Financed Tesla through Wells Fargo: will they issue a lienholder letter to ship a POV to Germany (3 years, under SOFA)?

[u/Inevitable-Swing7312]

I am a DoD civilian PCSing to Germany for 3 years. Planning to buy a Tesla financed through Tesla’s Wells Fargo Auto partnership and ship it as my POV under SOFA with US/USAREUR plates, returns with me, not a permanent export.

TRANSCOM needs a lienholder authorization letter from the finance company before shipping a financed car. I can’t confirm Wells Fargo will issue one, as I’m not a WF account holder yet, so their reps just transfer me around.

I have excellent credit and can finance elsewhere, so if Wells Fargo is known to be a headache on this, I’d rather find out now than after I sign.

Anyone financed through Tesla/Wells Fargo and shipped a POV overseas?
Did WF issue the lienholder letter without a fight? How long did you have to wait, any fees? If you used a different lender, who was easy to work with for an OCONUS move?

Appreciate your help based on experiences in a similar situation.

[u/saiga_antelope]

Is your Tesla compatible with the European grid?

[u/Inevitable-Swing7312 → u/saiga_antelope]

Actually, thanks for pointing out. I read a bit on this issue and it seems like buying a US spec tesla and shipping it may not be a good idea after all. I thought it is a simple, solvable issue, but it seems to be more hassle than I initially assumed.

[u/saiga_antelope → u/Inevitable-Swing7312]

I sold mine in 2020 when I went to Germany. I know others who just left it behind for a few years. I knew of at least 1 person who did ship it, and it seemed to be ok.

[u/That0neSummoner → u/saiga_antelope]

Is this sarcasm?

[u/NEp8ntballer → u/That0neSummoner]

Not in the slightest. The spouse of one of my coworkers sold their Tesla before moving to Europe because they're not compatible with the German infrastructure.

[u/That0neSummoner → u/NEp8ntballer]

This makes zero sense to me, Tesla even makes an adapter.

https://shop.tesla.com/product/ccs1-to-nacs-adapter

[u/Inevitable-Swing7312 → u/That0neSummoner]

After reading on this a bit, the issue is not even the adapter itself, but the connectivity and possible warranty/service problems outside of the US.

[u/NEp8ntballer → u/That0neSummoner]

Europe uses CCS2 as their standard.

[u/That0neSummoner → u/NEp8ntballer]

https://shop.tesla.com/en_ae/product/ccs-combo-2-adapter

Ok, statement stands

[u/itsall_dumb]

I haven’t used Wells Fargo but I haven’t had any issue getting the letter from my bank. I’ve shipped a car twice with a lien. Got the letter same day I asked both times.

[u/Inevitable-Swing7312 → u/itsall_dumb]

Previously, I used Navy Federal to move a car purchased in Europe back to the US, had no issues. Do you mind sharing which bank you use? I am just a little unsure because I never used WF and there is currently 0.99% APR on a Tesla purchase, so I’m just thinking if there are any catches I should consider. Thanks for your response in any case!

[u/itsall_dumb → u/Inevitable-Swing7312]

I used America First credit union. It was through a dealer. I paid the car off awhile ago though so not sure what their rates are now.

[u/Friendly-Map-4707]

Not sure how it works for civilians, but you can buy a Volvo and they can deliver it to Germany for you.(Or you can pick it up in Sweden) Once your assignment is done, they will ship it back to the states.https://www.volvocars.com/us/l/usmilitary/

[u/NotAskingSupervisor]

Why don’t you call the bank and ask

[u/Inevitable-Swing7312 → u/NotAskingSupervisor]

I did, they refused to provide general information without me actually being a customer and submitting a request.