The owner of a $155,000 Tesla Model S Plaid told the Elon Musk-focused outlet Teslarati that he received a call that any car owner would dread just days after dropping off his vehicle for service in Plano, Texas.
The man, identified only as Jeff, said he left his car at the Tesla Service Center in Plano on Aug. 24 and was contacted by the service center on Aug. 30.
According to the report, the Tesla employee said four words every car owner dreads: “We have some bad news.” Then he added, “Your car was totaled.”
Jeff, understandably, couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “I thought it was a joke,” he told Teslarati.
“I found out very soon it was not a joke.”
EXCLUSIVE: What happens when a Tesla Model S Plaid is crashed and totaled by a Service Center employee? One owner is finding out the hard way.https://t.co/1qu2Sqys1L by @KlenderJoey
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) September 6, 2022
Jeff said that when he arrived at the service center the next day, he was greeted by his black Model S Plaid. The passenger rear door had been crushed inward, and its airbags were deployed.
“The vehicle had been t-boned by another car traveling just two blocks from the Service Center, located at 5800 Democracy Drive in Plano,” Teslarati reported.
Would you be comfortable bringing your Tesla to this service center?
“The repair had already been completed and an employee was driving the vehicle around to ensure it was completed properly,” it said.
However, there was more to the story: The outlet reported that the Tesla driver, an employee of the Plano service center, failed to yield at a four-way stop and was struck by another driver in an Audi A5.
The second driver was a 62-year-old who was taken to Plano Presbyterian hospital with injuries, according to Teslarati.
It said another person was in Jeff’s Tesla as well: an unidentified passenger.
Teslarati said it obtained a police report stating the Tesla service tech driving the Model S admitted his fault in the accident and was charged with failure to yield the right of way at a stop sign.
Jeff told the outlet that Tesla said it would get back to him within three weeks.
It did so, according to an update to the report on Friday.
“Jeff contacted me personally and told me Tesla has officially shipped a Model S Plaid identical to his now-totaled vehicle,” Teslarati reported. “‘I just got a call from Tesla, a clone of my Model S Plaid is on the truck heading for Texas as I text you today.’”
The Western Journal reached out to the Tesla Service Center in Plano for comment but did not receive a response.
