Has valet fee in Canada changed?

Doug_G said:

They seem to be very busy re-transforming their service away from awesome:

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This is actually fully what I expected would happen, not that it makes it a good thing. I always felt the awesome service they were able to provide to a handful of Roadster owners would never translate well to the many, many more Model S cars on the road, let alone to the mass-market Model 3. I mean, how could anyone think it was sustainable sending Rangers hundreds if not thousands of miles to fix every little problem that might come up? Or even valeting cars that far?

The problem is, Tesla has had a number of "it seemed like a good idea at the time" moments and have been forced to evolve. They're new to this, so fair enough. I think, though, that a more appropriate response would be to honor commitments made to owners when they purchased (i.e. "grandfather" services in) rather than pulling the plug whole-hog like they seem to do sometimes. In other words, if Valet Service was a "selling point" when someone purchased, that person should continue to receive the benefit even if newer owners, who purchased after the change, do not.

Even though I ordered my car way before Model S production even began, the ability to have it serviced conveniently was top of mind. A very big decision factor for me was the fact that Tesla has a Service Center very close to where I live. I'm not sure I would have ordered the car if this had not been the case.

mknox said:

A very big decision factor for me was the fact that Tesla has a Service Center very close to where I live. I'm not sure I would have ordered the car if this had not been the case.

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Agreed. I bought my Smart Electric Drive in early 2013, and part of that purchase was getting a statement that the local Mercedes/Smart dealer had trained service people on the new electric drive-train. The irony is that my little Smart has never needed to go back to the dealer, not for any service at all in two years.

Back in early 2013, we also looked at Tesla, but given the lack of superchargers in Ontario (in early 2013) and service situation, we bought a family vehicle (MB SUV) to tide us over until the situation improved. When the Ontario and northern NY (Buffalo, etc) superchargers were available in spring 2015, that's when we bought our Tesla Model S.

We deliberately bought when our minimum conditions were met, and not before.

That said, I do believe the early adopters should be given reasonable levels of service going forward based on purchasing before the full infrastructure was in place, and even now, when there are still many more service centers to roll out.

Meanwhile, we personally are only 25 km from the service center, and have had a tremendously positive service experience.

SmartElectric said:

Back in early 2013, we also looked at Tesla, but given the lack of superchargers in Ontario (in early 2013) and service situation, we bought a family vehicle (MB SUV) to tide us over until the situation improved.

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You were smart! I purchased on the "promise" of Superchargers, but as Canadians well know now, they way over promised on those timelines!

Valet service has changed for sure. See recent discussion of this issue in Model S forum thread titled "Tesla Valet service goes POOF!!!". My first exposure to the model S was at our local auto show. An owner brought in his own Model S and discussed its merits for four days. As he lived some distance from a service centre he was asked many questions about service for the vehicle. The ranger/valet service he described was impressive. Tesla came to town a few weeks later for test drives. Already convinced of the cars features, most time was spent asking about service. The ranger/valet service was confirmed and reassured we bought the car that day. Love the car, but service is now costly in time and money.

I've been thinking about this lately as well and nice to see a thread already about it! I'm really hoping for a Model 3 purchase but I wonder if the SCs (Service Centre) will be built out further once they have pre-orders (and know where the demand is) or it'll just be a reactive response to the few SCs (in the GTA for example) being over run and then build out.

It's far enough away I think Tesla can get ahead of this in terms of both service centres and superchargers, I'd love to see more of both as would everyone I'm sure with a Tesla already or thinking of one.

Falkirk said:

I've been thinking about this lately as well and nice to see a thread already about it! I'm really hoping for a Model 3 purchase but I wonder if the SCs (Service Centre) will be built out further once they have pre-orders (and know where the demand is) or it'll just be a reactive response to the few SCs (in the GTA for example) being over run and then build out.

It's far enough away I think Tesla can get ahead of this in terms of both service centres and superchargers, I'd love to see more of both as would everyone I'm sure with a Tesla already or thinking of one.

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I'd love to be optimistic on this, but I think the answer is no, Tesla will not "get ahead of this", they will perpetually be scrambling to catch up. Or, in the case of Canada, perhaps it's more accurate to say "occasionally pay attention and make a few empty promises".

Ouch. Yes, Tesla, earned goodwill is draining away the longer you treat Canada as an afterthought. There should be service centres in Calgary and Ottawa (at least) already. And to not even have any plans whatsoever for Superchargers in the Maritimes or across the Prairies or Vancouver Island is really shocking.

Falkirk said:

It's far enough away I think Tesla can get ahead of this in terms of both service centres and superchargers....

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Dream on! Their (lack of) actions have shown how much Canada means to them in comparison to some other countries.

I actually asked a Vancouver Service tech about this. He said there wasn't any plans to stop the $100 ranger fee at that centre because of how vast the area they have to cover is. Considering he wouldn't actually have any control over what they charge, take it with a grain of salt, but that's what he believed.

Finally after multiple requests I have an answer in writing from the Vsncouver Tesla store. The Ranger fee will be $3.00 per km as the crow flies one way, to a maximum of $1,500.00. This is for warranty or non-warranty service visits. And it is subject to change.