Tesla is growing fast and, once the Model 3 arrives next year, it will definitely grow much more. However, its infrastructure does not grow at the same rate – and that, right now, is a problem.
As reported by Autonews, current owners in need of servicing or, worse, repairs are experiencing longer than expected waiting times; unsurprisingly, they’re not happy about it.
Ethan Shapiro, a project manager at an information technology company in Miami, last year exchanged his 2013 Model S for a new Model X. When he contacted his local service center in September about a faulty window that wouldn’t close, he was informed that the earliest opening was 10 days later.
“That’s a long time for a $130,000 car”, said Shapiro. “With my early Model S, they did a good job and fixed every issue immediately”, he conceded, “but now that the company has grown, service has become a problem”.
Others have experiences even longer waiting times that stretch up to five weeks. At the moment, there are 61 service centers in 24 states, with Tesla’s site listing another 10 as “coming soon”.
It’s not just the shortage of centers, though, as Karl Brauer, executive publisher at Kelley Blue Book, points out: “Tesla’s position is that their cars are so advanced, they want to have strict control over the work being done on them. As they continue to expand, they’re going to have a much bigger challenge maintaining an adequate network to handle consumers.”
The good news, Brauer notes, is that Tesla owners are much more forgiving due to the groundbreaking nature of their cars and, additionally, do not rely on their Tesla as their sole form of transportation.
With the $35k Model 3, though, this is about to change and the people who flocked over to put an order are less likely to be as understanding or have as many cars in their garage as Model S or X owners.
