Vendor TesLender - A service designed for owners renting out their Tesla - Feedback thread

[SeBsZ]

Great idea. Not to ruin the enthusiasm, but you can easily add a secondary email on your Tesla account for the car and use that for rental purposes. Simply have the person load the Tesla App on their phone and give them the password that you create for the date their rental initiates. This works well for multi-Tesla owners as well as you can set an email address for just one of your cars. Then when the rental date is over just change the password for your rental account. Just need to request a secondary email log in from Tesla.

Hi! Don't worry about ruining the enthusiasm. All suggestions are welcome! There are several other features which people will surely find handy. Take for example the permissions system I just added. You'll be able to give someone access to just location, climate and/or media without say letting them unlock the car. Handy for children sitting in the back of the car. In addition, creating several codes and handing them out without having to worry about changing passwords at the correct date/time is surely a convenient time saver especially for people who heavily rent out their Tesla.

What might also be reassuring to people is that renters can never drive off without a fob or a key card (Model 3). Also there is no summon, most people don't want renters playing with that.

I did follow your instructions and I myself am unable to see how you created a second email account with password per vehicle. Maybe it's a US only thing? Or are you saying you need to request this from Tesla? I would think this allowed access to all your vehicles, and not just one?

Do keep the suggestions coming. Obviously if there is no need for this app then there is no point in me continuing. That's why I'm open to feature requests so my work has not been for nothing. Thanks again.

 

[NewTMSMan]

Sorry, should have been more specific about setting up the secondary email access account.

To request mobile access for a car to an additional account send an email from the main account holder's email to [email protected] (or from your account in My Tesla for that car select "Ask a Question") stating:

"I authorize Tesla to provide additional mobile app access to my vehicle VIN: XXXXXXXXX to the below user:

• First Name, Last Name -
• E-Mail Address -
• Phone Number -
• Mailing Address -

It took about a month to accomplish. This is then a secondary email account that only has access to the vehicle that you specify. Using this to give access for my daughter to only her Model 3, which is also on my account as well with my S and my wife's X. I know others are using this for Turo as well in the way I described.

 

[NewTMSMan]

Oh yeah, just realized you are in the Netherlands and email I posted was for North America. I assume you can do the same in Europe, but am not positive of that.

 

[SeBsZ]

Thanks for explaining. Some users will definitely find that a good solution. Others will hopefully like my solution

 

[NewTMSMan]

Your solution is definitely more comprehensive and professional now that I went through it completely. Will be forwarding to friends renting their cars out.

 

[DominicG]

Hi Seb, thanks for adding the start time that I had requested earlier! I do have another question though. You mentioned that the website should have a date/time picker that works for local time. In my case, I'm using the latest version of the Chrome browser, and the date/time entry seems to be just a text entry box in which I have to type the exact format to make code generation work. There is no calendar pop up or anything to select the date and time... Should there be? Does that work in another browser besides Chrome?
Thanks!
Dominic

 

[SeBsZ]

I'm using Chrome myself and see the calendar and time picker pop up on my Windows desktop, as well as on the mobile browser. Can you tell me which OS and exact browser version you are using? Are you disabling JavaScript perhaps? You should see the date and time picker when you click in the box. We'll figure it out together! Thanks for your help.

I have a nice update coming this week for Android and iOS that adds a QR code scanner to make logging in super easy , just by scanning the code on the website!

 

[DominicG]

Thanks Seb. I just tried using Chrome on my phone and the date picker worked! I'll update you when I have a chance to try again on my computer.

 

[DominicG]

Hi, I just checked my Chrome settings to make sure javascript was enabled. Chrome showed that an update was available, so I updated, and now the date picker works for me. Thanks again!

 

[SeBsZ]

I just released a new beta version for Android, version 0.5. It is actually a complete rewrite of all code, so I'd like some people to try it and let me know of any bugs. A lot of code is now shared with the iOS version so I can easily maintain both and add new features easily.

This adds a new way to sign into the app with a QR code that is generated by the website. This saves time by not needing to enter the VIN and Share Code.

This update also adds media controls like on iOS for cars running V9.

Thanks everyone!

 

[SeBsZ]

Hi everyone. Just wanted to share the latest improvements:

From now on, when you create a share code with a start date/time in the future, the app will let you log in instead of giving an error. However, it will not show any valid data until the start date & time is reached. The just released Android app version 0.5.1 will even show a count down of when the rental starts and the app becomes usable:



Also I'd like to show an update I made to the website that lets you view a QR code that can be scanned in Android app version 0.5+. This saves time by not needing to type the full VIN and Share Code in the app! Coming to iOS soon.

And no, this code is no longer valid

The website will now also show which share code executed which commands in the app. All app commands are in bold:

Finally, both iOS and Android will now receive a notification with the text
"Charging finished in 10 minutes. Move vehicle to avoid idle fees."

Thanks. Let me know your top feature requests too!

 

[SeBsZ]

I updated the iOS version of the app and it now also supports the scanning of the QR codes for super quick login. You no longer need to enter the full VIN and ShareCode. You can even print the code and leave it in the car so the renter can easily scan it (hide it in the glove box).

This also adds the countdown timer on iOS before a rental starts. App update is now live in the App Store. Please leave any bugs or feedback.

Any suggestions on how I should monetize the system? I'm trying to decide between charging for the app or for the service. The former requires the renters to pay a one time fee when they rent a Tesla. The latter requires the car owner to pay a monthly fee to keep the service running. Any thoughts? Obviously I'll reward my trusted beta testers, so don't worry about that.

 

[SeBsZ]

I had someone create a new explainer video that explains the purpose of TesLender. It's not an amazing video, but I think it does the job:

I'm still looking for more feedback, and also testimonials! Did you manage to use TesLender successfully, or someone who rented your car did? Let me know please. All ideas are welcome!

 

[Naonak]

I've been able to use it once. I keep forgetting about it... I wish there was an easier way to give it to a user. I'm not sure what that way would be though. I need to think more on it. But the one time I used it, it worked well from what I know.

 

[Rick A.]

Just registered and installed the app. After scanning the QR code the app keeps on crashing. Tried many times on 2 phones.
On Android 8.0.0 and version 0.5.1 of Teslender.

 

[SeBsZ]

Just registered and installed the app. After scanning the QR code the app keeps on crashing. Tried many times on 2 phones.
On Android 8.0.0 and version 0.5.1 of Teslender.

Hey, thanks for trying it out! I'm sorry, that's not supposed to happen . Can you send me an email and we'll try to figure out what's wrong.

 

[doc_nl]

I've been able to use it once. I keep forgetting about it... I wish there was an easier way to give it to a user. I'm not sure what that way would be though. I need to think more on it. But the one time I used it, it worked well from what I know.

Maybe it would be an option to have an owner login in the app where a qr code can be generated and shown to the lender, so you won't have to go through the website but do it in the owner part of the app.

 

[Tozz]

Any suggestions on how I should monetize the system? I'm trying to decide between charging for the app or for the service. The former requires the renters to pay a one time fee when they rent a Tesla. The latter requires the car owner to pay a monthly fee to keep the service running. Any thoughts? Obviously I'll reward my trusted beta testers, so don't worry about that.

Many people I know do not have payment information in their Android accounts. So charging for the App would be a bad idea IMHO. Also because you will lose 30% to Google/Apple.

So I would personally go for:
- Subscription model (monthly fee)
- Pay per use (eg per renter that enables the car on his/her app)
- Pay per use (charge per API call)

 

[Gwgan]

Use can be very sporadic so pay per use with a crossover to a monthly or to a scaled down cost over a certain number in a given period.

 

[Gwgan]

Have a chance to try this again in the real world. Scanned QR with my iPhone which required approval to go to website in Safari but then got a 404 error. The app was not the destination. Is the browser supposed to be an intermediary or should the code launch the app and sign in?