No, the rebate is paid at point of sale to the purchaser of said vehicle, not to the dealership, and not to Tesla.
>So yes it is suspicious.
So it is not suspicious.
>Especially considering that the Model Y starts much more expensive then it's competitors like the Mach E, the Ioniq 5, the EV6, the Equinox/Blazer, and Prologue.
It's not that much more in price, and it's a much better vehicle than anything Ford or Chevrolet makes.
>Whether anything comes of it or not is an entirely different matter because there are ways of doing this that do not violate the letter of the law.
Nothing will come up because nothing happened. Consumers went on a buying spree because the rebate was quickly coming to a close.
https://tc.canada.ca/en/road-transportation/innovative-techn...
========================================= To get reimbursed:
Log into the ZEV application, select the selling dealership, and go to the “I want to view all iZEV requests submitted for this dealership/authorized seller.” Then search the Service Request ID # of the Eligibility Assessed request and upload the sales/lease agreement and the Incentive Received Form. Make sure that all documents are complete and include all signatures and information required.
[...]
iZEV Online Application: request status
[...]
Rebate Sent
The dealership has been sent a payment, and you'll be notified by email. This email will include the payment amount, the service request ID and the Vehicle Identification Number. Some banks may take up to 5 business days to deposit the funds into your account.
========================================
Straight from the horses mouth; the dealership is reimbursed. The buyer pays a lower out of pocket price. It makes no sense to have the reimbursement go to the owners directly as part of the point of sale. Transport Canada would need have to have electronic payment systems setup for every EV buyer along with all the privacy and financial handling headaches that such a government system entails.
>It's not that much more in price, and it's a much better vehicle than anything Ford or Chevrolet makes.
The Mach E starts at $58,000. The Ioniq 5 at $55,000. The EV6 at $56,000, the Aryia at $52,000, and the ID4 at $44,000.
The Model Y start at $65,000. It's a significant chunk of change even for middle class Canadians.
>Nothing will come up because nothing happened. Consumers went on a buying spree because the rebate was quickly coming to a close.
Maybe, maybe not. There's also ways that I could see this legitimately happening. But at the end of the day it's still highly unusual behaviour that bears further scrutiny. Also known as the being suspicious.
It is paid to the buyer, but collected by the dealership. Buyers are those who qualify to receive it. Straight from the horse's mouth:
"There is a limit to how many incentives Canadians and Canadian organizations can receive for the purchase or lease of eligible vehicles under the iZEV Program, in a calendar year: Individuals are eligible for one incentive"
"Individuals are eligible", not dealerships. Dealerships collect the reimbursement, but the individuals must qualify. If you qualify and he dealer didn't discount the car, they owe you the rebate:
"If you didn't receive the incentive on an eligible ZEV purchased or leased on or after the date listed on the eligibility vehicle list, please contact the dealership to verify if they are enrolled in the Program. If they are enrolled, they may reimburse you the maximum eligible incentive amount (this is usually reimbursed by cheque)."
https://tc.canada.ca/en/road-transportation/innovative-techn...
No matter how hard you try to rationalize it, 1,200 sales in one day at a single dealer just as the dealers become aware that the program is about to run through its' funds is suspicious.
Doubly so with a company whose lawyers argue in court you can't believe what their CEO says, that holds onto deposits for 7 years for a "coming-soon-car", and whose cars never surprises to the upside on mileage.
Had to stamp out the fake news with reality.
>No matter how hard you try to rationalize it, 1,200 sales in one day at a single dealer just as the dealers become aware that the program is about to run through its' funds is suspicious.
Facts and reality don't require rationalization. It's only suspicious if you get your news from reddit. Dealers don't qualify for the rebate, buyers do. The Canadian government announced to everyone the program was ending. It hit the news.
>Doubly so with a company whose lawyers argue in court you can't believe what their CEO says
Did you get this fake news from reddit perhaps?
>that holds onto deposits for 7 years for a "coming-soon-car
Customers can get they deposits back at any time they please.
>whose cars never surprises to the upside on mileage.
LLM hallucination?
A difference without distinction. From the financial point of view, the cheque goes from the Government of Canada to the dealership. Whether the dealership then cuts another cheque or simply discounts the vehicle $5000 is irrelevant because in either case the money has to enter the dealership's coffers.
Now AFAIK adding in the rebate directly as a discount into the bill of sale is the modus operandi of Tesla and other dealerships in Canada that were participating in the iZEV. And that's why I don't think it's impossible that this is legitimate.
If Tesla sold inventory for the previous years and applied the discounts on the bills of sale, but then didn't get around to filing the paperwork until now near the end of the rebate... well that would explain why the sudden rush to get the paperwork done when the pause was announced. Other dealerships were doing something similar and are now out of pocket for their procrastination.
Now it's a little odd to me why a company as tech savvy as Tesla wouldn't have automated the filling of the forms. But I could see that just being due to to mismanagement and potentially also why the store managers refused to comment to CTVNews when they came asking about it.
The idea that people were rushing out to Tesla's website to buy isn't impossible either but Tesla's never been shy about bragging about good sales performance. The fact that the storage lots near the Toronto or Montreal are also quite full doesn't exactly help sell that story either.
Now it's also possible that this is borderline fraud. It's only $330 to establish a numbered company in Ontario, so hypothetically if someone had $3 million or so to create 8600 numbered companies, those holding companies could in 'buy' a Tesla that qualifies under the iZEV for a $5000 reimbursement. Technically that is not illegal on it's own, and money doesn't have to flow anywhere. And actual buyers would still be buying a new car.
It's also possible that it's just outright fraud and Tesla just submitted forms for sales that never happened. There's nothing on the Transport Canada forms that require only a name of the purchaser and then a make, model, and year of the vehicle, so it'd be trivial to just put falsified information into the forms.
Whatever the reality is, it's still suspicious, and bears further scrutiny. Especially given how politically delicate government funds flowing to Tesla is right now.
It's a huge difference. Dealerships cannot just make a claim and collect the money. It's not theirs, even though they collect it.
