Featured Hertz pulls back on EV plans citing Tesla price cuts, high repair costs

Apparently 'crash repairs' terrify some away from EVs. With all Tesla warranties expired, I'm even more heavily into self maintenance. This includes buying a second 'PHEV', a 2017 BMW i3-REx, my city ride, saving battery wear on the Tesla and letting me tackle larger jobs. So let me share some current projects on my +4 year old, 116,000 mi Model 3:

• replacing rear tires - the rear drive, passenger side had one tread touching the wear bars. My practice is to buy two new tires for the front and move them to the rear to get maximum life.
  • staggered tires - the Bridgestone ECOPIA is no longer available so I identified and bought another, low rolling resistance tire, Pirelli P7 AS PLUS 3, with a slightly smaller size to reduce rolling and aerodynamic drag.
• made four pizza pan wheel covers - the rim vendor has no aero hubcaps so I made my own. Testing shows lower drag but I want to rerun the benchmarks with the new tires and after an alignment.
• CCS-1 adapter - a controller, wiring harness, and CCS-1 to Tesla adapter along with reloading the software. CCS-1 is more expensive and less reliable than SuperChargers but there are gaps that CCS-1 might fill. Expected battery degradation has reduced projected range to 210 mi from the original 240 mi.
• underbody covers - road debris and parking curbs have torn parts of the three, underbody, aero shields. I have two but need to order the third.
• refit the rear bumper cover - in a hurry, I'm using duct tape to hold it on.

So far, parts are reasonable and my labor is free. Best of all, I have access to the auto shop with lifts and pretty much anything you'd find in a mechanic's shop. So how does this relate to Hertz?

Tesla has a mobile repair service that handles light duty tasks, what can be carried in a Tesla. Hertz may need a mobil service that includes a trailer with lift, glass replacement, and power tools to handle more substantial repairs. Tesla service is fair price but expensive and often has other priorities.

Hertz should consider having their own, mobile repair service, teams ... and hire me. Within 3-4 months, the repair pair will have learned the tricks to do repairs fast and good. With a reasonable benefits package and timely wage increases, voila, Tesla might contract with Hertz for mobil repairs.

Bob Wilson

 

It's basically poor planning and logistics in a fledgling industry.

It happens a lot with new technologies.

There is an advantage to simple easy to build, service and repair systems.

Tesla uses technologies in places where technology is not needed.

 

• replacing rear tires - only on one tire and perfectly fine for Alabama, there is abnormal wear on the inside of one tire suggesting a camber problem: . .The rear wheel camber link:
• made four pizza pan wheel covers - I've painted them tire rubber black,
• CCS-1 adapter -
• underbody covers -
• refit the rear bumper cover - no pictures but this somewhat shows what inspired my field expedient:

Bob Wilson

 

I think the other end of this story is starting to come out.

Many Tesla owners have struggled to get parts to repair their broken & damaged cars.

Apparently some of them, or their mechanics, realized it would be pretty easy to rent a Tesla's worth of spare parts, do a quick swappy-do and then return the Hertz car with a standard complaint that something-or-other didn't work.

...And you start to understand why Hertz felt like they had a target painted on them, trying to unload those cars as fast as they did.

 

they should have plenty of time to make parts now. service? idk. hasn't been much chatter lately that i've seen.
on the flip side, everyone is having a difficult time with parts. i wonder if this is happening with other brands.

 

what I don’t get is most every Hertz EV seems to be wildly overpriced above market, when this first started they were a few reasonably priced ones.

mom not actually sure Hertz is really that motivated to sell the EV fleet

 

i agree. i looked over their prices and it seemed like a half hearted attempt. as usual, too much media hype.

 

You guys are looking at what's left, 5 months after the sale started.

I'm picturing the two of you in a breakfast joint, complaining about how stuff isn't fresh at 3pm with the staff trying to close up around you.

 

Hertz has been trickling them out slowly, AKA none of the bolts for sale now were posted 6 months ago.

Also my initial complaint about them being overpriced was late December 2023, they were only priced competitively for maybe a week and I noted and screenshotted some examples from that time to give to late comers.

 

i've been looking since the announcement. i even challenged anyone here to link a good deal, but it never happened.

 

I'll admit I hadn't looked that closely before, but my gut says that this works like Ticketmaster- none of the good inventory ever makes it to a public website.

 

very possible, there's no way of knowing. ever since ev sales slowed a bit, there have been extraordinary claims of historically low prices on ev's, but i haven't found tht to be the case.
perhaps my idea of a good deal is not the same as the media writers who make these claims.

 

Media lean towards extreme drama. Consider France's increases. 47% increase between '22 & '23.

France has record year in EV sales | Electrek

Then if it drops to (say) 4 or 5% ? OMG! SKY IS FALLING! It's seldom reported as a 'slowing' from of astronomical increase. Moderny/sadly - it's all about the narrative being pushed.
.

 

I saw Mercedes EQB 250+ with very low miles some around 6000 miles, for about $37000. Msrp is about $15000 more than that, or even more than that, according to options.

 

Hertz is having to contend with:

• mistrust of rental cars
• a 49k unsold new cars Tesla backlog stories
• Tesla dropping prices on in-inventory new cars
• a decline is EV demand as early adopters have been exhausted
• an increase in work from home reducing the need for as many cars per family
• people waiting for the next new breakthrough (the 10 minute charge, the 650 mile range, the true self driving, the free FSD transfer, a car without screen controls for emergency functions, etc)
• a car with new top quality tires
• a car with a true history of incidents
• a car with a shop conveniently located

In other words, supply and demand.

Drop the prices and see if that creates demand. As I said to my wife who wanted to hold out for the last .5% of selling price when we sold our last house, sometimes you take the money and run. Two weeks later there was no market for houses.

 

wow, you're a genius!

 

There is a glut of new vehicles in general that will be impacting Tesla and everyone else that primarily sells only new vehicles.

GM is one of a couple companies doing OK due to having slightly less expensive offerings, Toyota has a big glut of truck/suv inventory but is selling actual cars and smaller vehicles well.