Has anyone been given mobile app access for loaners?

[pelargir]

Just curious if anyone has been successful at petitioning Tesla to grant mobile app access for loaners? We expect to have a loaner for at least a week, probably more, and with this latest cold snap it would be very handy to have the pre-heating option available (not to mention the calendar syncing). When I asked, my local SC said they could not do this. I really don't understand why not. They were able to disable mobile access on our car while they work on it. What's so difficult about enabling mobile access on a different vehicle? I suspect they are busy and just don't have time to do it, but I'd really like to know if someone else has been successful in requesting this.

 

[XxCyberHackerxX]

I have had 3 loaners so far and wasn't given loaner access. The most time I spent with a loaner was 2 days however. I assume they typically don't because they have to link that vin to your account and it could possibly cause confusion

 

[myblubu]

Just curious if anyone has been successful at petitioning Tesla to grant mobile app access for loaners? We expect to have a loaner for at least a week, probably more, and with this latest cold snap it would be very handy to have the pre-heating option available (not to mention the calendar syncing). When I asked, my local SC said they could not do this. I really don't understand why not. They were able to disable mobile access on our car while they work on it. What's so difficult about enabling mobile access on a different vehicle? I suspect they are busy and just don't have time to do it, but I'd really like to know if someone else has been successful in requesting this.

It’s really 2 different things - you can disable mobile acces to your car at any time in the settings menu on the center screen. It is a toggle setting that can be turned on/off at will. Service Dept turns off mobile access when the vehicle is in for service for safety reasons - you wouldn’t want someone to have remote access to the car while a tech is working on it.

‘Adding’ mobile access requires adding that vehicle to the user’s mytesla account for it to be viewable in their app. I don’t see that happening - there would be too many things to do in order to enable it and then disable it when the car moves to the next user (so that the previous user doesn’t have access while the next user is driving the car), etc. or else it could open the way for mischief or accidents, etc.

I recall following my wife while going somewhere and opening the sunroof in the car she was driving from the mobile app. We were talking on the phone and she knew I was doing this. Imagine someone else doing something like this (even if by accident) while you’re driving on a busy highway or when being distracted for a second could lead to an accident.

While it would be nice to have mobile access on a service loaner, I can’t imagine Tesla enabling it. I’ve noticed the SvC really trying to minimize time in a service loaner. The last one I had was with 3 customers in one day - picked up from customer 1 in the morning and brought to me when my car was taken to service, my car was returned in the afternoon and the loaner was taken to customer #3. That would be a lot of work to move the mobile access around.

It’s a small inconvience not having mobile access when I have a service loaner, but I’m okay with it. Especially since they are providing a Tesla loaner (and sometimes a ‘better’ vehicle to use in the meantime), while I miss the mobile features, I consider it a small price to pay for the service.

 

[bonnie]

I've never had a loaner connected to my Tesla account & for the reasons stated above, it's not my car. It is a minor inconvenience to not be able to access for pre-heating or to check status -- but it's only minor. I'm just glad to have a Tesla loaner when I need one.

 

[Trailblazer]

Even for longer-term loaners, Tesla's policy seems to be that they won't enable mobile access. I recently had a loaner for 5 weeks (replacing the main battery pack in my Model S) and asked them about it. They said "no" and I didn't press the issue.

 

[boaterva]

With all the things they have been known *not* to do, this would be a mess. It would be nice to do if there was an automated checklist for check-in and check-out to automatically process this, but I'd not hold my breath.

For something else they don't do, for example, I had an X loaner for a week (when my X was bricked back at 2017.42), and I spent a while clearing out the stuff left behind by previous owners: Profiles, map locations (I knew what schools everyone's kids went to, where everyone worked, what their cell phones did...). Talk about a security issue. (I do some Infosec, that car was a rolling goldmine for someone if they were tracking someone...).

One suggestion: Make your own loaner profile, and at least delete it. And your map data... and anything else you care about. I almost want to suggest 'reset car to factory settings', and am trying to think why not...

 

[MelaniainLA]

Yes!!!! We had a loaner over the holidays when SC was closed. The loaner would not respond to the fob. Even changing fob battery didn’t help. Service could unlock the car remotely, but there was no way that I could call them every time I wanted them to unlock the car. So, as a courtesy, their senior management finally allowed me to add that loaner on to my app so that I could use the app to enter the car, and to start it and drive to places. It was amazing! Unfortunately, I took a while to remove it from my app, so whenever it had alerts related to whoever had a loaner after me, I would receive them on my phone for some time.

 

[pelargir]

I get that it's not as simple as flipping a switch right now, but being a software developer I know that it should be that simple. Everyone has a Tesla account. Enabling mobile access should just be a matter of pairing this car with that account. When the customer is done with the loaner, remove the link. There could even be a way to automatically cancel the link after a set period of time, so if the customer is expected to have the loaner for 3 days, mobile access is automatically removed after that period of time.

It's really not that difficult (or at least if it is, it shouldn't be).

I understand not wanting the overhead of setting up mobile access for short-term loaners (although as I've said, there should be little to no overhead to doing this if it was designed the right way). But what I don't understand is not wanting to give customers who have a loaner for a week or longer the best possible experience while their Tesla is being serviced.

 

[SMAlset]

No. It's more of a pain when you are charging and can't see what's going on or can't get a notification of when it's charged like at a supercharger.

 

[MelaniainLA]

No. It's more of a pain when you are charging and can't see what's going on or can't get a notification of when it's charged like at a supercharger.

At least you’re not on the hook for supercharger overage fees! ‍

 

[outdoors]

Never given access. I have had a ranger call me and say the SOC on the loaner was low. Kind of like my own personal car assistant. I joked with the ranger and said. Can you continue this service of letting me know my SOC is low after the loaner is returned?

I was out of town. Car was not plugged in garage. Had to instruct house/dog sitter on how to plug car in.

 

[SMAlset]

At least you’re not on the hook for supercharger overage fees! ‍

Very true although it can leave others frustrated waiting for you to move. As it is now we are both set up to get notifications when our Model S starts charging and finishes. Been spotty and not reliable. I'm the only one it seems to routinely (although not always) get them when it's done and so have to call my husband at work to tell him times up and move the car. We try to be courteous and stay on top of it. With a loaner, it's set a timer based on car screen projection before leaving and hoping for the best at work. At home, not an issue.

Thankfully our S has been great and not in service center much (smashed window and minor stuff, no accidents).

 

[Tonyg1122]

I came her looking for “how to see the loaner on the app” (didn’t get that answer but willing to add some comments about what people are saying) this is my second loaner and yes they do add it to your app (they did for my first one) it just took some time for them to do it on their end. Just got my second one and they say “it has been added and should see it” but I don’t see it. I was wondering if there was something on my end that I had to “refresh it” I tried logging out, closing app and going back in. Still not seeing it.

 

[sorka]

I came her looking for “how to see the loaner on the app” (didn’t get that answer but willing to add some comments about what people are saying) this is my second loaner and yes they do add it to your app (they did for my first one) it just took some time for them to do it on their end. Just got my second one and they say “it has been added and should see it” but I don’t see it. I was wondering if there was something on my end that I had to “refresh it” I tried logging out, closing app and going back in. Still not seeing it.

This is just something they started in April of 2022. Had 4 loaners in 2022 and they all appeared in the app with full access. However it seems to be broken now. My current loaner is not appearing. They tried re-adding it 4 times with no luck. Then someone else in the Fremont location said they just stopped doing this.

My only thought is that they had some issue to debug that was serious or some legal issue regarding privacy or something crazy like that. Hoping they bring it back soon.