# Two Drivers, One Car: Access Differences Between Accounts



## MiaK (Apr 25, 2019)

When my spouse logs into their Tesla account, there's a little box that says "Model 3," has the VIN, a little picture of the car, and a Manage button as well as a referral link. When I log into mine, I don't have any of that; just a pictures of an S, X, and Powerwall with a couple of buttons to order, buy used, or test drive. When they log into their mobile app, there's an option to schedule service. On my app, that isn't present.

It's incredibly annoying that I'm not able to manage the car, and that my account doesn't even acknowledge that I *have* a car. Has anyone else noticed this with their shared car?


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## Bokonon (Apr 13, 2017)

MiaK said:


> When my spouse logs into their Tesla account, there's a little box that says "Model 3," has the VIN, a little picture of the car, and a Manage button as well as a referral link. When I log into mine, I don't have any of that; just a pictures of an S, X, and Powerwall with a couple of buttons to order, buy used, or test drive. When they log into their mobile app, there's an option to schedule service. On my app, that isn't present.
> 
> It's incredibly annoying that I'm not able to manage the car, and that my account doesn't even acknowledge that I *have* a car. Has anyone else noticed this with their shared car?


Welcome to the forum!

There are a couple of options to get the car to appear in your Tesla app. The quickest and simplest is for you and your spouse to share the same Tesla login (the one that has the car associated with it already). This is what a lot of us here do, and it works fine.

If you'd prefer to keep separate Tesla accounts, a second option is for your spouse (whose account "owns" the car) to give Tesla written consent to associate the car to your account as well. This can be done by having your spouse email [email protected] (reference) or add you as a secondary contact on their account (per Tesla's App Support FAQ).

Hope this helps!


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## MiaK (Apr 25, 2019)

Thank you for the suggestion. I am already a secondary contact on my spouse's account, and an authorized driver on the car. That was all done shortly after we picked up the car in September. I apologize if that wasn't clear in the original post. The issue is not being able to drive the car-- the issue is that I am not able to do the same things with the car as my spouse can, namely schedule service or get support through the web.

Here's some screenshots to illustrate what I'm trying to say. Web account:














And the app:













The first image is theirs, the second mine. The option to manage or schedule service is just not there.

I know, if something happens I can always call them and have them do it, or wait for them to get home. But they have conferences that are often in another state or even out of the country-- if the car breaks while they're gone, am I supposed to just suck it up and wait for a week? I can understand the logic behind locking certain abilities out for certain drivers; when our kid starts driving on their own, I'd love to have the ability to set speed limits, passenger limits, and notifications if the car leaves a certain area. (I know that's not an option at the moment, but it would be wonderful if Tesla could implement it.) But I cannot see a logical reason why an adult owner/driver of the car can't have the same abilities as the "real" owner.

--m


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## Long Ranger (Jun 1, 2018)

MiaK said:


> Thank you for the suggestion. I am already a secondary contact on my spouse's account, and an authorized driver on the car. That was all done shortly after we picked up the car in September. I apologize if that wasn't clear in the original post. The issue is not being able to drive the car-- the issue is that I am not able to do the same things with the car as my spouse can, namely schedule service or get support through the web.
> 
> Here's some screenshots to illustrate what I'm trying to say. Web account:
> View attachment 26772
> ...


Right, I think @Bokonon understood your issue. Read his post again, you have two options to address this.

The first question is do you and your spouse really need separate Tesla accounts? My wife and I use the same account to access the car. I don't see any downside to that. In the app, just log out of your account and log back in under your spouse's account. You should immediately have everything you are asking for.

If you don't want to share an account/password with your spouse, then email Tesla as @Bokonon suggested in the second paragraph.

EDIT: Sorry, I didn't look closely enough at your example screenshots. I see that you have separate cars in separate accounts, so your scenario is a bit more complicated than I realized.

EDIT #2: Sorry, I'm not reading very well today. Looking again, it looks like you do only own one car, not two. Suggestion #1 should solve your issue, if that's the case. Looks like you've already done suggestion #2 but that didn't give you full access.


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## Bokonon (Apr 13, 2017)

MiaK said:


> Thank you for the suggestion. I am already a secondary contact on my spouse's account, and an authorized driver on the car. That was all done shortly after we picked up the car in September. I apologize if that wasn't clear in the original post. The issue is not being able to drive the car-- the issue is that I am not able to do the same things with the car as my spouse can, namely schedule service or get support through the web.


Ahhhhh, got it, I see what you mean now. This is the first time I've seen an app screenshot for a secondary contact, and I was unaware that it did not include the ability to schedule service.

I get why you'd want to reserve certain privileges for the "primary" account owner, but I'd also agree that some of these restrictions seems inconsistent... on one hand, the primary use-case for a secondary contact seems to be a spouse or other domestic partner, given that you can only add one and must "chat with" Tesla before they will let you add another. Yet only the primary account-holder can schedule service?

At any rate... I think using a shared Tesla account could definitely make things easier here. That said, if you still want to keep two separate Tesla accounts, but in practice you will either be the primary driver or the person who handles all service appointments, another option could be to transfer the car to your Tesla account (if your spouse is comfortable with this). I believe this would involve both you and your spouse providing some sort of written confirmation of this desire to Tesla... Contact [email protected] for details.


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## MiaK (Apr 25, 2019)

Bokonon said:


> Ahhhhh, got it, I see what you mean now. This is the first time I've seen an app screenshot for a secondary contact, and I was unaware that it did not include the ability to schedule service.
> . . .


Thanks for the suggestions; sorry it took me so long to get back to you. Been a busy last few days!

I see what you're saying about switching the car's primary between accounts, but that'd leave us in the same situation except reversed. It's not a problem when both of us are in town, but it'd be very inconvenient if the one with the schedule ability isn't and the other has to wait. I know there are other ways to contact the SC-- but the app and website make it a lot easier, especially since whoever's in town is likely to be looking after an extremely loud and interruptive small child.  I've also seen reports that contacting Roadside Assistance is going to be added to the app, which would be very nice but inconvenient if it winds up under Service.

I've gotten a lot of suggestions to just share the same account, but there are multiple reasons neither of us want to do that. I know a lot of people do; my parents just got an X and are doing that. It's just not for us, though.

I'm not actually looking for help fixing it-- I want to know if it's happening to anyone else, and how they feel about it. It bothers me because I'm used to being able to designate multiple users as admins on lots of different types of systems, and to be able to manage access for other users. I'd love it if Tesla had the ability to do that, or a parental control system for teenage drivers; the only answer I've been able to get out of them so far for why it is the way it is is that it's "designed around the idea of a single driver." Which seems to me, these days, to be rather short-sighted.

--m


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## Jason F (Jul 6, 2018)

MiaK said:


> Thanks for the suggestions; sorry it took me so long to get back to you. Been a busy last few days!
> 
> I see what you're saying about switching the car's primary between accounts, but that'd leave us in the same situation except reversed. It's not a problem when both of us are in town, but it'd be very inconvenient if the one with the schedule ability isn't and the other has to wait. I know there are other ways to contact the SC-- but the app and website make it a lot easier, especially since whoever's in town is likely to be looking after an extremely loud and interruptive small child.  I've also seen reports that contacting Roadside Assistance is going to be added to the app, which would be very nice but inconvenient if it winds up under Service.
> 
> ...


They were saying you both login with the same account and password and that would give you both the same capabilities.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

Jason F said:


> They were saying you both login with the same account and password and that would give you both the same capabilities.


Keep reading Miak's complete reply. Miak responds to that particular recommendation as well.


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## mc2002tii (Feb 3, 2019)

My wife and I (two cars, two accounts) just use a password manager and share passwords that way so we can log in as each other if the need arises. Scheduling service is the one place where the problem comes up and, fortunately, that is a rare occurrence.

I find it more frustrating that you can only unlock the Model 3 that is currently active in the app. We often run something out to the other person's trunk only to remember too late that we have to pull our phone out and switch cars before we can get into the car in question (and wake our primary car up from sleep in the process).


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## Kizzy (Jul 25, 2016)

I think this is definitely a point for a feature request if it is indeed how these accounts are set up.

It would be great if you could specify access levels on these secondary accounts so that no use case gets left out.


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## Bokonon (Apr 13, 2017)

MiaK said:


> I'm not actually looking for help fixing it-- I want to know if it's happening to anyone else, and how they feel about it. It bothers me because I'm used to being able to designate multiple users as admins on lots of different types of systems, and to be able to manage access for other users. I'd love it if Tesla had the ability to do that, or a parental control system for teenage drivers; the only answer I've been able to get out of them so far for why it is the way it is is that it's "designed around the idea of a single driver." Which seems to me, these days, to be rather short-sighted.


Well said. And I completely agree -- the Tesla app should allow everyone to have their own login, and allow the primary account-holder to assign different roles and privileges to each contact under the account, just like most other apps that deal with shared family property (e.g. Nest / Google Home).

Unfortunately, I suspect that there are a few hurdles in the way of this happening:

1.) As your Tesla contact mentioned, the access-control system was originally "designed around the idea of a single driver", likely in the name of expedience. This early design decision -- and the resulting decisions that followed -- created "technical debt" that became more and more expensive to correct over time.

2.) In the absence of serious pushback from Tesla owners (many of whom seem content with the workaround of sharing a Tesla login with their spouse) -- or any other reason to "pay off" this longstanding technical debt -- it's difficult to justify dedicating staff and resources to that cause if there are more pressing, time-critical initiatives to address. Which brings me to...

3.) The Tesla Network is scheduled to start rolling out sometime over the next year. Based on Elon's prior remarks about certain preferences (e.g. music) following you around from one car to another on the Tesla Network, it's very possible that there are already plans to further decouple your Tesla Account from the vehicle(s) that it has access to at any given time (and what privileges it has with each). In other words, the changes you are asking for may already be on a product roadmap somewhere, but implementing them may require other parts of that roadmap to be completed first.

Of course, none of the above makes your viewpoint any less valid.  I think you've explained your concerns very clearly and succinctly in this thread, it's too bad Tesla doesn't have a UserVoice page to publicly validate suggestions like these and quantify their degree of priority. The next best option I can think of (if you haven't already done so) would be to email [email protected] with what you've written in your posts above, just to make sure your voice has been heard. (Bonus if everyone else who clicked "Agree" on your posts sends a similar email at about the same time. )


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## MiaK (Apr 25, 2019)

I've already contacted Customer Support about it; that was one of the first things I did when I noticed it several months ago. The agent said they'd forward it to Feature Request; without having been able to find any way to contact them directly, I guess that's the best I can get. I've been told there's a way to do it through the Tesla website account, but I don't have that option on mine either.

I have asked this same question in a few other places and found three other folks who noticed something similar and ended up getting it fixed, so I'm going to try emailing them again. It's entirely possible that the agent I got simply didn't know or care to fix it-- among the emailing that various family members of mine have done, it's been a bit of a gamble as to whether the agent is actually helpful or just gives a vaguely worded or standardized reply. I had much better experiences with Honda and my old CRX. I didn't have the pics last time I emailed; maybe if I try again and include them I'll have better luck.

Thanks for your responses,
--m


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## Bokonon (Apr 13, 2017)

MiaK said:


> I have asked this same question in a few other places and found three other folks who noticed something similar and ended up getting it fixed, so I'm going to try emailing them again.


Sounds good. If you do end up getting your account setup with full access (while your spouse retains theirs), can you please post an update here?

Good luck!


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## GDN (Oct 30, 2017)

While I can understand the frustration of not having maybe a little more flexibility with the way accounts are set up, shared and defined; keep in mind we are talking the security of your car here, depending on model a $35K to $60K or even up to $140K automobile you want to keep this secure and safe. There is documentation on the web about the details of Tesla security, the VPN's the cars use to connect to the mothership, the updating of security keys, etc. They have this locked down likely tighter than any other object you can access from your smartphone/web. I appreciate and respect that Tesla keeps everything this well locked down and a very closed loop.

I venture to guess and assume that about 99.9 % of the accounts or other data you share with a spouse or family member, you simply hand them the same credentials to the account you have in question, but you hesitate to do this with you car. You want Tesla to do something no one else is doing. I'm not aware of many, if any, other systems where you can define another user with limited or partial access and create their own sub account and still gain access to drive or control the asset. I'd love to hear them and see just how secure those other systems are. You aren't just talking about someone being an authorized user on you ATT account who might be able to create a new $60 phone line, you're talking about your auto out in the driveway.

Just my thoughts, I know it will evolve and I know people likely want access that I don't have or need (I share two cars on one single account - yes it's OK that we can see and know what the other one is doing as we have nothing to hide). I do hope that it will get there, but there still no way as Tesla I would let a car be fully managed from more than one account. Too many possible issues and accountability problems.


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## MiaK (Apr 25, 2019)

Bokonon said:


> Sounds good. If you do end up getting your account setup with full access (while your spouse retains theirs), can you please post an update here?
> 
> Good luck!


Of course! It might take a while, but I'm happy to share the adventure.


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## JWardell (May 9, 2016)

GDN said:


> While I can understand the frustration of not having maybe a little more flexibility with the way accounts are set up, shared and defined; keep in mind we are talking the security of your car here, depending on model a $35K to $60K or even up to $140K automobile you want to keep this secure and safe. There is documentation on the web about the details of Tesla security, the VPN's the cars use to connect to the mothership, the updating of security keys, etc. They have this locked down likely tighter than any other object you can access from your smartphone/web. I appreciate and respect that Tesla keeps everything this well locked down and a very closed loop.
> 
> I venture to guess and assume that about 99.9 % of the accounts or other data you share with a spouse or family member, you simply hand them the same credentials to the account you have in question, but you hesitate to do this with you car. You want Tesla to do something no one else is doing. I'm not aware of many, if any, other systems where you can define another user with limited or partial access and create their own sub account and still gain access to drive or control the asset. I'd love to hear them and see just how secure those other systems are. You aren't just talking about someone being an authorized user on you ATT account who might be able to create a new $60 phone line, you're talking about your auto out in the driveway.
> 
> Just my thoughts, I know it will evolve and I know people likely want access that I don't have or need (I share two cars on one single account - yes it's OK that we can see and know what the other one is doing as we have nothing to hide). I do hope that it will get there, but there still no way as Tesla I would let a car be fully managed from more than one account. Too many possible issues and accountability problems.


You're comparing a card to an ATM card or a checkbook, but that's not how cars have worked.
In the past you had a key or a fob. If you wanted to loan it to a friend for the week you hand them the key. They hand you the key back at the end. You physically transfer and control the security credentials.
The app does not have the ability to do this simple task.

At the moment my wife and I share the same credentials but there are plenty of potential downsized. I definitely agree the app should allow other accounts assigned and access control.
Of course the car still doesn't recognize the user and switch driver profiles either. Hopefully Tesla will work on all of this in the near future.


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