Meghana KandraElon Musk replies to a customer who received a two weeks wait time for an appointment with the Tesla center. Musk thanks the customer for bringing this up and said Tesla will expedite services center openings. The Tesla Model 3 owner wanted to replace the front upper control arm of his Tesla car, he bought up the issue that it cannot be done through the Tesla Mobile service.
Image credits- CNBC
As Tesla continues to grow globally, maybe it is time to focus on service quality and service options. The company currently has 39 services centers located all over the world. Among which 34 are located in different states. As most locations having only one service center, it doesn’t give users many options. Elon Musk replied, “Thank[s] for bringing this up. Tesla will expedite service center openings. Have you tried our mobile service that comes to you,”
Thank for bringing this up. Tesla will expedite service center openings. Have you tried our mobile service that comes to you?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 30, 2021
The customer who bought attention to this issue is from the Northeastern United States. Around three states in the Northeastern United States don’t have a Tesla service center, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine. As more users are buying Tesla cars in various locations, Tesla should also keep up with the service centers and service options as well.
Addressing customer needs
In locations like Rhode Island and Connecticut, there is only one Tesla service center. While New Jersey and Pennsylvania have four and three service centers respectively. According to International Bussiness Times, Rhode Island is among the most expensive place to operate a Tesla along with Hawaii and Massachusetts. While Oklahoma, Missouri, and Nebraska are considered cheaper options. Oklahoma has only one service center, a gallery center, and a couple of Superchargers. And Missouri has two service centers.
More or less both Service centers and Superchargers seem to affect the sales of the company accordingly. It may or may not be fully interlinked, but the recent complaint shows that Tesla indeed needs more service centers.
Last year in the Q4 earnings call, Automotive Director Jerome Guillen mentioned that Tesla is hoping to solve at least 50% of customer needs by 2021. It is known that Tesla is working with third-party repair shops. But it would take time for technicians to get to know Tesla cars and repair them accordingly. Further Tesla is also looking out for other options. Last week the company debuted service subscriptions. It has a diagnostic software package that can be used to repair minor things at home by owners themselves.