I hear a lot about the various EVs on the market and their drivetrain/software/ride quality but I rarely hear about the quality of service that comes post-purchase. Perhaps because it’s not an exciting topic.
Which brand would y’all say has the best or worst reputation in the regard? How would you say Chevy compares to Tesla or Hyundai?
Perhaps a different league, but when I had my Mercedes, the service was wonderful.
I had a string of bad luck with nails in my tires, and each time I called roadside, they were there within a half hour (and only due to traffic).
Annual oil changes, they’d come to me, drop off a loaner, and then swap back and end off day. I had a small intermittent and hard to reproduce issue, and they fixed it without issue. All communication was done via text, and was very responsive if I had questions (with a phone call being an option should I choose)
My current Tesla, the only issue I’ve had was a dead 12v battery. Tesla roadside was a pain to deal with. Had to do it via text, and had to wait nearly two hours just for them to acknowledge me. I like that Tesla has mobile service, but roadside couldn’t dispatch them. So had to be jumped and towed.
Service center communication was mostly radio silence for two days. They did give me Uber credits, which was nice. But since Uber doesn’t really service my area, it took an hour just to find someone to pick me up.
When I picked up my car, it was handled under warranty (which was surprising because the 12v is a wear and tear item, and no one else covers them). Overall, not a bad experience, but could be improved with better communication.
They’re building two new service centers near me, so hopefully that will help with Tesla’s backlog.
Someone I used to work with had a Lexus and it sounded pretty similar to what you described for Mercedes. First time she called to schedule annual maintenance they offered her a spot on a day she couldn’t take off of work and they were like “that’s fine, we’ll pick it up the night before and drop off a loaner - call us when you’re home from work and we’ll come switch them back”
Although I guess that kind of support is less relevant with an EV because there’s much less scheduled maintenance so you only really need to go back if something legit breaks.
Ever had a Mercedes EV? Because I’ve heard the service experience with those is somewhat awful.
Parts are 6+ months in some cases and techs are unhelpful, etc.
Stuff like this: https://www.reddit.com/r/mercedes_benz/comments/10k8g9w/broken_eqs580_and_unbelievably_bad_service/
Can confirm. One of my family members has an EQS and every time it goes to the dealer, it’s there for, at least, a month
They absolutely do. I think it’s quiet, but BMW or Mercedes does exactly the same thing.
They’ll give a driver of a M760 a loaner and offer to phone a taxy for the beat up old X1 that’s in for the same service. Comparing the $170k car to the $28k car.
Tesla has a similar (well not as dramatic) spread in car prices.
I have an EQS580 and took it in for a repair/parts replacement (the part that broke was my fault, whoops), and I had it back the same day when they told me to expect 3 days and they gave me a loaner anyways. Even with my previous, non- S class MB I have always received first-class, near-instant service. I’ve had cars from many of the luxury brands and MB has by far provided the best service. Just my experience.
I’ve certainly heard of the issues. My guess is that it’s a new technology, so it will take time for people to be as fully trained and for parts warehouses to stock up.
My hope is that they will work things out soon.
The only issue I’ve had with my Tesla is a dead 12V battery.
One day, the driver’s side of the car wasn’t working (doors wouldn’t unlock, frunk and charge port wouldn’t open, screen wouldn’t turn on, etc.). However, the passenger side and trunk still worked. Mobile service said it would need to be towed for diagnosis. Roadside said it would be $500 to tow to the nearest service station (about an hour away) because we weren’t under warranty anymore.
After some googling, I figured out that it was probably the 12V battery. We used a 9V battery on the wires behind the tow hook cover to open the frunk, thus proving that the 12V was dead. That was enough evidence to convince mobile service to come replace it. Everything was quick, convenient and reasonably priced from there on out.
Still, we were spooked by that $500 tow estimate and signed up for AAA so that the tow will be free if we ever need it.