One of your Tesla’s most convenient features is its accessibility through the Tesla app. From accessing your Tesla’s records, updates, subscriptions, charging access, and even your Tesla’s door locks, the ability to track and access your vehicle has never been easier.
However, when it comes time to move on from your old Tesla to a new vehicle, you’ll no longer need access to all that data. Fortunately, the Tesla ownership transfer process is fairly straightforward, though there are several issues that can crop up if you don’t initiate an ownership transfer at the right time.
How do you transfer a Tesla from your account to someone else? Let’s dive right in:
A quick disclaimer here: we are not Tesla, a lender, a DMV, a lawyer, or a tax advisor. These are our thoughts on practices we’ve found work best, but you need to be sure to do your own due diligence for payment, title transfer, loan payoff, taxes, state requirements, and Tesla account access. We highly recommend using our partner KeySavvy to reduce risk when buying or selling used EVs from a private party.
Step 1: Finalizing the Sale (Do This First!)
First things first, never transfer a Tesla until the sale of the car is finalized. If you are selling privately, this means that you should not transfer ownership of the vehicle unless you are passing over the Tesla’s title to the new owner and all payment arrangements have been completed. Or, if you are shipping your Tesla, do not transfer ownership until the vehicle has been handed off to the shipping company.
Transferring a Tesla too soon can mean that the seller will be unable to access the vehicle without the Tesla’s key card or key fob. As a seller, you may also lose the ability to charge your Tesla at a Supercharger (a situation which has put several sellers into an awkward position while handing off the vehicle).
And what happens if a buyer backs out of the sale after the transfer has already been initiated in the Tesla app? Tesla requires you to submit proof of ownership to reassign your vehicle to your account, and this process can take anywhere from 3-5 business days (or longer, in some cases).
We’ll say it one more time for emphasis, do NOT transfer a Tesla to a new owner until after the sale has been finalized.
Before you initiate a transfer, you’ll need to take one more crucial step for keeping a seller’s personal data from mixing with a buyer’s data. We’ll cover that step in the next section:
Step 2: Removing Personal Data
After your sale is finalized and you are ready to hand your Tesla over to the new owner, you’ll want to wipe all of your personal data from inside the vehicle. This will remove your credit card information, streaming account info, map data, garage codes, driver profiles, and other personal information so that the new owner starts their Tesla experience with a clean slate (and none of your login info).
For a full factory reset, use the main touchscreen menu inside the Tesla and navigate to:
Service -> Factory Reset
You’ll be asked to log in to your Tesla account and to confirm the reset. Note: you cannot undo a factory reset once it is completed.
After the request for a reset is confirmed, your Tesla will cycle through a power down and restart/reboot. The restart/reboot cycle may occur more than once before the process is complete.
Once the reset is finished, your driver profile should be missing from the touchscreen.
For a full discussion on Tesla factory resets, be sure to check out our previous article: How to Clear and Reset Your Tesla.
Step 3: Transferring a Tesla to the New Owner
After you’ve finalized the sale of a Tesla and done a full factory reset, the steps to transferring ownership are pretty straightforward. You can initiate a transfer through your Tesla account online, but the easiest way to transfer your Tesla ownership is in the app.
Make sure you’ve updated your Tesla app to the most recent version before you continue.
Seller Transfer of Tesla Ownership
The first step to transferring ownership is for you (as a seller) to remove the Tesla from your app. To complete these steps, you’ll need your buyer’s name and email address.
- In the top-right corner of the Tesla app, select the menu
- Go to My Products
- Select the Tesla you’d like to remove
- Select Remove or Transfer Ownership
- Follow the on-screen prompts to finish the transfer request
Tesla Transfer Instructions for Buyers
When you buy a Tesla from a private seller, you can accept the transfer of that Tesla via an email link that Tesla will send you after the seller’s transfer request. You can use the link in the email to set up an account if you don’t have one already.
However, in the situation where you buy a vehicle from a dealer or third party who has not initiated a transfer through the app, you can claim your Tesla by following these steps:
- Ensure that you have access to both Wi-Fi and your Tesla.
- Download the Tesla app and set up an account. Or, if you already have the app, make sure to download the most recent version
- Have your Tesla’s VIN, bill of sale, title/registration paperwork, and any other supporting documents handy
- In the top-right corner of the Tesla app, select the menu
- Select My Products -> Add Product
- Follow the on-screen instructions
How Long Does It Take to Transfer Tesla Ownership?
According to Tesla, ownership transfer requests typically take 3-5 business days to process. However, if both the buyer and the seller have a Tesla account already and the seller initiates the transfer correctly, the buyer may be able to accept the transfer much faster.
Claiming ownership of your Tesla through the app without a seller-initiated transfer should not take too much longer than the 3-5 business day window we’ve already mentioned, but in some cases it may take longer. This will greatly depend on whether you’ve submitted all of the supporting paperwork for the transfer and whether Tesla needs anything else from the previous owner.
Note: during the waiting period while the transfer is processed, you will need to make sure you have either the key card or key fob with you to drive your vehicle.
What Features Transfer with a Tesla?
Non-subscription features, such as legacy fully-purchased Full Self-Driving (FSD) and Enhanced Autopilot (EAP), are typically tied to the vehicle and may transfer with the vehicle as ownership changes.
Tesla FSD transfer can be tricky depending on when the vehicle was purchased, how access to FSD was granted, whether it was paid-in-full or subscription-based, and whether the car is being sold privately, traded in, or sold through another channel. We cover some of these scenarios here.
In some cases, Unlimited Free Supercharging is also transferable. We cover a number of known free Supercharging transfer scenarios in this article.
Premium Connectivity is also transferable for some earlier Model S, Model X, and Model 3 vehicles. However, most vehicles purchased after 2018 will not have a transferable version of Premium Connectivity.
The important thing here is to verify the actual vehicle before assuming anything. Check the Tesla app, the vehicle touchscreen, the original purchase documents if available, and any current Tesla account information tied to that VIN.
What Features will NOT Transfer with a Tesla?
In most cases, Tesla Supercharging credits, subscriptions, trials, and account-based benefits will not transfer as the vehicle’s ownership changes hands. Tesla keeps most of these “intangibles” tied to each owner’s account and does not usually permit their transfer.
In vehicles purchased after 2018, Premium Connectivity is also generally non-transferable.
Current Full Self-Driving (Supervised) subscriptions are also different from older paid-in-full FSD. A subscription gives the current account access while active; it should not be treated like a permanent feature that automatically adds the same resale value as legacy paid-in-full FSD.
Can You Transfer a Tesla Lease?
While the details of ending or transferring a lease on a Tesla are always subject to the lease agreement that was signed at the beginning of the lease period, you may be able to transfer a leased Tesla to a new lease holder.
For vehicles leased by Tesla, your lease must still have more than 12 months left for a transfer to be valid. If you have already located a potential leaseholder, you can initiate a screening for them through the app.
For more information on current Tesla lease transfer conditions and procedures, see Tesla’s article “Ending Your Lease Early.”
However, subscriptions or Supercharging credits that you purchased while leasing will not be transferable to the new lease holder.
Can You Transfer Tesla Reservations?
The short answer to whether or not Tesla allows the transfer of a new vehicle reservation is no. A reservation is not a claim to ownership, so you cannot transfer the ownership of a reserved Tesla.
When Tesla uses a reservation system for new vehicle releases, limited launches, or early production windows, that reservation is meant to hold a place for the original potential buyer only. If Tesla discovers that you have attempted to transfer a reservation by means such as transferring your full Tesla account access, your order may be canceled and your account could be restricted from future purchases.
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