Transferring a Model 3 reservation = no problem?

[HankLloydRight]

Maybe a dumb question, but shouldn't it be fairly common for Tesla to "transfer" a VIN to someone else? Shouldn't this happen every time a used Tesla is sold? Seems like they should have a better process, but perhaps they are just really bogged down.

Yes, but apparently Tesla is a bit miffed over all the Model 3 reservation transfers which were supposed to be "non-transferrable."

I think they're slowly learning that imposing such restrictions on something so easily circumvented isn't going to work going forward.

There's only two options, really. (A) No transfers allowed whatsoever, no exceptions. The car must be reserved, bought, titled, registered and financed in the person's name who made the reservation, or (B) Allow all transfers without restrictions. There is absolutely no middle ground.

The examples I've written about before is if under (A) they only allow transfers to "immediate family members." My real brother has a different last name than I do. How am I going to prove to Tesla we are actually brothers? My wife who has two grown kids from a previous marriage, technically they are my step-kids and under most definitions, would be "immediate family". Again, how would we prove that? Different names, different resident addresses. Who at Tesla is qualified to start validating wedding licenses, birth certificates, and divorce decrees?

How would Tesla tell the difference between those two examples above, and me transferring a reservation to some person I just sold the reservation to for a profit? They simply can't.

Now maybe their 'transfer' staff is overwhelmed, sure. But it shouldn't be hard to build or enhanced their systems to automate much of what needs to be actually transferred once the title/registration is validated with the new account owner.

 

[DanL3]

So Tesla is just trying to change the "= no problem?" that is in the title of this thread to "= problem"

To be honest I think they should have made this a problem long ago.

 

[Nurkbonis]

No evidence they are trying to make it a problem. It's just taking time to have the VINs moved. I guess that could be considered a problem to some.

So Tesla is just trying to change the "= no problem?" that is in the title of this thread to "= problem"

To be honest I think they should have made this a problem long ago.

 

[ShangoRAK]

Maybe a dumb question, but shouldn't it be fairly common for Tesla to "transfer" a VIN to someone else? Shouldn't this happen every time a used Tesla is sold? Seems like they should have a better process, but perhaps they are just really bogged down.

Not a dumb question at all, that’s what I said. That was just their excuse. I couldn’t really figure it figure it out but even the management team stuck with that story. And then the tech service line also stuck with that story. If they don’t get it together fast they are going to have issues with people filing claims against Tesla for not being able to transfer cars that they sell.

 

[barjohn]

Tesla should have stuck to we will only sell the vehicle to the person that made the reservation. Most jurisdictions allow a family to family member transfer for minimal administrative cost. If someone want to lie on the title/registration transfer that the other party is a family member to their DMV then they bear the risk of perjury. Tesla would not have to be involved. If it isn't a family member then it is a sale.

 

[HankLloydRight]

On second though, I think the "reservations are non-transferrable" language accomplished what Tesla may have set out to do. It prevented most (but not likely all) people from making speculative M3 reservations purely to resell/scalp for a profit. Sure, a few people were able to sell some first production cars for a few thousand bucks and maybe a tax credit, but it wasn't an overwhelming trend to have hundreds or thousands of M3-for-sale posts on TMC or the other car selling websites. In 2016, nobody knew it would eventually be possible or easy, and didn't put down $1000 per reservation to find out.

But they can only pull this trick once.

 

[goto10]

So to answer your question it’s our car we picked it up and pay for it and it’s registered in our names but Tesla shows it in the original owners account not our Tesla account.

Did they need the owner of the Tesla account to be there when you picked up the car? We are doing something similar with my brother-in-law's reservation where it will be registered to his sister (my wife) and I want to make sure we have our ducks in a row.

 

[Nurkbonis]

From what I have read, as long as your BIL entered your wife's info as the registered owner during configuration, the car is hers in Tesla's eyes and he will not need to be at delivery. This is based on reading reports from several people who have done something like this. Some of the original reservation holders have shown up as well, but it sounds like it's not needed.

Did they need the owner of the Tesla account to be there when you picked up the car? We are doing something similar with my brother-in-law's reservation where it will be registered to his sister (my wife) and I want to make sure we have our ducks in a row.

 

[ShangoRAK]

Did they need the owner of the Tesla account to be there when you picked up the car? We are doing something similar with my brother-in-law's reservation where it will be registered to his sister (my wife) and I want to make sure we have our ducks in a row.

No, the only people that need to be there are the ones on the Title of the car.

 

[SaveOurPlanet]

You just provide all registration information with your immediate family member’s information - registered owner name, driver’s license and insurance policy. Your immediate family member can go pick up the car on their own wherever they choose to. In addition, your immediate family member can even apply for Tesla financing. However, car will still be under your Tesla account, thus your immediate family cannot use a smart phone to control some of the functions of the car (unless you let them login to your Tesla account from the Tesla app), also any supercharging charges will be on your credit card on your Tesla account. I was informed that car cannot be transferred to your immediate family member’s Tesla account until it is delivered. I guess I will have to wait a little while to see how long that would take.

 

[goto10]

You just provide all registration information with your immediate family member’s information - registered owner name, driver’s license and insurance policy. Your immediate family member can go pick up the car on their own wherever they choose to. In addition, your immediate family member can even apply for Tesla financing. However, car will still be under your Tesla account, thus your immediate family cannot use a smart phone to control some of the functions of the car (unless you let them login to your Tesla account from the Tesla app), also any supercharging charges will be on your credit card on your Tesla account. I was informed that car cannot be transferred to your immediate family member’s Tesla account until it is delivered. I guess I will have to wait a little while to see how long that would take.

That all sounds reasonable enough and maybe it's enough friction to allow immediate family members to benefit without encouraging people to sell their spots or hand them off to buddies at work.

 

[Shoal007]

It's going on 3 weeks for me to transfer my account from my cousin. I have phone key access but no online access. Tesla said it should be completed this week. I dont understand the massive delay.

 

[goto10]

It's going on 3 weeks for me to transfer my account from my cousin. I have phone key access but no online access. Tesla said it should be completed this week. I dont understand the massive delay.

Based on the stories here I assume it's one of two things (or a combination of both):

1) It really is a slow manual process and they have been overwhelmed with requests, particularly with the surge in customer service needs in general associated with both rolling out a new product and ramping up delivery rate.

2) They are deliberately attempting to add some uncertainty and inconvenience to the transfer process to dissuade selling of reservations and casual transfers. They may also be putting all Model 3 transfers at the back of the queue. It would be interesting to see what the transfer time is on a 3-year-old Model S.

 

[ShangoRAK]

It's going on 3 weeks for me to transfer my account from my cousin. I have phone key access but no online access. Tesla said it should be completed this week. I dont understand the massive delay.

Did they make you send a email request or just over the phone? They made me submit via email to transfer our new M3.

 

[ShangoRAK]

Based on the stories here I assume it's one of two things (or a combination of both):

1) It really is a slow manual process and they have been overwhelmed with requests, particularly with the surge in customer service needs in general associated with both rolling out a new product and ramping up delivery rate.

2) They are deliberately attempting to add some uncertainty and inconvenience to the transfer process to dissuade selling of reservations and casual transfers. They may also be putting all Model 3 transfers at the back of the queue. It would be interesting to see what the transfer time is on a 3-year-old Model S.

Great questions!

#2 is interesting... I would hope not but one never knows. For an advanced tech company such as Tesla, it just doesn’t seem that they should have any problem at all immediately removing even number from one account and placing it into another it just seems to be one of the most basic things that can need to happen on any given day and any given time any test the owner could sell his or her car....

 

[DanL3]

For an advanced tech company such as Tesla, it just doesn’t seem that they should have any problem at all immediately removing even number from one account and placing it into another .....

Right now Tesla people have better things to do than to figure out who is violating the no transfer policy and who isn't. A request to transfer is a red flag that someone might be in violation and so I would expect that they may set those transfers aside until they have time to look at what is happening. At some point they will try to fix the process to solve the violation process, and that takes time and energy.

Just "immediately removing even number from one account and placing it into another" does not solve the violation process, so it is good that they are not doing that.

 

[Shoal007]

Did they make you send a email request or just over the phone? They made me submit via email to transfer our new M3.

I had to do it via email. Picked up the car 2/16, submitted 2/18 took another email request on 2/20 and 7 days to get a response and was told another 5-7 business days. It has been 6 and car still not on my account. My DS got the car on my phone with my account login however.

 

[everix1992]

So it sounds like most of the talk in this thread about the reservation change being easy (and being able to be done before pickup) is no longer true? I reserved from a cousin's account and have a VIN now so I was trying to figure out how to proceed.

 

[Shoal007]

I had to do it via email. Picked up the car 2/16, submitted 2/18 took another email request on 2/20 and 7 days to get a response and was told another 5-7 business days. It has been 6 and car still not on my account. My DS got the car on my phone with my account login however.

Been 2 months, car is still on my cousins account. Emailed 4 times, called twice. Most recently yesterday... "It's been taking a couple weeks"... I told them it's been 2 months, they said a couple more weeks... Maybe by 2019.

 

[goto10]

Transferring accounts can take anywhere from 2 day to several months according to multiple recent reports. They are still very relaxed about being able to allow someone other than the reservation holder to make the actual purchase though, which is the bigger issue for me. Just yesterday I got the purchase order for my brother-in-law's reservation and it's filled out with the names of my wife and I and I'll be picking up the car in a few days. I'll just stay on his account until they can transfer the car to mine; however long that takes.