Tesla Delivery Checklist: What to Check Before You Accept

The short answer

• Do what the app allows before the day. Tesla’s list: upload proof of insurance “Once you receive a VIN,” submit final payment, and “If applicable, accept outstanding agreements,” which it says are “available in the Tesla app within 24 hours of your delivery appointment.”
• Look the car over before you accept it. Tesla’s own pickup steps put “accept delivery of your vehicle in the Tesla app” one line above “Unlock and access your Tesla vehicle using the Tesla app.” Walk the outside first, and ask the staff to open the car if you want to see the cabin before you tap.
• Photograph every cosmetic flaw before you accept delivery. The warranty that starts when you take delivery has a list of things it “does NOT cover,” and that list opens with “Any corrosion or paint defects including, but not limited to, the following.” The same list names “General appearance or normal noises and vibrations.”

That third point is why the order of events matters. A defect in a part is covered for 4 years or 50,000 miles from delivery. The warranty does not promise to fix a paint chip, and once the car has been on the road nobody can tell a chip it arrived with from one it picked up on the way home.

A note on what this page rests on: Tesla’s three delivery support pages, its Windshield Protection Plan page, the public version of its Motor Vehicle Order Agreement (marked v. 20220915), its New Vehicle Limited Warranty and the Model 3 owner’s manual, read on October 10 and 11, 2026, for new-vehicle orders in the US. One accessory shop’s checklist is quoted as an example of what circulates. The copy of the agreement in your own Tesla app is the one that governs your order. The warranty document covers “Model S, Model 3, Model X, or Model Y new vehicles sold by and delivered directly from Tesla”; it is not the Cybertruck’s warranty. Used cars are a different case: Tesla says Certified Pre-Owned vehicles “are covered under the Pre-Owned Vehicle Limited Warranty.”

Tesla delivery deadlines: what is due and when

Two rows deserve a second look.

The four-state rule is Tesla’s, in its words: “Texas, New Mexico, Iowa and Michigan customers are required to submit final payment prior to scheduling their delivery appointment due to state restrictions.”

The arbitration clock may not start at delivery. The opt-out is a letter sent “within 30 days after signing this Agreement,” the agreement calls itself “effective as of the date you accept this Agreement, by electronic means or otherwise,” and its terms “are effective as of the date you place your order.” The document does not define signing any further, so the careful reading is to count from the day you placed the order; if that was more than 30 days before your appointment, the window may already have closed. The letter must state “your name, Vehicle Identification Number, and intent to opt out,” and the address is in the agreement’s “Agreement to Arbitrate” section.

What to bring to a Tesla delivery appointment

Tesla’s list is short. “Documents required at your delivery appointment may include” final payment, driver’s license or licenses, auto insurance, and trade-in ownership documents. Tesla adds a note under it: “Final payment requirements vary based on location and purchase method. Credit cards are not accepted for final payment.”

If you arranged your own loan, your lender will probably want a document from Tesla first. Tesla says “most lenders will require a Motor Vehicle Purchase Agreement (MVPA),” which appears in the Tesla app “once your vehicle is ready for delivery.” Getting the lender’s money to Tesla is your job, and Tesla is blunt about the consequence: “Delivery cannot take place until we receive the funding in full.”

Bring a phone with the Tesla app signed in and enough battery to last the visit. The phone is how Tesla has you sign, pay, accept and unlock.

Do you have to pay before Tesla delivery?

Plan on it. Tesla’s Delivery Day page says “Before your delivery appointment, you must submit your insurance details, final payment and necessary documents in the Tesla app.” Its Taking Delivery page lists the same thing as a step on arrival: “Sign any available agreements, complete final payment and accept delivery of your vehicle in the Tesla app.” The two pages do not agree on the moment, and the Delivery Day page adds that requirements “vary based on location and purchase method,” so have the payment ready before the day.

Check the number before you pay it. The price you saw when you ordered left out taxes and government fees, which the Order Agreement says “could amount to up to 10% or more of the Vehicle purchase price.” Those are added on a second document: “The Final Price Sheet will be provided to you as your delivery date nears.” Compare the Final Price Sheet with your order line by line. Incentives are on you too: the agreement says Tesla “makes no promises, warranties or guarantees regarding fund availability or your eligibility for any incentives, rebates and tax credits.” For where the tax credits stand, see the Tesla tax credit page, and for financing and referral offers, the Tesla interest and referrals guide.

What to check on a Tesla before you accept delivery

Sort what you find into two piles. Things that do not work are what the warranty is for, as long as you report them inside the warranty period. Things that only look wrong are the ones to settle on the spot, and the warranty’s own wording shows why.

The warranty does not name panel fit or alignment at all, so whether a misfitting panel is a workmanship defect or “General appearance” is not settled by the document.

None of this means Tesla will refuse to fix a scratch you point out at the delivery center. It means the document you are relying on afterward does not promise it. So for every row above the last one, this page’s suggestion is three steps before you accept: photograph the flaw with the delivery location visible in the frame, show it to the staff, and get any promised fix in writing. Writing matters because of two clauses. The warranty says “No person or entity, including, but not limited to, a Tesla employee or authorized representative, can modify or waive any part of this New Vehicle Limited Warranty.” The Order Agreement says “Terms relating to the purchase not expressly contained herein are not binding.” Keep the photos.

Then the checks that are not cosmetic:

• The car is the car you ordered. Read the VIN off the car itself. The warranty says it is “located on the upper dashboard on the driver’s side of the vehicle, is visible through the windshield.” Compare it with the VIN in the Tesla app and on your paperwork, and match paint, wheels, interior and seating to the order. The agreement warns that “Options, features or hardware released or changed after you place your order may not be included in or available for your Vehicle.”
• The key card works. On a Model 3, tap it on the driver’s side door pillar; the manual puts the reader “approximately one third the way up.” The manual also notes that the car “requires at least one authenticated key card or key fob at all times.” If the phone key gives you trouble later, the phone key troubleshooting page covers it.
• Tire pressures match the label. On a Model 3 the target is on “the Tire and Loading Information label located on the driver’s center door pillar.” The manual’s own check is done “when tires are cold and Model 3 has been stationary for over three hours,” so a reading at the delivery center is a rough check.
• What you ordered with the car is in the car. Charging gear in particular, covered below.

Is there a deadline to report problems after Tesla delivery?

No fixed number of days or miles appears in the Tesla documents read for this page.

Here is the claim as one accessory shop states it. Its checklist, read on October 11, 2026, tells buyers that Tesla’s “delivery acceptance agreement” includes “a 100-mile / 48-hour window” for issues noted at delivery.

Tesla’s two delivery pages, its After Taking Delivery page, the Order Agreement and the warranty were searched for this page. A 100-mile figure appears in none of the five. “48 hours” appears once, and it is the rescheduling cutoff. That does not prove no such term exists. The documents you accept in the app on delivery day were not available to read for this page, so read them before you tap, and look for any sentence about reporting the car’s condition.

What Tesla’s public documents do say is simpler. For a defect, the outer limit is the warranty period: the warranty says “To obtain warranty service, you must notify Tesla within the applicable warranty period” and bring the car to a Tesla Service Center. That period “begins on the first day a new vehicle is delivered by Tesla” to its first buyer or lessor. The outer limit is not a reason to wait. The same warranty excludes damage caused by “Failure to take the vehicle to, or make repairs or service recommended by, a Tesla Service Center or Tesla authorized repair facility upon discovery of a defect,” and its California statement says “You are responsible for presenting your vehicle to a Tesla authorized warranty facility as soon as a problem exists.” Report a defect when you find it. The route is the app: “If additional service is needed, schedule a service appointment in the Tesla app.” For a cosmetic flaw, those documents give no deadline, and the warranty does not promise the repair. That is the case for sorting it out before you accept.

The only 100-mile figure in the Tesla documents read here is in the owner’s manual, and it concerns cameras, not paint. See the day-one section below.

Does Tesla publish a panel gap standard?

Not in any of the Tesla documents read for this page. The same accessory-shop checklist states a hood-to-fender figure as “Tesla spec: 3.5mm ±1mm.” Panel gaps are not mentioned in the warranty, the Order Agreement, the delivery pages or the Model 3 owner’s manual, and none of them gives a gap measurement you could hold Tesla to.

So measure with your eyes, not a gauge. Compare the left side of the car with the right: a gap that is visibly wider on one side, a door that sits proud of the panel next to it, or trim that lifts at one end is something to photograph and raise. An argument over a tenth of a millimeter has no document behind it.

Can you refuse or delay a Tesla delivery?

You can move the appointment. Tesla’s page says “If needed, you can reschedule your appointment at any time from the Tesla app,” with the one limit already in the table: “Deliveries scheduled within the next 48 hours are not eligible to be rescheduled in the Tesla app.”

The Order Agreement is stricter than the support page. For a pickup in a state where Tesla is licensed to sell, once Tesla tells you when it expects the car to be ready, “You agree to schedule and take delivery of your Vehicle within three (3) days of this date.” Miss that, and “your Vehicle may be made available for sale to other customers.” Then, “For new vehicles, if you do not take delivery within fourteen (14) days of our first attempt to notify you, Tesla may cancel your order and keep your Order Fee.” A broader clause has no day count: “If you become unresponsive to us or fail to complete a requested action to progress towards delivery of your Vehicle, we may cancel your order and keep your Order Fee, Order Deposit and Transportation Fee.”

The agreement has no clause about refusing a car; the word does not appear in it. What it describes is cancelling: “If you cancel your order or breach this Agreement and we cancel your order, you agree that we may retain as liquidated damages the Order Fee, Order Deposit and Transportation Fee, to the extent not otherwise prohibited by law.” The agreement does not say how it treats a refusal. If Tesla treats one as a cancellation, that clause is the one that applies, so walking away can cost you those fees. What Tesla will do about a car you are unhappy with is a conversation to have at the delivery center, before you accept.

Two more facts shape that conversation. The car is tied to its location: “Once a VIN has been assigned to your order, the vehicle is not eligible to be moved to another location.” And the date you were quoted was never a promise. The agreement calls it “only an estimate as we do not guarantee when your Vehicle will actually be delivered.”

New York residents get one right in writing. The agreement’s state provisions say: “If the Vehicle is not delivered in accordance with the Agreement within 30 days following the estimated delivery date, you have the right to cancel the Agreement and receive a full refund, unless the delay in delivery is attributable to you.”

What is different if a carrier delivers your Tesla?

Tesla’s Carrier Direct option is a paid service for buyers “who live more than 220 miles from the nearest Tesla delivery location.” You sign and pay in the app before the car ships, and on the day you “Accept delivery of your Tesla vehicle in the Tesla app.”

The Order Agreement has a shipping clause worth reading if your car is coming on a truck. It applies when Tesla ships a car to a state where it is not licensed to sell, “or if you and Tesla otherwise agree,” and it says delivery, “including the transfer of title and risk of loss to you, will occur at the time your Vehicle is loaded onto the transport,” which it labels “FOB shipping point.” The same clause protects you in transit: “your Vehicle will be insured at no cost to you, and you will be the beneficiary of any claims for damage to the Vehicle or losses occurring while the Vehicle is in transit.” Ask Tesla whether that clause governs your delivery.

Either way, the inspection matters more here, not less. Do the full walk-around while the carrier is still present, and photograph the car on or beside the truck before you accept in the app.

What looks wrong on day one but is normal

Miles on the odometer. The manual expects them: “You might notice a few miles/km on the odometer when you take delivery of your Model 3.” Tesla’s explanation is that “The final inspection takes place at Tesla and includes a road test conducted by a technician.” You can read the odometer under Controls > Software.

Safety and driver-assist features that are not ready yet. On a Model 3 the cameras calibrate themselves as you drive, and the manual says “some features such as Lane Departure Avoidance and Automatic Emergency Braking” wait until they finish. The manual says “Calibration typically completes after driving 20-25 miles (32-40 km), but the distance varies depending on road and environmental conditions,” and that afterward “Self-Driving features, as well as Active Safety features, are available for use.” This is where Tesla’s real 100-mile figure lives: “Contact Tesla only if your Model 3 has not completed the calibration process after driving 100 miles (160 km) in the described conditions.”

No charging cable in the trunk. Tesla says it plainly: “Charging equipment does not come standard with every Tesla vehicle.” If you ordered a connector with the car, check that it arrived with the car. If you did not, sort out home charging before the battery runs low; what a home charger costs to install is the place to start.

What to do in the first two weeks

• Collect the paperwork. “You will receive your Monroney Label (window sticker) when you take delivery of your new Tesla vehicle.” The purchase documents arrive later in your Tesla Account, where “Signed documents will be visible under the ‘Documents’ section.”
• Decide on windshield cover inside 14 days. A new-car buyer is “eligible to subscribe to the WPP within 14 days after taking delivery,” and after that you can become eligible through a Tesla inspection or a windshield replaced by Tesla. The plan covers “the front windshield only.” Whether the plan beats your insurance deductible is worked through on the windshield replacement cost page.
• Book service for anything that does not work. Use the Tesla app.
• Set a daily charge limit. The right number depends on which battery your car has; the charge limit guide shows how to check.
• Go easy on accessories. Which Tesla accessories are worth buying separates the useful ones from the rest, and the Tesla owner’s guide collects everything else by question.

Frequently asked questions

What should you check when picking up a Tesla?

Paint, glass, general fit and interior surfaces first, because Tesla’s warranty lists paint defects, glass chipped for a reason other than a defect, and “General appearance” among the things it does not cover. Then read the VIN off the dashboard and confirm it and the options match your order, the key card unlocks the car, and anything you ordered with the car is in it.

How long does Tesla delivery day take?

Tesla’s pages give steps, not minutes. For a pickup they are: check in, sign and pay and accept in the app, unlock the car with the app, and explore the car’s features with its videos. The inspection is your addition, so allow time for it before the accept step.

Can you reschedule a Tesla delivery?

Yes, in the Tesla app, unless the appointment is within the next 48 hours. The Order Agreement separately says that for a pickup in a state where Tesla is licensed to sell, you agree to take delivery within three days of the date Tesla expects the car to be ready, and that if you have not taken delivery within fourteen days of Tesla’s first attempt to notify you, Tesla may cancel a new-vehicle order and keep the Order Fee.

Can you pay for a Tesla with a credit card at delivery?

No. Tesla’s page says “Credit cards are not accepted for final payment.”

Does a new Tesla come with a charger?

Not automatically. “Charging equipment does not come standard with every Tesla vehicle.”

Can you pick up your Tesla at a different location?

Not with the same car once one is assigned. Tesla says you “may be assigned a vehicle within a 90-minute drive from your delivery address,” and that after a VIN is assigned the car cannot be moved; if you cannot collect it there, Tesla “will need to find a new vehicle to assign to your order, which may significantly impact your estimated delivery window.”

The one rule

Delivery is the day the warranty starts and the day a cosmetic flaw becomes your word against the road. Do what the app allows early so the appointment itself has room for a slow walk around the car.

Sources (8)

• tesla.com Tesla Support: Tesla Delivery Day
• tesla.com Tesla Support: Taking Delivery
• tesla.com Tesla Support: After Taking Delivery
• digitalassets.tesla.com Tesla: New Vehicle Limited Warranty, North America (effective 2026-09-01)
• tesla.com Motor Vehicle Order Agreement, Terms & Conditions (v. 20220915 en_US)
• tesla.com Tesla Model 3 Owner's Manual (PDF, software 2026.32)
• tesla.com Tesla Support: Windshield Protection Plan
• basenor.com Tesla Delivery Day Inspection Checklist