My first Tesla Roadside Assistance experience

[todda_88]

Last Friday marked my eight-day anniversary of owning my Model 3. Around 10:00 PM, I decided to hop into my M3 and head to the grocery store. Less than a minute into driving, the tire pressure warning came on saying one of my tire’s pressure was low. Sure enough, I pulled over, and my rear passenger tire was almost flat. After further inspection, I found a nail in the tire. I was able to pull into a gas station, not for gas of course, but to fill the tire with air and was able to make it back home safe and sound.

I got on my Tesla app and scheduled for Roadside Assistance. Within minutes, I received a text message from a live person with options for getting the tire replaced or repaired. Since Tesla Mobile Tire Service was no longer operating that late into the night, they dispatched a local tow company to bring me a loaner tire. The tow company arrived around midnight and removed my flat tire and installed a loaner tire.

My Tesla Mobile Tire Service was scheduled for Tuesday, September 21st. Today, which is Monday, September 20th, I got a call around 9:00 AM from Tesla Mobile Tire Service saying that they are available to come service my tire. However, my M3 was with me at work and my flat tire was in my garage at home 20 miles away. He asked if anyone was home for him to stop by to pick up the flat tire from my garage. I said nobody was home but I can open my garage from my phone. So Tesla Mobile Tire Service drove to my house, picked up my flat tire, and drove all the way to my work. He was able to repair the tire and install the tire onto my car in my work parking lot.

While I felt deflated for having a flat tire and going through this whole ordeal only eight days into owning my M3, I am very impressed by my first Tesla Roadside Assistance experience. I was able to get a loaner tire in the middle of the night in about 90 minutes. I was provided with service one day prior to my scheduled appointment. And Tesla Mobile Tire Service went out of their way to pick up my flat tire from my home and take it all the way to my work for repair and installation. Hopefully, I won’t need Tesla Roadside Assistance for anything else soon but it is assuring to know that they provide quick, reliable, and personalized service.

What has been your experience with Tesla Roadside Assistance or any Tesla service? Is the service I received from Tesla normal or am I just a lucky one?

Thanks for reading and sharing.

 

[glide]

Last Friday marked my eight-day anniversary of owning my Model 3. Around 10:00 PM, I decided to hop into my M3 and head to the grocery store. Less than a minute into driving, the tire pressure warning came on saying one of my tire’s pressure was low. Sure enough, I pulled over, and my rear passenger tire was almost flat. After further inspection, I found a nail in the tire. I was able to pull into a gas station, not for gas of course, but to fill the tire with air and was able to make it back home safe and sound.

I got on my Tesla app and scheduled for Roadside Assistance. Within minutes, I received a text message from a live person with options for getting the tire replaced or repaired. Since Tesla Mobile Tire Service was no longer operating that late into the night, they dispatched a local tow company to bring me a loaner tire. The tow company arrived around midnight and removed my flat tire and installed a loaner tire.

My Tesla Mobile Tire Service was scheduled for Tuesday, September 21st. Today, which is Monday, September 20th, I got a call around 9:00 AM from Tesla Mobile Tire Service saying that they are available to come service my tire. However, my M3 was with me at work and my flat tire was in my garage at home 20 miles away. He asked if anyone was home for him to stop by to pick up the flat tire from my garage. I said nobody was home but I can open my garage from my phone. So Tesla Mobile Tire Service drove to my house, picked up my flat tire, and drove all the way to my work. He was able to repair the tire and install the tire onto my car in my work parking lot.

While I felt deflated for having a flat tire and going through this whole ordeal only eight days into owning my M3, I am very impressed by my first Tesla Roadside Assistance experience. I was able to get a loaner tire in the middle of the night in about 90 minutes. I was provided with service one day prior to my scheduled appointment. And Tesla Mobile Tire Service went out of their way to pick up my flat tire from my home and take it all the way to my work for repair and installation. Hopefully, I won’t need Tesla Roadside Assistance for anything else soon but it is assuring to know that they provide quick, reliable, and personalized service.

What has been your experience with Tesla Roadside Assistance or any Tesla service? Is the service I received from Tesla normal or am I just a lucky one?

Thanks for reading and sharing.

Not normal. You are lucky.

They can be pretty good at changing tires. The bare, bare, bare minimum of expected service.

Let us know what happens if you ever need a new windshield.

 

[vogz]

Had a similar good experience with Tesla roadside while driving a Rental Model X (from Turo) in Colorado 2 years ago. Arrived in Denver during a snow storm. Was supposed to head up to the mountains, but I70 was closed so drove to Golden and had dinner. Conditions cleared a little and I70 opened up so we headed to the car around 11:30pm. Left rear tire was flat. Not sure of the cause since it was parked in a couple inches of snow. Tesla roadside sent out a tow company with a temporary replacement wheel/tire and they swapped it onto the Model X and took the flat with them to fix/replace it. Took less than 90 minutes from contacting roadside to getting on the road again during a snowstorm around midnight. Impressive.

 

[Shelburne]

Just over a month into owning my 2020 M3LR, my left front camera stopped working. I texted Tesla and was given the option of taking the car to a service center in two days, or waiting about a week for a mobile tech to come to me. I live 98 miles from the nearest service center, so I opted for the mobile tech. He called on the day he was scheduled to come and apologized because he was going to be about 30 minutes late. No problem. He arrived exactly at the new time & replaced a section of cable in less than 15 minutes. It hasn't been a problem since. Perfect service!

 

[Sunny5280]

Last Friday marked my eight-day anniversary of owning my Model 3. Around 10:00 PM, I decided to hop into my M3 and head to the grocery store. Less than a minute into driving, the tire pressure warning came on saying one of my tire’s pressure was low. Sure enough, I pulled over, and my rear passenger tire was almost flat. After further inspection, I found a nail in the tire. I was able to pull into a gas station, not for gas of course, but to fill the tire with air and was able to make it back home safe and sound.

Do gas stations permit Teslas on their property?

 

[afadeev]

[...]I found a nail in the tire. I was able to pull into a gas station, not for gas of course, but to fill the tire with air and was able to make it back home safe and sound.
I got on my Tesla app and scheduled for Roadside Assistance.

I have a Dynaplug tire-repair kit in every one of my cars.
This way, punctures are always 5 minutes away from being repaired, and I'm back on the road. Over the years, I must have repaired at least a half dozen tires with Dynaplug, and they all held perfectly (soon thereafter they get replaced). Including one time during a family road-trip across the country.
Beats the alternatives.

Amazon.com

 

[jjrandorin]

I have a Dynaplug tire-repair kit in every one of my cars.
This way, punctures are always 5 minutes away from being repaired, and I'm back on the road. Over the years, I must have repaired at least a half dozen tires with Dynaplug, and they all held perfectly (soon thereafter they get replaced). Including one time during a family road-trip across the country.
Beats the alternatives.

Amazon.com

Appreciate the info (and link). I knew I wantedf "some type" of plug kit to carry around in my vehicle, but there are so many I had no idea which one to get. the fact that you use this one and trust it is good enough for me... ordered it about 30 seconds after I read your post and clicked the link.

 

[ODWms]

I, and many here on the forum, have used plug kits for years. I’d say about 90-95% of flats can be remedied by this quick and easy method.

 

[MaskedRacerX]

I have a Dynaplug tire-repair kit in every one of my cars.
This way, punctures are always 5 minutes away from being repaired, and I'm back on the road. Over the years, I must have repaired at least a half dozen tires with Dynaplug, and they all held perfectly (soon thereafter they get replaced). Including one time during a family road-trip across the country.
Beats the alternatives.

Amazon.com

Thanks for the recommendation, I was just reading another thread last week where someone posted a review of various kits, I've been meaning to watch and get something coming.

Had to do an unexpected MCO run again (wife needed to head OOT for some family business), and I was thinking how I've done that 260 miles twice in the last few weeks without any way to resolve a flat on the road.

I'm going to review that video (it may have been you that posted it), and order something ASAP.

 

[Mrcarcrazy]

I have two stories.
First, my first flat tire in the Tesla. I grabbed a 12v pump and filled the tire, tried to get discount to patch It, they advised me they may have to hold my car ransom if the tire was deemed “not fixable”, the tire was fine…My background told me that. I decided I didn’t trust them and went to autozone and bought a plug kit and plugged the tire. It’s been on the car about 33-34k miles now. Oddly I haven’t died.

Second story was my Tesla service experience. About a week prior to my 2yr anniversary of owning the car I got the 12v battery is dying” message. I put in a request. Got an appt (I put the request in on a Friday and they came the next mon or tues). Mobile service thankfully.
He text when he was close and I never even saw the guy…he swapped batteries and all was well.

 

[trojaneen]

We’ve had 2 roadside services, a flat tire and diminishing 12 volt battery. Both were excellent experiences, similar to yours.

 

[AZYdrive]

Last Friday marked my eight-day anniversary of owning my Model 3. Around 10:00 PM, I decided to hop into my M3 and head to the grocery store. Less than a minute into driving, the tire pressure warning came on saying one of my tire’s pressure was low. Sure enough, I pulled over, and my rear passenger tire was almost flat. After further inspection, I found a nail in the tire. I was able to pull into a gas station, not for gas of course, but to fill the tire with air and was able to make it back home safe and sound.

I got on my Tesla app and scheduled for Roadside Assistance. Within minutes, I received a text message from a live person with options for getting the tire replaced or repaired. Since Tesla Mobile Tire Service was no longer operating that late into the night, they dispatched a local tow company to bring me a loaner tire. The tow company arrived around midnight and removed my flat tire and installed a loaner tire.

My Tesla Mobile Tire Service was scheduled for Tuesday, September 21st. Today, which is Monday, September 20th, I got a call around 9:00 AM from Tesla Mobile Tire Service saying that they are available to come service my tire. However, my M3 was with me at work and my flat tire was in my garage at home 20 miles away. He asked if anyone was home for him to stop by to pick up the flat tire from my garage. I said nobody was home but I can open my garage from my phone. So Tesla Mobile Tire Service drove to my house, picked up my flat tire, and drove all the way to my work. He was able to repair the tire and install the tire onto my car in my work parking lot.

While I felt deflated for having a flat tire and going through this whole ordeal only eight days into owning my M3, I am very impressed by my first Tesla Roadside Assistance experience. I was able to get a loaner tire in the middle of the night in about 90 minutes. I was provided with service one day prior to my scheduled appointment. And Tesla Mobile Tire Service went out of their way to pick up my flat tire from my home and take it all the way to my work for repair and installation. Hopefully, I won’t need Tesla Roadside Assistance for anything else soon but it is assuring to know that they provide quick, reliable, and personalized service.

What has been your experience with Tesla Roadside Assistance or any Tesla service? Is the service I received from Tesla normal or am I just a lucky one?

Thanks for reading and sharing.

I had a very similar experience on a road trip out of state. Got a flat late at night on the freeway. Pulled into a mall parking lot and s tow service came and installed a loaner tire. Next, a monile tire unit guy came to my B&B and instslled a new tire. Never waited over a
15 minutes! Very professional!

 

[bregular]

I drove my brand-new Plaid off the lot and within a few short miles I pulled into a gas station to get coffee and the rear right tire wall punctured on the entrance curb. I called roadside assistance, quick response and tow to nearest dealer which is an hour away. I didn't go with them since I live nearby.

Now my issue is that I cannot 'see' service alert messages or chat option in the app. In addition most of the car configuration options on the app also disappeared after the car was taken. The app says "in service" and I get service notification alerts on my phone that they are sent but when I open the app and click the 'notification' it only loads the service screen with nothing on it. I called support 3x and they all told me this may be since it wasn't a scheduled service, but a roadside assistance that they initiated. The support people made notes in my account for the service center to call me, but they haven't done so. So I am stuck. They have the car, I don't know what's going on and and I can't communicate with them. I tried deleting and reinstalling the app 2x but the same outcome. Any thoughts?

 

[Shelburne]

You said, "The app says "in service"". Is that exactly what it says or does it just say "Service Mode"? I ask because my Model 3 is currently in a Tesla authorized body shop because someone backed into it. It is in "service mode", and the phone app has limited functions. In fact just about the only thing I can do on the app is locate the car. It does that well because at first I could see that the car was in a lot just outside the building before they started working on it Then about 10 days ago I could see that it had been moved inside the building as the work began. It's still in the same place, waiting as all the needed parts come trickling in. As far as updates on the work, all I get are emails from Tesla notifying me of parts ordered and parts shipped. It's an extensive list and it has been updated three times since 11/11/21, but unfortunately 2 of the 28 parts have yet to be shipped and there is no way I or the body shop can find out more about the hold up. Frustrating to say the least

 

[sb1000]

I had a not as "positive" roadside experience, but ultimately it worked out. A few weeks ago, I had 20" Michelin All Season 4s put on my Model 3P in anticipation of winter here in Boston. I was down in NYC over Thanksgiving, and couldn't or didn't avoid a substantial pothole near the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel. Luckily, I immediately saw the tire pressure deflating and pulled into a safe supermarket parking lot but certainly not ideal. It was Saturday after Thanksgiving, and because of that, when I requested service in the app, the response I got from Tesla Roadside was that Mobile Tire was fully booked for the day so that they could tow us somewhere of our choice.

Of course, being from out of town, I have no idea who, what, where to trust, and asked if they had a recommendation, to which they responded, "We do not work with 3rd party tire shows, I advise you to reach out to local tire shops for assistance". And then promptly 5 mins later, I got a text "Your concern is closed if you need further assistance visit Tesla.com/support."

I can tell you being in an unknown location, in a city we don't frequent, not knowing where to bring a car at all, and having our dog with us, was pretty unnerving.

However, the bright side of the story is calling roadside assistance and getting a person on the phone (which I recommend). The woman couldn't get a tire specialist there that day, but she did arrange to have it towed to a Tesla service center in New Jersey. Still not ideal, but at least I knew the car would be ok. The only downside was when they replaced the tire the next day (the mobile unit, as the service centers, aren't open on weekends), they put two Michelin performance tires on the right side. But it was enough to get us home.

 

[M3DS]

My one experience with Roadside assistance was this weekend. Coming back from a Funeral I decide to stop and charge rather than get home with ~17% charge, so I stopped at a charging location/service center after hours. two blocked off chargers and one open one with someone waiting and avoiding it. I tried it and my car would not charge so I figured bad charger. I moved on to another location 15 miles away rather than wait and again plugged in and the same result, would not charge. at this point with 50 M left I requested roadside. They responded with a Human quickly, then moved me over to a tech who verified what I was seeing, and then it all fell apart. the options were drive it back to the service center and make my way home on my own or get it towed and they would give uber credits. There was no in between. I had started driving back to the service center on my own while talking to the tech when he told me this, so I parked a mile away and said well then come tow me! it took another 45 minutes to find out that they would not tow me since I was close enough to drive. Very frustrating on a frustrating emotional day. I finally just drove the last mile and told them I would handle it. Something told me to try one more time, and a now free different charger .... worked. Charged me up and I have been fine since. It turns out I was unlucky enough to hit two bad chargers in a row in two locations. A combination of good and bad from roadside assistance, and no logic behind if you are close enough to drive to the center they will not get you home, especially when for a previous service appointment they gave me a loaner....

 

[bregular]

You said, "The app says "in service"". Is that exactly what it says or does it just say "Service Mode"? I ask because my Model 3 is currently in a Tesla authorized body shop because someone backed into it. It is in "service mode", and the phone app has limited functions. In fact just about the only thing I can do on the app is locate the car. It does that well because at first I could see that the car was in a lot just outside the building before they started working on it Then about 10 days ago I could see that it had been moved inside the building as the work began. It's still in the same place, waiting as all the needed parts come trickling in. As far as updates on the work, all I get are emails from Tesla notifying me of parts ordered and parts shipped. It's an extensive list and it has been updated three times since 11/11/21, but unfortunately 2 of the 28 parts have yet to be shipped and there is no way I or the body shop can find out more about the hold up. Frustrating to say the least

It says specifically "In Service". The notification Icon says "Service - Update from your service team". When I click on that it simply loads the normal service menu with no chat ability or update. I too can see the location of the car and it hasn't moved from the parking lot of the dealer.

 

[iwannam3]

I have a Dynaplug tire-repair kit in every one of my cars.
This way, punctures are always 5 minutes away from being repaired, and I'm back on the road. Over the years, I must have repaired at least a half dozen tires with Dynaplug, and they all held perfectly (soon thereafter they get replaced). Including one time during a family road-trip across the country.
Beats the alternatives.

Amazon.com

What else do you carry? I think a needle nosed vise grip to pull out the piece of metal would be essential. On the rear wheel with mud flaps there is not much of the tire exposed. I'm thinking a small bottle jack to get the wheel off the ground to rotate it for inspection? But you would need to have it in N. Sitting on a bottle jack in N is not a good idea. So then you need wheel chocks. So then you can take the wheel of if you have a socket and breaker bar. Where do you stop in adding tools?

 

[iwannam3]

I drove my brand-new Plaid off the lot and within a few short miles I pulled into a gas station to get coffee and the rear right tire wall punctured on the entrance curb. I called roadside assistance, quick response and tow to nearest dealer which is an hour away. I didn't go with them since I live nearby.

Now my issue is that I cannot 'see' service alert messages or chat option in the app. In addition most of the car configuration options on the app also disappeared after the car was taken. The app says "in service" and I get service notification alerts on my phone that they are sent but when I open the app and click the 'notification' it only loads the service screen with nothing on it. I called support 3x and they all told me this may be since it wasn't a scheduled service, but a roadside assistance that they initiated. The support people made notes in my account for the service center to call me, but they haven't done so. So I am stuck. They have the car, I don't know what's going on and and I can't communicate with them. I tried deleting and reinstalling the app 2x but the same outcome. Any thoughts?

Is the dash cam disabled in "service" mode?

 

[afadeev]

I have a Dynaplug tire-repair kit in every one of my cars.
This way, punctures are always 5 minutes away from being repaired, and I'm back on the road. Over the years, I must have repaired at least a half dozen tires with Dynaplug, and they all held perfectly (soon thereafter they get replaced). Including one time during a family road-trip across the country.
Beats the alternatives.

What else do you carry?

Dynaplug, air pump+goo (same kit, either BMW or Conti OEM), and a cheap pencil pressure gauge,

I think a needle nosed vise grip to pull out the piece of metal would be essential.

I have a multi-tool (that does shave pliers) and/or a medical pouch with scissors in all my cars, but not so much for puncture repairs as for all the other travel eventualities. The medical pouch has been included in most of the bimmers I purchased (legally required for cars sold and driven in Germany, which I did during Euro deliveries), and all BMWs come with an in-vehicle tool kit, so that helps.
The band-aids, Neosporin, and Advil all get heavy use when you travel with kids:

BMW First Aid Kit 82111469062 Genuine BMW 82111469062

OEM and Genuine parts at the best prices. BMW First Aid Kit 82111469062 guaranteed fit and fast shipping

www.eeuroparts.com

I've only added pieces that were not present in a given car from the OEM.
In Tesla's case, that's everything, since they include nothing for US-sold cars.

On the rear wheel with mud flaps there is not much of the tire exposed. I'm thinking a small bottle jack to get the wheel off the ground to rotate it for inspection? But you would need to have it in N. Sitting on a bottle jack in N is not a good idea. So then you need wheel chocks. So then you can take the wheel of if you have a socket and breaker bar. Where do you stop in adding tools?

I drive the car forward (or reverse) slowly, while one of my passenger looks for the source of puncture, then respond to their verbal feedback to stop rolling. I work to seal the puncture with Dynaplug on the exposed area of the tire, which is usually enough if you don't mind lying on the pavement.

The cars that come with a spare also come with a jack and a lug wrench, but that doesn't apply to Tesla's.
I never put a spare tire into the Tesla, with the expectation that I can patch 95% of the punctures. And AAA and/or Tesla roadside assistance will take care of that remaining 5%. So far, I've never had to fallback on that 5% scenario safety net.

HTH,
a