Beare of the spare tires returns if you live away from service centers

[verygreen]

So I had my first irrepairable tire flat in a Tesla last weekend (something you cannot just plug). I lucked out that it happened in Atlanta, so I only waited 35 minutes or so for the spare tire to be delivered to me.

Now they did tell me upfront I'd need to return it to the service center within 3 business days or work out something with the SC otherwise. "Great", I thought, "I could just ask them to give it to a visiting ranger". (I live ~3 hours drive away from nearest service center)
Wrong.

So I called them today and nope, cannot give it to a ranger, must go to one of the service centers. I did give a 1 week extension of time to do it, so don't need to do it today, but still kind of sucks.

So the lesson is, if you don't live near a service center - be wary of those loaner wheels on a road trip!

 

[NotATroll]

Can you ship it back? Any idea how much this would cost?

 

[verygreen]

I did not really explore the shipping since the spare wheel is big and heavy, so I imagine it'll cost quite a bit. As in, a couple hundreds of dollars or some such (a wild guess, mind you since I did not research it).

Well, another opportunity to go somewhere (looking on the positive side!)

 

[Need]

The wheel is about 33lb I think. UPS ground within a few hours drive will probably be about $30 to $40.

 

[boelkers]

You should also be aware that if you are not within 50 miles of a service center roadside will not dispatch a spare to you. I got a bad flat last Friday on a road trip 4 hours from the nearest service center. Wasn't really sure what they might do for me. I had already gotten a tow back to this little town. Roadside pretty much said you're SoL. Said their max radius was 50 miles from a service center. It was Friday at about 5:30pm and they provided no support in helping me track down a new tire either.

 

[verygreen]

The wheel is about 33lb I think. UPS ground within a few hours drive will probably be about $30 to $40.

Well, you got me curious so I set it on a scale.... 63.5 pounds! This is ~$43 by the weight still with UPS ground, though.
the size is ~30" x 30" x 11" (with some enclosing box I guess). I wonder if I have a suitable box.

I guess I need to give it some serious consideration now

Thanks!

 

[Need]

Well, you got me curious so I set it on a scale.... 63.5 pounds! This is ~$43 by the weight still with UPS ground, though.
the size is ~30" x 30" x 11" (with some enclosing box I guess). I wonder if I have a suitable box.

I guess I need to give it some serious consideration now

Thanks!

I guess the 32 to 34 lb weight I found on the google were wheel only (without the tire). Personally I would ship it if it is under $50. 3 hours one way will require you to stop and supercharge at least one time even if you have a 100D. Round trip would be like 7 to 8 hours. Even if you get free supercharging, you are only paying yourself like $6 an hour driving.

 

[speedy]

I returned the spare loaner to a Service Center and found it very casual. The guy just said 'ok, just leave it with us, thanks'. I thought, wait, you don't even know who I am. In the end I had him issue me a receipt, but I get the feeling it's all very informal and I wonder if they will even follow up if you never returned the spare. I don't remember any barcode or markings on the wheel, so there's no way to track it. They frighten you with all this 3 days return or else stuff, but at the end of the day, they don't even seem to track it....

 

[verygreen]

there's probably some marking on the wheel that are not as visible so they know what is it (could it be the red T sticker has NFC chip? TPMS has serial? who knows).

Besides they make you sign the agreement and they could charge you for the full replacement cost as per the agreement that you sign, so... Why risk it, it's not like I need this loaner wheel and somebody might actually get some use out of it in time of need.

 

[Yinn]

I returned the spare loaner to a Service Center and found it very casual. The guy just said 'ok, just leave it with us, thanks'. I thought, wait, you don't even know who I am. In the end I had him issue me a receipt, but I get the feeling it's all very informal and I wonder if they will even follow up if you never returned the spare. I don't remember any barcode or markings on the wheel, so there's no way to track it. They frighten you with all this 3 days return or else stuff, but at the end of the day, they don't even seem to track it....

They're getting better at it - mostly because they started "losing" those loaner wheels. Some SC's will even paint their loaners now in a bright red to indicate they're a loaner.

 

[Ormond]

I recently had a flat front tire. The car was towed to the service center. There were no tires in stock. I decided to get two new front tires. Since none were in stock, two loaner tires were put on my Model X with red center hubs. The center kept my original rims. When tires were available a week later, a ranger came to my house and swapped out the loaner tires. It was fairly painless, but I was without my car for a day.

 

[Lasairfion]

there's probably some marking on the wheel that are not as visible so they know what is it (could it be the red T sticker has NFC chip? TPMS has serial? who knows).

Besides they make you sign the agreement and they could charge you for the full replacement cost as per the agreement that you sign, so... Why risk it, it's not like I need this loaner wheel and somebody might actually get some use out of it in time of need.

I know that many tyres have RFID chips inside...

r/privacy - Which manufacturers insert a RFID tag inside tires and how to destroy the RFID chip

 

[NotATroll]

Well, you got me curious so I set it on a scale.... 63.5 pounds! This is ~$43 by the weight still with UPS ground, though.
the size is ~30" x 30" x 11" (with some enclosing box I guess). I wonder if I have a suitable box.

I guess I need to give it some serious consideration now

Thanks!

My pleasure! $43 is a rounding error...

 

[Need]

I returned the spare loaner to a Service Center and found it very casual. The guy just said 'ok, just leave it with us, thanks'. I thought, wait, you don't even know who I am. In the end I had him issue me a receipt, but I get the feeling it's all very informal and I wonder if they will even follow up if you never returned the spare. I don't remember any barcode or markings on the wheel, so there's no way to track it. They frighten you with all this 3 days return or else stuff, but at the end of the day, they don't even seem to track it....

That's kind of like how I got and return the loaner MS when my MX was in service. I didn't have to sign anything and the guy just grab a keyfob and went to find the car in the lot. He didn't even walk me all the way there, just point and said that one there is yours. No walking around to make sure no ding or scratches or anything. I look into the glove box, looks like the previous owner (or future owner?) papers are in there with his signature/name/address and everything.

So I took that for 2 weeks, returned it when my car was done. No one asked for the loaner back when I return to pick up my car. I found someone and asked if they want the loaner back? He just said sure.. I handed him the key and ask do you want to know where it parks? I was trying to show him but he just said it's okay we will find it. And that was it. No paper signed also. It was like my brother loaned me a car for 2 weeks.

 

[verygreen]

Ok, so there's extra "handling surcharge" at UPS for round/cylindrical object that includes tires/wheels. In the end I ended up paying $55 which is still better than a forced 7 hour roadtrip.

Also at least mine was marked on the inside - so that's how they track 'em I guess.

 

[NotATroll]

Ok, so there's extra "handling surcharge" at UPS for round/cylindrical object that includes tires/wheels. In the end I ended up paying $55 which is still better than a forced 7 hour roadtrip.

Also at least mine was marked on the inside - so that's how they track 'em I guess.

View attachment 326721

Not bad at all! Glad my advice worked out.

 

[jeffro01]

You should also be aware that if you are not within 50 miles of a service center roadside will not dispatch a spare to you. I got a bad flat last Friday on a road trip 4 hours from the nearest service center. Wasn't really sure what they might do for me. I had already gotten a tow back to this little town. Roadside pretty much said you're SoL. Said their max radius was 50 miles from a service center. It was Friday at about 5:30pm and they provided no support in helping me track down a new tire either.

I really, REALLY, hope that somehow you got someone who was mistaken.... There are so many places in this country that are more than 50 miles from a service center... If Tesla is going to advertise free roadside assistance then they should provide just that. Period.

Jeff

 

[verygreen]

I really, REALLY, hope that somehow you got someone who was mistaken.... There are so many places in this country that are more than 50 miles from a service center... If Tesla is going to advertise free roadside assistance then they should provide just that. Period.

Jeff

It's in the disclosures that flat tire gets you towed 50 miles for free. Break down that needs service center is more than that:

For vehicle malfunctions due to warrantable issues, transportation services are covered by Tesla for the first 500 miles (800 km) to the nearest Tesla ServiceCenter.
You are responsible for transportation costs beyond 500 miles (800 km) or any additional transportation from such locations to any additional location

 

[boelkers]

I really, REALLY, hope that somehow you got someone who was mistaken.... There are so many places in this country that are more than 50 miles from a service center... If Tesla is going to advertise free roadside assistance then they should provide just that. Period.

Jeff

Unfortunately it was not a mistake. I called Roadside 3 separate times for this exact reason and each person I got all said the same thing. They looked to see if a tire was anywhere in the area, then said the only spare available was with a ranger in Denver which was 4 hours from my position. Then they proceeded to tell me they would only dispatch a ranger within a 50 mile radius.

I agree, if Tesla is going to advertise free roadside assistance then these things should not be in fine print. At the very least they should work with you to find you a tire center somewhere close by that has the tires in stock. Instead each one said, "Tesla tires are a pretty common size so most tire locations will have the tires in stock and are able to mount them for you." Which is bull at least for a Model X as they are not standard at all. For me it was a Friday night after 5PM so most places were closed. The out of the few locations that were still open, not a single one carried that size.

 

[boelkers]

It's in the disclosures that flat tire gets you towed 50 miles for free. Break down that needs service center is more than that:

Right, A flat tire requiring a tow will only get you 50 miles to the service center, any more than that you will need to pay. But in my situation, I wasn't asking for them to tow me, I was asking for a loaner wheel and they said the same thing. 50 miles radius from service center for a loaner wheel. It would be great to know if they were wrong about that, but I had 3 separate Roadside assistance people tell me the exact same thing so it seems that might just be the policy.