"Mind boggled": Scottish couple fights Tesla over $29K bill for rain repairs
A major fight is underway between Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company and a couple from Scotland over a rain-damaged Tesla and the shocking repair bill.
Johnny Bacigalupo and Rob Hussey had taken the $100,000 Tesla Model Y vehicle for a drive in the rain in Edinburgh and had stopped for a bite. When they came back, the electric car wouldn’t start.
They alerted the company to the issue and the car was towed away to be examined. Several days later, with endless emails and appeals for information, Bacigalupo was told the car’s battery was damaged by the rain and it wouldn’t be covered under the warranty.
As a result, they’ve been slapped with a £17,374 repair bill, which converts to C$29,000, which Bacigalupo told Daily Hive made him “absolutely flabbergasted.”
Rob Hussey sitting in the couple’s Model Y in Edinburgh. (Submitted)
“We’ve had some adverse weather in Edinburgh, but nothing severe. We’re not talking about the weather you guys get in Canada or the snow that you guys get there. We’re talking about heavy rain,” he said about the weather on Saturday, October 6, the day that the vehicle stopped working.
According to the UK’s national weather service, about 30-50 mm of rain fell on that day. More water came down through Sunday as an atmospheric river drenched parts of Scotland with an “exceptional rainfall” of up to 150 mm in some sections, which did lead to flooding in some spots.
To compare, BC’s current rainfall warning predicts 100-200 mm of rain for the coastal sections, and there are no current flood warnings in place.
However, Bacigalupo said the company makes it sound like he must have driven through the River Thames.
John Bacigalupo and Rob Hussey. (Submitted)
Further adding to the confusion is that the vehicles are equipped with extraordinary tech features, including dash cams, but Bacigalupo said he doesn’t think they’ve even examined the evidence to support his claim he didn’t drive through a swamp or that the conditions weren’t treacherous for him to be travelling the few minutes from his home.
“[He] asked me if I had driven the car through, you know, really deep water, if I had submerged the car. And I was like, ‘Absolutely not.’ What a strange thing to ask me because if you submerge a car, surely the water would get through the doors as well,” he said.
While there was evidence of water damage to the battery casing, he said there was no damage to other parts of the vehicle.
Adding that he was told that “this has happened to other cars.”
While it’s covered under insurance, Bacigalupo argues that to do that would simply raise his rates, and “I’m not going to claim my insurance because I don’t believe I’ve caused damage to the car.”
It’s not the first time Tesla has landed in hot water, with Elon Musk’s company at the centre of concerns over their batteries – including several cases of them catching fire.
However, a recent investigation by Transport Canada confirmed that the battery in that case was not to blame for a 2022 fire in BC involving a Model Y vehicle.
Sons of Vancouver Distillery/YouTube
Bacigalupo said since he went public with his story, others have reached out that they’ve had a similar claim over water damage, and they’ve had to fight the company to cover the repairs.
“I’ve got this premium vehicle and I’ve never had such shockingly, unbelievable, dismissive nothingness from any purchase I’ve ever made. I’m really absolutely flabbergasted.”
“It’s absolutely horrendous. The lack of response I’ve had, given the circumstances, surely, they don’t have such a high volume of people with a [£17,374] bill complaining to them that they can’t get around to an answer to us or picking up the phone and giving us a call.”
A request for comment from Daily Hive to the company was not answered by the deadline.
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