Ordering Process - Time to Order!!

So once you get over the fact that your not getting the Base Model at $35k with the full rebate, and you realize you were going to spring for most of those options anyway and the 310 mi range eliminates range anxiety (remember Tesla recommends you only charge to 90% for daily driving to preserve the life of the battery cells then you realize October 15 really is the day to order.

So when I ordered on Oct 15, MR was not yet a thing so there was not yet the option for that.

As likely many reservation holders have done once their ability to order showed up on their page, I built the car to the specs wanted, once I realized that SR would not be coming out anytime soon for either the Full Federal Tax Rebate or even Half of it.

What's great and bad about building online is that you can build at your leisure with no salesman trying to push you into a higher model, but if you reading this you realize the bad, you better get educated on what it is you want and or need....

So I designed the following:

1. Long Range Rear Wheel Drive, which as of this writing is no longer an available option but there are rumors you can put an order for the MR Rear Wheel Drive and then have your sales adviser update but I would confer with a Rep before doing that if you have your heart set on it
2. Dark Obsidian Grey - +$1k, any color other than standard black is an additional $1k
3. 18' Aero Wheels come standard and the reason for the funky design is it add's fuel efficiency, its an additional $1.5k for 19" Sport Wheels which while they look nicer you can always remove the hubcaps on the Aero wheels and buy a lug set that gives you a nice pair of dark rims for minimal add'l cost of $50
4. Mandatory Premium Interior and now if you want White thats available for additional $1k but that may take longer to receive
5. Option for EAP - Enahanced Auto Pilot, this is the whole car of the future which is a very modern adaptive cruise control that is only getting better that option to add is $5k at time of ordering or $7k after delivery as its simply an over the air update, of course it's something I added because why buy a Tesla if your not going to take advantage of their Tech
6. Full Self Driving was another option which I passed on, the tech which is not yet available but you can pre-pay for it to save a bit of cash but it has since been removed as an additional option. Not sure if its because they aren't as close as they thought on that delivery.
7. .Once you've done that you review your order and place another $2,500 deposit via Credit Card on their site (yay Credit Card Points), this deposit/order is refundable within in 3 days after that it is non-refundable.....

Once you've done that you get an order confirmation like the above and be directed to their website to provide additional information which include whether you want to do a trade in, financing or cash, and mode of delivery/pickup you would like. Date of delivery will be communicated at a later time.

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October 15 is D-Day or is it?

The federal credit at $7,500 is a big incentive to buy an electric car and Tesla knows that. Its why they supposedly finagled their deliveries to insure that they can leverage the timing of the credits to expire and provide the most deliveries before that time. It also makes for a good marketing campaign on why you need to just pull the trigger. October 15 was the last day that they guarantee you will receive delivery on or before December 31, 2018 the last day before the $7,500 expires for Tesla produced electric cars.

No other manufacturer has gone through this process yet of the federal credits winding down so we will see just how important it was to the sales of Tesla.

Here is the phase down schedule:

Now here is the catch especially for those on the West Coast, deliveries on Long Range/Mid Range delivery timing is around 6-10 wks. So if your reading this today, you still might have a chance to take delivery before the new year and hey if not you'll at least still be good for the $3,750... 

Some things you might want to avoid if your trying to get within in this year would be taking delivery on the West Coast, Black Interior, Black Exterior, pickup at delivery center versus home delivery to speed up the process. Consult a sales advisor on the phone or in one of their stores to get a better understanding of timing if the full tax credit was really important to you.

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Ready to Design

2 YEARS 2 MONTHS AND 25 DAYS LATER....

Finally received email to design but like many people in the same boat the hope for the $35k Base model was not available at this time. The only offer was for the Long Range Performance Model 3 which had a base of $55k but a range of 310 miles and premium interior included.  

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Reservations vs No Reservations

When people refer to the 1st day reservations, reservations, or no reservations this refers to those who put the $1,000 to save a spot in the virtual line for when the Model 3 would be released. Most put the reservation on the 1st day it was eligible in hopes of getting the Base Model $35k version. As of today's writing the base model is still not available. There is no longer a need to put a $1,000 reservation and it is unclear if those still holding a reservation get priority for when they do place their order. The $1,000 reservation was fully refundable, with many still holding out hope for $35k model at some point but not likely in time for the $7,500 federal tax rebate which will be cut in half as of Jan 1, 2019. they may still be holding out hope for the $3,750 which expires on June 30, 2019 and even the $1,875 which expires on Dec 31, 2019.

Here is what the confirmation of reservation looked like and additional information they provided at time of reservation (my reservation was placed on 4/2/2016):

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