Model 3 orders include 1- year deliverywait, but no haggling

received nearly 400,000 refundable deposits, and those people are first in line to buy the car when it’s available. TheModel S, by contrast, arrives within 30 to 60 days after ordering.

“If you’re in the market for a new car now, can you wait another year or 18 months? You’ve got to give some thought to that,” said David Bennett, manager of automotive programs and car- buying expert for AAA. “Anytime you’re buying a car, are you expecting any life changes within the next year, three, five years? And if so, you want to plan ahead thinking of those.”

Here are several key things to keep in mind when deciding whether to place an order.

You can buy the car online or at

a Tesla store. Tesla does not operate traditional car dealerships. Instead, the company sells vehicles directly to consumers. You can customize your car on the website or in the store with help from a Tesla employee.

There’s no haggling. There’s no negotiating on price. It’s fixed. But few people will pay only $ 35,000 because optional features are expected to add costs. “What I tell people is don’t think $ 35,000 is all you need to buy the car,” Kelley Blue Book executive publisher Karl Brauer said. “That’s the base price. If you want more options, it will go up from there.”

Make sure you understand the tax break. Many buyers will qualify for the $ 7,500 federal tax credit on electric cars and possibly state incentives, such as credits available in California. But it’s important to understand that you must pay the full price up front. The tax benefits come on your next return.

Budget for the insurance and consider gas savings. Bennett said many new- car buyers forget that their new vehicle will likely be more expensive to insure than their older model.

Consider your service options. The automaker is adding 100 new service centers and 350 new mobile vans to provide service where owners are living or working. But Brauer warned that many Americans live far from service centers and may not be easily reachable by mobile technicians. For now, the company has no service centers in about half of the states.

Don’t forget you’ll have to pay to use Tesla’s charging network. Charging up at Tesla’s growing network of thousands of supercharging units throughout the country will cost per use.

MostModel S owners can charge for free. Anyone who charges at home will pay the cost of locally generated electricity.

Initial qualitymight be lacking. Tesla has acknowledged missteps in early manufacturing processes, including with the Model X, which the company said “has been fairly criticized” for the “production quality and field reliability.”

With the Model 3, Tesla is “shortcutting the durability and quality testing” procedures that typical manufacturers carry out, Brauer said. Instead, the company is conducting digital tests. “There’s potential issues there,” Brauer said.

It will get you most places on a single charge. The Model 3’ s battery allows the vehicle to travel about 215 miles, though actual performance varies based on driving patterns and weather.

That’s about double the mileage of the Nissan Leaf electric vehicle, which starts at $ 30,680. It’s short of the Chevrolet Bolt’s 238 miles. uThe Model S is more luxurious. Tesla has taken steps to differentiate the two vehicles.

The Model 3’ s trunk opens manually, while the Model S gets a powered rear liftgate. The Model 3 has one 15inch center touchscreen console, while theModel S gets a 17- inch touchscreen console and a digital instrument panel. The Model S has a high- efficiency particulate air filtration system, sophisticated suspension design, “auto- presenting” door handles and optional 21- inch performance wheels. The Model 3 does not have any of those features.