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Paying the car

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Why does Tesla insist on being difficult to deal with? If I'm buying a $100000 car, I will pay it at delivery after I have inspected it.
For Tesla, that can't be done if the delivery is by truck. Fine. But if it's by pickup at service center then it should definitely be possible.
 
Hi folks, curious about how payment works since there's no mention anywhere. There's a the reservation deposit which they already have for me and i've already confirmed. I'm going to put additional money down on it and then finance the rest. Can you do those extra 2 transactions at different times? Do they provide a way to wire money for a deposit? How hard has it been to get the financing people to work with Tesla? (Im planning on working with USAA). Any details would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Tesla Living
 
Hi folks, curious about how payment works since there's no mention anywhere. There's a the reservation deposit which they already have for me and i've already confirmed. I'm going to put additional money down on it and then finance the rest. Can you do those extra 2 transactions at different times? Do they provide a way to wire money for a deposit? How hard has it been to get the financing people to work with Tesla? (Im planning on working with USAA). Any details would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Tesla Living

from what tesla has told me so far, i paid my $2500 deposit then you can either finance it through them, with your own bank (no guarantee buy back price) or pay in full. they also told me i can put additional down and finance the rest but payment would be the same time when you pick up your car. financing depends on your credit, income, and your history.
 
Hi folks, curious about how payment works since there's no mention anywhere. There's a the reservation deposit which they already have for me and i've already confirmed. I'm going to put additional money down on it and then finance the rest. Can you do those extra 2 transactions at different times? Do they provide a way to wire money for a deposit? How hard has it been to get the financing people to work with Tesla? (Im planning on working with USAA). Any details would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Tesla Living

I too was very curious about this, especially since there was no clear info about this anywhere on the website. Moreover, I did not have any prior car buying experience (although I guess that wouldn't have helped anyway, as my more experienced friends said this process was very different from other car buying experiences). The experience could differ a little between regions and kind of deliveries, but here is mine (only the parts relevant to the finances, and subject to memory errors :tongue:):

I ordered my car on Dussehra 2013 and confirmed immediately after (as I was told I have to confirm immediately to ensure a 2013 delivery). I planned to pick the car from the factory, and finance a portion of the final cost. I was contacted by Tesla within ten days to fix the delivery date and time - 21 December, 2p - followed by a factory tour. Then came the long long wait with the dashboard showing "Tesla has begun sourcing parts for your Model S" and no new information.

After I got my CA drivers license, I updated the info on My Tesla, and called them mid November to ask what my exact final payment due was going to be, you know, so I could plan my finances accordingly. But they were only able to give a ballpark figure, and said the exact final number will only be clear when the MVPA becomes available - a couple of weeks before delivery. I have to say, this made me extremely uncomfortable.

Towards the end of November, I contacted my bank to get an official quote on the loan I was planning to avail (did not try it before because the quote only lasted 30 days). They said they would be able to proceed with the disbursement when the MVPA from Tesla is available. Then there was more waiting.

10 days before delivery, with still no sign of my MVPA or change of status on dashboard, I contacted Tesla, and found that my MVPA had almost been ready, and they were waiting for my DS to be back from vacation the next day to confirm the amount I am planning to finance. But since I contacted them anyway, they found someone else to do the needful immediately. I received my MVPA on 10 December. Since this was my first car, I wanted to go through every word in there carefully, so it took a couple of days to finish all the signing of the paperwork (everything was done electronically, as you might expect). The Make Payment button on My Tesla also appeared right around that time. I forwarded the MVPA to my bank on 12 December late afternoon; my loan was processed, and the check was mailed on Friday, 13 December. On the same day, the status on My Tesla also changed to something like - Your Model S is being built.

On Saturday, 14 December, the status changed again, to something like - Being prepared for delivery.

On Monday, I received the check from the bank. I made my remainder (down) payment electronically on Wednesday.

It was Saturday, at last. I arrived at the factory at 2p, with a couple of my friends. There were at least ten other groups also taking delivery around the same time; I was requested to wait. Within a few minutes, the rep I spoke with introduced me to another rep who was going to take care of the formalities. He escorted me in, explained the paperwork, which was like two pages. I handed him the bank check; a few signatures, and I was back at the reception in five minutes. My friends were astonished to see it all took that little time. In another five minutes, the rep came back with my key fobs, congratulated me, guided us to my car, gave the usual intro demo. We went in for the factory tour after that.
 
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