Tesla Offering FSD Transfer Yet Again (Quietly)

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Last year, for one quarter, Elon Musk seemingly conceded (somewhat) to what Full Self Driving (FSD) purchasers had been requesting for years, that their FSD package automatically transfer to a new Tesla when they bought a new Tesla. The vibe at the time it was announced was basically, Oh, fine, we’ve been asked this multiple times, we’ll do it one time — but just this once. The transfer had to be made in the 3rd quarter of 2023. That is, the new Tesla had to be delivered at that time. And Tesla owners would never get the opportunity to do this again.

Of course, the transfer option also seemed to be an effort to stimulate more sales. Tesla had started rolling out more and more incentives to new vehicle buyers. Because I saw consumer demand as a growing concern and FSD transfer as an easy way to try to stimulate more sales, I did figure Tesla would bring it back — and said so at the time.

Also, frankly, I think it should be offered anyway until FSD achieves what it was supposed to achieve by the end of 2020 — robotaxi capability, technically. Just using my case as an example, my 2019 Tesla Model 3 was bought at a time when Musk said FSD would achieve this technical capability within a year and a half. The car is now more than 5 years old. If I sell it/trade it in, the car never achieves what it was supposed to achieve. Of course, missed targets are missed targets, fine print is fine print, and one had to take Elon Musk’s “certainty” with a grain of salt, but the product was sold with a promised future capability. If someone with a 2018, 2019, or 2020 wants to get a new Tesla, at the very least, their purchase of FSD should roll over into that new car until Tesla actually achieves what it was supposed to achieve by the end of 2020. (I forget now how long claims of certainty about this went on before Musk started being a little more cautious with his claims — maybe through 2021 or 2022?)

Tesla did end up bringing back the “free” FSD transfer earlier this year for deliveries made by the end of March 31, 2024. Again, it was claimed this would be the last time it would be offered.

Then, someone shouted out a request for one more quarter of this during the 2024 annual Tesla shareholder meeting, and Musk conceded to allowing the policy to run for “one more quarter,” Q3 2024.

Well, here we are and it appears you can get a free transfer of your FSD package if you buy a new Tesla by the end of the year (take delivery by December 31, 2024). Unlike previously, when the news was made via a statement from Elon Musk, the information comes to us via an update to a Tesla support page. Perhaps a broader announcement is simply planned. Many of these marketing efforts to stimulate new car sales now come via email, so I assume I will receive an email about this in coming weeks — or at least toward the end of the quarter when Tesla is trying to pull people into new cars. We’ll see.

Personally, I’m happy this is happening because, as I explained above, I think it should be the policy by default until FSD has achieved robotaxi capability — even if not robotaxi approval. However, I do think it’s all about stimulating sales, and if the offer doesn’t seem to get people to buy new Teslas any longer, I wouldn’t be surprised if Tesla didn’t provide the option any longer.

I know some Tesla owners who bought a new Tesla in one of those previous quarters in order to transfer FSD capability feel tricked and are upset about it. Overall, though, I think many would agree this should be the default policy, no matter what was said previously — or, actually, because of what was said repeatedly for years.