Thought I'd chime in because I had my first Tesla roadside assistance experience recently, and it was really good. I have a 2018 LR dual motor Model 3. Still under warranty with about 40,000 miles on it, but I don't think that's relevant; my understanding is that the Tesla roadside assistance is available for the life of the vehicle.
About three weeks ago I had a tire blowout in a construction zone on I-25 heading south toward Colorado Springs. First time I've ever had a tire blowout in 35 years of driving. I was driving with my one of my kids home from a tennis tournament, and we were only about 20 miles from home. It took a few seconds to realize what happened; we were traveling in traffic at around 75 mph and all of a sudden we just starting hearing this horrendous womping noise coming from the rear of the car. I slowed down, and after a few seconds the screen popped up a nasty message about catastrophic loss of tire pressure or something, and then I knew what happened. I found a reasonably safe place to pull over on the shoulder, got out and looked, and the tire was completely flat.
I had never used the Tesla roadside assistance, so I honestly didn't know what to do, but I looked through the menus on the screen and found something about it. It had a phone number to call, and this is where I got a bit confused. When I called I got a phone menu asking a few questions, don't remember exactly what they were, but at some point it said something about using the app to connect to roadside assistance, and something about only using it for emergencies. I wasn't sure if a tire blowout constituted an emergency or just an "inconvenience", so I hung up.
I then spent about 20 minutes trying to just find a local towing company. I think I assumed, incorrectly as it turned out, that I'd have better luck finding my own tow truck. I called five different towing companies, only two of them ever answered, one said that they had no drivers due to driver shortages, and the other told me that they were booked out for at least 3 or 4 hours. Great. I put my name on their list thinking there might actually be no better option.
Then I called the Tesla roadside number again. This time I picked all the "emergency" options and got connected to a human within about 30 seconds. The guy was super helpful, asked for info about where we were and what happened, and then he put me on hold while he located a tow truck. I was on hold for about 5 minutes, but when he came back on he told me that a tow truck would be there in about an hour. He also sent me a text message, and I communicated with him via text over the next hour. In the meantime my son and I watched a Netflix movie on the Model 3 screen (LOL). He basically just gave me an update when the truck was actually on its way and then asked if everything was OK after the truck came and loaded up our car. The tow truck driver was well familiar with how to load up our Model 3. I had actually installed the tow hook on the front bumper thinking it would help him, but he explained that he only used that as a last resort, that it had more potential to cause harm than good, and he just drove the vehicle up onto his flatbed. My son and I rode with him, and the Sentry mode alarm went off a few times while the car was behind us on the truck bed which was kind of funny; eventually I turned it off in the app. I had the tow truck driver take us to my favorite Discount Tire near our house (that was another great experience, BTW, can't say enough good about Discount Tire in Monument, CO). I was actually due for a new set of tires anyway, although i would have rather driven in than been dragged in to get them.
Here's the best part - not only did Tesla roadside find me a tow truck when I couldn't find one myself (turns out they're contracted with two companies in Colorado Springs but further south in the heart of town, not up on the north side where I live). They also paid the towing charge! That was a nice surprise. I don't know what the conditions are for getting free towing, but maybe I got lucky that day.
Anyhow, it was a great experience to make up for a lousy one of having a tire blowout, to no fault of my car. (The Discount Tire guys said it looked like I ran over something substantial that punctured my tire).
