Tesla are facing another two lawsuits. This time, Elon Musk’s company has been accused of violating antitrust right-to-repair laws, and two separate class action suits were filed in San Francisco this week.
The first was filed last Tuesday including the plaintiff Virginia Lambrix. The second was filed Wednesday, led by plaintiff Robert Orendain. Both own a Tesla Model S (below).
According to legal documents, both allege they were made to pay supracompetitive – pricing above what can be sustained in a competitive market – prices, and suffered exorbitant wait times to maintain and repair their Teslas.
They also both suggest the reason for this cost is due to “Tesla’s monopolisation … and restraint of the markets for compatible parts (for Teslas) and maintenance and repair services for Tesla vehicles.”
In both instances, the proposed class action would be available to anybody who has paid for Tesla parts or repairs since March 2019.
Since January 2023, the electric car giant has racked up 50,000 new registrations in the US alone. BMW came second with 31,000.
The state of Massachusetts passed a right-to-repair law for cars in 2020, but it hasn’t come into effect yet as car makers are openly opposed to it. The state has announced it would start enforcing the law from June 1, if a federal judge doesn’t stop it.
Like many other EVs, Teslas are often only serviceable at company-owned service centres. Parts must also often come from Tesla manufacturers.
Of course, Tesla aren’t the first company to come awry with customers, with Harley-Davidson the subject of a class action in 2022.
In January this year, farm equipment company John Deere became one of the first vehicle makers to reach a right-to-repair agreement after a long stoush with the American Farm Bureau.
