Vehicle Registration Problems

[geneticlypfct]

I'm curious if anybody else has been through the situation I'm currently going through:

I am buying a Tesla in Northern VA. I added my father as a co-owner as I don't have any history of auto loans so getting the full amount alone was not possible. However since I'm a DC resident and he is a VA resident, Tesla is saying they can not register the vehicle in DC because DC requires all people listed on the registration to be DC residents.

Now this shouldn't be a problem because on the DC DMV's page, it clearly states the following (District Residency and Documentation for Vehicle Registrations | dmv):

All owners of a vehicle must be listed on the vehicle’s Certificate of Origin (for new vehicles), title, and any lien(s) information or paperwork that apply, and at least one owner must be a District resident to register the vehicle in the District.

If a secondary owner of the vehicle lives in a different state or jurisdiction, you must bring with you to the DC DMV service center a letter that states you are authorized to act on that secondary owner’s behalf, and a copy of that person’s driver license or non-driver ID card.
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Has anybody else gone through this scenario and gotten Tesla to properly title the vehicle to 2 owners then register to a single owner?

 

[neroden]

No, but Tesla has a long record of not understanding local registration rules.

Send them that quotation and a link to the DC webpage. Tell 'em if Tesla can't handle the paperwork you'll register it yourself, but that they need to deliver the car to you. If necessary get the paperwork and take it over to the DC DMV yourself and then take it back to Tesla.