Rule of thumb for when to get financing quotes

[DMLou]

Ordered my M3 AWD LR a couple weeks ago and I was wondering if there was a rule of thumb as to when to get financing quotes. I know your quotes are only good for about 30 days, but the fuzziness of when the car will be ready does complicate figuring out when "30 days" is.

When I put my order in, it said 6-9 weeks estimated delivery. If I go to the "Edit design" link on the "Manage my car" page, it says 5-8 weeks as of right now. So should I do an estimate based on 6 weeks, or 9 weeks, or what?

 

[OCR1]

I would predict east coast Model 3 deliveries to begin around the first week of March so I think you can go ahead and get some quotes. I doubt the rates will change much if you go over but you may need to request a new quote. Either way it doesn’t hurt to begin the process early.

 

[Booma]

Check with your preferred lenders to verify their policy. The credit union I'm using, who does a lot of Tesla loans, said that only the rate and application expires in 30 days. They won't run my credit again unless it goes six months. There may not be any negative to starting the process now. If you look around these forums there are plenty of people who get pleasantly surprised by a 1-2 week delivery wait when they expected months. If you have your financing in order you're better placed to jump on these opportunities.

I ordered on January 29th and I'm rushing to get my approval in place so I'm ready just in case. I don't think the 5-8 week estimate is very accurate in either direction given the evidence in the forums.

 

[DMLou]

Thanks for the insights. I ordered January 26 myself, so I'm pretty much in the same boat as Booma. I just don't want to run too many credit checks, but I'll check if my credit union/loan providers will run a second check if the first one expires.

 

[wonky]

I ordered on Jan 24, expecting an 8 week wait, and got a VIN on Jan 31, now scrambling to complete loan and insurance stuff ASAP.

 

[rkaplan2]

I ordered on Jan 24, expecting an 8 week wait, and got a VIN on Jan 31, now scrambling to complete loan and insurance stuff ASAP.

Wow, what area are you in? I'm in South Florida and placed my order January 23rd and was told to expect 6-9 weeks.

 

[mattack4000]

Loan apps are good for 8 weeks now, not 4

 

[wonky]

Wow, what area are you in? I'm in South Florida and placed my order January 23rd and was told to expect 6-9 weeks.

Austin, Texas - it surprised the heck out of me too

 

[DMLou]

Loan apps are good for 8 weeks now, not 4

Depends on your bank/credit union/etc. One of the ones I'm looking at does it for 45 days, which is about 6 weeks.

 

[mattack4000]

With tesla I mean

 

[DMLou]

With tesla I mean

Gotcha. But Tesla's rates are higher than what the other places I'm looking at are. Last I looked, Tesla was 3.5%, whereas I can get 2.99% or 2.89% elsewhere.

 

[Iain]

DMLou.....I ordered on 01/31. I'm in Austin and was told to expect 10 weeks. Are you looking at local credit unions offering in the 2-3% range?

 

[darkrai]

I would predict east coast Model 3 deliveries to begin around the first week of March so I think you can go ahead and get some quotes. I doubt the rates will change much if you go over but you may need to request a new quote. Either way it doesn’t hurt to begin the process early.

I’m on the east coast and my delivery is scheduled for 2/12. I ordered 1/4

 

[DMLou]

DMLou.....I ordered on 01/31. I'm in Austin and was told to expect 10 weeks. Are you looking at local credit unions offering in the 2-3% range?

Not necessarily local ones, but yes, credit unions I happen to be a member of that do have rates in that range. So that's my plan.

 

[DMLou]

And I just got a text from Tesla asking me to fill in payment and trade-in details. So I went through and applied for financing. Managed to get a sub-3% rate after autopay discount.

 

[Iain]

I got a similar text from Tesla but I still haven’t been assigned a Vin #. I think I’ll wait to get the finance until I actually have a car to finance.

 

[sparkz]

I applied for Tesla finance yesterday (as did another), and we both got a 60-day approval.

 

[DMLou]

I've got a 45 day approval on mine, which should be good until the 7 week end of current estimated time for delivery.