Tesla, Credit Union and myself ... all have our heads in the sand

[BarkingGhostar]

So, without thinking about it I placed my Tesla order on October 6th of this year. I unintentionally setup the order as a cash sale but had every intention on using the local credit union because of their low interest rates. When I placed the car loan through the credit union, I realized my Tesla order was configured wrongly and used the Tesla Advisor SMS to text them for help. They immediately converted the order to financing using external source. Now my order correctly showed what portion I was putting down and what portion was being financed. Tesla provided the Motor Vehicle Purchase Order and Agreement, and also a Letter of Guarantee. The credit union was looking for the MVPA, which I gave them, but seemed to be as aloof as I was on what the Letter of Guarantee. I can be rather slow on the uptake and so I asked Tesla for clarification twice, but in each instance got no response from them. Wonderful.

Last Friday I went up to my credit union to ask them a question and wound up closing the auto loan and handed a cashier's check. I only quickly scanned the amount and left, making a quick trip[ to my regular bank for depositing that cashier's check and only realizing after the fact that my name wasn't the only name on it--had Tesla on it as well. The credit union branch manager had never handled a Tesla order before, and apparently neither did the loan officer at their corporate headquarters because I was told they didn't need the Letter of Guarantee. In reality and a week later I now realize that credit union did need that Letter of Guarantee. They were supposed to sign it and either fax it to Tesla or given it back to me to deliver to Tesla so Tesla could release the car's title to the credit union. The Letter of Guarantee also contained Tesla's bank routing number and the specific account number for my Tesla order. Doh!

Now yesterday I get a letter from the credit union saying I have 30-days to get to them that car title or they'll be charging my fine derriere $1000 for not doing so. And while I was able to login to my Tesla account and pay my down-payment portion of the total bill, when I did that it changed the payment status to Completed. So, today I get to drive into Atlanta to the Decatur showroom and beg for help. I want to pay that borrowed amount to Tesla AND I want to get Tesla to send my credit union that title. All of this could have been avoided by at least one of the parties (me, Tesla, credit union) had the good sense to ask for directions and gotten those directions. What is worse is that the credit union loan officer should have known how to handle this from the get go but just shows how inexperienced they are when handling car loans for Tesla.

I hope to drive down to the Tesla showroom today, make an electronic payment for the borrowed amount and see if they will let me sign the Letter of Guarantee so that they will release said title to the credit union.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Went down to Tesla this morning and they said there is no way they would accept anything from me, in any form, to cover the financed portion. They also said that the financed portion much come in the form of a certified check from the credit union, and not my bank. While sitting in the dealership, I called the credit union and explained this. After 22 minutes on the p[hone with the credit union I was informed they couldn't help me and to go to my bank. When I got to my bank, I spoke to them and they confirmed the check was completely processed and no longer in their possession. If it had they would have returned it. While they had investigated that, I spent another 43 minutes on the phone with the credit union re-explaining it and why I cannot get the check back. I was now in uncharted territory.

Finally, I came up with the idea of taking a certified check from the bank back to the credit union with the notion they could re-issue the original check. Credit union and bank thought this was an amicable idea, but the credit union said for forty large ones they would have to hold the funds for a business week to ten days. Tesla wouldn't be holding my ordered vehicle and would simple cancel the order. Worse thing about this was the credit union couldn't cancel the loan, because they got the title. I got printouts of the original processed check, deposits and withdraws for the bank-to-credit union cert. check and the actual cert. check to put the funds back into the credit union's hands. By the time I got to the branch office of the credit union and explained this the loan officer at their headquarters was on the phone with the branch manager and they agreed to not place a hold on the funds and just issued me another certified check, written to Tesla, which I'll take with me on the 13th to get my car.

Talk about a Friday acting like a Monday. One small mistake and one very large headache.

 

[KentState]

I did both of mine through Georgia's Own CU and had no issues. Sucks that you had to deal with all this.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

The worse part as I was driving from bank to the credit union I sat at a light right behind some guy in a new M3P in Midnight Silver Metallic with a black interior just like I ordered. I swear if there was a God it was teasing me.

 

[bigi]

I was able to switch my order in the past from full pay to finance in 3 minutes. I called Tesla and their rep made the change instantly. Proceed online as ususal.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Its all good. She's been sitting in the garage since the 13th. Took her out this evening to dinner. Its like being introduced to a smartphone for the first time, except it has wheels.