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Why are inventory cars only able to be registered in certain states?

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(Note: I couldn't find an appropriate forum for this, so I chose the Tesla Inc forum as the best I could come up with.)

When you see a car in Tesla inventory in another state, it invariably says "This car can only be registered in <a list of nearby states>". Why is that? Is this a restriction imposed by the state(s), or by Tesla? I haven't found any other state where the list of permitted states includes California, so only cars already in California inventory can be registered in California? Worse yet, I haven't found cars in inventory where the list includes Maine, and I don't think there's any inventory in Maine itself, so people in Maine can't ever buy from inventory?

(We live half time in California and half time in Maine--would be happy buy and register in either state, but prefer Maine due to timing and taxes.)

Thanks,
Dan
 
The customer only pays shipping costs on used inventory, not new. I’m pretty sure they legally can’t charge extra shipping on new cars above and beyond the fixed and federally mandated“destination fee”.

In addition to the mandatory $1,390 destination fee, there can absolutely be an additional carrier delivery/transfer cost when buying a new inventory car from another location.

Tesla restricting registration of new inventory cars to certain states wouldn't have anything to do with "minimizing shipping costs" as they could still give the customer the option to drive to the car location but even that doesn't appear to be an option in various cases based on their registration restrictions.

Also, some cars can't even be registered in the state they are located (shipping wouldn't have to be an issue) as in my example in post #14 above. The car is listed as being in Devon, Pennsylvania yet can only be registered in DE, ME, NH, NJ or VT. Not only is PA not even listed but ME, NH and VT are quite a distance away from Devon.
 
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We'll have to agree to disagree then.


There's nothing in the link you provided that says a dealer absolutely can't charge for shipping a car from another location. Tesla itself has an extra fee (above the mandatory $1,390 destination fee) "Carrier Direct" program.

Going back to my new inventory car example in post #14. If Tesla's reason for limiting registrations to certain states was to "minimize shipping costs" (as you suggested) then why is that Devon, PA car unable to be registered in Pennsylvania yet can be registered in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont hundreds of miles away?
 
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Going back to my new inventory car example in post #14. If Tesla's reason for limiting registrations to certain states was to "minimize shipping costs" (as you suggested) then why is that Devon, PA car unable to be registered in Pennsylvania yet can be registered in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont hundreds of miles away?

That particular car is listed as being in Cherry Hill, NJ.
 
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That particular car is listed as being in Cherry Hill, NJ.

It can depend on what zip code you use for the inventory search. It either shows up as Devon, PA (shown below) or Cherry Hill, NJ. However, my point still remains that a car can be located hundreds of miles away from states where it is listed as being able to be registered yet can't be registered in some much closer states and therefore the "minimizing shipping costs" reason you had suggested doesn't look to be the answer.

TeslaM3InvCar.jpg
 
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