Open Flat Bed Ranger Vehicle

[hjr]

I had the NY service center pick up my car today for its annual check up, and winter tire to summer tire change. For the first time since I have had the car, the Ranger showed up with an open flat bed truck. Until now the trucks had closed boxes since Tesla did not want people to think the cars were breaking down. They had the right idea - the Ranger apparently stopped at our only Starbucks and my car was seen by many people. 2 friends called me to say they saw my car being towed - they wanted to tease me about my expenisve toy being broken. My wife saw my car on the truck and called to ask if I knew the car was being serviced or if we were being robbed! My daughter saw the truck and snapped the attached photo.

Do you think Tesla shold go back to closed trucks to bring our beloved cars in for TLC?

 

[PRJIM]

I had the NY service center pick up my car today for its annual check up, and winter tire to summer tire change. For the first time since I have had the car, the Ranger showed up with an open flat bed truck. Until now the trucks had closed boxes since Tesla did not want people to think the cars were breaking down. They had the right idea - the Ranger apparently stopped at our only Starbucks and my car was seen by many people. 2 friends called me to say they saw my car being towed - they wanted to tease me about my expenisve toy being broken. My wife saw my car on the truck and called to ask if I knew the car was being serviced or if we were being robbed! My daughter saw the truck and snapped the attached photo.

Do you think Tesla shold go back to closed trucks to bring our beloved cars in for TLC?

Why did the Ranger have to pick up your car? usually they can do the maintenance on-site.

 

[stevezzzz]

Why did the Ranger have to pick up your car? usually they can do the maintenance on-site.

Tire rotation/tire swaps and alignment can't be done in your home garage.

 

[PRJIM]

Tire rotation/tire swaps and alignment can't be done in your home garage.

They use to sub this work to a local tire shop. The only time they would tow would be if there was something significantly wrong with the vehicle. General maintenance, alignments, tire rotations, summer/winter tire swaps were all done 100% off-site from the service center. I guess ranger service has changed significantly from the good ole days.

 

[hjr]

In 2 years they have never serviced my car at home... I had a PEM issue early and they swapped it in NY. I have combined annual service/inspection with the tire swaps. NY never charged me for the ranger pick up so it makes no difference to me. The NY shop has an excellent detailer so I usually take advantage of that too since i have not found anybody I trust here in New Haven. I am beng careful about the annual services so they have the records in case there is a warranty issue. next up is to look at the extended warranty and se if worthwhile.

 

[hcsharp]

...
Do you think Tesla shold go back to closed trucks to bring our beloved cars in for TLC?

I thought they always used enclosed trailers in order to protect the car from dirt and flying debris, and they should for that reason alone. New Haven is far enough from NY for that to be important. I didn't even think of the privacy issues. It's funny how many people saw it!

 

[Cheerose]

Do you keep each set of tires at home or are they stored off-site with the Ranger? Or do you get new sets every 6 months?

 

[mg012]

I had my Roadster serviced lately and they came from Austin (to San Antonio) with an open trailer to take it to the Austin service center and back. I was disappointed it was open, and yes my neighbor asked if my car was broken and had to be towed.
I have OVMS so I could watch it on the app going down i35 to Austin, and where they parked it or moved it at the service center. Just keeping an eye on my baby.
michael

 

[hjr]

Answering the tire question:
I have a set of winter tires and summer tires and store those in my garage. The ranger takes thema nd the car at the same time. The summers are the standard AD07 (there is a blog thread about alternatives) and the winters are the set of 4 Yoko fromt he Tesla store - it was the best price at the time. I have had them swapped at Tesla in the Spring with my annual maintenance and then in late October when I get the PEM vacuumed out after all the leaves get sucked in and cause the ventillation system to wheeze. I have only the original wheels - for the short life span of the car's tires it was not worth it to me to spend the $. I tried to swap tires once at the best guy in our area but it was not a good experience (I worried about the car all day, and he messed up the pressure gauges) so I have decided to keep it with Tesla. They have not ever charged me for the pick up. I had been told by my sales persons that the pickup was free forever as an early buyer.

Now that we early adopters who had confidence in Tesla and sold their cars for them (and you surely know what I mean) seem to be second class citizens, Tesla will try to charge you for the ranger pickup - just push a little and they will back off!

By the way, when Tesla hit 75 I sent a tweet to Elon and mentioned that I was feeling neglected by Tesla and he tweeted me back saying "Tesla will circle back and something cool for Roadsters next year" - wonder what - maybe sell us battery upgrades that can take a supercharge?

 

[jordanthompson]

I recently had a couple of issues with the new open flatbed trailer:
1) I had some work done on my Roadster in Miami and when I got the car back (a third party delivery guy hired by Tesla to deliver the car, using an open flatbed truck) there was water in the brake fluid and the brakes were basically inoperable. Tesla had literally just road-tested the car before putting it onto the trailer and I literally could not drive it from the trailer to my garage (20 feet away.) It turns out that the driver had gone through heavy rain (and unless you live in Florida, you have no idea what this really means). I have driven in moderately heavy rain and even bottomed-out in puddles before, with no consequences. Tesla Tigertail could not explain it.
2) When Tesla originally loaded my car onto the Model S trailer (made specifically for the Model S) I watched as it scraped the front bumper on both sides going up (I'm not talking about the black plastic we have on our pre-2.5's, but the actual carbon fiber body panel. When they loaded it, one ramp was on the road and the other was on the grass, so perhaps that had something to do with it, but Tesla claims (and I believe them) that this has never happened to them before (although they do now put 2x4's on the ground just before the ramp.)

In both cases, Tesla Tigertail took care of the issue, but it makes you wonder about these newfangled trailers.

 

[Doug_G]

1) I had some work done on my Roadster in Miami and when I got the car back (a third party delivery guy hired by Tesla to deliver the car, using an open flatbed truck) there was water in the brake fluid and the brakes were basically inoperable. Tesla had literally just road-tested the car before putting it onto the trailer and I literally could not drive it from the trailer to my garage (20 feet away.) It turns out that the driver had gone through heavy rain (and unless you live in Florida, you have no idea what this really means). I have driven in moderately heavy rain and even bottomed-out in puddles before, with no consequences. Tesla Tigertail could not explain it.

I find it very hard to believe that this was somehow caused by carrying it on an open trailer. I mean, how the heck is a large quantity of water going to get into the brake fluid unless the cap is off the reservoir?

 

[jordanthompson]

I find it very hard to believe that this was somehow caused by carrying it on an open trailer. I mean, how the heck is a large quantity of water going to get into the brake fluid unless the cap is off the reservoir?

Believe me, that was my first question. The only thing that went (and still is) going through my head was that this (non-Tesla) employee took the car for a joy-ride and something bad happened. I went as far as to ask them to check the mileage before/after to verify that it wasn't driven between Miami and home. Tesla was very firm in standing by the driver and they covered the repairs, so I cannot really argue too much.

 

[Doug_G]

More likely someone did something dumb at the service center, and it was loaded on the truck with water in the brake fluid.

 

[jordanthompson]

More likely someone did something dumb at the service center, and it was loaded on the truck with water in the brake fluid.

They told me that they test drove it just before it went on the flat-bed... Maybe they forgot and drove with the cap off?

 

[pharma5]

They told me that they test drove it just before it went on the flat-bed... Maybe they forgot and drove with the cap off?

Bad seal on the cap? Pinhole leak?

 

[hcsharp]

Bad seal on the cap? Pinhole leak?

I assume you know that you have to flush your brake fluid about once a year or it will get excessive moisture in it. This is especially true in humid environments like FL. It's not an issue on cars without regen.

 

[pharma5]

I assume you know that you have to flush your brake fluid about once a year or it will get excessive moisture in it. This is especially true in humid environments like FL. It's not an issue on cars without regen.

Yes, hence the comment to the story above.

 

[jordanthompson]

I assume you know that you have to flush your brake fluid about once a year or it will get excessive moisture in it. This is especially true in humid environments like FL. It's not an issue on cars without regen.

The car had its yearly service about six months ago. I have been told (by Tesla) that the brake fluid is flushed ever other year as part of the service.

What does regen have to do with brake fluid moisture? I would assume it would get water in it one way or the other.

 

[Doug_G]

The car had its yearly service about six months ago. I have been told (by Tesla) that the brake fluid is flushed ever other year as part of the service.

Funny, I had to request that they change my brake fluid last year. They said it wasn't part of the regular service. The stuff that came out looked like Coca Cola - it needed replacing rather badly.