Tesla set to expand approved used car and mobile repair programmes

Tesla has plans to raise its game in the UK's used car sector, to expand the number of locations that sell its approved used cars and increase sales volumes.

It comes after the brand's UK car sales recently passed the 200,000 mark in a decade since it arrived. 

It promoted Mark Smith recently to oversee its fleet and certified pre-owned operations, charged with supporting the brand's relationships with corporate customers and driving retail used car sales through Tesla's certified pre-owned network and team.

The certified pre-owned programme will sell used Tesla cars built from 2018 onwards and up to 90,000 miles. This is currently available at eight locations, with a plan to increase this to 10.

Tesla EVs have been in the UK market since 2014, and many of its earlier cars, the Model S and Model X, have reached the forecourts of independent used car dealers. 

Using in-house refurbishment teams, the manufacturer says the programme will build confidence in its used cars, control residual values and give customers peace of mind that the vehicle has been refurbished by a Tesla technician.

“Customers want the reassurance that it’s actually a Tesla technician who has gone through those cars. Our team that refurbishes our cars go through the same thing day in, day out. They known what they are looking for and what is required from them," Smith told Andrew Ryan at a recent Company Car In Action event.

“We want to have those cars achieve 100% customer satisfaction, where the customer could order it offline in the confidence that it is has been refurbished to a really high standard.”

Smith (pictured) said Tesla's increased focus on the used car markets as well as the new is an important development as it will help both corporate customers using and defleeting EVs and used car buyers who want to access Tesla.

He said Tesla is keen to get end-of-lease cars into the hands of a new owner, whether through the certified pe-owned programme or by supporting funders in terms of second-life leasing and help them with the refurbishment piece to give that car more avenues to basically attract more customers.

“We want to drive affordability: we really want to come back to the mission and that is how we make it more affordable for customers to join the Tesla family, and certainly certified pre-owned gives us the option to do that.”

Last month AM reported Tesla was expanding its roadside assistance and service centre operations to seven days a week after criticism was levelled at the speed of servicing Tesla models.

The brand currently has 35 sales and service locations across Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and 16 self-serve test drive locations, while a new trial for mobile tyre replacement services is being launched in select regions, with plans for nationwide expansion if successful.

"We’re testing to make sure we can scale that up,” said Tim Findlay, regional director for the UK, Ireland and Middle East. “Then we’ll be looking to increase the types of mobile repairs we can do.

“Currently, more than 50% of our repairs are done by Tesla mobile service at someone’s workplace or home, and we are increasing the number of repairs that can be done this way.

“The goal will be to keep cars on the road and for them not to visit a service centre apart from as a last resort.”

Tesla’s offering also includes its Supercharger network of more than 1,400 public EV chargers at 140 sites in the UK and Ireland, with Findlay saying this will “grow in line with the size of our Tesla fleet in the UK”.

In March Tesla reached the milestone of 200,000 new electric cars delivered to UK customers since it began new car sales here in 2014.

This made it responsible for one in five BEVS on UK roads. The success has continued this year: at the end of Q1 2024, Model Y held on to its top spot in true fleet, with Model 3 in third position.

Four in five new Teslas sold are to business and company car drivers. But the brand has taken some flak from fleet customers who’ve not been happy with its communication. It hopes that will improve.

“As a business, we’re very much retail-focused globally and the UK market is unique in its set-up in comparison to the rest of our markets as fleet registrations are a large proportion of our sales here,” said Findlay.

“This has meant our initial few years in the UK have been challenging in terms of how we make that transition to more of a fleet-focused set-up.”