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As a Model S owner, this is one of the things that worries me a lot. I rely on my Model S to make my commute "bearable" (via Carpool lane use), which even a covered insurance rental car isn't likely to enable.

Doubling my commute time for months would drive me nuts.

I hope an infusion of cash is going to help the parts department and decrease the latency around parts getting built.

I hope that the new insurance business they are getting into will take this into account: I'd pay extra to have my insurance give me an exact same loaner with the same "carpool friendly" characteristics while my car is in the shop. When insurance companies are on the hook to pay for a rental during repairs, they tend to ensure that the repairs don't take too long, as they have an incentive to minimize their rental costs: that's a good thing because it means the incentives are aligned with the customer.

4 comments

If only there was some other way to use the carpool lane.

Drive for Uber/Lyft, and he could even make money while doing it. It could be called "Tesla-sharing."

Iirc that's against the EULA. Yeah, the car has one...

Or take an Uber when the car is in the shop? I hear Tesla is willing to give the option of lots of Lyft credit per day instead of a loaner.

What are your plans for when the carpool sticker expires in 2022/23?

Very timely question: I'm in the process right now because my current Model S has a sticker that expired in 2019, so I'm looking into trading in (or selling) my current S for another Tesla.

I don't know if the whole sticker option will disappear after 2023, but if it is still available then the "trade in" option will still be viable. It's expensive, though (not unlike a lease actually, since you end up selling/buying with a periodicity of about 3-4 years).

Wait, single-occupant Tesla cars get to use the carpool lane?

Thanks for giving me another reason to hate this company. It's not easy anymore but it turns out there is always something new if you read enough of these threads.

In CA, yes. It's mainly a high-occupancy vehicle lane, but some "clean-air" vehicles also are allowed: http://www.dot.ca.gov/trafficops/tm/hov.html

That strikes me as similar to the subsidy that Tesla got. It's a reasonable thing to do so that we start shifting away fossil carbon, but it should expire in short order.

No, single occupant electric cars. It's a state incentive, and as sibling comment said, it's not something sustainable long-term, but a short term perk that might tip some people to get an electric car who wouldn't have otherwise

Utah also allows EVs and hybrids to use the commuter lane with single occupants, but it is utterly pointless since the money-grubbing fuck-ups who run the state also implemented a toll system that allows any single-occupant vehicle to use the commuter lane. This makes it so the commuter lane is always more backed up than the rest of the lanes. The police typically move crashed vehicles into this lane as well, making it even worse. There is ZERO incentive to car pool because you’re typically better off not being in the commuter lane.

It's not some Tesla-specific privilege, relax.