Blog · Canada · 2026

Where Each Referral Number Lives in the Tesla App, for a Canadian Account

Five screens, one of them authoritative. Most disputes about a missing reward are disputes about which screen someone read.

J. Tremblay — Editor, Refera (placeholder persona — see README). Published 2026-09-02.

Disclosure: referral links use rel="nofollow sponsored". Opening one may earn the code’s owner Tesla Credits; it costs you nothing. We are not affiliated with Tesla, Inc.

Referral information is spread across several screens that update at different times. Nearly every argument about whether a reward arrived is really an argument about which screen was being read. Here is the map, for a Canadian account.

1. The order summary — the only screen that decides anything

In the ordering flow, before payment. On an eligible Canadian order it shows the referral benefit as included. Because a referral cannot be added after an order is placed, this is the only screen on which the information is still actionable.

2. The pending referral

After a referred order, the referral shows as pending: recognised, not yet granted. Nothing is spendable and nothing should be — every clock starts at the Grant Date. A referral that failed does not pend; it never appears at all.

3. The granted balance and its Grant Date

When the transaction settles, the pending entry becomes a balance with a date. For a Canadian referrer that balance is Tesla Credits, expiring twelve months from that date. Write the date down — it is the input to every deadline question that follows.

4. The trial state, in the car or the app

The buyer's side is not a balance. FSD (Supervised) shows as active, with a renewal, in the dedicated Self-Driving app on AI4 cars or under the software and subscription screens on older interfaces. That screen also tells you what the subscription will cost when the trial ends, which is the number to plan against.

5. The Loot Box

Where credits are redeemed, and redemptions are final. The documented perimeter is no cash, no transfers, no reissues, and not valid for gift cards or alcohol. Whether Tesla Shop merchandise is redeemable is disputed between otherwise reliable sources, so the current answer is whatever your own Loot Box lists.

Which screen is authoritative, and for what

For whether the referral attached: the order summary, before payment. For what you now hold and until when: the granted balance with its date. Everything else is provisional, a catalogue, or a reminder.

The number that appears on none of them

The referrer credit amount as published by third parties. Reporting says $250 in some places and $500 in others; both cannot be current, and this desk states the mechanism rather than picking. The figure that describes your account is the balance on your account.

Currency and units, for a Canadian reader

Your account shows Canadian dollars, and the trial is denominated in months rather than currency. Any US-dollar figure you read for the trial's value has to be re-derived from the rate your own subscription screen quotes — which is one more reason this map ends where it does.

The 30-day email

Not a screen, but part of the same record: a warning that a balance is about to lapse. It is the last prompt available, and an expired balance cannot be reissued.