Questions
How this works, including the awkward parts
Answers written from what the system actually does, including the parts that are not flattering. Where something has been measured, the measurement is named.
How is a code chosen?
Active codes are kept in a dense, contiguous list. A request draws one position from that list at random and returns whatever code sits there. Every code in the list has the same chance of being drawn, and the draw does not get slower or less even as the list grows.
We measured it rather than asserting it: 400,000 draws across 10,182 codes gave a chi-square z-score of −1, and no code was left unserved. An earlier design was faster and badly biased — the luckiest code was drawn 12.7 times more often than average and 2.4% of codes were never drawn at all — so it was thrown away.
One thing happens before the draw, and it is the subject of the next answer.
Is the site owner's code treated differently?
Yes, slightly, and here is the exact arrangement.
The site owner's code is in the same pool as everyone else's, with a small fixed share (~5%) that helps fund hosting.
Mechanically: a small fixed proportion of requests return the owner's code without drawing from the pool, and every other request draws normally. The share is fixed rather than a weighting, so it does not grow as the pool grows, and it is capped in code at a level no configuration change can exceed.
The owner's code is also an ordinary member of the pool, so in a country where very few codes have been submitted it can be a large fraction of what there is to serve. That is not the algorithm misbehaving — there is nothing else to hand out — and it resolves the moment somebody else submits a code for that country.
This is disclosed rather than discovered because a fairness claim that turns out to have an asterisk is worth less than a smaller claim that is true.
Why do I only get one code per day?
Because the point of the site is that codes are spread across the people who submitted them. Handing one visitor an unlimited supply would concentrate serves on whoever asks most, and it is also how the whole database gets copied.
If you ask again on the same day you get the same code back, not a refusal. It is the same code you already had, so nothing is lost.
Do I need an account to get a code?
No. Getting a code needs no account, no email address and no sign-in. An account is only needed to share a code of your own, because there has to be somebody to ask, every few months, whether the code still works.
Does a code from another country work?
In our testing, yes. A single real referral link was accepted on eight of eight Tesla market paths we tried, including the United States path that has no locale prefix at all. A deliberately fake code returned a not-found error on the same paths, so the acceptance was a real signal and not just a page that always renders.
What we cannot tell you is whether a referral is actually credited when an order is placed in a market other than the code's own. That is only observable at the point of purchase, which is not something we can test. So: the links are accepted across markets in our measurements, and we make no promise about how any manufacturer applies a referral to a particular order.
One consequence worth knowing: what the buyer receives depends on the buyer's market, not on where the code came from. Choosing a local code does not change the benefit.
When should I open the referral link?
Immediately before you place your order. Opening the link sets a referral cookie in your browser that lasts about a day — we measured roughly 24 hours — and once it expires the referral is simply not there any more.
This is the single most common way a referral quietly fails. Saving a code saves a string of characters; it does not save the attribution. If you take a code today and order next week, neither you nor the person who shared it will get anything, and both of you will assume it worked.
So: get the code whenever you like, then open the link again on the day you order.
How do I know the referral was applied?
Open the referral link, then go to the design page for the car you are configuring. If the referral took, Tesla shows a notice naming the person who referred you and confirming that the referral has been applied.
That notice appears without a Tesla account and without signing in, so it works for a first-time buyer as well as an existing owner. If you do not see it, open the referral link again and reload the design page.
We cannot verify a code from our side — Tesla's site refuses automated requests — so this notice is the check that matters, and it is better than anything we could do on the server.
What does the referral actually get me?
Whatever Tesla is currently offering in the market you are ordering in, which is not something this site can state accurately. We tested one code, one car and two markets and got two entirely different benefits, with different exclusions in each, and the programme's own terms say it can change or end at any time.
So we deliberately publish no figures. The notice that appears when the referral applies is where you will see the current benefit, and Tesla's own terms are the authority on it.
I already own a Tesla. Does the person who shared the code still earn anything?
No, and this is worth being blunt about because it is easy to assume otherwise. Tesla's own notice states that the promotion is only available for new owners, that existing or previous owners receive a loyalty benefit instead, and — quoting it — "your referrer will not receive any benefit".
A meaningful share of Tesla buyers are repeat buyers, so for a meaningful share of orders the person who shared the code earns nothing at all. If you are here to share your code, that is part of the deal, and we would rather you knew it from us.
What if the code does not work?
Report it. Every served code carries a report link, and once a few different people report the same code it is paused automatically and its owner is asked to confirm whether it still works.
Reports are counted per person rather than per click, so one visitor cannot pause somebody else's code by pressing a button repeatedly. Reporting is the only reliable signal we have that a code has stopped working, because Tesla's site does not answer automated checks.
How do I remove my code?
One click, from the dashboard or from the link in the reminder email. Removing it takes it out of the pool immediately, so it stops being handed out. The row is kept so that statistics stay consistent and so that you can put the same code back later without it being treated as somebody else's.
What do you store about me?
If you are just getting a code: no account, no cookies, and never your IP address. What is stored is a salted hash of it, together with the day and which code you were given, so that the site can hand you the same code if you ask again. The salt changes daily and is discarded, so the hash cannot be reversed into an address or followed from one day to the next.
Two things are kept in your browser and never sent anywhere: your light or dark theme preference, and a code if you choose to save one. There are no cookies and no advertising or third-party tracking of any kind.
Are you affiliated with Tesla?
Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Tesla, Inc.
Codes are submitted by owners. We are not a party to Tesla's referral programme, we do not decide who receives a benefit, and we cannot help with an order, a delivery or a warranty claim. If you hold rights in a brand named on this site and want its codes taken down, the terms page has the contact and describes what happens next.
Can I pay to have my code served more often?
No, and this is not a price we have not named yet — it is a thing the site will not do. Tesla's referral terms name paid advertising and the selling of, or paying for, referral link use as inappropriate, so selling placement or better odds would break the programme this site depends on.
It also means we cannot buy advertising to promote the site, which is why you probably arrived here through a search result rather than an ad.
Something not answered here? abuse@plugref.com