mailed multiple times and still no answer (now 23 days). I have been locked out of using Superchargers, because I owe a bill. I want to pay the bill. I was told the Tesla system does not like changes and that I am a minority and the system is for the majority. We (Tesla) will get back to you.

I do not think Canadian snowbirds that go south for the winter and they have a USA credit card are a minority.

I will be going south next winter and doing this again! Can anyone help me?

 

[toshman]

This may sound stupid, but why not just use the Canadian card and address, since you return to Canada anyway??

 

[S & E Orillia]

This may sound stupid, but why not just use the Canadian card and address, since you return to Canada anyway??

The Credit card company charges exchange & foreign dollar extra fees each time you make a purchase. This might be ok for you, if you visit for a short time in the USA. I am there for 5+ months which adds up (extra fees). I have a USA credit card, so no extra fees.

 

[Soul Surfer]

The Credit card company charges exchange & foreign dollar extra fees each time you make a purchase. This might be ok for you, if you visit for a short time in the USA. I am there for 5+ months which adds up (extra fees). I have a USA credit card, so no extra fees.

We got the Brim Mastercard exactly for that reason. No additional admin fees which are well known to be a rip off and money grab. We just pay for the exchange rate on this card, and even get money back. They were written up in the Toronto Star a few weeks back. Consider this as a workable option.

 

[SantaFeSpence]

I’m the opposite of a snowbird, as I go up to Canada to escape the hot summers down where I live in the states. Many credit card companies do not charge a foreign transaction fee (I use my AmEx Platinum card) so I suggest getting one of those. Hey, even the COSTCO credit card doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees. )

 

[cars235]

I bought my Model Y LR in Ontario Canada in Sept 2021. My Tesla account had a Canadian address and Canadian credit card for purchases. I am a snowbird and go south for the winter to Florida for 5+ months. I tried to changed my Tesla account to (USA) Florida address and USA credit card for purchases. Your Tesla account allows you to edit your account by changing your address and add a new credit card. But it would not allow you to change the credit card billing address Country. I got help from a special department of customer service in October 2021 to change the Country to USA. This allowed me to have a Florida address & use USA credit card for the winter while in the USA.

I call Tesla customer service, prior to leaving Florida to get the right information I need to change the account back to Canada. I follow their instructions.

Now my problem, when returning to Canada (winter is over) and I need to cross over from New York. I used the last USA Supercharger (paid with USA credit card), before crossing. I used my cell phone to change (edit) my Tesla account back to a Canadian address and add a Canadian credit card as instructed. At no time did it ask me for the billing address of the Canadian credit card. I cross over and need to Supercharge at a Canadian location. I Supercharge and get a bill as usual. But my Tesla account says that the Canadian credit card did not go thru. I look at my Tesla account and see that the billing address is still Florida. I call Tesla customer service and find out the special department to handle this is only open Monday thru Friday during the day and they are closed. I have called & e-mailed multiple times and still no answer (now 23 days). I have been locked out of using Superchargers, because I owe a bill. I want to pay the bill. I was told the Tesla system does not like changes and that I am a minority and the system is for the majority. We (Tesla) will get back to you.

I do not think Canadian snowbirds that go south for the winter and they have a USA credit card are a minority.

I will be going south next winter and doing this again! Can anyone help me?

Hi, I'm in the same boat right now - I have tried reaching out and I can't get a hold of anyone in the special department. Is there an extension you know that could help me? thank you!

 

[kayak1]

Hi, I'm in the same boat right now - I have tried reaching out and I can't get a hold of anyone in the special department. Is there an extension you know that could help me? thank you!

Does updating the card in the app not work? Add the local card and then remove the non-local card?

 

[AZ Tim]

You should look into getting a credit card from Capital One. We have a MasterCard from them and they do not charge a foreign currency surcharge. If it is not available in Canada, you could link it to your Florida address. I'm sure that there are other issuers that do not charge a foreign transaction fee. It is worth checking out to find one that suits you.

 

[andy00778]

Can anyone provide details of what Tesla said to do about changing the profile address to a different country so that the local credit card will work? Calling Tesla each time does not sound like a good work around

 

[andy00778]

I called Tesla account services today because we are in the same position as S & E Orillia, living in 2 countries. they said you cannot change your region address ( ie country) in the app. You need to change to your US address by logging into the Tesla portal and then entering your US credit card info. This is of course unverified as I have not done this yet, we won’t be leaving until fall.

 

[pb2000]

Have you tried a USD card issued by a Canadian bank and just leaving your region as Canada? I haven't taken my car into the US yet, but my dad has both a CIBC US Dollar Aventura card and a CIBC travel prepaid card that I can try, when a road trip is in the cards.

 

[andy00778]

Yes that is our backup plan. Just wanted to keep all the US bills on one card for simplicity

 

[DoubleDD]

I called Tesla account services today because we are in the same position as S & E Orillia, living in 2 countries. they said you cannot change your region address ( ie country) in the app. You need to change to your US address by logging into the Tesla portal and then entering your US credit card info. This is of course unverified as I have not done this yet, we won’t be leaving until fall.

did you every get this resolved. I'm trying to change my country in the mobile app under settings/charging. It allows me to change to any Canadian address but the Country is grayed out (CA). My online account has my usa address. It shouldn't be hard

 

[andy00778]

did you every get this resolved. I'm trying to change my country in the mobile app under settings/charging. It allows me to change to any Canadian address but the Country is grayed out (CA). My online account has my usa address. It shouldn't be hard

Yes we did this on the way to Florida . Changed address to our US address in the Tesla portal ( website) and then put US credit card info into the payment section of the app. Worked

 

[bs22]

@andy00778 - I tried logging into my tesla portal (Website) and changed the address to my US address but that didnt let me me use my US credit credit. Its still asking for a postal code, not a zipcode. Anything else you did differently?

 

[andy00778]

@andy00778 - I tried logging into my tesla portal (Website) and changed the address to my US address but that didnt let me me use my US credit credit. It’s still asking for a postal code, not a zipcode. Anything else you did differently?

We changed our address under ACCOUNT-PROFILE, and it allowed us to put in the US addess. Then we put in the US credit card in PAYMENT METHOD. We took out our Canadian card. Not sure if it took our US address right away but we were able to put it in Payment method in the app with our corresponding US address. It worked.

Note that under ACCOUNT- CHARGING -MANAGE PAYMENT it still shows our Canadian address.


ps. I ordered a CCS adapter while down here and Tesla is showing that it will be shipped to our US address.

 

[DoubleDD]

We changed our address under ACCOUNT-PROFILE, and it allowed us to put in the US addess. Then we put in the US credit card in PAYMENT METHOD. We took out our Canadian card. Not sure if it took our US address right away but we were able to put it in Payment method in the app with our corresponding US address. It worked.

Note that under ACCOUNT- CHARGING -MANAGE PAYMENT it still shows our Canadian address.


ps. I ordered a CCS adapter while down here and Tesla is showing that it will be shipped to our US address.

Were you able to change the billing address to USA? Seems my car is locked to CA

 

[seangoggin]

I am Canadian and have used my USD Bank of Montreal credit card with Tesla in the past. I would just switch from my CND Amex to my USD BMO card, US Superchargers billing in USD it all worked.

They have updated the system and can now take multiple credit cards so I do not know if you can have multiple currency cards on the site.

I am going to Pennsylvania on Sunday and will see if the billing works as before.

 

[seangoggin]

I am Canadian and have used my USD Bank of Montreal credit card with Tesla in the past. I would just switch from my CND Amex to my USD BMO card, US Superchargers billing in USD it all worked.

They have updated the system and can now take multiple credit cards so I do not know if you can have multiple currency cards on the site.

I am going to Pennsylvania on Sunday and will see if the billing works as before.

Yesterday I was in Pennsylvania and it did work as expected.

They bill in the local currency, then it is up to the card on file how it is handled. So USD in the US, CND in Canada.

You can have multiple credit cards on file, but only one for charging.

On the app, you can select and change the charging card under Account->Charging -> Manage Payment
On the web, there is no option to select, so you need to temporarily only have the card on the account (delete other cards).

 

[andy00778]

We have had a few problems switching from US credit card ( UScard/ US address) to Canadian credit card ( Cd $/ Cdn address) because it involves changing your home address in the portal and in the app ( they don’t talk to each other) Portal is sometimes stubborn about changing countries and takes a couple of tries. Once it recorded 1/2 our US address and 1/2 our Cdn address which meant nothing worked.

Settled by using both Cdn and US credit cards tied to Cdn home address. Easy to switch back and forth within the app