Moving to Michigan

[Brandonm]

My family is considering a move to Grand Rapids to be closer to family, and I know due to the dealership issues in Michigan Tesla doesn't have any service centers. I was curious what other owners are currently doing to get the car serviced etc. Drive your car to out of state service centers? Rely on Ranger service (which seems like it'd be pretty pricey). Any other concerns with driving a Tesla in MI (other than snow )

If there are other threads to check out as well I'd appreciate it, I checked around a bit but didn't see any. Thanks in advance!

 

[timf]

My family is considering a move to Grand Rapids to be closer to family, and I know due to the dealership issues in Michigan Tesla doesn't have any service centers. I was curious what other owners are currently doing to get the car serviced etc. Drive your car to out of state service centers? Rely on Ranger service (which seems like it'd be pretty pricey). Any other concerns with driving a Tesla in MI (other than snow )

If there are other threads to check out as well I'd appreciate it, I checked around a bit but didn't see any. Thanks in advance!

There is no charge for ranger service in Michigan. Tesla has at least one ranger based in western Michigan, and if there's a bigger issue they'll flatbed it to the Chicago service center free of charge.

 

[Bgarret]

From Grand Haven - about 40 minutes from Grand Rapids.

The Grand Rapids ranger (currently) is Tony....and he is nails. I've had a couple of tic-tac issues (Pano Roof seals, seals in tail lights, TPMS sensors for snow tires) and he and the Cleveland Service center have been extremely responsive, proactive and a pleasure to work with. I scheduled my first ranger appointment for my garage for the Pano and tail light seals, Tony made the small fixes, noticed I had an old appliqué for the tailgate, ordered a new one for me and came the next week and installed it. A couple months later, he met me in Grand Rapids and linked up the TPMS sensors on my snow tires. So far, it's better than a service center - like having a doctor that makes house calls. Can't speak to cost as I'm still under the extended warranty.

If you do come to W.Michigan, be ready for a little more attention for your driving choices, Teslas are still a bit rare around here. I'm a UW grad, and though I miss the mountains, Michigan is beautiful.

Go Huskies!

 

[Bgarret]

What snow are you taking about??

 

[Joel]

My family is considering a move to Grand Rapids to be closer to family, and I know due to the dealership issues in Michigan Tesla doesn't have any service centers. I was curious what other owners are currently doing to get the car serviced etc. Drive your car to out of state service centers? Rely on Ranger service (which seems like it'd be pretty pricey). Any other concerns with driving a Tesla in MI (other than snow )

If there are other threads to check out as well I'd appreciate it, I checked around a bit but didn't see any. Thanks in advance!

Tesla sends a ranger on site to service your car. If the car needs to be serviced at a service center, they will provide a loaner and trailer your car to the nearest service center.

 

[dhcp]

From Grand Haven - about 40 minutes from Grand Rapids.

If you do come to W.Michigan, be ready for a little more attention for your driving choices, Teslas are still a bit rare around here. I'm a UW grad, and though I miss the mountains, Michigan is beautiful.

As someone that spent a significant amount of my life in the GR/GH/Holland area, it's a great quality of life and if you have to live in Michigan, that's one of the best areas and GR has lots going on.

However, the police in west Michigan are pretty seriously oppressive, getting pulled over for 10mph over the limit is very common and _all_ the cars have radar in use. Incomplete stops get pulled all the time even in the country. They are all over even minor infractions that would probably slide elsewhere.

I miss a lot about that area, the beaches are amazing, the fall is beautiful, super-safe, people are really nice and houses cheap but I don't miss that part of it. I wouldn't want to be a minority in that area and it was a tough area to be a teen.

In California, you would have to be waving a handgun as you sped through red lights in a school zone to raise an eyebrow. Even then, a trip to Traffic School and it would never go on your record.

 

[Jim MacInnes]

Michigan has 6 Superchargers now and you never have to wait for one. More to come next year too. Grand Rapids is a great city with lots of excellent restaurants and you can come north a couple of hours to play in the snow. Boyne Mountain, Boyne Highlands and Crystal Mountain ski areas all have 80 Amp HPWC's you can use for free while you are having fun on the slopes. Ranger Tony and the people at the Cleveland/Highland Park IL Tesla dealership are on top of your maintenance too as was earlier mentioned.

 

[hmmm]

Do you all work for the state of Michigan's tourism board here or something?

 

[Brandonm]

Thanks for the responses!

 

[Brandonm]

So i emailed tesla about the Ranger service (not that i didn't believe what was posted, just wanted to confirm period moving to MI but the service agreement) and got this response

Hi Brandon,


Thanks for contacting Tesla Motors Customer Support with questions about Ranger Services. Ranger Service are not complimentary. There’s a $100 fee for Rangers to make a visit and if there is towing required to get serviced, it will be $3 a mile one way and the $3 is calculated from location of vehicle to a location in Farmington Hills.

Is there a local contact i can reach out to confirm this with? I've had conflicting info from Tesla before.

 

[KCMOP85D]

We used to live in West Michigan (Muskegon area) and want to come back and retire there. The public charging infrastructure seems to be a bit lacking (at least compared to my current "home" of Kansas City), so I would love to get involved in making that a bit better once I get there.
Don't worry about the snow. Most areas are relatively flat and well-plowed. I used to have an Audi A6 with quattro and never put winter tires on it. My wife had a Toyota Sienna AWD. We got around just fine. A "D" version of Model S will serve you well.