Woman Tries To Get Tesla Rebate. Then A Worker Steps In And Ruins It: 'I'll Never Buy From Tesla Again'

Tesla fans were quick to tell a woman she was wrong after she hopped online and vowed to never buy a vehicle from the EV manufacturer ever again.

Jess (@the.jess.edit1) said that buying the car was a “nightmare” experience and delineated why in a social media post. “Let me tell you why I hate Tesla, and I will never buy another Tesla because the purchase experience and the damage done afterwards has just been awful,” she says in the video.

Next, she details that approximately a year before uploading her clip, her family bought a Tesla in cash. She says that in order to qualify for a rebate on the car, she needed to drive the ride off the Tesla dealership lot by midnight of the day she purchased it.

Wanting to secure the rebate, she arrived early at the dealership to pick it up, only to be told by employees that their ride wasn’t ready. To give workers some more time to prep the ride, she decided to drive around and return to the dealer, only to learn that the car was still not ready for delivery.

'It’s Still In Transit'

Despite the fact that the evening was fast approaching, Jess says she wasn’t given a definitive answer as to what was happening with her vehicle. Ultimately, the ride she paid for in cash never showed up.

“They never did find that car. It took me threatening to want the full refund … of the money back to it … [to get them] to look for another vehicle that was the same,” she said. Her insistence on receiving a refund culminated in her getting another car with the same specs that was “2 blocks down the street in their overflow lot,” she relayed. Despite being puzzled as to why she was awaiting delivery of a vehicle when Tesla had one on hand, she ultimately took the EV home.

Their delivery of the car occurred just “minutes before midnight,” adding that the wait time resulted in a “miserable” experience. Furthermore, she assessed that everyone else waiting in the lobby of the Tesla dealer also looked miserable to boot.

Tesla Registration/Title Problems

Upon bringing the vehicle home, Jess says she encountered another obstacle after contacting the Department of Motor Vehicles to update its registration after a year of ownership. She says that a DMV rep informed her she wouldn’t be able to receive plates for her car without proof of insurance. This left her bewildered as she says she’s been paying for insurance on the vehicle the entire time she’s driven it.

Unsure as to what went wrong with her car, she decided to ring up an acquaintance who is, as she says, a “car guy.” He asked her for her car’s information, which includes her VIN, along with a photo of the DMV paperwork. “Come to find out, everything is different,” she says. As it turns out, the VIN for the vehicle submitted to the insurance company was different than the VIN of the car she was driving.

Jess said she immediately contacted her insurance provider to swap out her VIN number to ensure the correct one was on file. But after doing some more digging around, she found further inconsistencies with her paperwork.

The title for her car that she received listed the VIN for a different vehicle—not the one she took delivery of on the night she bought her ride. What’s more is that there are several different license plate numbers associated with her vehicle.

This led Jess to believe there was a clerical error on Tesla’s part, one that left her with the VIN of the car she was initially supposed to take delivery of and not the one she ended up driving home. The mix-up left her worried about the potential headaches that could’ve occurred had her car been in an accident with the wrong VIN number on her paperwork.

And when it comes to getting the correct title for her car, Jess says that’s a whole other ordeal. That’s because her name wasn’t included on the title for the car, so getting that issue resolved has proven to be extremely difficult. “So I’ll never buy with Tesla. It was the worst car experience … Tesla, you need to do better because you suck,” she stated at the end of her clip.

More Context

In the comments section of her video, throngs of people speculated that Jess’s woes were attributed to a mistake on her end. However, she clapped back at one person with further clarification on her situation.

“We paid in full for the car the day before. When we came to pick it up they had sold it to someone else. Then they messed up the title and it has 2 different cars info on it. So … you’re wrong. I didn’t fail anything. But way to make an assumption,” she wrote.

Jess isn’t the only Tesla customer who has experienced title and registration problems. One Reddit user who posted to the site’s r/TeslaLounge sub said that “Tesla filled out the wrong registration papers and the title wasn’t filled out correctly” for a used 2022 Model 3 they purchased.

In a different post on the same sub, another Model 3 buyer says that they never received the title for their car. This is despite them receiving notice that their title was delivered. When they asked for another copy of their car’s title to be sent to their credit union, they were told by Tesla reps it couldn’t “legally” be sent there. Ultimately, they decided to just get the title re-sent to their home address in the hopes of getting their hands on their title.

Registering A Tesla

According to the automaker’s website, “Tesla will either handle titling and registration … or process and mail … the documents [buyers will] need to complete registration at … [their] state’s motor vehicle department.” There is no unilateral methodology for how titles and registrations work with Teslas or cars from any manufacturer, as different states have different laws for these processes.

But on the same web page, Tesla does break down how titling and registration works for its cars. In New Jersey, for instance, “Tesla will complete registration and mail … title and registration card[s].” Additionally, Garden State residents receive their plates and registration “once processing is complete,” as per Tesla’s website.

In Washington, D.C., Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Vermont, and Washington State, it’s a different process. Residents of these aforementioned states have their registrations mailed directly from Tesla to their address on file. Titles are handled by the state’s DMV, with plates and registration to come in the mail as well.

In Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming, self-registration packets are mailed to residents’ homes.

Colorado, Idaho, Indiana, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, and Ohio carry different stipulations as well, but Tesla takes care of titling.

Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Pennsylvania Tesla buyers have their registrations completed during delivery appointments, and titles are sent by each state’s respective DMV.

---

---

And in Arizona, California, Georgia, Illinois, New Mexico, and Oregon, Tesla completes registration information, and the DMV sends out title and registration cards. Buyers can use a temporary registration placard until those documents are sent to their address on file.

Motor1 has reached out to Tesla via email and Jess via TikTok direct message for further comment. We will update this story if either responds.

 

 

 

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motor1.com?

Take our 3 minute survey.

- The Motor1.com Team