Long-time lurker, first-time poster here. Based near St Ives in Cornwall, UK.
My wife and I bought a 2022 MYLR delivered in September 2022 after test driving both a Model 3 and Model Y at Exeter's pop-up showroom. We had also tested out a few alternatives like the VW ID.3/ID.4 and Hyundai IONIQ 5. The ID.3/ID.4 were on a 1-1.5 year backorder and I just didn't like the IONIQ 5's looks - too boxy for me. We had just got a dog and had a baby on the way, so needed something in a few months' time maximum. After some COVID-related shutdowns in China that pushed back our date by a couple of months, the delivery date finally arrived and having dropped off the dog for the day, we made our way to Bristol to collect.
Collection experience was great and much better that I'd come to expect having read some horror stories on various forums and blogs. I checked the car over using a checklist from the Tesla Owners Club and everything looked good, the staff were also very helpful and offered to show us some basics given they weren't that busy.
In the intervening time, we have driven approximately 5000 miles including a couple of trips to London to see family. We have Intelligent Octopus with a Tesla charger so our charges cost us hardly anything and it feels like we're driving "for free"!
Good things:
* Supercharger network is a godsend - we have a few favourites that we visit on our known routes and it's always worked out. The ones at Cribbs Causeway are a particular favourite since you can plug in while you shop/eat and it's a natural break point during a Cornwall-London drive.
* Plenty of space including lots of hidden storage holes - perfect for pet and child accessories.
* Software is actually really good - I wasn't expecting much given the general state of car entertainment systems but for once I'm not generally missing not having CarPlay (although it would still be nice).
* Ride is nice, especially compared to the wife's Mini (back seats feel like a go-cart)
Bad/weird things:
* Side cameras seem to be blinded/blocked very often, I often get the warning during twilight hours or if the sun is low.
* The rear camera is susceptible to being covered in flicked-up mud.
* Some common controls are hidden in menus (e.g. why they don't place the demister on the bottom row by default beats me; I did this as one of the first things).
* Windscreen rain sensor is hit-and-miss - I've been in situations where it's been raining heavily and wipers have not activated although on auto and I've had to do it manually.
* I have this weird problem where if I park with the driver's side close to a wall or something else blocking my exit, the car will refuse to lock. If I turn the car around and park in the same place, this time with the passenger side blocked, it will lock without any issue.
* Windscreen replacement is an absolute s**t-show (my experience is with Autoglass, see below)
* Cars parked by the side of the road are sometimes detected as obstacles even though they are not in my path and this causes and annoying and startling warning beep (see below).
Overall, both of us absolutely love the car and would not change it for anything else.
Now to the details of the final two issues.
Obstacles
In general, the obstacle detection works fine, but there is this one place on my route home which always triggers it. The road bends slightly to the right and residents/contractors often park on the left-hand side of the road. This particular parking place always triggers the obstacle detection even though my current path does not lead into the back of the car!
(Black car position always triggers)
Windscreen replacement (beware, long story below!)
tl;dr Autoglass is a real s**t-show with Teslas, prepare to wait weeks for a replacement and argue on the phone multiple times.
Now onto my biggest bugbear so far. It's not (entirely) Tesla's fault but it particularly concerns Tesla owners using Autoglass (and maybe other windscreen replacement companies in the UK).
On a journey back from London, a car in the lane next to me flicked up a stone which hit my windscreen and chipped it. Normally it's not a problem so I decided to contact Autoglass the next day to book a repair. However, by the next morning, the chip had turned into a full crack that ran half-way across the windscreen directly at my eye-level. Not undriveable but definitely distracting and annoying.
I went online and booked a replacement for a few days' time, paying my £75 excess. Got an email and thought nothing more of it until I received a phone call later in the day. Turns out that their online booking system does not take into account Teslas (even though it asks for the make and model of your car and has both Tesla and Model Y in the drop-downs). Autoglass do not do home calls for Tesla windscreen replacements; you have to go to them since it's apparently a 2-person job and the glass is too large for their vans. Fine, I thought, the closest centre is 20 mins away so not the end of the world although the job itself is apparently a whole-day affair (as opposed to the wife's Mini which had a full replacement at home in 1 hour).
Then comes the rub - Autoglass insisted that they needed to do a camera calibration in conjunction with someone on the phone from Tesla, and that this meant a minimum 4 week wait for a slot. I told them I could do the calibration myself from the menu but they weren't buying it. I told the person to go check and call me back. They accepted and booked me in (2 week wait which was long enough).
I got a confirmation of my booking and on the day, dropped the car off. The guy at the centre said that it may take longer than estimated but took my number to keep my updated. A couple of hours later, I got a phone call saying the calibration was never booked and they had no slots so I needed to pick the car up again, which had not been touched at all. I was quite annoyed but it wasn't the guy's fault (he admitted it's like this with all Teslas they deal with).
To cut an already long story short, over the next week or so I called them more times than I care to remember. I tried multiple numbers including an internal one I got from the guy at the centre. I spoke to everyone at the cell centre (who knew nothing about calibration) and then escalated and made an official complaint. I managed to speak to someone at the district office who was very honest and basically admitted that they knew about all the issues (but apparently did nothing to resolve them). After threatening court action, I managed to get a new slot and a promise that it was actually booked in properly. This time they did the job and also the calibration. The guy at the office said their issue is that they do not have a letter from Tesla saying that the customer is allowed to do the calibration themselves, and therefore to avoid liability, they have to do it.
My official complaint was resolved with a letter of apology, a refund of my £75 plus £50 for the inconvenience.
Phew.
Has anyone else had an experience this bad? Is it just Autoglass? Why doesn't Tesla just write them a letter?
"Tesla Model Y in San Ramon" by DestinationFearFan is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Admin note: Image added for Blog feed thumbnail
My wife and I bought a 2022 MYLR delivered in September 2022 after test driving both a Model 3 and Model Y at Exeter's pop-up showroom. We had also tested out a few alternatives like the VW ID.3/ID.4 and Hyundai IONIQ 5. The ID.3/ID.4 were on a 1-1.5 year backorder and I just didn't like the IONIQ 5's looks - too boxy for me. We had just got a dog and had a baby on the way, so needed something in a few months' time maximum. After some COVID-related shutdowns in China that pushed back our date by a couple of months, the delivery date finally arrived and having dropped off the dog for the day, we made our way to Bristol to collect.
Collection experience was great and much better that I'd come to expect having read some horror stories on various forums and blogs. I checked the car over using a checklist from the Tesla Owners Club and everything looked good, the staff were also very helpful and offered to show us some basics given they weren't that busy.
In the intervening time, we have driven approximately 5000 miles including a couple of trips to London to see family. We have Intelligent Octopus with a Tesla charger so our charges cost us hardly anything and it feels like we're driving "for free"!
Good things:
* Supercharger network is a godsend - we have a few favourites that we visit on our known routes and it's always worked out. The ones at Cribbs Causeway are a particular favourite since you can plug in while you shop/eat and it's a natural break point during a Cornwall-London drive.
* Plenty of space including lots of hidden storage holes - perfect for pet and child accessories.
* Software is actually really good - I wasn't expecting much given the general state of car entertainment systems but for once I'm not generally missing not having CarPlay (although it would still be nice).
* Ride is nice, especially compared to the wife's Mini (back seats feel like a go-cart)
Bad/weird things:
* Side cameras seem to be blinded/blocked very often, I often get the warning during twilight hours or if the sun is low.
* The rear camera is susceptible to being covered in flicked-up mud.
* Some common controls are hidden in menus (e.g. why they don't place the demister on the bottom row by default beats me; I did this as one of the first things).
* Windscreen rain sensor is hit-and-miss - I've been in situations where it's been raining heavily and wipers have not activated although on auto and I've had to do it manually.
* I have this weird problem where if I park with the driver's side close to a wall or something else blocking my exit, the car will refuse to lock. If I turn the car around and park in the same place, this time with the passenger side blocked, it will lock without any issue.
* Windscreen replacement is an absolute s**t-show (my experience is with Autoglass, see below)
* Cars parked by the side of the road are sometimes detected as obstacles even though they are not in my path and this causes and annoying and startling warning beep (see below).
Overall, both of us absolutely love the car and would not change it for anything else.
Now to the details of the final two issues.
Obstacles
In general, the obstacle detection works fine, but there is this one place on my route home which always triggers it. The road bends slightly to the right and residents/contractors often park on the left-hand side of the road. This particular parking place always triggers the obstacle detection even though my current path does not lead into the back of the car!
(Black car position always triggers)
Windscreen replacement (beware, long story below!)
tl;dr Autoglass is a real s**t-show with Teslas, prepare to wait weeks for a replacement and argue on the phone multiple times.
Now onto my biggest bugbear so far. It's not (entirely) Tesla's fault but it particularly concerns Tesla owners using Autoglass (and maybe other windscreen replacement companies in the UK).
On a journey back from London, a car in the lane next to me flicked up a stone which hit my windscreen and chipped it. Normally it's not a problem so I decided to contact Autoglass the next day to book a repair. However, by the next morning, the chip had turned into a full crack that ran half-way across the windscreen directly at my eye-level. Not undriveable but definitely distracting and annoying.
I went online and booked a replacement for a few days' time, paying my £75 excess. Got an email and thought nothing more of it until I received a phone call later in the day. Turns out that their online booking system does not take into account Teslas (even though it asks for the make and model of your car and has both Tesla and Model Y in the drop-downs). Autoglass do not do home calls for Tesla windscreen replacements; you have to go to them since it's apparently a 2-person job and the glass is too large for their vans. Fine, I thought, the closest centre is 20 mins away so not the end of the world although the job itself is apparently a whole-day affair (as opposed to the wife's Mini which had a full replacement at home in 1 hour).
Then comes the rub - Autoglass insisted that they needed to do a camera calibration in conjunction with someone on the phone from Tesla, and that this meant a minimum 4 week wait for a slot. I told them I could do the calibration myself from the menu but they weren't buying it. I told the person to go check and call me back. They accepted and booked me in (2 week wait which was long enough).
I got a confirmation of my booking and on the day, dropped the car off. The guy at the centre said that it may take longer than estimated but took my number to keep my updated. A couple of hours later, I got a phone call saying the calibration was never booked and they had no slots so I needed to pick the car up again, which had not been touched at all. I was quite annoyed but it wasn't the guy's fault (he admitted it's like this with all Teslas they deal with).
To cut an already long story short, over the next week or so I called them more times than I care to remember. I tried multiple numbers including an internal one I got from the guy at the centre. I spoke to everyone at the cell centre (who knew nothing about calibration) and then escalated and made an official complaint. I managed to speak to someone at the district office who was very honest and basically admitted that they knew about all the issues (but apparently did nothing to resolve them). After threatening court action, I managed to get a new slot and a promise that it was actually booked in properly. This time they did the job and also the calibration. The guy at the office said their issue is that they do not have a letter from Tesla saying that the customer is allowed to do the calibration themselves, and therefore to avoid liability, they have to do it.
My official complaint was resolved with a letter of apology, a refund of my £75 plus £50 for the inconvenience.
Phew.
Has anyone else had an experience this bad? Is it just Autoglass? Why doesn't Tesla just write them a letter?
"Tesla Model Y in San Ramon" by DestinationFearFan is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Admin note: Image added for Blog feed thumbnail
