The company has announced that customers must place their Tesla order by October 15 if they want to take advantage of the government’s $7,500 tax credit. After that date, the tax credit on a Tesla gets cut in half, Reuters reports.
The $7,500 tax credit was meant to spur people into buying more electric vehicles–but only to a point. The GOP tax overhaul of last year limited the $7,500 credit to the first 200,000 vehicles an automaker sold. Once the automaker hit that number of sales, the tax credit for that car brand reduces by 50% every six months until it reduces to zero.
In July, Tesla announced it delivered 200,000 vehicles to customers, meaning it has hit the full tax credit threshold. But the tax law states that the $7,500 tax credit will continue past the 200,000 threshold for any of the automaker’s cars sold in the quarter the threshold is hit. That quarter ends on October 15.
So if you want to save a chunk of change on a Tesla, get your order in before the 15th. A day later and you are looking at a tax credit of only $3,750.