A United States judge reportedly dismissed another lawsuit against Tesla after customers alleged the automaker was playing its own version of monopoly.
As reported by Reuters, the failed suit claimed Tesla violated antitrust laws by making owners of its electric vehicles pay high prices for replacement parts and wait long times for repairs at designated service centers. Almost 10% of the automaker's revenue comes from service costs.
Customers also claimed that they were misled about the maintenance needs of the EVs.
"But nowhere do plaintiffs allege that consumers are in fact unaware of the supposedly supracompetitive prices and exorbitant wait times," U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson wrote in the ruling on Nov. 17.
The San Francisco-based judge added that customers could amend their complaint — a combination of five lawsuits that Repairer Driven News noted didn't "properly allege the first three requirements" under California's Unfair Competition Law (UCL).
The popularity of EVs has only continued to trend upward. Various incentives at the federal and state levels are making EVs more affordable as the U.S. looks to reduce the levels of asthma-causing carbon pollution also linked to the overheating of our planet.
While EVs manufactured by other automakers are beginning to make their mark, Tesla's models are the most coveted. The recently dismissed suit isn't the first time the automaker has been accused of misleading its customers or spiking prices unfairly, however.
A jury ruled in Tesla's favor in October after a civil lawsuit alleged the company kept selling cars with an autopilot feature it knew was defective, leading to a deadly 2019 crash, but the automaker has settled multiple lawsuits accusing it of violating customers' rights.
A number of Redditors seemed to be sympathetic to customers who filed the dismissed suit.
"Literally ask anyone after trying to do collision repairs how hard it is to get Tesla to send parts if they even agree to it in the first place," one person wrote.
"We literally cannot work on Teslas because they won't provide tear down/reassembly procedures … Leading to 6 month lead times before they [Tesla owners] can even get an estimate for damages," another said.
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