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Does anybody regret buying Model X for your main car?
- Thread starter bell2041
- Start date
My experience has been similar. Our local Audi dealer sucks. Our local Jaguar dealer sucks. Our local Porsche dealer sucks. I don't know about our local Mercedes dealer, but they probably suck too. So far I'm quite impressed with our local Tesla dealer. Not perfect, but pretty easy and straightforward to deal with. Not having to endure traditional car sales patter with endless commission based overpriced crap like paint protection is a really good starting point. Also unless my Tesla has to go back to the dealership on a flatbed 3 times over the next 2 years, it will be more reliable than my last Porsche was.
So far, initial impressions over the first couple of thousand miles have been great. The boot closing sensor has started playing up in the last few days, but that's not the end of the world. The car is amazing to drive and does not appear to be falling apart around me. Quite the opposite, if I had to rate the build quality I would actually say it was very good at this point compared to other high end cars I've owned.
NikeWings
Active Member
I am an early adopter who got one of the first X90Ds in June 2016. For the most part, I've been relatively satisfied with my ownership experience until recently. My local service center has always been very fast to respond to any issues. Although I have had a few small issues here and there, I have yet to be stranded or develop a catastrophic failure. (/knock on wood) However, for the Model X rollout, I felt that Tesla just threw out these cars as fast as they could and forced the local service centers to retroactively clean up the mess such shoddy quality caused. I chalked this up to Tesla being a young company that needed more experience.
In January of this year, I got in an accident--and the entire process has been terrible. Even though my insurance approved both the initial and the supplemental estimates within 2 weeks and even though I sent my car to a "Tesla approved" body shop, my car is not yet repaired after 3 months. I'm still waiting for parts to complete the repair without any ETA from the Tesla's Parts Department. To think that Tesla still does not have their act together with replacement body parts nearly 2 years after the release of the Model X is ridiculous. My car has now been in the shop for over 10% of the time that I've owned it with no end in sight.
To me, Tesla just seems like a dysfunctional company that still cannot get some of the basics right and has not learned from its past mistakes. And the news reports that Tesla is going to hire 400+ people weekly to ramp up production of the Model 3 do not give me confidence in Tesla. If their implementation of the Model 3 rollout is just as bad as that of the Model X, Tesla won't survive.
Thus, when I get my car back, I'll have to make a choice about whether I'll keep it, especially as it's value may plummet if Tesla looks shaky as a company. My suggestion to prospective buyers is to wait for some of the competition to come out soon--like the e-tron and the I-Pace, see if the Model 3 rollout makes or breaks Tesla, and then make a decision. There's no reason to rush.
In January of this year, I got in an accident--and the entire process has been terrible. Even though my insurance approved both the initial and the supplemental estimates within 2 weeks and even though I sent my car to a "Tesla approved" body shop, my car is not yet repaired after 3 months. I'm still waiting for parts to complete the repair without any ETA from the Tesla's Parts Department. To think that Tesla still does not have their act together with replacement body parts nearly 2 years after the release of the Model X is ridiculous. My car has now been in the shop for over 10% of the time that I've owned it with no end in sight.
To me, Tesla just seems like a dysfunctional company that still cannot get some of the basics right and has not learned from its past mistakes. And the news reports that Tesla is going to hire 400+ people weekly to ramp up production of the Model 3 do not give me confidence in Tesla. If their implementation of the Model 3 rollout is just as bad as that of the Model X, Tesla won't survive.
Thus, when I get my car back, I'll have to make a choice about whether I'll keep it, especially as it's value may plummet if Tesla looks shaky as a company. My suggestion to prospective buyers is to wait for some of the competition to come out soon--like the e-tron and the I-Pace, see if the Model 3 rollout makes or breaks Tesla, and then make a decision. There's no reason to rush.
That is pretty bad. I see that problem more and more now and that freaks me out. Of course, nobody plans to get into an accident but things happen.
What are they telling you? that Tesla just doesn't have parts?
The body shop has done much of the body work already and is waiting for the remainder of the parts to arrive. The shop has actually been forwarding the emails from Tesla's Parts Department. These emails mostly say that Tesla is awaiting some parts to arrive in their inventory and don't have an ETA. Other parts have been "expedited" and are being transferred around Tesla's facilities to become available for the body shop hopefully soon-ish. It seems as if Tesla doesn't physically have the part, they have no idea when they'll get it. For a while, I thought that they may have been prioritizing Model 3 parts near the end of last quarter to hit their production goal, but things don't seem any better in April.
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Parts availability does seem to be a genuine concern with Tesla. Touch wood I haven't had an accident in many years, so I decided to take the risk knowing that it would probably be a lot of hassle if I needed a crash repair. But for anyone who has a long history of accidents, for whatever reason, it's probably not a good choice of car at this point!
As our local Tesla Service Center isn't involved with body repair at all, I don't get a loaner from them. I've been just driving one of our extra cars in the interim, so I haven't driven a Tesla in months. When I did get my car serviced at the Service Center, I always got a loaner--usually an S, but sometimes a random ICE vehicle.
Improving parts availability for Body Shops was supposed to be a priority for Tesla after some earlier owners' terrible experiences. (I believe it even was mentioned by Elon on Twitter!) I would understand if parts were hard to find within a few months of the Model X's release, but the Model X's release was 2 years ago, and things are still this bad now. A lot of the issues with the Model 3 rollout (delayed production, poor quality control, a singular focus on meeting numerical production goals) are identical to those we experienced with the rollout of the Model X, as if Tesla has not learned anything. It appears as if the frustrations and inconveniences that the early adopters endured was all for naught, which makes this experience all the more disappointing.
I suppose one pragmatic take here is to make sure you tick the "loaner car" box when taking out insurance on a Tesla unless you are prepared to do without it for long periods.
One year in with an X100D. So Cal. Don't drive much (work from home). 3 young kids.
Bullet thoughts;
No regrets.
Wrapping it was smart. I am no longer terrified of parking lots. Or my narrow garage. But wow, I pull in S.L.O.W.L.Y.
White seats holding up great.
Not going to gas stations is more wonderful than I'd expected.
Really dislike driving my wife's RAV4, but it has a roof rack for long lumber or PVC poles.
Rarely use the frunk. Nice to have it, but not much value for us.
Haven't towed anything yet, but glad I can.
Amazed that the car gets better via updates. Very little I own gets better over time. Maybe some stocks.
Insta-torque is de rigeur now. I will never go back to an ICE, but a long power outage is possible, so we'll keep an ICE in the fam.
I put the kids in the middle row, so it's tight when we have 4 adults along, but it's fine for short trips.
Have only supercharged 4 times. Rarely charge away from home at any rate.
I don't even look at range unless we're going to the cabin.
I mostly like the FWD, but I still duck and don't like that I have to check before I open one. They probably would stop for an obstruction, but the cost of failure is too high so I don't risk it.
I never use Summon, but it's still cool.
I like the deep truck more than I'd expected. Keeps the soccer balls and folding chairs out of the way.
Kids like the Easter Eggs, but don't buy it for those.
Went to service a few times for wonky windows and the acceleration shudder. Good experiences, but still not how they ought to be.
The panels aren't perfect, but that's not on my issue list. I'm pretty sure no one notices at 30mph.
Like that it's US-made and CA-made.
Ultra-safe (assuming you don't abuse the TACC. I didn't activate Auto.)
Expensive, but no regrets. I've spoiled myself and likely will be unable to go back to a reasonably-priced car.
Would purchase again.
Bullet thoughts;
No regrets.
Wrapping it was smart. I am no longer terrified of parking lots. Or my narrow garage. But wow, I pull in S.L.O.W.L.Y.
White seats holding up great.
Not going to gas stations is more wonderful than I'd expected.
Really dislike driving my wife's RAV4, but it has a roof rack for long lumber or PVC poles.
Rarely use the frunk. Nice to have it, but not much value for us.
Haven't towed anything yet, but glad I can.
Amazed that the car gets better via updates. Very little I own gets better over time. Maybe some stocks.
Insta-torque is de rigeur now. I will never go back to an ICE, but a long power outage is possible, so we'll keep an ICE in the fam.
I put the kids in the middle row, so it's tight when we have 4 adults along, but it's fine for short trips.
Have only supercharged 4 times. Rarely charge away from home at any rate.
I don't even look at range unless we're going to the cabin.
I mostly like the FWD, but I still duck and don't like that I have to check before I open one. They probably would stop for an obstruction, but the cost of failure is too high so I don't risk it.
I never use Summon, but it's still cool.
I like the deep truck more than I'd expected. Keeps the soccer balls and folding chairs out of the way.
Kids like the Easter Eggs, but don't buy it for those.
Went to service a few times for wonky windows and the acceleration shudder. Good experiences, but still not how they ought to be.
The panels aren't perfect, but that's not on my issue list. I'm pretty sure no one notices at 30mph.
Like that it's US-made and CA-made.
Ultra-safe (assuming you don't abuse the TACC. I didn't activate Auto.)
Expensive, but no regrets. I've spoiled myself and likely will be unable to go back to a reasonably-priced car.
Would purchase again.
Jon McNeil, VP of Sales & Service, was working to improve things but then left a few months ago to become COO of Lyft. Elon of course hasn't replaced him, saying he can cover it. Elon really needs to hire a good COO to manage all of these issues including product launches, parts logistics, etc.
Log onto your MyTesla account and click on the executive escalation button. Last December I had been waiting for an out-of-stock 12V battery for my X for 3-4 weeks after it had notified me it was failing. I had a holiday road trip with the family coming up in two days so clicked the button out of frustration. I got a call from someone the next day, and a Ranger was at my place swapping it the day I had to leave.
Makes sense, Tesla has no responsibility to provide you a car if you're in an accident. I'll have to check with my insurance. I can't really be without a car for long periods like that.
Well OP- you've got some GREAT posts here... Lots of data about the ownership experience from actual owners. I want to add one more small piece of advice- if you are located reasonably close to a Service Center (like, 2 hours or less)- don't sweat it too much if you really want one of these cars. If you are further from a SC than 2 hours- think LONG and HARD. Obviously as Freshies has pointed out (man I feel bad for you!!!), getting in an accident in a Tesla (though very safe for you and your family)- nightmare to repair. I am over 4 hours away, and SHAME on me for buying a Tesla at this stage of the game. I should have my first experience with Ranger Service this week, which is going to lead to SC visit of course, which means a tow truck... All because the nearest SC is 260 miles away (and yes, I knew this before I purchased the car, just didn't realize the actual limitations of Tesla in the real world).
The cars are amazing- there is no other way to describe them. But worthless if they don't work properly AND you can't get them serviced. Fortunately- most people can and that is good news.
The cars are amazing- there is no other way to describe them. But worthless if they don't work properly AND you can't get them serviced. Fortunately- most people can and that is good news.
PrGrPa
Member
This has been a really helpful thread. Thanks to the OP for starting it and all the contributors for your input.
I took delivery of a model S in February. It has been a revelation. I’m now looking to replacing my wife’s car early next year with an X. I’ve been driving her ICE car the past few days and while it’s a nice MB it is nowhere near as good to drive as my model S. The X75D 7-seater + PUP would be a great car for most of our day to day needs. About the only thing I’d hesitate about is using it to visit friends who don’t have chargers and aren’t near Superchargers. Only because we usually do a bunch of trips with them and the X75D’s higher consumption would concern me. The S75D should be fine.
100D or P100D? Too rich for my wallet.
I took delivery of a model S in February. It has been a revelation. I’m now looking to replacing my wife’s car early next year with an X. I’ve been driving her ICE car the past few days and while it’s a nice MB it is nowhere near as good to drive as my model S. The X75D 7-seater + PUP would be a great car for most of our day to day needs. About the only thing I’d hesitate about is using it to visit friends who don’t have chargers and aren’t near Superchargers. Only because we usually do a bunch of trips with them and the X75D’s higher consumption would concern me. The S75D should be fine.
100D or P100D? Too rich for my wallet.
I have to update this post. ranger Service came out last Friday. best service experience ever. I was blown away. Most competent tech I’ve ever met. He found/fixed the issue i had- then proceed to “fix” things he figured I would have a “future” problem with...then he took the car to my favorite alignment shop (which Tesla uses as well) and had the steering wheel adjusted. He spent 7 hours with the car. Even updated software to very latest version (2018.16). Very impressed and now a bit hopeful this Tesla adventure won’t be a disaster after all.
