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As you may remember, Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently tweeted that the electric automaker would be moving to a new service strategy that’s quicker and more efficient than the current system. In fact, he said Tesla will be applying “Formula 1 pit crew techniques to Teslas.” However, now we’re learning that it may impact the way Tesla handles loaners.
Tesla is cranking out EVs, and it’s critical that its service situation can keep up. The automaker has had issues with service over the years, and its goal has always (obviously) been to improve the situation. However, since Tesla doesn’t rely on franchised dealerships, it has to build out the network on its own. Musk‘s tweet from late July mentions enabling “same-hour service as often as possible.”
In the current situation, Tesla tries to offer customers either a loaner or Uber credits (though they’ve become increasingly uncommon this year) while they have a vehicle in for repair. Moving to fix most issues within the same day will make it less necessary to provide a loaner or Uber credits, which will likely save Tesla money but inconvenience owners.
Under the best circumstances, a Tesla owner could visit a service center and have their car fixed in an hour (or a few), during which they simply wait until the car is ready to go. However, sometimes repairs can take much longer. Still, it seems Tesla doesn’t plan to provide alternative transportation for same-day repairs going forward, even if they take the entire day.
A Teslarati reader told the publication that a Tesla technician made it clear that there wouldn’t be the possibility of a loaner for the same-day repair. The reader shared the following message:
“As a reminder, we will not be able to offer any alternate transportation for the duration of your service appointment, as we aim to have all service completed by 5 pm.”
Interestingly, the Tesla owner told Teslarati that they were eventually provided a loaner anyhow, though it took several phone calls and some convincing to get it all worked out. It seems Tesla may be willing to make some exceptions at first, and in some cases. However, the end goal appears to be only making a habit of offering alternative transportation for issues that can’t be addressed inside a single business day.
Having personally dealt with two other dealerships recently, we can tell you that the repairs were days and weeks long, and there was no possibility of getting a loaner. We had to figure it all out and pay for it ourselves, so this isn’t unique to Tesla. While many dealers used to offer loaners, it’s not as common these days.