Tesla owners share some unexpected headaches of owning their EV

Some Tesla owners have horror stories about the company’s service centers.

Over the years, some Tesla owners have complained about issues with the carmaker’s service centers, including long wait times, poor repairs, and exorbitant prices.

Last year, Vox reported that Tesla owners had filed thousands of complaints about the company’s service centers. The complaints varied from concerns about available parts and unresponsive service centers to detailed complaints about Teslas that were returned in worse condition than when they went into the shops for repairs.

More recently, a Model S owner filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against Tesla over the issue, claiming she’d suffered from Tesla’s “monopolization” of the repair market for its vehicles. She said Tesla had caused her to “suffer lengthy delays in repairing or maintaining” their electric vehicles, “only to pay supracompetitive prices for those parts and repairs once they are finally provided,” according to the complaint.

A spokesperson for Tesla did not respond to a request for comment from Insider regarding concerns about its service centers. Last year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company is working on improving its service in North America. To date, Tesla has less than 200 service centers in the US. For comparison, GM or Ford owners can choose from thousands of independent repair and maintenance shops.

“That’s one of my biggest complaints with Tesla,” Steve Almassy, a Model S owner since 2014, said, adding he still loves the car. “They’re getting better, but they still haven’t gotten their service model down to a good process. Unfortunately, they have a long way to go on that.”