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How to reserve your $35,000 Tesla Model 3 when it launches on Thursday

Tesla Model S

Image Credit: Tesla Motors
Tesla Model 3 Reservation Agreement

Above: Tesla Model 3 Reservation Agreement

We’re pretty much expecting Tesla Model 3 enthusiasm to build to a fever pitch over the coming week.

Thursday, Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk will reveal the design of the $35,000, 200-mile electric car that the company plans to use to vault itself into sales of hundreds of thousands of cars a year.

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And reservations will open Thursday morning, even before the car is unveiled late that night in Hawthorne, California.

Now we have a first look at the Reservation Agreement that depositors will be asked to sign when they put down $1,000 to get a place in line for future Model 3 production.

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Found on the Tesla Motors website by an eager electric-car enthusiast, the two-page PDF form is dated March 16.

Above: 2012 Tesla Model S

The text, much of it legal boilerplate about the nature of the document—it’s specifically not a contract of sale—notes that Tesla has “sole discretion” over the priority of orders.

The company has already said that existing Tesla owners will get higher priority in the Model 3 queue than new buyers.

It notes that Tesla Motors will contact the signer “as the Model 3 enters production” to formalize the order.

Some of the most interesting text is in the acknowledgements section, which reads:

You understand that Tesla may not have completed the development of Model 3 or begun manufacturing Model 3 at the time of your reservation.

You also acknowledge that, if you purchase a Model 3, the Model 3 may not be delivered to you until the end of 2017 or later.

You also agree that we will not hold your Reservation Payment separately or in an escrow or trust fund or pay any interest on Reservation Payments.

The document in question has a Florida address at the bottom.

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It’s not clear whether all reservations will be made with that entity, or whether different states will have different contracts.

[hat tip: Mary Demarest-Paraan]

This post first appeared on Green Car Reports.

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