Scout Motors Needs to Rethink “Local” Service. Don't do the Tesla model.

[mastertroll]

One of the biggest concerns I have with Scout Motors’ current service plan is the definition of “local.” According to their roadmap, they aim to have service centers—called Scout Workshops—within 200 miles of 85% of buyers. On paper, that sounds reasonable. But in practice, it’s a logistical headache.

For many of us, especially those living in rural areas or smaller cities, a 200-mile drive isn’t local—it’s a full-day commitment. That’s hundreds of miles round-trip just to get a vehicle looked at, let alone repaired. And if the issue isn’t resolved in one visit, you’re repeating that journey again and again. It’s not just inconvenient, it’s unsustainable.

This is where Scout has a real opportunity to do better. They’re backed by Volkswagen, a company with an established nationwide service network. Why not leverage that infrastructure? Let VW service Scout vehicles for routine maintenance and diagnostics while Scout builds out its own specialized support. That would give customers real local access—not just a theoretical radius on a map.

If Scout wants to win over buyers who value practicality as much as innovation, they need to rethink what “local service” really means. Because for most of us, 200 miles isn’t it.

Having owned a Tesla, I can say the service experience was one of the biggest reasons I ultimately let it go. While the vehicle itself was impressive in many ways, the logistics of getting it serviced were anything but. I often had to drive several hours across state lines—for even basic repairs or diagnostics. Scheduling was inconsistent, communication was frustrating, and mobile service, while helpful, couldn’t handle more complex issues. It became clear that the convenience of ownership was undermined by the lack of accessible, reliable support. That experience left a lasting impression. If you want to get more purchases, please consider.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

Met a high school facility’s director who found an employee in the snow, 16 feet out from the door of the electrical room because he wasn’t paying attention. Luckily he didn’t die and had minor injuries. I hate playing with electricity

I’ve spent a lot of time wiring houses and playing with high-amperage DC, which I’m afraid is causing me to overly-normalize risk. I need to get zapped again to refresh my healthy respect for electricity.

 

[J Alynn]

I’ve spent a lot of time wiring houses and playing with high-amperage DC, which I’m afraid is causing me to overly-normalize risk. I need to get zapped again to refresh my healthy respect for electricity.

Every 10 years is a good reminder. I’m probably due again as well but I’d prefer to just pay someone. Plumbing is easy-just follow the 3 golden rules and you’re generally pretty safe but electric is a different kind of beast

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

Every 10 years is a good reminder. I’m probably due again as well but I’d prefer to just pay someone. Plumbing is easy-just follow the 3 golden rules and you’re generally pretty safe but electric is a different kind of beast

I so very much prefer electricity to fluid plumbing, though. When I was a very young kid, I worked for my brother who was a plumber and I had to do the "crawl under the house and fix the sewer line while it’s dripping in my face" kind of work. Not my favorite.

 

[J Alynn]

I so very much prefer electricity to fluid plumbing, though. When I was a very young kid, I worked for my brother who was a plumber and I had to do the "crawl under the house and fix the sewer line while it’s dripping in my face" kind of work. Not my favorite.

Me too. Builds character though. The crawl unders and 250’ well pump pulls were the worst

 

[dreamweaver]

I so very much prefer electricity to fluid plumbing, though. When I was a very young kid, I worked for my brother who was a plumber and I had to do the "crawl under the house and fix the sewer line while it’s dripping in my face" kind of work. Not my favorite.

I am all for doing some of my own plumbing. But, that is where I would drawn a line. H... No!

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

I am all for doing some of my own plumbing. But, that is where I would drawn a line. H... No!

And this gets back to local service for the Scout.

The nearest Ford dealer that I can even begin to sort-of trust is a 90 minute drive from home. That means it’s a 4-hour chunk of my just to drop off the vehicle and another 4-hour chunk of my day to pick it up again. And the same for whomever is driving me.

I prefer to do my own service for the things that I have the tools for. I can’t do high-voltage battery service, though, so that’s not an option. I can do almost everything else, though. And if I spend a few thousand more dollars for the right lift and battery table, I could do the battery service too.

But I’d much, much rather pay a local, independent service technician to come over and do the service or I am happy to bring the truck 20 minutes to their shop to do the service.

 

[dreamweaver]

And this gets back to local service for the Scout.

The nearest Ford dealer that I can even begin to sort-of trust is a 90 minute drive from home. That means it’s a 4-hour chunk of my just to drop off the vehicle and another 4-hour chunk of my day to pick it up again. And the same for whomever is driving me.

I prefer to do my own service for the things that I have the tools for. I can’t do high-voltage battery service, though, so that’s not an option. I can do almost everything else, though. And if I spend a few thousand more dollars for the right lift and battery table, I could do the battery service too.

But I’d much, much rather pay a local, independent service technician to come over and do the service or for me to bring the truck 20 minutes to their shop to do the service.

Our Lincoln dealer is about 30 miles away from our place. Whenever I need service, they come and pick up my car, leave me a loaner for the duration of the repair, and then drop it back off. The only catch is that I have to return the loaner with the same fuel level it came with. Our Ford dealer also picks up and drops off our car for service, but they don’t provide a loaner. Both dealers also offer mobile service calls. I’m really lucky to have found two dealers that I highly recommend.

 

[J Alynn]

Brings up another good point. Say your Scout has an issue and it’s down. Will SM show up with a loaner while a warranty issue is being addressed? I mean I can flex my time and work from home but what happens if I have a week of meetings and SM service says it will be a couple days of work. How that portion of the service side works will be important to know. For those with EV’s-probably Rivians since the others have many more dealers/service departments but what has your experience been if/when you needed service

 

[strider]

Brings up another good point. Say your Scout has an issue and it’s down. Will SM show up with a loaner while a warranty issue is being addressed? I mean I can flex my time and work from home but what happens if I have a week of meetings and SM service says it will be a couple days of work. How that portion of the service side works will be important to know. For those with EV’s-probably Rivians since the others have many more dealers/service departments but what has your experience been if/when you needed service

As a Tesla customer since 2010, I can offer some commentary on how I expect things to go, what it is reasonable, etc. I have no actual insight and so Scout may pull a rabbit out of a hat but here it goes.

Service Centers will be a slow and steady build-out as the customer base expands and hits a critical mass in a given area where it makes sense to rent space and have full-time employees in a location. Until then they will handle things via mobile service (typically they will spend 1-2 days per week in a given city). When I moved back to Oklahoma in 2016 Telsa had a single tech for all of Oklahoma and Western Arkansas.

I put a 0% chance that they will provide loaners in the beginning as every production slot will be going to customers and there is no feasible way for a mobile tech to deliver a loaner while also driving their service vehicle. Once production catches up and there are service centers then that will change. Instead of loaners Tesla would offer rental cars and (later) Uber credits if the vehicle was going to be down for a length of time.

Bottom line is that if you can't be without the vehicle for a few days (you have no backup transportation), I would think about waiting until there is a local service center. I'm not trying to scare anyone or denigrate Scout - merely set expectations. This is a brand new company with brand new vehicles, systems, and processes. Things will break. I am confident that Scout will fix them but it could take time.

 

[strider]

Having owned a Tesla, I can say the service experience was one of the biggest reasons I ultimately let it go. While the vehicle itself was impressive in many ways, the logistics of getting it serviced were anything but. I often had to drive several hours across state lines—for even basic repairs or diagnostics. Scheduling was inconsistent, communication was frustrating, and mobile service, while helpful, couldn’t handle more complex issues. It became clear that the convenience of ownership was undermined by the lack of accessible, reliable support. That experience left a lasting impression. If you want to get more purchases, please consider.

So my question is, what do you suggest instead? Opening thousands of service centers staffed with techs that mostly sit around? The company would be bankrupt in 6 months. You need a critical mass of customers in an area in order to justify the ongoing costs of a service center. Until then you have to handle it with mobile techs.

 

[Chaz26]

Brings up another good point. Say your Scout has an issue and it’s down. Will SM show up with a loaner while a warranty issue is being addressed? I mean I can flex my time and work from home but what happens if I have a week of meetings and SM service says it will be a couple days of work. How that portion of the service side works will be important to know. For those with EV’s-probably Rivians since the others have many more dealers/service departments but what has your experience been if/when you needed service

I haven't really had any issues with my Tesla but for minor things they come to my house and do the service there. I had a side window blow out on the highway, for that one I had to take it into Tesla for the day to fix. They didn't have a loaner but gave me uber credits so I used that to get back home and back to the service center afterwards. Perhaps that will be a way for Scout to do things initially if it takes a while to get loaners. If you're a few hours away from a service center then hopefully it would get towed to the service center and then dropped back off when done.

 

[J Alynn]

As a Tesla customer since 2010, I can offer some commentary on how I expect things to go, what it is reasonable, etc. I have no actual insight and so Scout may pull a rabbit out of a hat but here it goes.

Service Centers will be a slow and steady build-out as the customer base expands and hits a critical mass in a given area where it makes sense to rent space and have full-time employees in a location. Until then they will handle things via mobile service (typically they will spend 1-2 days per week in a given city). When I moved back to Oklahoma in 2016 Telsa had a single tech for all of Oklahoma and Western Arkansas.

I put a 0% chance that they will provide loaners in the beginning as every production slot will be going to customers and there is no feasible way for a mobile tech to deliver a loaner while also driving their service vehicle. Once production catches up and there are service centers then that will change. Instead of loaners Tesla would offer rental cars and (later) Uber credits if the vehicle was going to be down for a length of time.

Bottom line is that if you can't be without the vehicle for a few days (you have no backup transportation), I would think about waiting until there is a local service center. I'm not trying to scare anyone or denigrate Scout - merely set expectations. This is a brand new company with brand new vehicles, systems, and processes. Things will break. I am confident that Scout will fix them but it could take time.

Thanks for the insight. Makes sense. Hadn’t thought about The bee as an alternative. Something like that certainly works. My wife and I are literally in walking distance of each others offices so wouldn’t impact us much as I can also work 2-3 days a week from home. I just wondered how that would get handled so thanks again

 

[J Alynn]

I haven't really had any issues with my Tesla but for minor things they come to my house and do the service there. I had a side window blow out on the highway, for that one I had to take it into Tesla for the day to fix. They didn't have a loaner but gave me uber credits so I used that to get back home and back to the service center afterwards. Perhaps that will be a way for Scout to do things initially if it takes a while to get loaners. If you're a few hours away from a service center then hopefully it would get towed to the service center and then dropped back off when done.

Yeah-I’m cool with mobile techs-not sure why anyone wouldn’t want that. Save me the running and dropping off. It just had me wondering as a company who won’t have inventory to use as loaners so this definitely all makes logical sense

 

[R1TVT]

Rivian does the same thing... Enterprise rentals if you need to leave your truck at the Service Center (and they have no loaners available)

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

Yeah-I’m cool with mobile techs-not sure why anyone wouldn’t want that. Save me the running and dropping off. It just had me wondering as a company who won’t have inventory to use as loaners so this definitely all makes logical sense

I can think of a number of reasons mobile techs might not work.
For example, if someone has an HOA that prohibits working on vehicles in the driveway or on the street.

But I can also think of a huge pile of reasons it makes sense. For example, people with disabilities that require specific accommodations built into their vehicle can’t easily take advantage of a loaner or rental vehicle.

Mobile techs make sense. Teaching local, unaffiliated, garages and techs what they need to know to work on the vehicles also makes sense. What doesn’t make sense is spending a ton of money to build new garages that are limited to a few geographic locations and that being the sum total of service availability.

 

[Chavannigans]

Just to mitigate any assumptions or baseless theories, this is currently Scouts official model for service and support.

Here’s Scout's Full Presentation On How It Plans To Sell And Fix Cars Without Dealers - The Autopian

There is some part of me that felt as if the launch of the Scout brand was Volkswagen essentially trying to start over in America after far too many years failing to offer products that Americans actually want. This rebirth would start with a brand that has a rich American heritage; a Detroit...

www.theautopian.com

A majority of repairs will be able to be performed by mobile techs.

They also plan to partner with shops to be certified for repairs.

They wont solely be relying on their repair centers.

Now if I do put on my speculation hat...

If the repair falls outside their scope there is a good chance they transport it to a Workshop for heavyline repairs. Initial failures will probably be studied so they may offer a loaner while they tear down your vehicle and determine the point of failure.

 

[BeerParty]

I don't have any experience with servicing Tesla or Rivian, so I can't speak from experience. But, I think I will prefer the approach Scout Motors is taking with mobile technicians. I have an advantage over a lot of people - the Scout Terra will be my second vehicle. So, if the Terra is not available while waiting for service I have another easy option; I don't need to worry about a loaner or rental.

There are two main reasons I think I will prefer the Scout approach:

1. Since they will have to rely on traveling technicians, the Scout's diagnostics will need to be high quality. The Scouts will need to have a robust diagnostics ability so when owners schedule service, the technicians will know what they need to bring with them. A traveling service technician approach won't work without that. And robust diagnostics will have a host of other benefits for owners.
2. No need to visit a dealership/service center. I had to work through a bunch of sub-standard experiences to find a service place that I can tolerate. The place I like has a multi-day queue, so I when I schedule service it is almost always a three to five day wait. And, I either have to take half a day to wait for the service to be done, or I have to drop off my car for the day and manage transportation to and from the service center (friend pick up/drop off, loaner car, shuttle, etc.). With an brand new model entering the market, you'll have to rely on Scout to service it (at least initially). Having them come to me and servicing the truck on-site minimizes the impact to me.

The sticking point will be what happens if the truck needs to go to a service center because a traveling technician can't fix a problem on-site. Ideally, if the truck has to go to a service center Scout will arrange to tow it there. If Scout can't handle that situation well, it will cause grief among the owners.

 

[Chavannigans]

I don't have any experience with servicing Tesla or Rivian, so I can't speak from experience. But, I think I will prefer the approach Scout Motors is taking with mobile technicians. I have an advantage over a lot of people - the Scout Terra will be my second vehicle. So, if the Terra is not available while waiting for service I have another easy option; I don't need to worry about a loaner or rental.

There are two main reasons I think I will prefer the Scout approach:

1. Since they will have to rely on traveling technicians, the Scout's diagnostics will need to be high quality. The Scouts will need to have a robust diagnostics ability so when owners schedule service, the technicians will know what they need to bring with them. A traveling service technician approach won't work without that. And robust diagnostics will have a host of other benefits for owners.
2. No need to visit a dealership/service center. I had to work through a bunch of sub-standard experiences to find a service place that I can tolerate. The place I like has a multi-day queue, so I when I schedule service it is almost always a three to five day wait. And, I either have to take half a day to wait for the service to be done, or I have to drop off my car for the day and manage transportation to and from the service center (friend pick up/drop off, loaner car, shuttle, etc.). With an brand new model entering the market, you'll have to rely on Scout to service it (at least initially). Having them come to me and servicing the truck on-site minimizes the impact to me.

The sticking point will be what happens if the truck needs to go to a service center because a traveling technician can't fix a problem on-site. Ideally, if the truck has to go to a service center Scout will arrange to tow it there. If Scout can't handle that situation well, it will cause grief among the owners.

This is from the article I linked to above.

They gamed out a repair and show how it will work from initial service request to paying the invoice once its done through the app.

They determine there is a fault with a window regulator which is the initial complaint, and while they are performing the remote diagnostics the chat bot also finds a fault for one of the USB-C charging ports and asks the owner if they would like them to repair that as well during the service call. They also ask the owner if they want to replace their cabin air filter.

The owner approves the estimate, a service date is schedules, once the service tech is en route you can see their location in real time like Ubers live updates, and once they are done the invoice is paid for with your payment method through the Scout App.


It seems they are planning to take a proactive approach.

 

[Chavannigans]

 

[alexshepherd]

I'm ok with dealers being far and wide, as long as it is easy for me as a customer to look up parts diagrams and order parts. I can understand not wanting to allow owners to work on any of the high voltage stuff, but everything else should be fair game. One of tesla's major issues is they are treating a car like a smart phone. I want my vehicle to be treated like a hobby grade RC car where I can look up and order any of the parts I need in about 5 minutes.

Right to repair being a major focus fights right in with Scout's stated values and would really set them apart in a crowded and competetive market