Traveling from Virginia (for a funeral) back home to michigan and had a rear flat tire near Hagerstown MD about 8pm on a Saturday. Made it to a gas station outside of town. Tire not repairable and would not hold air. Tesla had no "preferred" tow trucks in the area so called my insurance co. Flat bed came to take my car back to Hagerstown (10 miles) to the nearest tire store(s). There were 2 stores about 100yds from each other. (Oh, and of course the tow guy scraped the bottom of my car on the ground while driving up the flat bed truck). Got a hotel room.
Next a.m. Firestone manager said "do you have the jack adapters with you?" I had no idea what the hell he was talking about but he refused to lift my car because he was convinced that he would damage the battery without the adapters. Then why didn't HE have the adapters, why leave it up to ME?!! Called Tesla, for $500 they could flat bed my car 55 miles away to the nearest service center (which opens on monday, and I would miss work). They also said I should not need jack adapters. Firestone guy was not having it.
Walked across the parking lot to NTB. The mechanic there, after learning from the manager that I was driving a Tesla, literally threw up his hands and said "we cant lift a Tesla!, we'll break the battery!". The NTB manager said "only tire centers near Baltimore have the 'special' lifts for Tesla's and they were purchased by Tesla". WHAT?! Pretty sure that never happened. Anyway, after about an hour of not knowing what else to do, I walked to auto zone (2 miles) and bought a 2 ton jack and lug wrench.
I jacked up MY OWN CAR in the Firestone parking lot and CARRIED my wheel to NTB (firestone didn't have my tires) where they replaced my tire. Walked it back to Firestone put MY OWN TIRE BACK ON and drove my car to NTB. Jacked up MY OWN CAR again and they replaced my second tire (figured I should replace both rear tires) and then I put MY OWN TIRE BACK ON again .
Tell me WHY a flat tire should result in being stranded?!! Tell me why it should be up to me to basically repair my own car? Tell me how many people would have or could have carried a 2 ton jack 2 miles? Tell me how many BMW, mercedes, lexus or even cadillac drivers that would put up with this crap?!! This is totally unacceptable and if Tesla doesn't start informing repair companies how to deal with their cars many more people are going to end up being stranded for days......FOR A FLAT TIRE!
In my experiences (5 year owner) most repair places want nothing to do with Tesla cars. They dont understand how to work on them and they are deathly afraid of braking something. For example, the last time I purchased tires for this car, I took it to costco. After about 30 min the manager came out and said they couldn't take the tires off because they needed a "special wrench"! Took my tires to another place and they had no trouble and looked at me like I was crazy when I told them what costco said.
So, now Im back at work on monday 7 am having arrived back at my house 6 hours ago. Should have been home Sunday mid day.....except I got a flat tire. I'm sure people will say "I keep (this that and the other thing) in my car just in case of a flat...." but that misses the point. The point is that you should be able to walk into ANY repair place and have them work on your car, period.
Next a.m. Firestone manager said "do you have the jack adapters with you?" I had no idea what the hell he was talking about but he refused to lift my car because he was convinced that he would damage the battery without the adapters. Then why didn't HE have the adapters, why leave it up to ME?!! Called Tesla, for $500 they could flat bed my car 55 miles away to the nearest service center (which opens on monday, and I would miss work). They also said I should not need jack adapters. Firestone guy was not having it.
Walked across the parking lot to NTB. The mechanic there, after learning from the manager that I was driving a Tesla, literally threw up his hands and said "we cant lift a Tesla!, we'll break the battery!". The NTB manager said "only tire centers near Baltimore have the 'special' lifts for Tesla's and they were purchased by Tesla". WHAT?! Pretty sure that never happened. Anyway, after about an hour of not knowing what else to do, I walked to auto zone (2 miles) and bought a 2 ton jack and lug wrench.
I jacked up MY OWN CAR in the Firestone parking lot and CARRIED my wheel to NTB (firestone didn't have my tires) where they replaced my tire. Walked it back to Firestone put MY OWN TIRE BACK ON and drove my car to NTB. Jacked up MY OWN CAR again and they replaced my second tire (figured I should replace both rear tires) and then I put MY OWN TIRE BACK ON again .
Tell me WHY a flat tire should result in being stranded?!! Tell me why it should be up to me to basically repair my own car? Tell me how many people would have or could have carried a 2 ton jack 2 miles? Tell me how many BMW, mercedes, lexus or even cadillac drivers that would put up with this crap?!! This is totally unacceptable and if Tesla doesn't start informing repair companies how to deal with their cars many more people are going to end up being stranded for days......FOR A FLAT TIRE!
In my experiences (5 year owner) most repair places want nothing to do with Tesla cars. They dont understand how to work on them and they are deathly afraid of braking something. For example, the last time I purchased tires for this car, I took it to costco. After about 30 min the manager came out and said they couldn't take the tires off because they needed a "special wrench"! Took my tires to another place and they had no trouble and looked at me like I was crazy when I told them what costco said.
So, now Im back at work on monday 7 am having arrived back at my house 6 hours ago. Should have been home Sunday mid day.....except I got a flat tire. I'm sure people will say "I keep (this that and the other thing) in my car just in case of a flat...." but that misses the point. The point is that you should be able to walk into ANY repair place and have them work on your car, period.
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