Tesla Service Centers Can Be Hundreds of Miles From Owners

Cars and Drivers

Published: April 20, 2016 6:36 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 10:35 am

Consumer Reports released a criticism of the Tesla Model X. Among the complaints was reliability problems. A Tesla customer who needs one of these fixed may have to travel hundreds of miles.

Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) has 70 service centers in the United States, according to its website. Most of these are clustered in high population states, which is to be expected. California has 18. The repair problem is multiplied by the number of cars that company sells. In its last quarterly statement, management wrote:

Q1 deliveries consisted of 12,420 Model S vehicles and 2,400 Model X vehicles. Q1 deliveries were almost 50% more than Q1 last year and Tesla remains on track to deliver 80,000 to 90,000 new vehicles in 2016.

Based on the Tesla list, an owner in North Dakota may have to go as far as Seattle for repairs. An owner in Alabama might need to go to Louisiana or Florida.

ALSO READ: Tesla or GM: Which Is the More Attractive EV Exposure?

Tesla has done the logical thing, made a smart business move. The electric car company has superchargers across the country. Each is close enough to owners so that none of them are out of range. Service centers cost more than chargers. The math, in this case, works against the owner. That is only a problem if an owner’s Tesla vehicle is broken.

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