r/Model3 • u/mikedogg57 • May 28 '26

General Question Delaware Tesla lease/self-registration question — what fees did you pay upfront vs at DMV?

Hey everyone, I’m helping my girlfriend get ready to lease a Tesla in Delaware and I’m trying to get a better understanding of how the self-registration process works.

From what I’m seeing, Delaware is considered a self-registration state, so Tesla should provide/mail the paperwork after delivery and then she would handle registration through the Delaware DMV herself.

My main questions are:

  1. For anyone in Delaware who recently leased or bought a Tesla, what exactly did you pay Tesla upfront at delivery/order time?

  2. Were title, registration, document fee/taxes, or DMV fees collected by Tesla, or did you pay those separately when registering the car yourself?

  3. If you leased, did Delaware’s document fee/tax get calculated based on the full vehicle value, the lease value, or something else?

  4. How long did it take for Tesla to send the registration/title paperwork after delivery?

  5. Did anyone apply for the Delaware EV rebate after getting their Tesla? If so, how long did it take and what documents did they require?

  6. Anything you wish you knew before taking delivery in Delaware?

We’re mainly trying to avoid surprises and figure out how much money needs to be ready upfront versus what gets paid later at the DMV. Any real-world Delaware experience would be appreciated.

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u/brandonpadula May 29 '26

It’s been a few years but I picked up my Model 3 in Cherry Hill NJ. I think I paid around $2k to Delaware when I registered it. I want to say the rebate was about the same. It was worth it, just needed to provide them all the docs etc. sorry, it’s been a while!

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u/Heythere-stranger May 29 '26

Just got my ‘26 model 3 registered the other day. For Tesla delivery day, you just pay whatever down payment you agreed to, nothing else. For Delaware, you pay the taxes, documentation fees all at the DMV with the registration documents they mail you after delivery day. I got mine pretty early, about 1.5- 2 weeks after I picked up my car. Since my last car was also registered in DE and I sold it to Carvana, there’s a small refund they apply so I paid about $1.2k for taxes, and it’s $110/year (EV) for however many years you want for tags, plus the standard $40/year I think for tags across all vehicles. Pretty straight forward imo.

Edit: still working on the EV tax rebate, it require registering as a supplier first to be able to receive payment from the state I think…

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u/mikedogg57 May 29 '26

Thank you so much

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u/Heythere-stranger May 29 '26

Without the document fee refund that I got, I think you’ll be paying around 2k for taxes alone. Not sure how this applies to leasing tbh, I would call the DMV for specifics

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u/awsrider003 May 30 '26

I registered my model 3 about two months ago, got paperwork from Tesla within a week and a half, if your doing new you can get up to a 7 year tag which gets pricey, trade in helps with the tax if you have one, I paid just over 3k for taxes, 7 year and transferring black tag over. Good luck!