Grumpy vehicle safety inspector

[camalaio]

I was not making fun of him. I very casually asked if I could drive the car in and he rather gruffly said No, and asked for the fob, though he had seen from the papers that it was a Model 3. It is not an insult to say that this car is different and note that he apparently had not encountered one before and I didn't want mine to be the one he learned on. But I didn't say any of that. I explained that my phone is the key and that I'd walk to the car with him so that it would unlock and drive for him. It was after he didn't know how to get in and asked for a start button that I again asked to be allowed to drive the car.

His garage is one bay opening directly into the parking lot. But rather than civilly explaining that his insurance would not allow that and asking me how to operate the car, he got out and stormed away.

Note please, that he did the inspection on the car before mine in the parking lot and never brought it into his garage! Yes, he apparently felt insulted, and FYI I have Aspergers and zero social skills so perhaps I was not as tactful as I might have been, but I am polite and I've never encountered a reaction like his.

On-line reviews say he is quick but has a bad attitude.

People here are generally friendly and since I moved here almost two years ago, plus my several visits before that, I have had consistently nothing but friendly encounters with everybody.

And, FWIW, when I lived in North Dakota and occasionally visited Winnipeg, and later when I lived in Spokane and spent summers hiking in southeastern British Columbia, I found Canadians to be universally friendly. I cannot imagine a Canadian storming off in a huff because I asked to be allowed to drive my own car. Maybe they'd have explained that they could not allow it, but storming off in a huff, certainly not.

Sorry, what I meant is that here it sounded like making fun of him. Honestly no idea what occurred in person (or here for that matter - tone is supremely difficult to convey on the internet, Asperger's or otherwise!).

@john5520 has a really good point, that simply pulling up in a Tesla may have been the trigger for everything in addition to it being unfamiliar (which in hindsight, your story kind of points out). To me, it's one of the worst parts of owning the car. Either the "Tesla tax" of increased costs just because it's a Tesla (e.g. for protective clear wraps on the hood), or people assuming things about you. Seems to make kids really excited when they see one though, unfortunately adults are usually not so excited haha.

Regarding friendliness etc., we (Canadians) probably keep up appearances in general but business-type interactions aren't particularly affable by default (unless it's a small business). Don't anyone take this the wrong way, but we're also very "American" up here as well in general. Many are just getting by, don't like their jobs, aren't living the dream, etc. which can lead to grumpy inspectors pretty easily. Especially when an Tesla rolls up and assumptions are made.

That said, I'm from the western bit of Canada and I hardly exist to most Canadians, they're all East! So what do I know about Canadians, eh? (ugh, cringe)

 

[RayK]

Either the "Tesla tax" of increased costs just because it's a Tesla (e.g. for protective clear wraps on the hood), or people assuming things about you. Seems to make kids really excited when they see one though, unfortunately adults are usually not so excited haha.

<snip>

That said, I'm from the western bit of Canada and I hardly exist to most Canadians, they're all East! So what do I know about Canadians, eh? (ugh, cringe)

Note to Americans: the word above in bold should be pronounced a-boot when read out loud.

 

[camalaio]

Note to Americans: the word above in bold should be pronounced a-boot when read out loud.

I hear the pronunciation of "bag" is a differentiator, but people from Montana apparently speak pretty similarly to me?? (and use the "Canadian" version of "bag"??)

In my mind the only Canadianism I have is "eh" in common speech. Part of that is probably because I'm west, the other part being the usual bias that "I don't have an accent, you do!". I couldn't understand anyone when I was in South Carolina.

 

[RayK]

Go a little further East than Montana and a bag is pronounced "poke". Go figure that one out. (sorry, oot).

Edit: Note to Hawaiians... "poke" is pronounced as one syllable, not poh-kay.

 

[Trevor B]

Some folks like the OP are just way in over their head! Too much entitlement and they come here to brag about it.

 

[CyberGus]

 

[RayK]

Some folks like the OP are just way in over their head! Too much entitlement and they come here to brag about it.

I had somewhat of a similar experience as the OP at my usual retail tire store when I got a puncture in the left rear tire. At first the young lady said "oh yes we can fix that" when I said I had a Tesla with a screw in the tire that had a foam liner. I then had to show her how to unlock the car (with the keycard), put it in gear (forward and reverse) and also explain how there's specific jack points to lift the car. She didn't give me the same kind of attitude that the OP says he received, but it did irk me some that she had blithely told me they could fix it, when it was very apparent that she (personally) knew nothing about the factory tires having foam inserts and that she needed lessons on how to (safely) operate the car. Given that, and the fact that another rep there said they couldn't fix it, I left to get the tire fixed at the closest Tesla Service Center. Even if I wasn't given that second opinion, I was still going to leave anyway. It wasn't a case of "entitlement". It was simply a safety concern, both for me and my car, and the tire shop.

I'll still go back to that tire store; I've bought all my tires there for the last 20 years that I've lived in this neighborhood. Having a relatively new technology in vehicle transportation means that everybody is not immediately able to handle some tasks, even simple ones like patching a tire. This happened to me almost two years ago, time should have educated them enough to be able to evaluate their repair capabilities by now. At least I hope so...

 

[camalaio]

This happened to me almost two years ago, time should have educated them enough to be able to evaluate their repair capabilities by now. At least I hope so...

Hahaha. Nope. Really depends where you are. In the bigger city (bigger, not big) 45 minutes south of me, you can't drive through it without seeing at least one Model 3 and almost all shops are familiar with them.

45 minutes north however, in a slightly smaller town at a locally common chain tire shop, most of them were not familiar with the car. Most knew it as "futuristic" and "techy". I had to communicate the brand to them since they didn't know the logo on the car ("Tesla? Huh, so that's what they're called"). They had to call me back over just before we drove away in a different car to show them how to find the odometer (from a service perspective, this is actually incredibly annoying to be fair). She was grateful for the tutorial and hoped she'd remember it for the next Tesla customer.

However, something clearly pops up on their computers to tell them to ask certain things even though they don't know about it themselves. "Is Sentry Mode disabled" etc. That caught me off guard!

 

[RayK]

<Ray Googles Vernon, BC> Ah, so that's where Vernon is. I've only been up to Vancouver a couple of times and Whistler once. Being in the heart of Silicon Valley, you can't help not seeing several dozen Teslas when out driving (and at least five others on my own street; about 24 houses). Like I said, my experience at the tire shop was almost two years ago. Model 3s had been out over a year and were starting to get common enough around here so it was a little surprising that the shop was not fully "up-to-date" on the 3.

Maybe the young lady I ran into at the tire shop was new. Or maybe I was her first tire repair customer with a Model 3. In either event, it has not dissuaded me from returning there when I need a new set of tires for my car.

 

[daniel]

To clarify, in most states (including all those states marked in yellow), there is no “safety inspection”. All those states in yellow (like California) have only emissions tests to help keep pollution in check. Looks like 20 states have some sort of safety inspection.

Our "safety" inspection seems to consist of verifying that the car registration is up to date, that the driver has insurance, and that the tail lights work. They don't check any of the stuff that could actually make a car unsafe. And the whole thing takes a few minutes, much of that time being doing something on their tablet. (Maybe verifying the papers on line?)

Some folks like the OP are just way in over their head! Too much entitlement and they come here to brag about it.

I'm sorry you feel that way. I don't feel entitled to anything other than the same respect and civility I give to others. And while the fact that I can afford a Tesla is obvious when I'm driving it or talking about it here, I do not flaunt what I have or brag about it.