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advice on extended warranty

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Dan Baldwin

Member
Jul 2, 2018
242
196
Boulder Co
#1
My MS will be 6 years old in June and my Tesla extended warranty will expire. The vehicle has 42,300 miles on it. I love this car and can not afford to replace it with another MS. I can get another 2 year, 67,000m comprehensive warranty (Xcelerate) for $3500 or 3 year, 78000m for $3800.
Any advice on yes or no for this? I realize that this is basically an insurance policy, but I dont really know what costs I could face in the next 2 or 3 years. My last extended warranty definitely paid for itself.
Thanks.
 
#3
Dan Baldwin said:
My MS will be 6 years old in June and my Tesla extended warranty will expire. The vehicle has 42,300 miles on it. I love this car and can not afford to replace it with another MS. I can get another 2 year, 67,000m comprehensive warranty (Xcelerate) for $3500 or 3 year, 78000m for $3800.
Any advice on yes or no for this? I realize that this is basically an insurance policy, but I dont really know what costs I could face in the next 2 or 3 years. My last extended warranty definitely paid for itself.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
This is just anecdotal and I'm not saying it will apply to you or anyone else. My car ran out of warranty 10 months ago and the battery coolant valves needed replacing a month ago. I have only 72k miles on the car.

It's a 2016 75D and this is the second time the valves have been replaced. First time was covered under warranty.

These are small, hard rubber/plastic 3 way valves. It cost me $1800 CAD.

More than 50% of that was labor. If I could get an extended warranty I would. Too bad Xcelerate isn't available in Canada.
 
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#5
Extended warranties are a scam to part a fool from his money.

With that said you have a low mileage car which means everything will break. Don't ask me why it's just the facts. My car had no real problems till the LDU failed at 172k miles. And I paid like $5k out of pocket for the U variant and again my car is rock solid and things just work. Hell in 2023 I drove it from coast to coast USA 5 times, and 2 of those times were towing my RV trailer.

It's always the low mileage cars that have heater failure, coolant issues, drive unit failure battery failure, etc. the more you drive the less it will break based on reports everyone gives of failures and millage.
 
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#6
airborne spoon said:
Extended warranties are a scam to part a fool from his money.

With that said you have a low mileage car which means everything will break. Don't ask me why it's just the facts. My car had no real problems till the LDU failed at 172k miles. And I paid like $5k out of pocket for the U variant and again my car is rock solid and things just work. Hell in 2023 I drove it from coast to coast USA 5 times, and 2 of those times were towing my RV trailer.

It's always the low mileage cars that have heater failure, coolant issues, drive unit failure battery failure, etc. the more you drive the less it will break based on reports everyone gives of failures and millage.
Click to expand...
Can you add your complete opinion on why Extended warranties are a scam?
 
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#8
gcashiel said:
Can you add your complete opinion on why Extended warranties are a scam?
Click to expand...
It's a general statement that the house always win in a Casino and the gamblers mistakenly think the opposite.

Same with car insurance: Most cars don't get into accidents when you drive to work today but the press makes you think it happens more happen.

Same with lottery: most don't win but the press shows that someone just won and made people think that they too can become a lottery winner...

Same with health insurance: most will not get cancer but it's in the news that makes people think that they might as well.

There's no need to cheat as in a real "scam." The statistics will do the work for the house.
 
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#10
Tam said:
It's a general statement that the house always win in a Casino and the gamblers mistakenly think the opposite.

Same with car insurance: Most cars don't get into accidents when you drive to work today but the press makes you think it happens more happen.

Same with lottery: most don't win but the press shows that someone just won and made people think that they too can become a lottery winner...

Same with health insurance: most will not get cancer but it's in the news that makes people think that they might as well.

There's no need to cheat as in a real "scam." The statistics will do the work for the house.
Click to expand...
All true statements. But also true that we'd be foolish (and in some places driving illegally) not to have car insurance and complete morons to not carry health insurance. Sure the house wins, which explains why we have companies competing for our business. But doesn't mean coverage doesn't provide legitimate peace of mind.
 
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#12
vapor trail said:
But doesn't mean coverage doesn't provide legitimate peace of mind.
Click to expand...

(my bolding). This is somewhere between an oxymoron and not subject to debate. After all, it makes no sense to argue with me if I say that it gives me 'peace of mind' to burn a $100 bill every morning along with my cup of tea.

This question of whether to buy insurance has been discussed more times than I can count, and the same lame arguments get thrown out every time. And by lame, I mean the anecdotes. After all, the entire premise of insurance is non-anecdotal, and instead relies on group results. Math nerds will recognize that these warranty offers are a simple proposition: pay more over time for less volatility. Pay how much more ? That is a YMMV, but it will always include business overhead and profit. And business overhead will always be higher than the non-insured group because of self-selection and the aberrant behavior that owning the warranty encourages.

It pretty much works out that people who are able to weather the repair cost volatility of self-insurance are well advised to skip warranty plans. Those who are not probably bought the wrong car, but that is a discussion for another thread and water under the bridge. They really have little say in the matter, and come here looking for validation that they find in anecdotes.
 
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#13
Your annual mileage is 7000 based on history. The extended care is another 3 year which equal to 21000 additional miles. Makes the car 63K in mileage at the end of the extended warranty. I would say 63K is still in the safe zone side. Not really worth it unless you are really unlucky to have to shell out more than $3800 in repair out of that 21K additional mileage.

The only big item I would watch is the battery. $15-20K ticket item. When is the battery warranty expiring?
 
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#16
zoomer0056 said:
Have you needed to use the warranty?
Click to expand...
Yes I have, twice. The first repair bill was a little bit over $4k iirc and I am using it now for the second time for a bill of almost $7k. I paid about $4000 for the extended warranty, so in my view the purchase was well worth it.

it may not be worth it for everyone but for me it was. I plan on keeping the car until warranty expires. Too many risks on keeping it UNLESS the battery goes out and I get a completely new one then ill keep the car for like 10 years lol
 
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#18
zoomer0056 said:
What were these repairs?
Click to expand...
x2 Front Wheel hubs - $521.88 parts and $395.60 Labor
half Shafts per SB-21-39-001 - $350 parts and labot
Upper and Lower Links incl alignment $994.28 and $597.50

Total $3014.20 - my portion was $100 Warranty Paid rest

2nd claim was for infotainment and steering rack replacement
Diagnosing Labor $215
Infotainment upgrade $1750
Steering rack R&R - $3323.42 Parts and $1268.50 labor

Again my portion will be $100 deductible and rest paid by warranty.

With tax included im looking at about $9,992.21 of both visits and so far my portion has been $200 due to my deductible.
 
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#19
And if everyone used the warranty, the company would be out of business. But they take in enough to pay for all the repairs, pay for salaries, and turn a profit.

Not a statement of good or bad. Just reality.

Some choose to self insure and win, some lose.

I never get warranties, but I did go for the Xellerate battery warranty this time around. Hoping can recover a good bit of the cost if/when I sell.
 
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