Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

Transferring Model 3 Reservation Step by Step

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
My friend is willing to transfer his reservation for me. I was hoping that someone who has done this before can break down the steps to me so that I can guide him through the process. He is already doing a huge favor for me so I don't want any hiccups for him during the transfer. Thank you!
 
I gave my second res to my sister. All I did was change all of the contact info, including the email address, for that Tesla account, to her. It was that simple.

I left the deposit on my credit card, so not sure if that can be changed too, but you could always just pay your friend a thousand bucks, if it can’t be changed...
 
  • Like
Reactions: Scrutmonkey
Sorry to say there is no skipping ahead of the line unless you want to configure a LR PUP car. So its not that much skipping.

This is my guess
Step 1: Get config email
Step 2: Change name of person from yourself to him on the configuration page
Step 3: Pickup car at your friends location OR petition your tesla representative that you want to change delivery location.
Step 4: Register vehicle paperwork at delivery signing and get financing of vehicle in your name
Step 5: Fill out petion with Tesla to change the VIN of your friends car from his Tesla account, to your Tesla account. I think this is similar to what you have to do when you sell a Tesla used, so its a standard procedure.

I think if you try to screw up any of this by using your friends name after step 1, because you want to give your friend the tax credit (or anything else to give him as incentive) then dont! You can always pay him cash later, or write up a legally binding agreement separately.
 
If you have a family member who would trust you to enter their account online and put down the deposit, and then you also have to trust them not to take your money and run, and to let you keep logging in to check when you can configure. It takes a bout a month to get a configuration invite for EXISTING S/X/Roadster owners (that can change at any given time, if for example tesla decides to let other countries configure it can push out the wait) . Once you configure it you put all registration in your name and pay again.. (no need to do anything in their name at this point) and wait for vin etc. Once you buy the car you then need to request tesla to move your new car after its paid for to your own tesla account, which has been horror stories online of this taking months to happen. The service center CAN set your phone as a key for the car... but its not the same as being logged into the tesla app and seeing your "cars" so the hard key is the best bet until tesla transfers your car to a new tesla account.
 
Still waiting on VIN. But I am going through my brother in law.

I took my Bro-in Laws reservation. He bought a used S and my old car got totaled. he basically added me onto his account, I entered my credit and contact info, paid the 2500 deposit. After you pickup and have the car under your name, then do a transfer afterwards otherwise they said it gets messy. Until then, you just stay under his tesla account to get into the car.

I'm getting the transfer done now finally, they initiated and activated my Mobile account and put the car under my login.

i think the car is also still under his Web account...hopefully it won't be too long.
 
I took my Bro-in Laws reservation. He bought a used S and my old car got totaled. he basically added me onto his account, I entered my credit and contact info, paid the 2500 deposit. After you pickup and have the car under your name, then do a transfer afterwards otherwise they said it gets messy. Until then, you just stay under his tesla account to get into the car.

I'm getting the transfer done now finally, they initiated and activated my Mobile account and put the car under my login.

i think the car is also still under his Web account...hopefully it won't be too long.


I added myself as secondary contact and as the preferred method of contact. Hopefully that doesnt cause any problems.
 
I took my Bro-in Laws reservation. He bought a used S and my old car got totaled. he basically added me onto his account, I entered my credit and contact info, paid the 2500 deposit. After you pickup and have the car under your name, then do a transfer afterwards otherwise they said it gets messy. Until then, you just stay under his tesla account to get into the car.

I'm getting the transfer done now finally, they initiated and activated my Mobile account and put the car under my login.

i think the car is also still under his Web account...hopefully it won't be too long.

Did you get it fully transferred over? I am wondering if I can ask them to switch the car to my account during pick up of my delivery or ask ISA now after they confirm funds have been transferred to Tesla?
 
I took my Bro-in Laws reservation. He bought a used S and my old car got totaled. he basically added me onto his account, I entered my credit and contact info, paid the 2500 deposit. After you pickup and have the car under your name, then do a transfer afterwards otherwise they said it gets messy. Until then, you just stay under his tesla account to get into the car.

I'm getting the transfer done now finally, they initiated and activated my Mobile account and put the car under my login.

i think the car is also still under his Web account...hopefully it won't be too long.

Who did you contact to get the car transferred to your account?
 
Did you get it fully transferred over? I am wondering if I can ask them to switch the car to my account during pick up of my delivery or ask ISA now after they confirm funds have been transferred to Tesla?
It takes a long time, or at least it did a few months ago. I “transferred” my reservation to a friend who had a later one (at no cost) and it just now came off of our account and our mobile app. But they said they had a huge backlog of transfer requests at the time. This was irritating because her car was placed between our two cars in the app. So I’d have to scroll past her car to get to our cars.

The process above is how it works. It’s pretty straightforward really. The reservation holder (RH) changes all the contact information to the buyer’s name. The RH still have to configure the car to the buyer’s wishes on their own account but the delivery deposit can be paid with any credit card. So if you’re friendly enough with the RH you can just supply them with the CC information.

The buyer can schedule delivery wherever they want. The RH does NOT have to be present at delivery. We didn’t know that so she scheduled delivery up near me although I ultimately did not go with her. The buyer will also receive all of the tax credit as the RH is never listed as the purchaser of the car. After that configuration reservation the RH doesn’t have to deal with any money in the transaction.

The two hiccups in the process are 1) the buyer cannot access the production status of the car. So they’re fairly in the dark about the timing until the RH contacts them when they themselves are contacted by Tesla. 2) The car will remain on the RH’s account until Tesla changes it over. This took a few months for us but it did happen. I’m not clear if her Supercharging sessions will be charged to my account during that time, but if it was she’ll simply pay me back. That might be an issue for people who aren’t friendly with the other party.

The folks at Tesla claim that they had implemented an automated tool to make the account transfer easier and faster but I have no insight as to the truth of that.

She is now planning on giving her reservation to her cousin.
 
Who did you reach out to for the transfer of the car to your account?


It takes a long time, or at least it did a few months ago. I “transferred” my reservation to a friend who had a later one (at no cost) and it just now came off of our account and our mobile app. But they said they had a huge backlog of transfer requests at the time. This was irritating because her car was placed between our two cars in the app. So I’d have to scroll past her car to get to our cars.

The process above is how it works. It’s pretty straightforward really. The reservation holder (RH) changes all the contact information to the buyer’s name. The RH still have to configure the car to the buyer’s wishes on their own account but the delivery deposit can be paid with any credit card. So if you’re friendly enough with the RH you can just supply them with the CC information.

The buyer can schedule delivery wherever they want. The RH does NOT have to be present at delivery. We didn’t know that so she scheduled delivery up near me although I ultimately did not go with her. The buyer will also receive all of the tax credit as the RH is never listed as the purchaser of the car. After that configuration reservation the RH doesn’t have to deal with any money in the transaction.

The two hiccups in the process are 1) the buyer cannot access the production status of the car. So they’re fairly in the dark about the timing until the RH contacts them when they themselves are contacted by Tesla. 2) The car will remain on the RH’s account until Tesla changes it over. This took a few months for us but it did happen. I’m not clear if her Supercharging sessions will be charged to my account during that time, but if it was she’ll simply pay me back. That might be an issue for people who aren’t friendly with the other party.

The folks at Tesla claim that they had implemented an automated tool to make the account transfer easier and faster but I have no insight as to the truth of that.

She is now planning on giving her reservation to her cousin.
 
you can do it under hes account you just need to pay the $2500 and when it come to owner registration put your info
and you can get deliver to where ever you like!!!! and pay him 1k for the reservation
Exactly what I did.
Who did you contact to get the car transferred to your account?

When I went through this last week, I just got access to a friend's tesla account, configured the car, put in all contact and registration info as myself, picked up the car a week and a half later, called tesla tech support and requested the vehicle to be transferred to my own tesla account. Over the phone, the rep immediately gave me access to the car from my own account. All I had to do in the mobile app was register the car key again but under my account. Rep said processing the full transfer (i.e. taking it off my friends account) will take 7 days max.
 
Thanks I will call and do the same! What number did you contact for tech support? I dont see that number.

Exactly what I did.


When I went through this last week, I just got access to a friend's tesla account, configured the car, put in all contact and registration info as myself, picked up the car a week and a half later, called tesla tech support and requested the vehicle to be transferred to my own tesla account. Over the phone, the rep immediately gave me access to the car from my own account. All I had to do in the mobile app was register the car key again but under my account. Rep said processing the full transfer (i.e. taking it off my friends account) will take 7 days max.
 
Last edited: