Should I be worried that my car's tracking has "gone dark" en route?

[bcsteeve]

After a myriad of trials and tribulations resulting in delay after exhausting delay, my new (to me) P85D finally boarded a truck late last night and began its 4400km journey to me.

The dealership said he would be able to track the car in realtime using the App and he would forward me periodic screenshot updates for my comfort and curiosity.

But this morning, I get this message:

Oddly, the tracking is still showing your car at [the lot] but i’m here and it is definitely nowhere to be found. The first time in 2 weeks we really want to track the car and all of a sudden it’s being glitchy!

When do I panic?

 

[demundus]

If the truck driver is say... middle of nowhere stopped sleeping and the car doesn't have cell signal... you won't get a blip for the phone. If it's insured I wouldn't worry about it too much, plus if its through Tesla its probably also covered. PLUS if its a legit trucking company its covered even more. Once a friend ordered a new F350 and it fell off the train in the high desert... Ford AND the train company paid him, got a truck and a half for his troubles

 

[bcsteeve]

Insurance is... a little (tiny bit) precarious.

It isn't from Tesla, it is a private deal. The trucking company SAYS they have insurance. They gave me copies of printouts but when I try to call the insurance company to verify, I'm met with, "for privacy reasons we can't give out that information". If I wanted to be ultra paranoid, I wouldn't call that proof.

I tried to get my own insurance, but I couldn't. Here in BC auto insurance is handled by our provincial corporation ICBC and they have no policy for a car being transported on the back of the truck that isn't registered in my name (and it can't be registered in my name until I physically present it to ICBC) and that I "might want to try private insurance". So I call various private insurers and they all tell me that BC law says that for vehicles specifically, they can't insure it unless I already have basic insurance through ICBC, which I can't get until I register (and the chicken keeps staring at the egg wondering WTF does it all mean).

So I'm here HOPING it is properly insured and that I get an update soon!

 

[boaterva]

I was wondering what your sig meant... at least yours is/was moving!

 

[bcsteeve]

Yeah, originally was supposed to be here 3 days ago but it became a moving target. Latest update I got yesterday was that it would be here "22, 23... 24th.... later". To which I pressed, "OK, what's the worst case scenario" and he honestly replied, "worst case? Worst case is I break down in the middle of nowhere and the truck sits there for a few days".

Yeah, thanks for that. Ultra comforting.

 

[Lasttoy]

I was stopped in the Brenner pass rest stop. Up pulls a load of tesla , bound for Ontario. He stayed for long cool down of truck.
We had great chat. Seems he delivers across northern area. Takes 2 weeks. He cannot carry full load because X is so heavy, and has to stop in mountains to cool his engine. Your will arrive in a few weeks, don't worry.

 

[bcsteeve]

If it takes "a few weeks", I'm not paying. They said 4 days originally.

 

[calisnow]

After a myriad of trials and tribulations resulting in delay after exhausting delay, my new (to me) P85D finally boarded a truck late last night and began its 4400km journey to me.

The dealership said he would be able to track the car in realtime using the App and he would forward me periodic screenshot updates for my comfort and curiosity.

But this morning, I get this message:
When do I panic?

Now. Panic now.

 

[bcsteeve]

If the truck driver is say... middle of nowhere stopped sleeping and the car doesn't have cell signal... you won't get a blip for the phone.

That made sense to me at first, but then I figured... wouldn't it show the last place it was before cell service dropped? It shows its location as not having moved from the dealership. Surely the dealership isn't in some magical bubble of cell service that drops off the lot. Or is that not how it works?

 

[stan23]

The app will show the last known location. It's pretty accurate. It even shows the direction the car is pointing. If it shows the car is on their lot. That means it's on their lot.

 

[bcsteeve]

Well, it isn't on their lot. So... what other option is there?

 

[stan23]

Well, it isn't on their lot. So... what other option is there?

How did you go about confirming that?

Why not ask for the login info, and check yourself where the location of the car is.

 

[demundus]

I'll put my car in transport mode tonight and see if the app registers it... (yes there is a transport mode)

 

[bcsteeve]

How did you go about confirming that?

Why not ask for the login info, and check yourself where the location of the car is.

Both the truck company (that I hired) telling me it left the lot, after hours, last night with a photo of it loaded on the truck.... and the dealership owner telling me this morning that it physically is not on the lot. Unless these two independent companies that didn't know anything about each other prior to me bringing them together are colluding... I'm pretty sure the car isn't there.

He's not going to give me access to his Tesla account. All their cars are managed through it.

I have zero reason to suspect the dealer of anything untoward. If anything, it is the trucking company that I'm not 100% on.

Most likely, there is a reasonable explanation.

 

[bcsteeve]

I'll put my car in transport mode tonight and see if the app registers it... (yes there is a transport mode)

Thank you. That sounds like it could be the reasonable explanation.

The dealer got a notice on the App that the car was put into jack mode. No updates since that time.

 

[bcsteeve]

Here's the latest from the dealer, after speaking with Tesla:

So I talked to Tesla, very interesting jargon they use when talking about the car, as if it’s a living creature. The rep explained how the car appears to be asleep, possibly in a deep sleep which it may or may not be able to be woken from by the app right away. He checked the history since last night and said the last ‘heartbeat’ registered to their servers was this morning and he was going to ‘poke’ it a few times to try to awaken it. haha.

Hopefully I'll have another update in the morning that makes some sense.

 

[bcsteeve]

He sent me two screenshots. First showed a range of 401km and now 397km. So clearly the app is updating, but the location still shows it being in the lot.

Weird.

 

[demundus]

Here's the latest from the dealer, after speaking with Tesla:

Hopefully I'll have another update in the morning that makes some sense.

All possibly true. Forgot to transport mode, will try tomorrow... wonder what it does to be honest haha...

 

[bcsteeve]

I also mentioned your suggestion of Transport Mode, which he said he's never heard of. Are you sure you don't mean Jack Mode?

 

[demundus]

I also mentioned your suggestion of Transport Mode, which he said he's never heard of. Are you sure you don't mean Jack Mode?

I'm not 100% sure what this does so I'm not going to hit yes, I'll ask WK or someone for you and confirm. Hunch is it disables ALOT of things, like Valet or something similar