No Loaners at Tesla Service "Bring back the LOANER CARS!!!!"

[Only Trons]

No I did not. As I stated, I was at the service center to follow up on an issue about service done on my S the previous week. I didn't feel it was appropriate to argue with the service writer while the other customer was still there.

 

[Thinkmann]

I just bought my Tesla Model S, a used low mileage 2014. Need service the first week and they had a loaner for me (Columbus OH). It was a 2016 Model S. I hope that free loaners continues at least while under warranty.

 

[HankLloydRight]

I even doubt he is any of what you said. He seems more a puppet

A puppet of who then?

 

[Mobster]

With personal experience of about 22 years between Toyota and Nissan + my parents having some more w/those brands and other non-luxury brands, I can say that you can't count on a loaner or rental from non-luxury..

Not correct. At least not everywhere. So it may be dependent on the area. In my 40+ years of buying many new cars (Nisson, Toyota, Chev, Ford, Suburu). ...around here they ALL made sure you had a loaner. Currently I have a new Toyota truck that replaced an earlier Toyota truck and in all the years dealing with the local Toyota shop they ALWAYS guarantee loaners for us. I recently brought in my wife's Suburu BRZ to her dealer and .....loaner waiting. They too always have loaners.

I reject the "only a norm for luxury cars". Most of the new car dealers around here guarantee loaners, but not all. I believe the original point is valid. 1. Tesla service overall is on a slide down the toilet. (I have owned several Tesla's from the beginning and still love the car) and 2. The uber coupon stands out as a horrid example of a company spinning out of control.

 

[IronPig]

The Burbank service center is no longer giving loaners unless it's a unique circumstance. It's all uber credit. I argued with them about it and when I mention that I thought it was lame that a luxury car maker wouldn't offer loaners the tech said VERY QUICKLY - "we are not a luxury car company, we are a technology company".

They are clearly coached to say this. It's a joke. It's very disconcerting. My service experience with my model S in Los Angeles is holding me back from adding a model 3.

The mobile service is great - but I'm one of the people plagued by the bug that won't allow me to schedule service through the web or my app. So I'm recuced to calling Tesla and they don't pick up the phone for anybody at the LA service centers. They are too overwhelmed.

 

[cwerdna]

Not correct. At least not everywhere. So it may be dependent on the area. In my 40+ years of buying many new cars (Nisson, Toyota, Chev, Ford, Suburu). ...around here they ALL made sure you had a loaner. Currently I have a new Toyota truck that replaced an earlier Toyota truck and in all the years dealing with the local Toyota shop they ALWAYS guarantee loaners for us. I recently brought in my wife's Suburu BRZ to her dealer and .....loaner waiting. They too always have loaners.

I reject the "only a norm for luxury cars". Most of the new car dealers around here guarantee loaners, but not all. I believe the original point is valid.

I already posted my the only exceptions from Nissan and Toyota dealers where I actually received any loaner. It was a TINY minority of all the visits.

Heck, some Nissan dealers only have a 1 way shuttle. They will ONLY drop you off and not pick you up. I personally know of one this way and even though I like their service dept, they're unfortunately out of the way out of the way vs. my current work (and I have to fight traffic to get there in the morning) then I need to get a ride there from someone after work.

My parents also have Nissan and Toyotas. I don't follow their service visits but I can't think of a single time they've ever received a loaner. They've had Toyotas on and off since 1991 and a Nissan since 2008.

Most of this is within the SF Bay Area and a bit of it was in Western WA (yes, King County).

 

[Mobster]

I already posted my the only exceptions from Nissan and Toyota dealers where I actually received any loaner. It was a TINY minority of all the visits.

Heck, some Nissan dealers only have a 1 way shuttle. They will ONLY drop you off and not pick you up. I personally know of one this way and even though I like their service dept, they're unfortunately out of the way out of the way vs. my current work (and I have to fight traffic to get there in the morning) then I need to get a ride there from someone after work.

My parents also have Nissan and Toyotas. I don't follow their service visits but I can't think of a single time they've ever received a loaner. They've had Toyotas on and off since 1991 and a Nissan since 2008.

Most of this is within the SF Bay Area and a bit of it was in Western WA (yes, King County).

ok. I guess we agree that it may depend on where you live so a blanket statement that loaners are for luxury car owners doe not apply. And in King County there is FIERCE loaner competition. All the dealers I do business with (Toyota, Suburu) are not a tiny minority and do guarantee loaners. (Same with my Chev dealer before I sold my Corvettes)

Tesla needs to step up. Or maybe it should be ..step back ... back to 2013 marketing of loaner policy and great execution at that time.

 

[cwerdna]

^^^
FWIW, I should've mentioned a bit more re: WA as I forgot one item. The one time I received a loaner from Nissan of Fife (Pierce County) was when a coworker and I both brought our Nissans get some some issues resolved. They gave us 1 loaner (ugly shade of blue Altima) to share.

And, for King County... I was up there when both Melody's Nissan dealers in Bellevue and Kirkland closed permanently. Was quite funny when the Bellevue location had a sign on the door that said something like "Bellevue Nissan is closed today." That sign was up there for months.

I lived in the Eastside and had no Eastside dealer I could go to for warranty work. I tried contacting Kirkland Infiniti but it was of no use. They couldn't do warranty or recall work for me (and to have the cost covered). I think I might've even reached out to Nissan corporate asking for an exception, to no avail.

I ended up having to go elsewhere (e.g. Campbell Nelson (once), Fife or Pacific Nissan in Seattle (long since closed, torn down and replaced)). The 4 cylinder Geo Metro rental I received was IIRC from Pacific Nissan. I can't think of any other time in WA when I received a Nissan or Toyota loaner.

 

[Mobster]

^^^
FWIW, I should've mentioned a bit more re: WA as I forgot one item. The one time I received a loaner from Nissan of Fife (Pierce County) was when a coworker and I both brought our Nissans get some some issues resolved. They gave us 1 loaner (ugly shade of blue Altima) to share.

And, for King County... I was up there when both Melody's Nissan dealers in Bellevue and Kirkland closed permanently. Was quite funny when the Bellevue location had a sign on the door that said something like "Bellevue Nissan is closed today." That sign was up there for months.

I lived in the Eastside and had no Eastside dealer I could go to for warranty work. I tried contacting Kirkland Infiniti but it was of no use. They couldn't do warranty or recall work for me (and to have the cost covered). I think I might've even reached out to Nissan corporate asking for an exception, to no avail.

I ended up having to go elsewhere (e.g. Campbell Nelson (once), Fife or Pacific Nissan in Seattle (long since closed, torn down and replaced)). The 4 cylinder Geo Metro rental I received was IIRC from Pacific Nissan. I can't think of any other time in WA when I received a Nissan or Toyota loaner.

That is interesting. Now almost everyone offers free loaners around here. The Toyota dealer in Renton has exceptional service and has had free loaners as long as I can remember. They are a pretty big outfit. I compare their service to where Tesla has gone and it is sad for Tesla. But I still love my P100D.

 

[meomyo]

SC in denver has loaners.

 

[FlatSix911]

Looks like Elon is focused on improving delivery logistics, not Service and customer support.
Elon Musk wants to fix Tesla's logistic issues by taking a page out of Amazon's book - Electrek

Currently, Tesla’s custom-ordered vehicles often don’t move from the factory until they schedule a delivery date with the customer, which is not always as easy as you would think. According to people on the call, Musk told employees this week that starting next quarter, Tesla will put the vehicles in transit right away and deliver them to local delivery centers for the customers to pick them up at their convenience.

Tesla is spending a lot of manhours trying to coordinate customer deliveries and it is backing up inventory at the Fremont factory. Musk wants a constant flow of vehicles going to the end destinations and compare the logistics to Amazon.The CEO said:

“Amazon would go bankrupt if they would have to wait for customers to be ready to take delivery before shipping.”

 

[dipper]

Looks like Elon is focused on improving delivery logistics, not Service and customer support.
Elon Musk wants to fix Tesla's logistic issues by taking a page out of Amazon's book - Electrek

Currently, Tesla’s custom-ordered vehicles often don’t move from the factory until they schedule a delivery date with the customer, which is not always as easy as you would think. According to people on the call, Musk told employees this week that starting next quarter, Tesla will put the vehicles in transit right away and deliver them to local delivery centers for the customers to pick them up at their convenience.

Tesla is spending a lot of manhours trying to coordinate customer deliveries and it is backing up inventory at the Fremont factory. Musk wants a constant flow of vehicles going to the end destinations and compare the logistics to Amazon.The CEO said:

“Amazon would go bankrupt if they would have to wait for customers to be ready to take delivery before shipping.”

You forgot he is also worry more about male part measurements than customer service with Porsche.

 

[kaidou]

Raleigh, NC Service center seems like having a shortage of loaners for sure. I recently got two Uber credits as well.
I know SC folks are doing their best job, but Tesla needs to do a better job for SC.

 

[cduzz]

Raleigh, NC Service center seems like having a shortage of loaners for sure. I recently got two Uber credits as well.
I know SC folks are doing their best job, but Tesla needs to do a better job for SC.

Tesla is busy trying to reinvent car-ing. Unsurprisingly they're discovering many blind alleys while occasionally also finding avenues of tremendous optimization.

Right now, for example, they're exploring if it is better to put pants on by climbing through one of the 2 smaller holes or the big one. Last week they're evaluating if pants are viable shirts, or if shirts are viable pants. Last year the flat out rejected socks as shirts, but discovered they sometimes are viable hats.

Sometimes they come up with an amazing innovation, sometimes they fall on their face.

Proper execution on the Y and Truck will result in millions more teslas per year for the next decade years and a doubling thereafter.

Maybe they'll be able to expand their service footprint by buying all the bankwupt BMW dealerships?

 

[arcus]

I was notified before my recent appointment that they are out of loaners as well. No biggie, as they gave me 100$ worth of credit for Uber (per day).

One thing that everyone should realize is that Tesla is (finally!) cranking up volume production of affordable car. This was not the case when they only had S and X. So obviously the volume of service center visits is increasing and they cannot provide a loaner for every one of them. Not when they sell faster than they can manufacture - a nice "problem" to have IMHO.

 

[AMPd]

I was notified before my recent appointment that they are out of loaners as well. No biggie, as they gave me 100$ worth of credit for Uber (per day).

One thing that everyone should realize is that Tesla is (finally!) cranking up volume production of affordable car. This was not the case when they only had S and X. So obviously the volume of service center visits is increasing and they cannot provide a loaner for every one of them. Not when they sell faster than they can manufacture - a nice "problem" to have IMHO.

They can stick to only providing loaners to Model S and X customers
They can also build their cars better so that less cars are needing to go to the service center.

 

[powaking]

Evidently this situation varies at least by service center, and most likely varies according to the individual situation as well. So far (knock on wood), I have been provided a loaner by my local Service Center (Dedham, MA) each time I had service that was expected to take more than a couple of hours. (A couple of times, i have simply waited for the car.) Last year, during the Model 3 delivery blitz when the SC was super busy, I got an older Model S loaner and had it for 2 full weeks.) The most recent time, just 2 or 3 weeks ago, I was given a "loaner" that was actually an Enterprise rental car, a recent low mileage black Model S75D. The Enterprise agent was on site at the SC, and I was in the car and off on my way in just a few minutes. I did get a credit card charge for a tunnel toll (I forgot to grab my transducer from my own car), but otherwise had no expenses. I think I had the car for about 2 days (my car was having an A/C repair). That was the first time I had ever had an Enterprise loaner. I was not surprised to get one, because I have been reading about people getting them for two or three years, I think. My car is still in warranty, and that probably makes a difference. We will see what happens when the warranty ends in 3 weeks or so!

Same happened to me. Had a coolant leak in my garage and they had me bring it into Dedham. Upon arrival they gave me a P90DL. Couple of days later I brought it back. Had a scheduled service for other items which at that point was given an Enterprise Model S 75D for almost a week. I have yet to not get a loaner when dropping my car off at Dedham. I asked about the whole loaner deal and was told that they are bringing in more Teslas in house to give out as loaners but will utilize Enterprise to fill in.

 

[FWRN]

I've got to experience an overnight in Model S several times and recently their request for the overnights is to bring the car back before they open the next day so instead of 24 hours, you get maybe 12-13? Not complaining since it's all free but still interesting that they are running low on loaners.

 

[Gixx1300R]

They can stick to only providing loaners to Model S and X customers
They can also build their cars better so that less cars are needing to go to the service center.

This

 

[BPeter]

I got a loaner on Monday from my local service center.