Any owners outside of Oahu and if so how is service handled?

[ecarfan]

I am in California, have a cousin on Kauai who I hope one day will be a Tesla owner. He is impressed by the company and the car but has a concern about service on islands other than Oahu.

Any Tesla owners live off Oahu? If so, how is service handled? Thanks.

 

[StephenM]

There are several owners on Maui (including The Four Seasons hotel) and several on Big Island so I'm sure they will chime in, but I've heard from our service center guys from Oahu that they had to fly to an outer island (Maui?) to address a couple of issues with Model Ss there. Not very practical, and much more difficult if you wanted to do some heavy duty upgrade/repair (i.e. Titanium deflector). It's a real problem since it's not practical to have a service center on each island and we have no working ferry system (we did, but it got scrapped over politics).

 

[ecarfan]

Yes, the lack of an inter-island ferry system in Hawaii is unfortunate, and no doubt baffling to visitors from Europe who are used to having ferries everywhere. Heck, there is a ferry from Denmark to Iceland! That takes two or three days.

But I am getting off topic. Thanks for your reply to my question. Frankly I am surprised that Tesla is willing to provide service support to owners on islands other than Oahu given the challenges involved.

 

[nanimac]

I heard that Kauai is the only island that doesn't have any Teslas, but assume the Oahu SC would somehow service them, especially if they have ranger service. I guess the quasi-good news is that there is a service center in Hawaii now vs before when the roadster people had to have someone come out from the mainland. Luckily, Teslas don't need much service

 

[dsmith2189]

Frankly I am surprised that Tesla is willing to provide service support to owners on islands other than Oahu given the challenges involved.

I heard from a roadster owner that they flew from CA to HI to service his car (pre-model S and pre-Oahu Service Center) so it doesn't seem too surprising to see them service the other Hawaiian islands from the Oahu SC.

 

[gmtom1]

Judging by the awesome attitude and service we've all received from the Honolulu SC from Luke and his team, I'm sure they would jump on a plane with their tools as soon as possible for any Kauai owners. Fortunately, as I'm sure many here will attest, the need for service is very minimal. The only time I visited the SC after almost a year of ownership was to get my tires rotated and the titanium shield installed.

I wouldn't be surprised if, by some chance you had a major problem, you could get them to authorize a rental car for you to use until they could get over with the appropriate parts and techs to fix it.

And yes, it's unfortunate that the Superferry was killed. Ironically, the folks in Kauai contributed in part to its demise.

 

[dsmith2189]

And yes, it's unfortunate that the Superferry was killed. Ironically, the folks in Kauai contributed in part to its demise.

O.T. It's a shame that Hawaii is not a boat oriented or a sea going culture. Irony.

 

[Hawaiiskibum]

Someone I know has a roadster on Kauai. She now works on Oahu, but hasn't shipped her baby over here yet.
One of the service guys told me he had to go to Guam (or was it Palau?) to service a MS. The service guys are awesome!

 

[jeffdhood]

There is nothing the Honolulu team won't do to make owning a Tesla outer island a wonderful experience! I cannot begin to tell you folks all the big and little things they have done for us on the Big Island. They've worked on my "wife's car" in a gravel parking at Kona Airport (her place of work) in the searing heat with no shade. They recently did the annual service at our house in our garage which is none too cool when the afternoon sun shines in at near sea level without any breeze. Next week they are picking the car up at our house, possibly dropping off a Tesla loaner, if not a Tesla then a rental car, taking our car 45 miles to Kawaihae Harbor, shipping it to Honolulu to do warranty work that was found needing to be done at the annual service and then bringing the car back to our house when it is done!

 

[Cottonwood]

There is nothing the Honolulu team won't do to make owning a Tesla outer island a wonderful experience! I cannot begin to tell you folks all the big and little things they have done for us on the Big Island. They've worked on my "wife's car" in a gravel parking at Kona Airport (her place of work) in the searing heat with no shade. They recently did the annual service at our house in our garage which is none too cool when the afternoon sun shines in at near sea level without any breeze. Next week they are picking the car up at our house, possibly dropping off a Tesla loaner, if not a Tesla then a rental car, taking our car 45 miles to Kawaihae Harbor, shipping it to Honolulu to do warranty work that was found needing to be done at the annual service and then bringing the car back to our house when it is done!

Wow!

I thought it was great when they drove the 300 miles from Denver to Pagosa Springs, CO to work on my MS, but your "Big Island" experience is wonderful!

 

[jeffdhood]

Once again, I just can't say enough good things about how well Tesla's employees treat us here on Hawaii Island. Erik dropped off the P85+ loaner at our house this morning and is now driving our car to Kawaihae Harbor some 45 miles away to be shipped to Honolulu for warranty work. While they have our car they will be giving it the "Full Monty". These folks are a textbook example of the business philosophy of under promise and over deliver!