Slate Trucks Won’t Be Sold At Dealerships, So Where Will Owners Go For Service?

Slate Auto, like Apple before it, guarantees to be different. And for some buyers, that’ll start by bypassing any dealer and never having to haggle over the $26,400 advertised price and destination charge. Numerous consumers would like never ever, ever seeing the inside a dealership. But when — not if — your Slate breaks, what next? Because cars do break. Even EVs. In truth, Consumer Reports says EVs still have more issues than gas cars, and remember that this will likely be Slate’s first-ever product. 

Never fear. Slate says they’ll partner with greater than 3,000 RepairPal service providers nationwide, so that you will be covered under the four-year, 50,000-mile warranty, and the 10-year, 110,000-mile warranty for the powertrain and battery. The latter guarantees as much as 70% battery life at the tip of that mileage or time period, which, with the assistance of easy math shows the initial 205 miles of maximum range falling to 144 miles on a maximum charge. It’s definitely in Slate’s favor that almost all EV batteries have not been degrading that badly. In keeping with a study by Recurrent, modern EVs consistently hold greater than 90% of their battery charge after three years, which, within the Slate’s case, would amount to a more reasonable 185 miles of range.

As for normal maintenance, Slate thinks you may do a lot of that yourself. Their forthcoming Slate App and free Slate U resource hub will likely be designed to share skills with owners, so the simple stuff – like filling washer fluid, changing a cabin air filter, and swapping windshield wipers – will all be a faucet away. The carmaker also says Slate U will allow you to track your personal service record so you already know what you’ve got done, reasonably than leaving those files within the hands of a dealer. 

Slate also says that in the event you get stuck during a project, like while wrapping your Truck or within the midst of easy maintenance, you will have the ability to contact the carmaker, share images of the hangup, and if vital, they’ll connect you with a support tech who will show you how to finish the project. That said, there are some wrinkles in Slate’s service plan. As an example, Slate offers roadside assistance. It’s a part of the four-year, 50,000-mile warranty. Nonetheless, the corporate also says overtly that it will not be available universally. Hey, at the least that is honest. However the RepairPal part could get interesting; the corporate says you will have the ability to schedule service through either RepairPal’s site or the Slate App. Slate also said in a press release this past fall that, “Irrespective of where Slate drivers live, they will likely be near a service center.” That very same release had an extra footnote, nevertheless, saying that mostly its buyers could be inside 100 miles of a service provider, but that said provider would not necessarily have the ability to supply fixes under warranty.

That little bit of nuance matters. As an example, Slate notes that electrical and battery repairs will only be handled by a finer sift of RepairPal shops and so they’ll be trained in “Slate-specific procedures and capable of perform high-voltage service.” As of last yr, Slate said it had trained techs in over 200 locations across the country, but 200 shops is merely 15% of the three,000 total RepairPal service provider count, which definitely begs the query of where those more specialized outposts will likely be situated.

We mentioned that Consumer Reports’ findings earlier to boost one other point about EV reliability — it isn’t uniformly bad. This past winter, Tesla climbed to ninth in Consumer Reports‘ new-car predicted reliability rankings, which happens to be ahead of a variety of brands that make non-electric cars. We’re not saying Slate will jump that top out of the gate, nevertheless it’s essential to notice that, at the least theoretically, with fewer moving parts, EVs could grow way more reliable than gas cars. Whether or not you may easily service that automotive may circuitously relate to owner satisfaction, either. As an example, it isn’t like Tesla’s lack of dealers has dinged the Model 3 amongst consumers — J.D. Power rates its reliability higher than that of the BMW 3 Series, for instance.

Having or not having dealers is not the purpose, but ease of repair is perhaps, and Slate has argued that owners have been locked out of creating any mods to their rides, lest they violate the service agreement. Ditto, even allowing your favorite mechanic to work in your automotive. In theory, right-to-repair laws should enable you, or your mechanic, to repair your wheels, but as automotive technology advances, mechanics are also getting shafted. Sure, the Ford Fathom could kill the Slate with its second-row seat, but good luck finding a dealer that desires you to wrench on it without voiding its warranty. Perhaps that will likely be the last word ace for Slate. Also: Will we know Slate won’t offer a four-door pickup next? Nope.