Elon Musk Says Tesla Will Remove The Vehicle Order Online Payment Processing Fee

Tesla's unique direct-to-consumer sales approach has been a significant contributor to the company's success. And today, in keeping up with its innovative approach, Elon Musk has announced that Tesla will be removing the vehicle order online payment processing fee.

Buying a vehicle can be one of the most stressful purchases in people’s lives. It’s common practice for car buyers to spend hours at the dealership haggling over prices, ensuring they’re not being swindled with pointless options or undue dealership markups.

The car buying process is actually so unpleasant and rife with falsehoods and misrepresentations that car salespeople are ranked one of the worst professionals in terms of their ethics.

In order to avoid the unpleasantness of going to a dealership, and control the vehicle buying experience end-to-end, Tesla from early on in the company’s history has chosen to do away with dealership networks and sell its vehicles directly to consumers.

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Tesla achieves this direct-to-consumer approach by running its own showrooms and selling its vehicles online. Tesla’s online vehicle sales approach gives prospective buyers the peace of mind that they are getting the best possible deal.

Tesla's unique sales approach has been a significant contributor to the company's success. And unlike traditional automakers, since Tesla does not rely on dealership networks to sell its vehicles, it allows for greater control over the customer experience and provides an unmatched vehicle purchase environment.

Purchasing a Tesla online also affords people the luxury to make a better decision when buying a vehicle as individuals are not put in a high-stress environment where they have to make a decision right there and then.

This direct-to-consumer model eliminates the need for haggling over prices and has enabled Tesla to expand its sales locations more efficiently and strategically than its competitors. Tesla’s success in this regard has been so profound that legacy automakers have even started to dismantle their dealership networks in lieu of a direct-to-consumer model.

This fact puts Tesla in a league of its own when it comes to the vehicle purchase experience however, no matter how good Tesla’s online sales are, there is always room for improvement.

And one such area that Tesla can improve the online vehicle purchase experience was recently highlighted by Elon Musk. In a recent tweet, Musk announced that Tesla will be removing the online payment processing fee it charges customers when buying a car.

Although the fee is small and is only $11.85, a Twitter user noticed the fee in the breakdown of his new Model Y order and reached out to Elon Musk stating that an online payment processing fee doesn't make sense in 2023. Musk agreed with the Twitter user saying, "No, that’s silly. Will fix it."

The extra $11.85 surely won’t make any difference when purchasing something as expensive as a vehicle, however, it’s still nonetheless nice to see Tesla and Elon Musk, despite how big the company has grown, still being receptive to customer criticisms.

As of writing, Tesla has yet to remove the online payment processing fee however, we’ll be sure to keep you posted when Tesla makes the change. Until then, make sure to visit our site torquenews.com/Tesla regularly for the latest updates.

So what do you think? Excited to learn Tesla will be eliminating the online processing fee? Also, do you have any dealership experience stories? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

Image: Courtesy of Tesla

For more information check out: Elon Musk Says Tesla FSD Beta v12 will be ‘End-to-End AI from Images In to Steering, Brakes & Acceleration Out’

Tinsae Aregay has been following Tesla and The evolution of the EV space on a daily basis for several years. He covers everything about Tesla from the cars to Elon Musk, the energy business, and autonomy. Follow Tinsae on Twitter at @TinsaeAregay for daily Tesla news.