New Order, Inventory Car, or Referrer: Tesla's UK Referral Rules Compared
Sam Whitfield, UK EV writer & Tesla owner · published 2026-08-10 · figures checked 2026-07-13.
"Tesla referral" quietly covers three different situations with three different rule sets, and most pages blur them into one paragraph. Separated out, side by side, the differences are exactly what decides what you actually receive.
The three scenarios, compared
| Rule | New order (Model 3/Y) | Inventory car | Referrer (giving out a code) |
|---|---|---|---|
| What's received | 650 free Supercharging miles | £500 off the inventory price | Supercharging and/or Tesla Credits, viewable in the app's Loot Box |
| Vehicle eligibility | New Model 3 or Model Y only | Ex-demo/used inventory stock | Any successful referral, regardless of which model the buyer chose |
| Cap | None published on the buyer side | None published on the buyer side | 10 successful referrals per calendar year, resetting 1 January |
| Expiry | Not time-capped once granted | Not time-capped once granted | 12 months from grant, extendable to a maximum of 36 months with new referrals |
| Applied when | Attached before the order fee is paid; visible on the order summary | Same click-before-pay mechanic | Automatically, once a referred order is completed |
| Source | Tesla UK — Refer and Earn, checked 2026-07-13 | ||
Why the differences matter, one row at a time
What's received is the one buyers ask about most, and it's the row that trips people up: a new Model 3 or Model Y referral is Supercharging energy, not a price cut, while an inventory car's referral genuinely is a straight £500 reduction. Confusing the two leads to buyers expecting a cash discount that a new order was never going to give them.
The cap and expiry rows only bind the referrer, not the buyer. If you're receiving a code, neither limit affects you — they're why a code owner might occasionally be close to their yearly limit, not a reason a code would stop working for you.
"Applied when" looks identical for new orders and inventory cars because it is — same click-first mechanic either way (see our delivery-timeline guide for the full sequence). The referrer's row is passive by comparison: nothing to click, the credit lands automatically once someone else's order completes.
The one rule shared by all three
Every column above traces back to the same mechanic underneath: a referral only counts if it's attached to a genuine, completed order — clicked before payment on the buyer's side, and simply the outcome of someone else's completed order on the referrer's side. Nothing here can be gamed by cap, timing, or vehicle choice alone.
Two scenarios that aren't columns here — and why
The table covers the three cases where a referral does something. It's worth naming the two that get asked about and don't appear, because their absence is the answer rather than an omission.
A used Tesla bought privately or from an independent dealer. There's no Tesla order in this transaction at all — no configurator, no order summary, no account placing an order with Tesla. A referral has nothing to attach to, so no code, however valid, does anything. This is different from a Tesla-sourced inventory car, which is a Tesla order and does sit in the table above. If you're comparing a private used example against an inventory car, the referral belongs on only one side of that comparison.
A lease or salary-sacrifice car ordered through a broker or leasing company. Here the order is placed by the funder in its own name, not by you — and the referral attaches to the ordering party. That means the benefit, if any is created, lands with them rather than with the driver, and you have no screen to check it on. We won't state this as a blanket rule for every funder, because arrangements differ and none of them publish this: the useful move is to ask your broker directly, before the order is placed, whether a referral link can be used and who receives the benefit. Do not assume it transfers to you.
The common thread with the table above is worth holding onto: the referral follows the order, and specifically the account that places it. Once you know who is ordering, you know where the benefit can go.
A verified code for the new-order rules above
steven787345
Copy link copies the whole URL (tesla.com/…) — there is no UK checkout field for a bare code. Open it first, then configure & order; the referral shows in your order summary before payment. Referral disclosure.
This post discloses referral links plainly: they are marked rel="nofollow sponsored", and we (or the pooled owner) may earn Tesla credits if you order through one — it costs you nothing extra. Tesla VoltBench is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Tesla, Inc. Full referral disclosure.
Compare the current Model 3 and Model Y line-up these rules apply to on our Model Comparison tool, or see every figure's source on Methodology & sources.