TLDR; Tesla trickles inventory on their website throughout the day and if you happen to be in the right place at the right time, you may be able to get a Tesla ordered & picked up within days or weeks vs waiting for months on it.
LeaseHackr fam - I wanted to share some tips & a small Discord community that we have built that might help you get a Tesla ordered faster than ordering it through conventional ways. Like others in this crazy market, I was in line waiting for a 4XE and then a Tesla. It took too long and I found out another way to get a vehicle sooner than I would have otherwise. I run this because I’d like to help out others in the same predicament. We have no sponsors or a financial goal - everything is self-financed or through small donations made by our generous community members. So far, we have helped several hundred people get their Tesla’s and grown into a community that has seen over 5000 members join us on this journey so far.
Story aside, read below and find out all you need to get a jumpstart in this journey of getting a new Tesla FAST!
Where do I start? How do I get a Tesla? What are my options? …
To get a new Tesla, you have two options:
Option A: Custom Order
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Cost: $250 per order
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This locks in your price (e.g. if M3 is 50k today and is 55k at the time of delivery, you pay 50k)
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You are put in a magical queue with an Estimated Delivery Date (EDD) that fluctuates almost daily
Option B: Existing Inventory
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Cost: $250 per order (++ plus transport fees ranging from $0 to $2,500)
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You pay current market price for your Tesla
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Full Self Driving can be removed (or added) after placing the order
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Vehicle can be transported from one location to another, unless it is the end of the quarter
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Pick from either Brand New Inventory (like Custom Order) or Demo Vehicles (with a discount & some mileage)
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Pick up vehicle same day (rare), within the week or in a few weeks
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Daily drops differ depending on the time of the quarter (beginning of quarter - very slow, end of quarter - very active)
Now, what should you do?
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Need a vehicle ASAP? Order an existing inventory
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Need price assurance? Place a Custom Order
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Can wait for a vehicle? Place a Custom Order
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Can wait but likes price assurance & can take delivery asap? Do both
What if you have already placed a custom order?
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If the price is the same and you do not mind spending an additional $250++, order an existing inventory
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If the price is more now, you will have to decide whether spending the extra price increase + $250++ is worth getting your vehicle sooner (e.g. if you are spending $1k on Uber every month & your EDD is 5 months out, spending an extra $2k now may not be a bad proposition)
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if you have placed an order prior to April 15th, 2022, your custom order may include a free mobile charger. Tesla has stopped providing these since then, so any new existing inventory (or new custom order) will not include such a charger (cost: $200)
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in extremely rare cases, if you place a new existing inventory order for the same exact configuration (including trim/paint/interior/wheels/location), your Tesla Sales Advisor (SA) may be able to swap VINs on the orders and allow you to take delivery on your custom order with the same old pricing. Do not try this unless you are willing to let go of the $250 order fee.
Why WaitingForTesla & not others?
There are indeed others out there but we differentiate ourselves by having extremely fast & customized alerts while also having full visibility into the data that is out there - see WaitingForTesla.com - Vehicle Details.
We also boast being a safe & helpful space for people regardless of their views on Tesla & Elon Musk.
I made up my mind, now what do I do?
1. Design your Tesla
Know what Tesla you want? You can start here to design yours:
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Model S - Design Your Model S | Tesla
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Model 3 - Design Your Model 3 | Tesla
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Model X - Design Your Model X | Tesla
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Model Y - Design Your Model Y | Tesla
and decide on the following specifications:
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Exterior Color
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Interior Color
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Wheels
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Price & Taxes (add an additional 10% and some more for Sales Tax, DMV fees and others - you can chat with Tesla on their site or go to a store to get an estimate )
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Add an additional $250 Order Fee - this is non-refundable by Tesla and it is not a deposit. You pay this when you place an order. Every order has this fee. No way to get a refund or get reimbursed if you pick up the ordered vehicle
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Consider additional transport fees. It may range from $0 to $2500 in the US. You will read more about that below.
You could place a custom order at this point or continue below to find out how you can get notified on existing inventory drops.
2. Find Existing Inventory Drops
We are currently searching across all Tesla locations in United States & Canada. You can find them here -
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Discord Notifications (Stop Waiting For Tesla - Get Fast Tesla Inventory Alerts ) paired with our custom roles will give you tailored alerts based on Model (3|Y|S|X) + Trim (RWD|LR|AWD|PLAID) + Paint + Interior + State, Country. Drops updated every 3 seconds.
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Twitter Notifications (https://twitter.com/w4tsla )- get alerted for all drops & price changes. Drops updated every 3 seconds & price changes every 30 seconds.
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WaitingForTesla Site (https://waitingfortesla.com ) - Lists all available inventory - updated every 5 minutes. You could also customize the reserve links to include your location for accurate transport fees - check it out by clicking the menu icon on the top banner in our site when browsing through listings:
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Tesla Site (https://tesla.com/inventory) - Lists available inventory within x miles of your location.
3. Set up Discord Notifications:
This is what makes us unique - you can get alerted instantly as soon as a vehicle is released by Tesla. Depending on how flexible your needs are, you can choose from the following roles (for those new to Discord, roles are what we can use to tag you & notify you):
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Vehicle Model + Trim + All Interior & Paint Combination (e.g. get notified for Model Y Long Range 5-Seater)
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Vehicle Model + Trim + Exterior + Interior Combination (e.g. get notified for Model 3 RWD with Red Paint & White Interior)
Click on the Subscribe
button in #・get-roles and pick what you need from our custom bot powered role selector.
Once you get the roles, you will get notified for drops across all of the locations we track. Next step would be to update your Discord notification settings. Please find additional screenshots & instructions below in this channel → Discord
4. Choose your Tesla from the Inventory Drops:
As soon as a vehicle is found, make sure it is your exact specification or one you can live with. Check the location of the vehicle as well. FSD can be removed after placing the order - so don’t let that stop you.
Consider the transportation fees from the location of the drop to your delivery center:
0 - 100 miles = $0
100 - 500 miles = $500
500 - 1,000 miles = $1000
1,000 - 2,500 miles = $2000
2,500 - 1,000,000 miles = $2500
5. Reserve your Tesla:
Click on the “RESERVE” link in our notifications and order your Tesla ASAP - every second counts.
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Apple Pay is preferred - use Safari OR use AutoFill from your browser. If you’re opening from the Discord mobile app, double check that you are not using the built-in Discord browser and using Safari instead. This can be updated under Preferences.
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Vehicles can go within seconds, so if it didn’t work out this time, try again later.
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Some vehicles may go away for a minute or two and then come back. Try again in a few minutes, if not - good luck with the next drop.
6. Complete your Order Profile & Schedule Delivery:
After your order goes through, you will be able to select your delivery center, add or remove FSD, select your payment method, apply for financing and so on.
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For Tesla Lease & Loan rates, you may visit: Tesla Financial Products - WaitingForTesla.com
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For cheaper loans / balloon financing, check #
・faq-financials
Frequently Asked Questions
We have aggregated a lot of the common questions that people have had and put it together in their respective channels. Please read through them as it will help understand this process & may help answer questions related to your situation.
#・faq - Our main FAQ with questions related to this initiative, best times and so on.
#・faq-order - questions related to the order process itself
#・faq-notification-details - questions related to the data points in our alerts
#・faq-financials - questions related to financing & other alternative options to Tesla Finance / Lease
#・faq-delivery - questions related to vehicle delivery from Tesla
#・faq-post-delivery - questions related to the after-delivery process with Tesla
#・faq-contact-info - Important Contact Information
WaitingForTesla Links
Historical Reporting to see when & what got dropped: https://reports.waitingfortesla.com/
Current Tesla Lease & Loan Rates: Tesla Financial Products - WaitingForTesla.com
Current Available Existing Inventory: https://waitingfortesla.com/
WaitingForTesla Twitter: https://twitter.com/w4tsla/
If you are in the market for a Tesla, good luck LeaseHackr fam!