Having read the other threads, 'bricked' is not the term, as I am sure Tesla can fix this in an instant, however, to me, it was bricked.
I rented a MY from Avis in Orlando, Florida while I was there on various work trips - and pleasure days! It was almost new, just 90 miles on.
Avis don't seem to have premium connectivity (and why would they?) so I connected the car to my WiFi hotspot so I could stream stuff while waiting for it to charge etc.
It was running software 2022.40.something - I guess what it was supplied with, and while connected, it downloaded a new update - 2023.2.10 As I was almost done charging, I scheduled the install for the middle of the night and went on my way to the hotel. BTW, my own MY had this update earlier this month.
So, next morning I get in ready to head off to the work engagement and the car won't drive! Two Active Alerts:
VCFRONT_a171 Software Update Required - Unable to start Vehicle
GTW_w223 Incompatible drive system software detected - Schedule Service, Unable to drive until updated.
Sadly as I had work commitments, I could not do the update there and then, and in fact, due to where the vehicle was parked, there was no WiFi and almost no cell signal, so I could not even try to update it except by waiting in the car for probably hours and hours as the bytes came down a few at a time!
So I had to call Avis Emergency Roadside assistance, with the inevitable long, loooong wait times to get through.
Short result: I got a replacement MY with 250 miles on the clock all was good and the first MY got towed, eventually. Stop reading now if you are bored!
Long result: Avis told me they'd send a tow truck in about an hour to get the vehicle and would arrange for an Uber to get me back to the airport to collect my 2nd MY. Except nothing happened. Next day I had to go back out working and while I was away the tow truck finally arrived. The guy did not speak English and had Zero knowledge about Teslas. I had to send many texts back and forth so he could translate into his native language, and even then he was totally confused about why he could not start or move the car. Despite telling him about Transport mode to enable towing out of where it was stuck and winching it up on the truck, he failed to be able to do this. This was the company assigned by Avis to do the job. He gave up and left.
After more calls a different tow company was called, and I was at the vehicle this time. 15 minutes later the vehicle was towed away as the guy simply lifted the wheels off with the dollies and lift bar and was on his way.
Technically, Avis will not give you a new vehicle until the old one is towed away and you have a text from them to say so... but as the tow company took over 18 hours to arrive in the first place, this was not going to work..... and I never got the text anyway - I had to get the Avis agent behind the desk to call the recovery company to verify that they were coming before they would release my 2nd MY..... which is understandable... but would have left me unable to do the work I needed to do.
All in all, pretty poorly handled.... but I guess these times are new with EVs and not everyone knows enough, especially Avis!
The replacement MY also had an update available.. so I did not connect it to my hotspot in case I made that one inoperable as well!
Welcome to the new world
I rented a MY from Avis in Orlando, Florida while I was there on various work trips - and pleasure days! It was almost new, just 90 miles on.
Avis don't seem to have premium connectivity (and why would they?) so I connected the car to my WiFi hotspot so I could stream stuff while waiting for it to charge etc.
It was running software 2022.40.something - I guess what it was supplied with, and while connected, it downloaded a new update - 2023.2.10 As I was almost done charging, I scheduled the install for the middle of the night and went on my way to the hotel. BTW, my own MY had this update earlier this month.
So, next morning I get in ready to head off to the work engagement and the car won't drive! Two Active Alerts:
VCFRONT_a171 Software Update Required - Unable to start Vehicle
GTW_w223 Incompatible drive system software detected - Schedule Service, Unable to drive until updated.
Sadly as I had work commitments, I could not do the update there and then, and in fact, due to where the vehicle was parked, there was no WiFi and almost no cell signal, so I could not even try to update it except by waiting in the car for probably hours and hours as the bytes came down a few at a time!
So I had to call Avis Emergency Roadside assistance, with the inevitable long, loooong wait times to get through.
Short result: I got a replacement MY with 250 miles on the clock all was good and the first MY got towed, eventually. Stop reading now if you are bored!
Long result: Avis told me they'd send a tow truck in about an hour to get the vehicle and would arrange for an Uber to get me back to the airport to collect my 2nd MY. Except nothing happened. Next day I had to go back out working and while I was away the tow truck finally arrived. The guy did not speak English and had Zero knowledge about Teslas. I had to send many texts back and forth so he could translate into his native language, and even then he was totally confused about why he could not start or move the car. Despite telling him about Transport mode to enable towing out of where it was stuck and winching it up on the truck, he failed to be able to do this. This was the company assigned by Avis to do the job. He gave up and left.
After more calls a different tow company was called, and I was at the vehicle this time. 15 minutes later the vehicle was towed away as the guy simply lifted the wheels off with the dollies and lift bar and was on his way.
Technically, Avis will not give you a new vehicle until the old one is towed away and you have a text from them to say so... but as the tow company took over 18 hours to arrive in the first place, this was not going to work..... and I never got the text anyway - I had to get the Avis agent behind the desk to call the recovery company to verify that they were coming before they would release my 2nd MY..... which is understandable... but would have left me unable to do the work I needed to do.
All in all, pretty poorly handled.... but I guess these times are new with EVs and not everyone knows enough, especially Avis!
The replacement MY also had an update available.. so I did not connect it to my hotspot in case I made that one inoperable as well!
Welcome to the new world
