Service center takes my model s out to lunch ?

[Todd Burch]

Observation: when a tire shop employee took a car for a spin (in valet mode) the employee was fired and there were pages and pages of complaints on TMC. When a Tesla employee takes the car for a spin "that's normal, they're just testing the car".

I watched the Tesla tech drive my car from his home to the service center in Rockville via the iPhone app. It was clearly at the speed limit (most of the time going 35mph-ish), with no hard accelerations. Very professional.

I also watched a random guy from a tire shop on my app. He floored it (I watched the power output peg) and hit 70+ mph on a busy 45 mph road. Two very different animals.

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Tesla service has asked me before if they could take my car on an errand. I was happy to say yes, and it's obvious that others here are too - though clearly not everybody. If they'd consistently ask, they could separate the two groups and everybody would be happy.

Absolutely. They just need us to give permission when we drop the car, and also inform us if the car was taken somewhere and for what reason.

Honestly, when this first happened to me (early on in the life of Model S) I threw a bit of a hissy-fit on these forums because I felt a little violated. But yes, asking beforehand and informing the customer of the intent/reasons for an off-site test drive would go a long way.

 

[sorka]

I had VT since this morning logging everything. They drove it 3 more times. At no time did they ever exceed 50 mph and the KW never went past 100 most of the time. Once it jump to 200 which is still not really hard acceleration. It's a little brisk. Seemed totally fine to me. It's been driven 54 miles though and most of that was the night before when I didn't have VT running.

 

[cryptyk]

For the guys that are ok with this, would you be cool if the tech took it home for the night? Went to the grocery store on the way home? What if he took it out on a date to impress a girl? Took it to a concert in a crowded parking lot? Maybe to drop his kids off at school the next morning?

I'm not sure - I feel like they should drive the car for the purpose of diagnosing the problem. Separate business and pleasure.

Then there's part of me that feels like running errands with my car is like the OB-GYN taking my girlfriend for a spin to make sure everything is working fine.

 

[green1]

depends on the situation. If they have to drive it anyway to diagnose a problem, and we decide that a 10 mile drive is appropriate to do so, i don't care if the 10 miles is a pre planned route, or to the dry cleaner's shop that's 5 miles each way. Both accomplish the same purpose, in fact the later is arguably better as it is lower environmental footprint. I will however care if it needs 10 miles to check, but he goes to a movie 30 miles away.

 

[ChadS]

I agree with you that they should be driving to diagnose a problem. I just don't see any reason why they can't make stops along the way.

For the guys that are ok with this, would you be cool if the tech took it home for the night? Went to the grocery store on the way home?

Absolutely. If the tech is driving it and checking something out, it doesn't make any difference to me if they make any stops. In fact, a tech HAS taken my car home overnight as part of valet service. He lives nearby and it was easier for me to have him pick it up the night before rather than stopping by early the next morning on his way to work.

What if he took it out on a date to impress a girl?

That one is different. If he is on a date, he is not paying full attention to how my car is performing. That's using my car, not testing my car. More than one employee is fine, but it should only be employees in the car.

Took it to a concert in a crowded parking lot? Maybe to drop his kids off at school the next morning?

I expect any tech testing my car to use due care, and to actually be testing my car. As with the tire-changing case mentioned, I don't expect a tech to floor it or go extremely fast (unless needed to reproduce a problem). Where they go doesn't concern me, but I expect them to use due care. I'm not sure a concert parking lot would be "due care"; though it possibly could be. And having non-employees, especially kids that are not always careful, doesn't sound like due care either, nor is the tech likely able to pay full attention to the car.

 

[MsElectric]

depends on the situation. If they have to drive it anyway to diagnose a problem, and we decide that a 10 mile drive is appropriate to do so, i don't care if the 10 miles is a pre planned route, or to the dry cleaner's shop that's 5 miles each way. Both accomplish the same purpose, in fact the later is arguably better as it is lower environmental footprint. I will however care if it needs 10 miles to check, but he goes to a movie 30 miles away.

The key issue here is parking. I am sure some owners are very careful where their cars are parked and it is unacceptable, disrespectful, and unprofessional to park someone else's car somewhere they wish it was not parked. And we are not even getting into how unethical it might be to "borrow" someone's car to run errands without permission. I'd be upset if someone parked my car at some random parking spot at a McDonald's.

 

[jerry33]

As far as I know, they always take it on a test drive after service. In my case they went on the tollway (which is the closest higher speed road) and months later I got a bill for $2.80

 

[apacheguy]

What's the issue with a tech flooring the accelerator? If it's reckless then that's another thing, but there are perfectly safe instances where the MS can be floored. That's what it's made for isn't it? And with an unlimited mile drivetrain warranty I don't see how anyone can complain.

 

[islandbayy]

For the guys that are ok with this, would you be cool if the tech took it home for the night? Went to the grocery store on the way home? What if he took it out on a date to impress a girl? Took it to a concert in a crowded parking lot? Maybe to drop his kids off at school the next morning?

I'm not sure - I feel like they should drive the car for the purpose of diagnosing the problem. Separate business and pleasure.

Then there's part of me that feels like running errands with my car is like the OB-GYN taking my girlfriend for a spin to make sure everything is working fine.

they took mine home, I'm fine with it. they did ask in advance. watched on the app, stopped off at a grocery store for maybe 10 minutes then went home. plugged it into 120v overnight and back to service center the next morning.

 

[Lump]

Service center scuffed my front bumper, fortunately I had XPEL on it so they took it to my installer to have it replaced, at some point remote access was turned off so for an entire weekend while the car was out of Tesla custody I could not see where my car was, how fast it may have been driven or where it was driven.

 

[cryptyk]

What's the issue with a tech flooring the accelerator? If it's reckless then that's another thing, but there are perfectly safe instances where the MS can be floored. That's what it's made for isn't it? And with an unlimited mile drivetrain warranty I don't see how anyone can complain.

I think it all comes down to integrity, defined as "doing the right thing even when no one is watching". Basically, if the tech would be embarrassed or chagrined if you found out how he treated the car, that's a bad thing. They should act exactly as if there's a camera watching them even if there isn't.

I'm guessing that both the guy who floored the P85D in valet mode AND the guys who stopped off at McDonalds both felt like they got "caught". I think that implies they were doing something they knew was wrong.

The fact that the techs disconnect dash cams makes me nervous for the same reason. I understand disabling remote access to stop people from remotely controlling the car, but why would you disconnect the dash cam?

 

[seclinton]

I brought my MS into the Fremont center for my CPO squeaky brakes. Well the good news, normal wear and warping in my front rotors for a 50k mile car were replaced under the warranty for the new gen coated rotors.

I informed the tech I had my dash cam installed and said they could unplug if they wanted. No big deal. If I can't trust the SC, then who can you.

Brakes fixed, and they drove 2.5 miles, hammering the acceleration and braking to test. I'm kinda relieved they did that, and really was totally ok with my cam unplugged. Haven't checked the videos yet, but it seems it wasn't unplugged. Hmmm

 

[CHG-ON]

It might be normal and accepted. But I would be really pissed off. I think it is unprofessional.

Yes, it's normal. A couple years ago a tech took my car home and parked it in his driveway overnight when it needed a test drive.

 

[QueenB]

I am surprised people are okay with having their Tesla driven by service technicians and parked at some fast food restaurant. If this had happened to me I would be upset not because they necessarily drove the car to a fast food restaurant but because they likely did not park it carefully like I would to minimize door dings and other possible damage.

When our Mercedes was in for service if they needed to do anything more than a standard professional test drive of a few miles they would always call me, ask for my permission, and let me know exactly who is driving it, where to, and for what purpose.

It seems really unprofessional to drive a customer's car to run errands. I also find it odd they would disconnect your dash cam during test drives. If they want to disconnect it when performing service within their premises that is fine but not when it is out on the open road.

Though not as extreme reminded me of this video... I feel it is fair for cars dropped off for service to be only driven for the professional purpose of ascertaining technical data pertaining to an issue but not for picking up dry cleaning or fast food...

http://www.wftv.com/videos/news/parking-lot-owner-takes-wftv-rental-corvette-out/vG59R/

Totally agree...this would be uncool in my book!

 

[Barry]

Maybe they were testing cup holder functionality with the new software upgrade...

 

[XxCyberHackerxX]

Observation: when a tire shop employee took a car for a spin (in valet mode) the employee was fired and there were pages and pages of complaints on TMC. When a Tesla employee takes the car for a spin "that's normal, they're just testing the car".

That's a correct observation. Tesla makes the cars so whenever a model s is taken into service it makes sense for the technicians to test it. I personally wouldn't have a issue with it. Besides they provide loaners and the car doesn't run on gas like others have said as long as they aren't eating in my or anyone else's model S I'm fine with it. Besides I wouldn't want a tire shop employee riding in a expensive. Oh and Max you must not be aware of the whole story regarding the tire shop. The owner had a camera inside the car and the employees were trying to see how fast the car could go but valet mode was on. The reason people are complaining is because if valet mode was off they could have easily wrecked the model S

 

[AmpedRealtor]

It's completely unprofessional to run errands or to make a lunch run using a customer's car. If the car needs to be road tested, then do that only. But don't stop at McDonald's or take a customer's vehicle to your house. My gosh, I can't believe anyone here is saying this is acceptable behavior for service personnel. If this happened to me, I'd be making a lot of noise. It's completely unacceptable because it is putting your personal property into a higher risk situation where it could be damaged, stolen, or otherwise harmed.

 

[gavine]

Same thing happened at a Nissan dealer recently and made national news:

http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/v...cs-joyride-taco-bell-california-dnt.ktla.html

 

[Max*]

That's a correct observation. Tesla makes the cars so whenever a model s is taken into service it makes sense for the technicians to test it. I personally wouldn't have a issue with it. Besides they provide loaners and the car doesn't run on gas like others have said as long as they aren't eating in my or anyone else's model S I'm fine with it. Besides I wouldn't want a tire shop employee riding in a expensive. Oh and Max you must not be aware of the whole story regarding the tire shop. The owner had a camera inside the car and the employees were trying to see how fast the car could go but valet mode was on. The reason people are complaining is because if valet mode was off they could have easily wrecked the model S

I know the whole story, I read that whole thread. They could've wrecked the car, and the Tesla employee eating McDonalds could've wrecked the car too. Neither of those events happened. Both employees showed unprofessional behavior. The tire shop guy by taking the car for a spin, and the Tesla employee by taking the car to grab lunch [without asking first]. I would be pissed at both situations, not because of what could have happened, but because of what did happen - neither employee asked permission.

I have (had?) a great mechanic. He lives a few mins from my house, so I'd drop my car off at his house, he'd give me a ride home, he'd run errands on my car, take it to his shop, get it fixed up, and drive it back to my house. Did I have a problem with that? 100% not, because he made his intentions clear, and it was convenient for me. In both cases, tire shop and Tesla, no one asked permission and they were each wrong. They are different levels of wrong, I agree with that, but they're both wrong.

 

[mibaro2]

The key issue here is parking. I am sure some owners are very careful where their cars are parked and it is unacceptable, disrespectful, and unprofessional to park someone else's car somewhere they wish it was not parked. And we are not even getting into how unethical it might be to "borrow" someone's car to run errands without permission. I'd be upset if someone parked my car at some random parking spot at a McDonald's.

How do you know he didn't park it in the furthest parking spot away from any other cars?
I know that for the annual inspection, they drive the car somewhere that has a level 2 charger, and verify that the J1772 adapter is working. They have to park it in a busy parking lot for that. I wonder how many people are upset by that. (most are probably okay with it, except heaven forbid if he goes into the mall and gets his dry cleaning while the car is charging! ).