Service center experience: trading my 3 in for a Mercedes

[linux-works]

time is worth something. I'm surprised no one mentions sitting around, WAITING for the damned uber guy to come by.

and safety issues, as well; if I'm out late and I need a ride home, waiting for some driver to come by is not my idea of fun, if the area is questionable and I'd rather have just gotton into a rental and driven away - even if a gas rental. I chose to buy a car to get me places. if I wanted public trans, I would have not bought a car in the first place

uber is not acceptable to me. not when the company has money to spend and chooses to treat customers like dirt. even a lowly chevy dealer (sorry chevy fans) won't force you to take a gig-economy fake taxi. if you like uber/lyft, fine; but it should never be the ONLY choice. that's wrong on so many levels.

 

[Knightshade]

time is worth something. I'm surprised no one mentions sitting around, WAITING for the damned uber guy to come by.

You do know the app tells you about how long your wait would be right?

So you take a few seconds to check roughly for your location, then order an appropriate amount of time ahead.

and safety issues, as well; if I'm out late and I need a ride home, waiting for some driver to come by is not my idea of fun, if the area is questionable

If the area was THAT bad I wasn't taking my Tesla there anyway (and wouldn't want to take anyone elses Tesla there either)...so I would've either taken our older ICE SUV (which I still could with the Tesla in the shop) OR taken...an uber/lyft out of my own pocket.

So again having the uber credits is a plus there.

and I'd rather have just gotton into a rental and driven away - even if a gas rental. I chose to buy a car to get me places. if I wanted public trans, I would have not bought a car in the first place

uber is not acceptable to me.

Well, as I say- they used to offer that very thing- an ICE rental if they were out of loaners. And I agree they still should offer it as an option to the uber credits.... (and honestly I'm not sure how $100 in uber credit a day is CHEAPER for Tesla than what should be like a $30/day rental car- but probably arranging the rentals is more logistics than the credits- and Tesla sucks at logistics)


Me- I'd rather get the credits and let someone ELSE drive me around in an ICE than have to drive myself around in one- not like the rental would have EAP or anything.


Good news though- as of just a week ago Elon's gonna fix it!

Elon Musk on Twitter

 

[focher]

Other manufacturer dealers are just as hit and miss as Tesla service centers. Claiming Tesla is always good or never good is just lame. And now people are going to complain about Uber credits vs a loaner? That’s even lamer.

 

[ElectricIAC]

They literally can not build cars fast enough to meet demand.

Which means offering Uber credits and selling the $50,000+ car you'd otherwise be using as a loaner is the smart business choice. Especially when you multiply that $50,000 sale by the dozens you'd need to keep on hand, and multiple THAT number by the hundreds of service locations.

Especially when doing so appears to have no impact on said demand.


That said- I do think they should at least offer to rent you a car if you need one over the Uber credits- like you've got 6 different places to drive and with tight timelines or something the next day- from what I understand this used to be standard practice when they ran out of loaners in the pre-3 days- with Tesla and Enterprise having a specific agreement covering this and Enterprise picking up/dropped off AT Tesla to facilitate- I sometimes still hear about some places doing this but seems to be regional?

For myself the uber credits sound great.

When I used to bring my Lexus in for service they gave me a lower-end Lexus I had to drive around myself.

At least with Uber I'll be chauffeured where-ever I need to go! it's like FSD is already here!


(THAT said- the one time I did actually need to leave my 3 for service- windshield replacement- they gave me a Model S loaner... so again this all seems to vary by region)

Well....they could use Tesla trade-ins and buyback vehicles as loaners (I suspect my local SC does this already) and actively list them for sale after x amount of months to keep the loaner fleet fresh.

 

[cwerdna]

Perhaps some high level executive at Tesla had promised to always give loaners, which would be top of the line versions of current models. I know it sounds crazy, but maybe worth looking into.

From Elon himself :
Creating the World’s Best Service and Warranty Program
Tesla Service Loaner Fleet To Include Fully Loaded Model S, Tesla Roadster | Edmunds

 

[pscarroll]

From Elon himself :
Creating the World’s Best Service and Warranty Program
Tesla Service Loaner Fleet To Include Fully Loaded Model S, Tesla Roadster | Edmunds

My experience at two different service centers is that in Pittsburg they always have an old AP1 Model S loaner which works fine but not fully loaded, would have loved to try a model x but always the same old model s. In Orlando there are no loaners available, only Uber credits.

 

[dmurphy]

(THAT said- the one time I did actually need to leave my 3 for service- windshield replacement- they gave me a Model S loaner... so again this all seems to vary by region)

I brought my 3 into our service center (Paramus NJ) because my passenger side mirror was forgetting its settings. Before the appointment, I received a text about their loaner policy - if the vehicle was going to be there for 48 hours or more, they’d issue a loaner; otherwise Uber credits. That sounded like a reasonable way to manage a loaner fleet to me. And I’m sure if you had some extenuating circumstance beyond “because I want one” - they’d work with you.

I have truly zero complaints about Tesla service. They’ve been wonderful. I think it’s all center-dependent, and Paramus has their collective stuff together.

 

[jfinephilly]

time is worth something. I'm surprised no one mentions sitting around, WAITING for the damned uber guy to come by.

and safety issues, as well; if I'm out late and I need a ride home, waiting for some driver to come by is not my idea of fun, if the area is questionable and I'd rather have just gotton into a rental and driven away - even if a gas rental. I chose to buy a car to get me places. if I wanted public trans, I would have not bought a car in the first place

uber is not acceptable to me. not when the company has money to spend and chooses to treat customers like dirt. even a lowly chevy dealer (sorry chevy fans) won't force you to take a gig-economy fake taxi. if you like uber/lyft, fine; but it should never be the ONLY choice. that's wrong on so many levels.

Wow. The entitlement in this thread is bonkers.

 

[focher]

Wow. The entitlement in this thread is bonkers.

Exactly. The silver lining is that it drives utilization of the forum’s ignore function.

 

[linux-works]

its simple competition, that's all. the rest of the players offer loaners and courtesy pick-ups.

I'm not an appologist for tesla. sorry to disappoint. ignore me if you want. that's what the button is there for, if you need to block me, fine.

the simple fact is that its an expected 'feature' of car ownership, during warranty period, at least. I'm over 50 and have been driving since I was allowed (17, iirc). I've bought and owned many cars in my time and this is the first, in my life, that I could not just assume that my life would have minimal disruption if I needed to take the car in for service.

and even though the model 3 is not an expensive car, in its base config, its still the most expensive car I've ever owned. I'm not a rich guy, I work for a living and have my whole life. I drive to and from work and also have a life, in between. I didn't grow up with smartphones and the uber/lyft 'culture'. to me, a car company telling me to 'hitch a ride' when my car is in warranty service - that's worse than a bad joke. if you are honest with yourself and remove the fanboy reality distortion field, you'd see that, too.

best: if tesla offered their own brand of cars as loaners. next best: if they offered *some* kind of car as a loaner (even ice). very last, would be the so-called taxi services. and again, in all my years of buying and owning cars, I never once was told to 'take a taxi' (or similar) by even the crappiest of chevy or ford dealers.

fanboys, please, do put those of us who don't have the reality distortion field in place - on 'ignore'. it will do us all a favor!

 

[linux-works]

You do know the app tells you about how long your wait would be right?

So you take a few seconds to check roughly for your location, then order an appropriate amount of time ahead.

sorry, but I'm a refusenik, so to speak. I refuse to allow such an app on my phone. until and unless I can control the android (I don't do iphones..) permission model, I won't install what I consider untrustable rogue apps on my phone. nope, won't do it.

this is one of the big reasons I find the 'just take an uber!' statement so laughable. it ignores a whole set of things that, admittedly, most people don't think twice about. but as a software guy and someone with a little security background, I won't install apps that do what the ride-share (and other) apps do.

renting a car, otoh, invades none of my privacy and does not require me to install any 'app' on any phone.

some of us still appreciate and respect that, as a choice.


the one time I did have to take my m3 in for service - the service advisor tried to give me uber credits, I explained that I don't have (and don't want) the app on my phone - and actually, she was quite nice about it and offered to handle the ride to and from work via her own uber account. of course, that meant she got the $100 voucher, but I didn't care - I just needed a ride to and from work, for that one day of service. at the service center, she 'called' for the uber; and when I needed a ride back to the center, at the end of the day, I texted her and she 'called' the uber. it was a little clumsy but not overly, and it got us by for that instance. I really don't look forward to the next service call, to be honest, and I don't want to ask the SA to have to do that again; and it was nice of her to offer that to me, to help out. I did appreciate it and I did thank her.

but for the next visit, I'm going to have to handle my own trans. I'll ask a friend at work to drop me at the end of the day and, yes, people at work will all know that 'poor tesla' can't even afford loaners for customers.

 

[linux-works]

just to be clear, I'm not advocating REMOVING the ride-share option. some like it and that's fine, for them.

I AM advocating for adding the old school option of a loaner of some kind, either tesla or ice.

so, two choices. everyone can pick their poison, that way. win/win.

 

[OCR1]

I have yet to need service. Everything works on my car so the first scheduled service would be the brake fluid check at 2 years. Are people frequenting the service centers so much that this really is a big issue?

When I owned my Lexus I had to go in for service every 5,000 miles. I always got a loaner car but it was still a major hassle to drive down there, wait to be checked in, go through the loaner rental agreement forms, and then drive all the way back home. With Tesla the scheduled service is so infrequent that even if I had to use Uber credits it seems like my total time messing around with service appointments would be significantly less than with an ICE vehicle.

Out of curiosity, how much Uber credit do you get? Is it the same across the country or does it vary by region?

 

[Az_Rael]

I have yet to need service. Everything works on my car so the first scheduled service would be the brake fluid check at 2 years. Are people frequenting the service centers so much that this really is a big issue?

Eh, you are just lucky. I have had my 3 at service at least 4 times plus several mobile visits to fix various things plus service bulletins (suspension, charge port door twice, rear view mirror dimming broke, charge port pins, etc). You will have to take that 2018 in for the FSD computer upgrade, they don’t do that via mobile.

Out of curiosity, how much Uber credit do you get? Is it the same across the country or does it vary by region?

Think it might be regional. I just dropped my car off at Burbank and they give $100 per day Uber credits, but warned me to not tip. I don’t have the Uber app, so I had made my own arrangements.

 

[OCR1]

Think it might be regional. I just dropped my car off at Burbank and they give $100 per day Uber credits, but warned me to not tip. I don’t have the Uber app, so I had made my own arrangements.

Is it up to $100 or do you get to keep whatever you don’t use? What’s the deal with no tipping?

 

[artsci]

Service experiences vary widely by each service center. Mine, Owings Mills, MD, has served me incredibly well for my Model S and Model 3. They know me personally, are incredibly responsive and courteous, and always get the job done in a timely manner.

Your, based on what you say, is not so good.

 

[ElectricIAC]

its simple competition, that's all. the rest of the players offer loaners and courtesy pick-ups.

I'm not an appologist for tesla. sorry to disappoint. ignore me if you want. that's what the button is there for, if you need to block me, fine.

the simple fact is that its an expected 'feature' of car ownership, during warranty period, at least. I'm over 50 and have been driving since I was allowed (17, iirc). I've bought and owned many cars in my time and this is the first, in my life, that I could not just assume that my life would have minimal disruption if I needed to take the car in for service.

and even though the model 3 is not an expensive car, in its base config, its still the most expensive car I've ever owned. I'm not a rich guy, I work for a living and have my whole life. I drive to and from work and also have a life, in between. I didn't grow up with smartphones and the uber/lyft 'culture'. to me, a car company telling me to 'hitch a ride' when my car is in warranty service - that's worse than a bad joke. if you are honest with yourself and remove the fanboy reality distortion field, you'd see that, too.

best: if tesla offered their own brand of cars as loaners. next best: if they offered *some* kind of car as a loaner (even ice). very last, would be the so-called taxi services. and again, in all my years of buying and owning cars, I never once was told to 'take a taxi' (or similar) by even the crappiest of chevy or ford dealers.

fanboys, please, do put those of us who don't have the reality distortion field in place - on 'ignore'. it will do us all a favor!

If they’re smart — they will see fresh new loaners as marketing just as much as it is customer satisfaction. But even trade-ins as mentioned before would be better than this uber credit nonsense.

 

[linux-works]

I never drove an S or X. never even considered one, as its way out of my price range.

BUT - if I was given one as a loaner, who knows - maybe I'd fall in love with it. at the very least, I'd have direct experience with it and for those that CAN afford it, I'd be able to give an honest opinion of that kind of car. as it stands now, I can talk about the model 3 ownership experience, but I can't say a word about the other higher-end teslas.

a friend at work has a 3 and a year ago, his needed service and they loaned him an S. he was happy and impressed and that was a good sales move for tesla; he might actually be a customer for such a car like that, later on.

so, yes, there is a clear marketing/sales side to giving company cars out as loaners; especially ones they have not driven/tried before.

tesla owners are still the best salesman for the brand. tesla HAS to know and understand this.

 

[Gibbon1]

Update from my original post:
I brought my Model 3 to the Mercedes dealer and looked at an E450 convertible. With the Driver Assistance package and Park Assist package, it has just about all the autopilot and other features of a Tesla (except, regrettably, the lack of an engine), for about the same price as a Model S. Dealership is about 1 hour from my home, but they have 12 driver/valets to pick up your car when needed, drop off a loaner, service it, and return it detailed.

Manager test drove my M3 and asked what I wanted for trade-in value. I told him $41K (the NADA value for a "clean" trade-in, and he immediately agreed (I think he really liked his test drive).

I will be leaving the Tesla fold next week for now. I hope to return when Tesla becomes a "big boy" car company and knows how to treat its customers

 

[ElectricIAC]

You should really consider listing your car for sale here on TMC. I’m sure someone would appreciate the opportunity.