Tesla service loaner policy

[swengl]

I took my 85D in for scheduled service at the TyCo SC last March for the first time and I called ahead (2 weeks) and no loaners were available. I knew ahead of time that I would be using a vehicle from Enterprise. I have also received a loaner (an older 85) from the Raleigh SC when I took my car in for some warranty work (AP camera needed to be replaced). I only scheduled that visit a few days in advance.

My biggest complaint about needing to use Enterprise is that it took much longer to process than just picking up the loaner. Enterprise picks you up from the SC and drives you over to their place and you are processed like any other car renter. There is room for improvement in the process, but I can understand that Tesla doesn't want to have a huge fleet of loaner EVs sitting around. I understand the desire to have a complete EV experience (even with loaners), but the availability and cost of doing so are probably too high, at the moment.

Would a good compromise be to have some loaner ICE cars available to avoid the need to go through the Enterprise experience? I would personally love to never have to drive an ICE again, but the practicality of that may not be fully attainable, yet.

 

[number12]

I took my 85D in for scheduled service at the TyCo SC last March for the first time and I called ahead (2 weeks) and no loaners were available. I knew ahead of time that I would be using a vehicle from Enterprise. I have also received a loaner (an older 85) from the Raleigh SC when I took my car in for some warranty work (AP camera needed to be replaced). I only scheduled that visit a few days in advance.

My biggest complaint about needing to use Enterprise is that it took much longer to process than just picking up the loaner. Enterprise picks you up from the SC and drives you over to their place and you are processed like any other car renter. There is room for improvement in the process, but I can understand that Tesla doesn't want to have a huge fleet of loaner EVs sitting around. I understand the desire to have a complete EV experience (even with loaners), but the availability and cost of doing so are probably too high, at the moment.

Would a good compromise be to have some loaner ICE cars available to avoid the need to go through the Enterprise experience? I would personally love to never have to drive an ICE again, but the practicality of that may not be fully attainable, yet.

OT- your AP camera had to be replaced? Why? Also I wonder if that happened now if it would be a mobile Eye or a TESLA camera..?

 

[3Victoria]

Soooo ... can the FUD title of this thread be corrected now?

 

[AnxietyRanger]

Soooo ... can the FUD title of this thread be corrected now?

I think I would not call FUD a report made by andrewket, a Dec 20, 2012 joined member, a Model S owner since early 2013, now driving 2016 Founders X P90D and 2016 S P100D, his fourth Tesla... What would be his intent to spread uncertainty and fear? I for one appreciate the reports from such senior members.

He was, per first message, "told by my service center that Tesla will no longer be offering Tesla loaners starting in January; only cars via enterprise". He went on to say: "I told them I was disappointed by this change, and they said they were too, but the decision came from above".

Now, of course, I appreciate the new communication from Tesla Service. It is helpful. If andrewket uncovered a mistake in the Tesla service network messaging, that in itself can be valuable because it can now be fixed.

Here are some additional questions to could help avoid this misinformation for other customers: Does Tesla have a communications breakdown in the service center network or differing (rogue) local policies vs. HQ? Did I regional manager make a cost call himself? Or was there some mid-level decision that was misunderstood or got reversed to higher-ups? Why was andrewket told such a specific wrong thing?

Maybe @andrewket you can inform @JonMc of the SC in question so he can inform them and fix this? JonMc perhaps you can check what is going on, let us know and let andrewket know of a solution privately. This should also help with other customers, because if one gets such a message, it is not hard to imagine others have been getting the wrong message too. Thank you.

 

[swengl]

OT- your AP camera had to be replaced? Why? Also I wonder if that happened now if it would be a mobile Eye or a TESLA camera..?

It was malfunctioning: Every other time I started the car, the driver assist features would be disabled. Does TACC require the use of the camera in addition to the radar? If not, it would be great if, in the event of the camera failure, TACC continued to be available. I use TACC more than I use AP, anyway.

 

[bonnie]

Soooo ... can the FUD title of this thread be corrected now?

I agree, it should be changed.

Not because @andrewket was spreading FUD (I know him and he wouldn't do that purposely), but because we now know that what he was told is NOT Tesla's policy, per @JonMc 's post above.

And I'd be willing to bet that he's already asked the mods to update the title to something more reflective - because we all know people will stumble upon the thread, not read as far as Post 56, and walk away thinking this policy has changed.

Obviously there is a miscommunication with the folks at Andrew's service center - and I'd also be willing to bet that they've already been reset by those further up the food chain.

 

[Dwdnjck]

Finally. The nightmare is over and we can all go back to worrying about Trump.

 

[Lump]

Finally. The nightmare is over and we can all go back to worrying about Trump.

Enough with the political opinions, go watch CNN.

 

[JonMc]

Hi All -- just a bit more clarification on some of your questions:

• It's our intent to have Tesla loaners as the primary loaner in all of our service locations. No change here. We constantly monitor and forecast loads to make sure we have adequate loaners in place (this is new and getting better -- experiences from last March aren't representative).
• During peaks (like winter tire changeovers), we may have to resort to rental cars. It pains us to do this, but helps keep our promise of a loaner to you. To ease this, we've worked with folks at Hertz, Avis, Sixt and Enterprise to add more Teslas to their fleets.
• With nearly 20,000 committed Tesla employees globally, sometimes an individual may get a communication wrong -- just let us know and we'll correct (n=1 is not likely a trend).

Thanks @jeffro01 for quickly sending a PM and asking for the facts.

Happy holidays everyone and our best to you for a wonderful 2017,

Jon

 

[Altes]

“You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.”

"You can fool all of the people some of the time, and for most purposes that should be sufficient"

 

[Zhelko Dimic]

This is not true at all. No change in our loaner policy. In fact, we surprised some customers in December with P100D loaners!

Whoa, that is insane and NOT in a good way.
As investor that has 100% of all my family's net worth in TSLA (yeah, I figure that was stupid, too late though), I am truly annoyed you would waste money by depreciating your most valuable vehicles like that. You put 500 miles on such car, price probably goes 10K down. I understand having one demo unit, but using P100D for loaners?!?

 

[AnxietyRanger]

Whoa, that is insane and NOT in a good way.
As investor that has 100% of all my family's net worth in TSLA (yeah, I figure that was stupid, too late though), I am truly annoyed you would waste money by depreciating your most valuable vehicles like that. You put 500 miles on such car, price probably goes 10K down. I understand having one demo unit, but using P100D for loaners?!?

I'm sorry to say but this is one reason TMC is a difficult owner's forum sometimes, there are many different motives here compared to a regular car owner's forum.

For owners P100D loaners can be a great thing.

Someone just caring about the stock price may of course feel differently.

 

[Andyw2100]

Whoa, that is insane and NOT in a good way.
As investor that has 100% of all my family's net worth in TSLA (yeah, I figure that was stupid, too late though), I am truly annoyed you would waste money by depreciating your most valuable vehicles like that. You put 500 miles on such car, price probably goes 10K down. I understand having one demo unit, but using P100D for loaners?!?

By using a few P100Ds as loaners, Tesla is both pleasing existing customers, and, in all likelihood, gaining future customers as the customers receiving the P100Ds as loaners probably showed them off quite a bit. And, of course, JonMc didn't say there were hundreds or even dozens of these P100D loaners. I really wouldn't worry too much about the practice he wrote about hurting Tesla's bottom line or your family's net worth.

 

[msnow]

By using a few P100Ds as loaners, Tesla is both pleasing existing customers, and, in all likelihood, gaining future customers as the customers receiving the P100Ds as loaners probably showed them off quite a bit. And, of course, JonMc didn't say there were hundreds or even dozens of these P100D loaners. I really wouldn't worry too much about the practice he wrote about hurting Tesla's bottom line or your family's net worth.

^^^this^^^

 

[number12]

Whoa, that is insane and NOT in a good way.
As investor that has 100% of all my family's net worth in TSLA (yeah, I figure that was stupid, too late though), I am truly annoyed you would waste money by depreciating your most valuable vehicles like that. You put 500 miles on such car, price probably goes 10K down. I understand having one demo unit, but using P100D for loaners?!?

LOL I've been on the anti TESLA side this entire thread. But do you know the mark up on a P100DL?

They convert a few customers and it will more than pay for the deprecation. They just have to up manufacturing capacity.

Now using enterprise... that's a for profit rental company. You would rather them do that? They rent Mercedes etc. want to convert TESLA owners to that instead.

Free tip. Diversify.

 

[3Victoria]

I think I would not call FUD a report made by andrewket, a Dec 20, 2012 joined member ............

1. My apologies if andrewket thinks I impugned his reputation. I did not say that and did not mean that. The title is FUD-like as it can give the wrong impression to the naive, and should be changed, to try to keep the board honest. And, yes, bringing up the subject is good. At the moment the title is an untrue statement. Better if if was a query, at least.

2. Supplying 100s may result in a trade-up ... good for shareholders. The depreciation is approx. $1/mile and I think similar on all models, so no extra hit on bottom line. Plus the hogher models can demo lesser models through software. On the whole using 100s is likely a wise move.

 

[andrewket]

Hi All -- just a bit more clarification on some of your questions:
(Snip)

Jon,

Thanks for taking the time to express Tesla's position on loaner cars to the group here on TMC. I gave the team at my local SC a head's up on the miscommunication, as I'm sure you will follow-up internally as well. For the record, they are some of the most hard working and dedicated people I've had the pleasure of doing business with.

Andrew

 

[AnxietyRanger]

^ This seems like it was a useful thread. Great!

 

[TaoJones]

This is not true at all. No change in our loaner policy. In fact, we surprised some customers in December with P100D loaners!

Much appreciated, Jon. Thanks for once again adding clarity/sanity. I wish Tesla corporate in general would communicate as effectively and as promptly as you have since your arrival.

Tangentially, this makes the minority fanboism that seems to persist (at TMC in particular) all the more amusing.

 

[sorka]

Why not have Model 3 loaners?

I wouldn't have a model 3 loaner even as an S loaner