Factory pickup/delivery

[Michael Jordan]

I was just thinking about Aptera delivery v. picking it up at the factory. What if Aptera did regional deliveries to start? Find the orders for a geographic area, take a car-hauler full of Apteras to a central location, and deliver the whole hauler-full of Apteras to the local owners. It could be a full-day event with promotions, PR, test drives (if one of the cars is a press car), etc. A delivery in Dallas would serve Houston, San Antonio, Amarillo, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Shreveport, Little Rock, and everyplace in-between within one charge of the 400 mile range version.

[Ron Ledohowski]

I hope you provide access for purchasers (from Canada and U.S.) to do a Fly IN & Fly OUT (DRIVE HOME with their new Aptera) program.

I reserved mine with 1000mi all solar panel, max battery version with tent and all currently available options & accessories. Would love to pick it up charged. Would be a fantastic program and journey PLUS give Canadians an opportunity to do an early personal import too.

[rich garlick]

thats my plan…just phoenix instead…

[Ron Ledohowski]

That would be a blast!

[Michael Rennick]

I’m more than happy to make the drive from SAN to ATL, if that is what it takes.

[Bob Kirchner]

Just be aware that the border procedures for importing a new car to Canada can be difficult for the inexperienced, even if that car has been certified for sale here. It is best to enlist the services of a border broker.

Also some borders are preferable to others by reputation. Some a staffed by humans, others by Vogons.

[ELISABETH SMART]

I plan on doing that with my vehicle. Fly in to San Diego, pick up and drive back to Fairbanks Alaska. Nice road trip!

[Philip Raymond]

Just for my own personal reasons, I’m hoping mine is ready for pick up in January of 2024. A great excuse to fly from Chicago to San Diego and just linger for a few months.

[Joshua Rosen]

I’m assuming that they will just deliver it to your driveway. If they had service centers then doing a central delivery makes sense but they have no plans for service centers and without a permanent location it’s not practical to do deliveries at a central locations, suppose you can’t make it to the designated location on the day of the delivery, then what. The deliveries will have to be directly to peoples driveways or to service partners who act in lieu of dealers.

They will need to do regional events so that people can do test drives but that’s different from deliveries.

[Stefan Obel]

I would modify this idea slightly into a concept of regional showrooms and service centers owned and operated by the company (no middleman dealership involved) similar to how another EV maker is doing it.

[Che McKittrick]

On a related note, I didn’t factor in a delivery charge when I added up total upfront costs of purchasing the Aptera. Given that I’m on the East Coast (DC area), would $500 be a reasonable estimate?

[kerbe2705]

@Che McKittrick You might could get a ballpark figure here… https://roadrunnerautotransport.com/car-shipping-lp

[Eric Quinn]

When I ordered mine it said Free delivery

It will take me 10 days to drive it home🤔

[Rodney Kagy Kagy]

I’m wondering about sales tax in relation to the delivery point. I live in Washington state. For pure electric vehicles the sales tax is waived for a vehicles in the price range of the Aptera. So If it was delivered just over the northern California border, in Oregon, would I then pay the Oregon sales tax, which is zero and then, when I registered it in Washington, I would have the Washington sales tax, which would be waived? Of course a Washington or driveway delivery would be okay, but at least in this case the Oregon delivery might save Aptera some money. It all depends on various state laws and tax structure.

[kerbe2705]

@Rodney Kagy – If you’re ordering online, sales taxes are paid to the state where the order is placed and not to the location from which it is shipped. In other words, if I live in PA and order a refrigerator from CA, I pay PA sales tax. If I travel to CA and buy a refrigerator there I pay the CA sales tax – and I’m not taxed again when I take it back to PA. If I order a refrigerator from CA and then travel there to pick it up, I’ve already paid the PA sales tax when I placed the order. I’m fairly certain the same logic applies…

[John Malcom]

I think that CA taxes the “Vehicle” if it is delivered in the state of CA. When I lived in CO I had a neighbor go to San Francisco to buy a VW at a “Great” deal. He took delivery there and had to pay tax. Then had to pay again when he registered the vehicle in CO. Later he learned that some CA dealers offered a service to drive the car to a state boarder and deliver it in the state on the other side of the boarder thus avoiding the CA tax.

Some on the forum may have some experience with this and can let us know if we take delivery in CA what we will be responsible for.

[Dennis Swaney]

It depends on whether your state and California have a reciprocal tax relationship, meaning they provide credits to each other whenever their residents pay sales tax across state lines. Also, you may be able to avoid paying sales tax in California if you give the dealer proof that you intend to register your car in your home state, such as your driver’s license.

[John Malcom]

OK here is the answer to the question of if you take delivery of a “Car” in CA even if you live in another state.

“Annoyingly, yes.

All vehicles purchased (from a licensed dealer) in california, no matter where the initial registration is done, pays california sales tax on the purchase.

Even if you dont live in california at the time of the purchase, and never intend on registering it in california you must pay california tax.

A few other states do this as well, but california has the highest initial vehicle sales tax in the country.

The good news is, several states have a agreement, where if you paid tax at the transaction, you dont owe tax at the initial titling and registration, if the tax you paid is more then what you owe at that state.Annoyingly, yes.

All vehicles purchased (from a licensed dealer) in california, no matter where the initial registration is done, pays california sales tax on the purchase.

Even if you dont live in california at the time of the purchase, and never intend on registering it in california you must pay california tax.

A few other states do this as well, but california has the highest initial vehicle sales tax in the country.

The good news is, several states have a agreement, where if you paid tax at the transaction, you dont owe tax at the initial titling and registration, if the tax you paid is more then what you owe at that state.”

Found many other references saying the same thing.

Perhaps for those that go to the Aptera location to pick up their vehicle, Aptera can make son sort of an arrangement to help them not pay the tax if from out of state.

[Gabriel Kemeny]

I don’t think Aptera is or has any “dealers” so that part of the CA tax law probably doesn’t apply.

[John Malcom]

I am pretty sure that if Aptera delivers cars to new purchasers directly they will need a dealers license or some exemption from the state as they represent the potential for a significant source of tax revenue. If taking delivery directly from Aptera, Aptera will be processing the title work and temp registration thus dealing directly with the CA DMV. I m sure that Aptera will want to be fully complaint with the applicable laws.

That is an issue for Aptera to determine and resolve. Then Aptera can let us know what conditions apply if we take delivery directly from them in SD.

I am sure Aptera will figure out the best approach.

• This reply was modified 6 months, 2 weeks ago by  John Malcom. Reason: removed formatting controls

[Gabriel Kemeny]

This is from their recently filed annual report to the SEC in the distribution plan:

Regional pre-delivery warehousing in leased facility requires little CAPEX

Aptera Motors Corp 2021 Annual Report 1-K (sec.report)

I think the only question at this point is where that nearest warehouse will be and can you pick it up there.

• This reply was modified 6 months, 2 weeks ago by  Gabriel Kemeny.

[John Voules]

I have purchased used vehicles from many different states…I live in Illinois. I have driven back all of these vehicles, usually I just throw plates from another vehicle to drive home. Once home I take the sales / purchase receipt along with title and then pay my registration & taxes.

If I could pick up my Aptera from the factory,

I would definitely drive it home (maybe not directly). Maybe this would allow me for earlier delivery…I own a Zero motorcycle that I would sell and plates are transferable here in Illinois.

I too plan on driving as much as I can with my tent package.

[Constance Fry]

Will I have the option to pickup my Aptera locally when ready, in order to eliminate shipping costs and possibly receive sooner? Thank you.

[Len Nowak]

They had said it could be an option.

But it us too early for them to elaborate more

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[OZ (It’s OZ, Just OZ)]

Originally they indicated that there might be a discount for taking delivery at the factory.

[Dennis Swaney]

I opted for the 400 mile range and according to Google Maps, the distance from Aptera’s address in Carlsbad, CA to my address in Prescott, AZ varies from 370 miles to 406 miles and will take about 7 hrs. So it looks like I’d have to do the trip in two stages unless the solar panels would add sufficient charging in 7 hours.

[Hee-Choon Lee]

I asked for local pick up even though I live in Georgia. I have family in SoCal that I want to introduce (show off) my Aptera to. Audra replied, “.We can’t wait! That’s a brilliant plan, and we’d love to have you take delivery at the facility. I’ve made a note of this in our system. And we look forward to the adventures you and your Aptera will go on, and for your family to meet your solar electric “dream machine”.” 😀

• This reply was modified 5 months, 2 weeks ago by  Hee-Choon Lee.

[Jon Arryn]

I posed this question to Aptera over a year ago. According to them at the time, I would have to pay Cali registration fees in order to drive it anywhere in California, even if just across a border. In my case AZ. That makes sense legally.

[Dennis Swaney]

California does have temporary permits for picking up a vehicle in CA and taking it out-of-state.

[Roger Tocchetto Tocchetto]

Wow what a great idea! This will make a very fun trip for me. Almost 1,600 miles to Houston, probably 4 days trip. Looking forward to it

[Matthew Kearns]

I’m hoping I can fly (one-way) to San Diego and drive back to Sacramento area ~500 miles. One pitstop for 30 min should give me enough juice to get back home.