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Service with Tesla has been pretty good. For small things (like problems with those notorious doors) they will drive to you and fix it, even if the car is in a

Service with Tesla has been pretty good. For small things (like problems with those notorious doors) they will drive to you and fix it, even if the car is in a parking lot at work. You can schedule over text message and in the app. It's a refreshing improvement over your average luxury car dealer, who treats service as a profit center. The issue is with parts - delays for some body parts mean your car may be sitting in the shop for MONTHS waiting for key pieces.

rmason 8y ago
OK so the nearest branch is in Cleveland which is like five hours away. What do I drive while it's in the shop for MONTHS waiting on parts?
- praneshp 8y ago
  > it's in the shop for MONTHS waiting on parts tbh, if I got a, say, BMW, knowing the nearest branch is 5 hours away, I would factor the possibility that it can be in the show for WEEKS, if not MONTHS, waiting on parts. (my 3-series has spent 2 weeks at the dealership at least twice)
  - toomuchtodo 8y ago
    I have a 2018 Model S and I assume it could take well over a year to get repaired in the event of damage :( it’s not for everyone.
    - compscistd 8y ago
      I’m waiting on a fender, a door, and a bottom trim, and I’m at about a month total in middle-of-nowhere Midwest. Luckily, I can drive the (heavily dented) car until parts come in, but if the car can’t be driven then you’re stuck with the rental your insurance provides.
      - excalibur 8y ago
        Driving the insurance's rental is perfectly acceptable. When you're really screwed is if the thing breaks down on you, and you have to pay the rental fees out of pocket, along with the repairs.
        toomuchtodo 8y ago
        > When you're really screwed is if the thing breaks down on you, and you have to pay the rental fees out of pocket, Rental coverage is quickly exhausted waiting for Tesla to provide replacement parts.
        martin_a 8y ago
        Don't know about the US or whereever you live, but in Germany rental cars are only provided by the insurance for about two to four weeks. After that you'll have to pay them by yourself.
        elbrian 8y ago
        Can confirm, this is how it works in the US too, even with a top-notch provider (Commerce) with comprehensive coverage.
  - ehnto 8y ago
    How often do you expect it to happen? Realistically you should factor in not having a car for any car purchase simply because your car could get totalled at any trip. But I find it surprising that parts and service could take so long. Being a BMW service center surely replacing parts is core to their job. I can get parts faster on my own.
    - rmason 8y ago
      > How often do you expect it to happen? I'm not disparaging Tesla quality but have you ever heard of Murphy's Law? What can go wrong will go wrong. Right now I am without a working heater, waiting for two weeks on a blenderator motor for a Ford Explorer. Stuff happens...
      - ehnto 8y ago
        It just seemed like the original commenter had planned ahead for many multi-month part shipments. Pragmatic perhaps but I would have to question my vendor! I drive late model grey imports so my parts wait is just the time it takes to pull it off a wreck and ship it. I suspect the wait comes from the dealer/manufacturer relationship.
      - Arnt 8y ago
        My guess is that if some distribution region is without new produce to sell because some other part of the company has fucked up the logistics, QUESTIONS ARE ASKED IN UPPER CASE VERY QUICKLY, whereas if it runs out of some sort of spare parts, questions get asked in lower case.
    - ken 8y ago
      If my car gets totaled, my insurance will pay for a rental. If my car is at the dealer for 2 weeks, the dealer will give me a loaner. Does Tesla have loaners?
      - Reason077 8y ago
        Yes, they do.
  - TheSpiceIsLife 8y ago
    This puts me off buying a new car. I’d like to see vehicle manufacturers, for the purpose of regular retail owners, extend the warranty of a vehicle if it spends more time in the workshop than the allotted time set out in the repair manual. If remove and replace engine is, for example, 10hrs, then the car should be in the shop for no more than, say, two to three days. If it sits there for days > weeks > months waiting for parts the new car warranty should be extended by the same amount of time. My guess is that’d go a long way to fixing the spare parts waiting times. What are the possible reasons for such long waiting times on spares? It can’t be freight delays; it can’t be that the part isn’t available.
    - lutorm 8y ago
      What are the possible reasons for such long waiting times on spares? The manufacturer makes money putting those parts in new cars, it makes no money sending it out to repair yours...
      - TheSpiceIsLife 8y ago
        Yep, that was going to be my first guess. If they can delay delivering your part till next financial year, or the end of the production run for that model, the books look that much better.
        ianai 8y ago
        And that should be criminal.
        muzika 8y ago
        No
    - Reason077 8y ago
      ”What are the possible reasons for such long waiting times on spares?” I get the impression that Tesla doesn’t like to keep a lot of parts in inventory. When a spare is ordered, it’s ordered from the manufacturer of that part. Elon actually discussed this on the most recent conference call. He said that they’re trying to improve things by having parts shipped directly to service centres and body shops rather than via a Tesla distribution/logistics centre.
  - benj111 8y ago
    Do you think that's reasonable? What do you do to your cars? I've never had a car in overnight. And I couldn't point to anyone I know being without their car for even a week. And I don't drive premium cars either, naively I would expect premium cars to be more reliable, and have better service.
    - Judgmentality 8y ago
      Premium cars tend to be less reliable, but it really depends on the car. Certain models are reliable, certain brands are more reliable, and if we're speaking in broad strokes certain countries make more dependable vehicles. If you want something that will just work, buy Japanese. I had an old Toyota that I just drove and drove and would not die. Multiple cross country trips and I never ever serviced it, except changing the oil every ~50k miles. The thing just kept on going. I just bought a brand new BMW and I had to take it back to the dealer to fix something that broke after 5k miles.
      - benj111 8y ago
        My car history includes Fords, Mazdas and Skodas (VW group), so nothing Japanese. (Edit: Apart from the Mazda.... Obviously.....) I don't know if the parent was talking about major crashes, or reliability issues, 2 weeks in the shop would be my limit of acceptability for any car, a month, I'd be asking for my money back assuming it were a reliability issue. And multiple 2 week waits or a month wait, I wouldn't be buying from that manufacturer or dealer again, whatever the reason. Is that my European point of view? have I been amazingly lucky?
        ninjaoxygen 8y ago
        Not counting the Mazda as Japanese then? Maybe you had one from the Ford-era?
        benj111 8y ago
        Doh ?! I kind of mentally pigeonhole it with Kia, Hyundai and Daewoo, as they all arrived/got popular at a similar time. In the UK at least. Plus, subjectively, it just doesn't sound like a Japanese name (to me).
  - mschaef 8y ago
    > (my 3-series has spent 2 weeks at the dealership at least twice) I guess some things don't change. I had a Z3 around 2000-01 and I distinctly remember driving down Austin's Mopac in my year old car with something like five warning lights' worth of problems glaring at me. Then at some point the dealership broke the clock during a service visit, and then there was the winter where the engine thermostat stuck wide open, so the car never warmed up and the heater didn't work. Dealer service was terrible too. On one of my many trips in to the service department, I pulled in to a co-worker who had just relocated to the area with his 540i. They wouldn't provide a loaner car because he hadn't bought at the dealership. (Because he didn't live in the same state when he bought his car.) My last service visit, I took the car in with a spare tire on and had to get the normal tire fixed elsewhere in the meantime. Of course, when I went to pick the car up, they refused to put the normal tire back on until I drove the car out front of the sales department and started jacking the car up to replace it myself.
    - jcadam 8y ago
      > until I drove the car out front of the sales department and started jacking the car up to replace it myself. Nice.
  - FireBeyond 8y ago
    3 weeks is not months. And is likely the exception. My Jaguar had some issues, the dealership would overnight parts from around the US, and "if we need to go to the UK for them it'll be a couple of days".
- esmi 8y ago
  I’m in CA but for two weeks they gave me an X while my S was in their shop waiting on parts. This was before the model 3 though.
- rangibaby 8y ago
  Get a Toyota in the first place ;-)
- Reason077 8y ago
  ”What do I drive while it's in the shop for MONTHS waiting on parts?” Your insurance would normally provide a rental car while you wait for body shop work. If it’s warranty work, Tesla will provide a loaner.
  - jedberg 8y ago
    > If it’s warranty work, Tesla will provide a loaner. Which is usually not a Tesla. One of my friends complained that the BMW 5 series he got as a loaner couldn't drive itself, so it totally ruined his commute for the week his Tesla was in the shop.
    - coolso 8y ago
      This reminds me of the time my '18 Lambo was in the shop for a week for service so I was forced to drive my '17 Ferrari. Worst week of my life.
      - bluedino 8y ago
        It's like the old Jaguar joke. Why did you buy a second Jaguar? Your first was so unreliabble? "Well, I needed one to drive while the other is in the shop"
    - pjc50 8y ago
      Definition of "first world problems" right there.
      - jedberg 8y ago
        Yeah that's what I told him.
    - madengr 8y ago
      Hope for his family that he has good life insurance.
- ethagknight 8y ago
  Im guessing you live near Flint MI. Tesla provides you with a loaner and they come to you.
bluedino 8y ago
Closest Lexus dealer is an hour away and they will bring a loaner when they come get your car for warranty sevice
- Dumblydorr 8y ago
  Lexus is decent for those who don't mind polluting the atmosphere. For those who care about the environment, EVs are the future and Lexus is way behind.
  - ed_balls 8y ago
    It's much more nuanced. Compare hybrid Lexus and Tesla model S. Factor in electricity that is produced from coal plant, a lot of energy and pollution that come from extracting Cobalt and other substances. Creating the battery consumes a lot of energy as well and does produce waste. Then you have to recycle it. EVs are great and on average they are way better, BUT if you drive very little and you get electricity from fossil fuels your Tesla maybe worse for the environment.
RivieraKid 8y ago
There are lot of reports of service being completely unresponsive, not answering calls. And people who work there are saying stuff like "you wouldn't believe how large our backlog is" or "I used to do an equivalent of 2 jobs, now I'll have to do 3" (not exact quotes, from my memory). The reason for this is obvious, Tesla has a cash problem.

rmason 8y ago

OK so the nearest branch is in Cleveland which is like five hours away. What do I drive while it's in the shop for MONTHS waiting on parts?

praneshp 8y ago
> it's in the shop for MONTHS waiting on parts tbh, if I got a, say, BMW, knowing the nearest branch is 5 hours away, I would factor the possibility that it can be in the show for WEEKS, if not MONTHS, waiting on parts. (my 3-series has spent 2 weeks at the dealership at least twice)
- toomuchtodo 8y ago
  I have a 2018 Model S and I assume it could take well over a year to get repaired in the event of damage :( it’s not for everyone.
  - compscistd 8y ago
    I’m waiting on a fender, a door, and a bottom trim, and I’m at about a month total in middle-of-nowhere Midwest. Luckily, I can drive the (heavily dented) car until parts come in, but if the car can’t be driven then you’re stuck with the rental your insurance provides.
    - excalibur 8y ago
      Driving the insurance's rental is perfectly acceptable. When you're really screwed is if the thing breaks down on you, and you have to pay the rental fees out of pocket, along with the repairs.
      - toomuchtodo 8y ago
        > When you're really screwed is if the thing breaks down on you, and you have to pay the rental fees out of pocket, Rental coverage is quickly exhausted waiting for Tesla to provide replacement parts.
      - martin_a 8y ago
        Don't know about the US or whereever you live, but in Germany rental cars are only provided by the insurance for about two to four weeks. After that you'll have to pay them by yourself.
        elbrian 8y ago
        Can confirm, this is how it works in the US too, even with a top-notch provider (Commerce) with comprehensive coverage.
- ehnto 8y ago
  How often do you expect it to happen? Realistically you should factor in not having a car for any car purchase simply because your car could get totalled at any trip. But I find it surprising that parts and service could take so long. Being a BMW service center surely replacing parts is core to their job. I can get parts faster on my own.
  - rmason 8y ago
    > How often do you expect it to happen? I'm not disparaging Tesla quality but have you ever heard of Murphy's Law? What can go wrong will go wrong. Right now I am without a working heater, waiting for two weeks on a blenderator motor for a Ford Explorer. Stuff happens...
    - ehnto 8y ago
      It just seemed like the original commenter had planned ahead for many multi-month part shipments. Pragmatic perhaps but I would have to question my vendor! I drive late model grey imports so my parts wait is just the time it takes to pull it off a wreck and ship it. I suspect the wait comes from the dealer/manufacturer relationship.
    - Arnt 8y ago
      My guess is that if some distribution region is without new produce to sell because some other part of the company has fucked up the logistics, QUESTIONS ARE ASKED IN UPPER CASE VERY QUICKLY, whereas if it runs out of some sort of spare parts, questions get asked in lower case.
  - ken 8y ago
    If my car gets totaled, my insurance will pay for a rental. If my car is at the dealer for 2 weeks, the dealer will give me a loaner. Does Tesla have loaners?
    - Reason077 8y ago
      Yes, they do.
- TheSpiceIsLife 8y ago
  This puts me off buying a new car. I’d like to see vehicle manufacturers, for the purpose of regular retail owners, extend the warranty of a vehicle if it spends more time in the workshop than the allotted time set out in the repair manual. If remove and replace engine is, for example, 10hrs, then the car should be in the shop for no more than, say, two to three days. If it sits there for days > weeks > months waiting for parts the new car warranty should be extended by the same amount of time. My guess is that’d go a long way to fixing the spare parts waiting times. What are the possible reasons for such long waiting times on spares? It can’t be freight delays; it can’t be that the part isn’t available.
  - lutorm 8y ago
    What are the possible reasons for such long waiting times on spares? The manufacturer makes money putting those parts in new cars, it makes no money sending it out to repair yours...
    - TheSpiceIsLife 8y ago
      Yep, that was going to be my first guess. If they can delay delivering your part till next financial year, or the end of the production run for that model, the books look that much better.
      - ianai 8y ago
        And that should be criminal.
        muzika 8y ago
        No
  - Reason077 8y ago
    ”What are the possible reasons for such long waiting times on spares?” I get the impression that Tesla doesn’t like to keep a lot of parts in inventory. When a spare is ordered, it’s ordered from the manufacturer of that part. Elon actually discussed this on the most recent conference call. He said that they’re trying to improve things by having parts shipped directly to service centres and body shops rather than via a Tesla distribution/logistics centre.
- benj111 8y ago
  Do you think that's reasonable? What do you do to your cars? I've never had a car in overnight. And I couldn't point to anyone I know being without their car for even a week. And I don't drive premium cars either, naively I would expect premium cars to be more reliable, and have better service.
  - Judgmentality 8y ago
    Premium cars tend to be less reliable, but it really depends on the car. Certain models are reliable, certain brands are more reliable, and if we're speaking in broad strokes certain countries make more dependable vehicles. If you want something that will just work, buy Japanese. I had an old Toyota that I just drove and drove and would not die. Multiple cross country trips and I never ever serviced it, except changing the oil every ~50k miles. The thing just kept on going. I just bought a brand new BMW and I had to take it back to the dealer to fix something that broke after 5k miles.
    - benj111 8y ago
      My car history includes Fords, Mazdas and Skodas (VW group), so nothing Japanese. (Edit: Apart from the Mazda.... Obviously.....) I don't know if the parent was talking about major crashes, or reliability issues, 2 weeks in the shop would be my limit of acceptability for any car, a month, I'd be asking for my money back assuming it were a reliability issue. And multiple 2 week waits or a month wait, I wouldn't be buying from that manufacturer or dealer again, whatever the reason. Is that my European point of view? have I been amazingly lucky?
      - ninjaoxygen 8y ago
        Not counting the Mazda as Japanese then? Maybe you had one from the Ford-era?
        benj111 8y ago
        Doh ?! I kind of mentally pigeonhole it with Kia, Hyundai and Daewoo, as they all arrived/got popular at a similar time. In the UK at least. Plus, subjectively, it just doesn't sound like a Japanese name (to me).
- mschaef 8y ago
  > (my 3-series has spent 2 weeks at the dealership at least twice) I guess some things don't change. I had a Z3 around 2000-01 and I distinctly remember driving down Austin's Mopac in my year old car with something like five warning lights' worth of problems glaring at me. Then at some point the dealership broke the clock during a service visit, and then there was the winter where the engine thermostat stuck wide open, so the car never warmed up and the heater didn't work. Dealer service was terrible too. On one of my many trips in to the service department, I pulled in to a co-worker who had just relocated to the area with his 540i. They wouldn't provide a loaner car because he hadn't bought at the dealership. (Because he didn't live in the same state when he bought his car.) My last service visit, I took the car in with a spare tire on and had to get the normal tire fixed elsewhere in the meantime. Of course, when I went to pick the car up, they refused to put the normal tire back on until I drove the car out front of the sales department and started jacking the car up to replace it myself.
  - jcadam 8y ago
    > until I drove the car out front of the sales department and started jacking the car up to replace it myself. Nice.
- FireBeyond 8y ago
  3 weeks is not months. And is likely the exception. My Jaguar had some issues, the dealership would overnight parts from around the US, and "if we need to go to the UK for them it'll be a couple of days".
esmi 8y ago
I’m in CA but for two weeks they gave me an X while my S was in their shop waiting on parts. This was before the model 3 though.
rangibaby 8y ago
Get a Toyota in the first place ;-)
Reason077 8y ago
”What do I drive while it's in the shop for MONTHS waiting on parts?” Your insurance would normally provide a rental car while you wait for body shop work. If it’s warranty work, Tesla will provide a loaner.
- jedberg 8y ago
  > If it’s warranty work, Tesla will provide a loaner. Which is usually not a Tesla. One of my friends complained that the BMW 5 series he got as a loaner couldn't drive itself, so it totally ruined his commute for the week his Tesla was in the shop.
  - coolso 8y ago
    This reminds me of the time my '18 Lambo was in the shop for a week for service so I was forced to drive my '17 Ferrari. Worst week of my life.
    - bluedino 8y ago
      It's like the old Jaguar joke. Why did you buy a second Jaguar? Your first was so unreliabble? "Well, I needed one to drive while the other is in the shop"
  - pjc50 8y ago
    Definition of "first world problems" right there.
    - jedberg 8y ago
      Yeah that's what I told him.
  - madengr 8y ago
    Hope for his family that he has good life insurance.
ethagknight 8y ago
Im guessing you live near Flint MI. Tesla provides you with a loaner and they come to you.

bluedino 8y ago

Closest Lexus dealer is an hour away and they will bring a loaner when they come get your car for warranty sevice

Dumblydorr 8y ago
Lexus is decent for those who don't mind polluting the atmosphere. For those who care about the environment, EVs are the future and Lexus is way behind.
- ed_balls 8y ago
  It's much more nuanced. Compare hybrid Lexus and Tesla model S. Factor in electricity that is produced from coal plant, a lot of energy and pollution that come from extracting Cobalt and other substances. Creating the battery consumes a lot of energy as well and does produce waste. Then you have to recycle it. EVs are great and on average they are way better, BUT if you drive very little and you get electricity from fossil fuels your Tesla maybe worse for the environment.

RivieraKid 8y ago

There are lot of reports of service being completely unresponsive, not answering calls. And people who work there are saying stuff like "you wouldn't believe how large our backlog is" or "I used to do an equivalent of 2 jobs, now I'll have to do 3" (not exact quotes, from my memory). The reason for this is obvious, Tesla has a cash problem.