How-to

How to apply a Tesla referral code at checkout (2026, step by step)

By Elena Marsh · EV buyer's advocate · Published March 4, 2026 · updated July 10, 2026

Tesla Model S Parade during first deliveries to retail customers at Tesla Factory in Fremont, California — Photo: “Tesla Model S first deliveries” by Flickr user jurvetson (Tim Draper/Steve Jurvetson) — CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Illustrative free-licence photograph — not a Tesla press image.

I've ordered on the referral flow more than once and walked readers through theirs. Here's the exact sequence for 2026 — including the one step almost everyone skips.

Step 1 — Click the referral link before anything else

The benefit attaches to your session the moment you open a valid ts.la/… link. If you build your car first and add a code later, you'll likely miss out: Tesla can't apply a referral once your order number exists. So click first, then design.

A verified link to start from Opens Tesla's official store with the code attached.

Open Tesla with the code applied →

The code is in the toolbar above (tap Copy). This referral link opens Tesla's official store with the benefit attached — always confirm it shows in your order summary before you pay. We may earn Tesla Credits; it costs you nothing.

Step 2 — Configure your Model 3, Y or eligible Cybertruck

Pick paint, wheels, interior and options as normal. The referral rides along in the background; you don't need to do anything special here.

Step 3 — Find the Referral Code field at checkout

On the order/payment step, the code should already be shown because you clicked the link. If it isn't, there's a Referral Code field — paste it there. Remember: one referral per transaction, and a solar order is separate from a vehicle order.

Step 4 — Confirm the reward in the order summary

This is your only reliable check. Before you place the order, make sure your market's reward shows: the FSD trial (US/Canada), free Supercharging (UK/EU), or the discount (Australia). If it isn't there, don't place the order — start again from the link.

What to do when step 4 fails

"Start again from the link" is the right instruction, but it is not much help on its own — and this is the point in the flow where readers actually write to us. If the reward is not showing in the order summary, the cause is almost always one of these, and each has a different fix:

You configured before opening the link. The most common cause by far, and it includes resuming a build you saved days earlier. A saved configuration carries the state it was created in. Open the link fresh and start the configuration again rather than reopening the saved one.
The session lost the attribution somewhere in the middle. Switching device, switching between the app and a browser, a private/incognito window, or aggressive tracking protection can all break the chain between opening the link and reaching checkout. Do the whole sequence in one ordinary browser session on one device.
The code itself is no longer valid. Codes stop working — an owner's annual cap, a closed account. If a link produces nothing on a clean session, the code is the suspect, not your browser. Use a different one.
Your market does not offer what you were expecting. The reward differs by country, and it is not offered on every product or every trim. Before concluding something is broken, check what your own market's reward actually is — an absent FSD trial in a market that gives Supercharging credit is not a failure, it is the correct behaviour.

What none of these has is a fix that happens after payment. That is the whole reason this check sits before the order button rather than after it: every cause above is cheap to correct while you are still on the configurator, and none of them is correctable once an order number exists.

The step almost everyone skips

Here it is, and it takes five seconds: screenshot the order summary showing the benefit, before you pay. Include the date if your device stamps it.

The reasoning is simple. Everything else in this flow is recorded somewhere you do not control — the benefit is granted after delivery, sometimes weeks after, and by then the screen that showed it is long gone. A dated screenshot is the only record of that moment that belongs to you. In the ordinary case you will never look at it again; in the case where the benefit does not appear as expected, it is the difference between describing what you remember and showing what was displayed.

It is also the cheapest possible insurance in this entire process. Nothing else on this page costs nothing and takes no time, which is precisely why we have made it a numbered habit rather than a footnote.

That's it. No account, no code that "unlocks more", no dark patterns. The reward is added on top and the car's price is unchanged.

See what the reward is worth where you live on your country page, or read code vs link.

Questions this raises

Can I apply a Tesla referral code after ordering?

No. Tesla cannot attach a referral once a Reservation Number exists. Click the link before you configure.

Do I paste the code or click a link?

Either works, but clicking the link is safer — there's nothing to mistype, and it pre-fills the code for you.