Importing a Tesla into Colombia (South America): any missing features?

[Sacalle]

Hello everyone!

I live in Colombia and we are thinking about importing a Tesla over here. To the other people that have imported their Tesla, what features are missing? Is it too bad to have the car without those features?

Thank you!

 

[ecarfan]

I assume you are referring to a Model 3?

In any case, I am not clear on what you mean by “what features are missing?”.

I can tell you that since Tesla does not offer factory service in your country you are taking a big risk. If something goes wrong — no car is perfect — you may have an extremely difficult time fixing it. A car like a Tesla is essentially a computer on wheels. Multiple computers control all aspects of the car’s operation.

 

[Jrzapata]

Being from Colombia and knowing the status of the roads I can imagine autopilot is pretty much useless if you don't have street markings. I can't imagine how the car behaves with all the motorcycles coming out of nowhere around it.But @ecarfan has the most valid point on the lack of service. The model 3 is a pain to get service here in the USA, I had to get two small issues addressed and both have taken about a month to get the parts to be taken care of, in a country without a service center, that should be your main concern.

 

[CharleyBC]

what features are missing?

Since Tesla doesn’t do business in Colombia, I assume they don’t have a contract with any local cellular carrier. So your navigation and entertainment features would be sharply limited.

 

[AdamVIP]

I have read the SIM card is not removable and thus locked to AT&T here in the states or whoever they use for the Europe and Chinese versions. I'm not sure any of your connectivity would work outside of a wifi connection.

 

[texas_star_TM3]

driving a Tesla in a country without any Service Centers, authorized repair shops/ body shops, Super Chargers, Mobile rangers, functioning "always on" cellular .... aaah no.... just don't

 

[dahaz22]

Unless you are rich with plenty of disposable income to play with, this sounds like a very bad idea.

 

[SmartElectric]

Bjørn Nyland

Tesla grey market ownership in Thailand:

Watch! Tesla owners shipping their cars via ship back to a supported country for repairs.

 

[earthwormjim]

If you're going to import a Tesla, I suggest you go with a European build. That way you at least have an industry standard charging port, and can support 3-phase charging, since it's doubtful you're going to find superchargers or fast chargers anywhere for a long time.