Tesla Referral Program

[palmer_md]

I was once a dealer in California, and it was forbidden to pay "bird dog fees" to someone for bringing you business. I believe this is the case in several states and this program sort of runs into this. I love their thinking in this program, but I'm not sure how long it will last because of these legal issues.


It's right at the bottom of page 1.

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/wcm/connect/a3784fba-7d2a-4cf1-9acc-d9b10b03a2b7/ol40.pdf?MOD=AJPERES



also an interesting article about the subject.
Be Careful Around the Bird Dogs - Articles - DP's Office - Articles - Auto Dealer Today

 

[TheTurb]

Looking for a link to use today... PM me

 

[landover]

I have a code also. I will give $250.00 to whoever uses it.

 

[Jhall118]

I have a code also. I will give $250.00 to whoever uses it.

These kinds of things are unenforceable, and you won't actually know until the order becomes finalized in about a month...

 

[tomas]

Sigh. I am really disappointed in those posting either offering or asking for codes. Mods should shut down this and the other 100 threads that will pop up. Tesla should read them and disallow this commerce.

Just amazing to me that ethics seem to disappear with a small hint of money. The intent of program is to reward for personal referrals. That's someone you know and invest time educating... not somebody you find by trawling in a forum.

 

[landover]

Sigh. I am really disappointed in those posting either offering or asking for codes. Mods should shut down this and the other 100 threads that will pop up. Tesla should read them and disallow this commerce.

Just amazing to me that ethics seem to disappear with a small hint of money. The intent of program is to reward for personal referrals. That's someone you know and invest time educating... not somebody you find by trawling in a forum.

Why do you care? I have sold my share of Teslas, and I'm pretty sure I won't be seeing a check for the 4 cars I've sold (that I know about directly) and it saves someone else $1000.00 also. Whats the harm in that?

 

[Jhall118]

Sigh. I am really disappointed in those posting either offering or asking for codes. Mods should shut down this and the other 100 threads that will pop up. Tesla should read them and disallow this commerce.

Just amazing to me that ethics seem to disappear with a small hint of money. The intent of program is to reward for personal referrals. That's someone you know and invest time educating... not somebody you find by trawling in a forum.

It's a line that can never be very well defined. Many people were convinced to buy a Tesla by reading about in online and nothing more.

 

[Jhall118]

should be interesting to see how Tesla handles pay per click campaigns for the referral links, doesn't look like Tesla advised google adwords to not allow ads using the trademark Tesla name, there are already multiple people paying per click for "tesla coupon" and "tesla discount" in google search, that brings the visitor to a page that has the referral link on there, and some are directly sending them to the referral link making it look like a real Tesla ad. Shouldn't take very long to sell 10 cars like this...

I've been clicking on them just to charge them those pennies. The referral should give you a first and last name when you use it. Would deter that pretty quick.

 

[HankLloydRight]

Nobody will pay list price anymore, just search out an owner and share the $2000.

All Tesla did was decrease their margins.

I don't know why you guys keep saying this. It was very clear that Elon was addressing the fact that it costs Tesla $2000 per car to sell cars via the galleries. If Tesla can move many more cars via word of mouth (no gallery visits required) and pay a referral fee (which actually costs them less than $2000), and operate less stores and/or downsize the stores he has, it's a win for Tesla, the new buyers, and the referring owners. In addition, it's an effective way to market to people in states where there are no galleries, increasing demand.

 

[Jhall118]

I don't know why you guys keep saying this. It was very clear that Elon was addressing the fact that it costs Tesla $2000 per car to sell cars via the galleries. If Tesla can move many more cars via word of mouth (no gallery visits required) and pay a referral fee (which actually costs them less than $2000), and operate less stores and/or downsize the stores he has, it's a win for Tesla, the new buyers, and the referring owners. In addition, it's an effective way to market to people in states where there are no galleries, increasing demand.

It only works if it drives new sales. Not giving people who were buying anyways a 1k discount.

 

[HankLloydRight]

It only works if it drives new sales. Not giving people who were buying anyways a 1k discount.

Not really true -- if any sale keeps people out of the galleries and using human resources and rent and overhead to sell a car, that's a win for Tesla.

 

[tomas]

Congratulations, both of you have just rationalized a complete lack of ethics. If you don't understand the line, then you never will and I aint going to argue about it.

 

[breser]

Remember guys, each owner only gets 10 referrals and the program only lasts for 95 days. Not every owner is going to pay attention to this. Not every owner is going to even want to participate if they're aware of it. Tesla is going to give away a couple cars but their costs after that on the referrer side are actually pretty tiny. The $1000 is credit with Tesla that you have to use by the end of 2016. I suspect a substantial portion of those credits won't end up getting used fully. So I suspect some people are going to use up their 10 referrals fairly quickly. Wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't become difficult to find someone that has a functional referral link towards the end.

 

[Johan]

It will be up to Tesla to decide what is crossing the line, and what's not ("good faith" paragraph). My guess money changing hands is crossing the line ("I'll give you $250 if you use my link").

 

[dhanson865]

Doesn't this imply that sales are slow? If sales were at or above expectations, there would be no reason to do this.

No, if there were no expansion of the business it would imply that but since Tesla has been expanding as fast as they can you can consider this a sign that production constraints have eased not that sales have slowed.

 

[Jim MacInnes]

One of the neat things about entrepreneurs like Musk is that they are willing to try different things .... keeping what works while dropping what doesn't. He even admits it might not work in the e-mail but still thinks its worth a try. Trying things like this is a lot easier and less expensive than hiring someone to do a study for a few months. Perhaps if we all did more of this trial and error our businesses would be the better for it.

 

[Jhall118]

To me, it's saying "we need to sell more cars, so let's offer $1000 discount to get orders placed". With Model X around the corner it is a good idea, because if I were in the market for my first Tesla right now, I would be inclined to wait to see the Model X first.

 

[HankLloydRight]

IMO, all referral link threads, either buying or selling should not be allowed. If someone really needs a referral link, I'm sure their capable enough to find an owner in real life to get one, without cluttering up the forum with endless posts and requests.

 

[CTShore]

I did not get an email. Is this America only?

Try your junk mail folder- that's where I found mine.

 

[jeffro01]

Congratulations, both of you have just rationalized a complete lack of ethics. If you don't understand the line, then you never will and I aint going to argue about it.

This...

Jeff