Buying high mileage used 2021 Tesla M3 Dual Motor LR?

[FH93]

I'm looking at a Tesla Model 3 2021 Dual Motor LR. It's got 110k miles on it so it's essentially out of warranty, or will be within a year of use. I know that batteries can need to be replaced but I wanted to ask about this.

When it comes to the batteries, what are the common reasons they get replaced? Is it just due to degradation of battery life? Or is it anything else? I ask because I won't even use 50% of the full range (as new) even if I do my longest journey I'll ever really do, which is only once a year by itself, and 99% of my driving is within 30 miles of home. I do a 60 mile round trip to work every day but I can charge at the work charger.

I wanted to know if I should really be worried about the battery just up and dying on me out of the blue or if it's really not much of a likely thing to happen, because the reason I'm looking at this is that it's 20% cheaper than other ones purely because it's over 100k, and while I can afford the more expensive ones that are closer to 70-80k miles, if I can save this extra money it would go a long way towards other uses.

Thanks in advance.

 

[FH93]

Forgot to say but I cannot edit due to it being a new account, but I have never owned an EV before, let alone a Tesla so that's why I am asking these questions. I am wishing to purchase one for the first time and want to make sure I don't get caught out by anything. The reason I was initially not worried about the high mileage is because everywhere I looked regarding mileage on an EV is that all it does is degrade the battery but realistically nothing much gets worn out and the standard stuff may need to be replaced like brake pads, tyres, air filter, etc, but regarding the battery all you get barring an actual fault is loss of range.

 

[scjmc]

Mine is not high mileage but I have done a lot of reading on this. In general the battery loses capacity over time and use. A lot of it happens right away and then the curve almost flattens out and degradation slows. If you are fine with the car having say 80% of its rated range then I probably wouldn’t care about it. As with any car an unexpected catastrophic failure of any system or component is a possibility.

 

[FH93]

Mine is not high mileage but I have done a lot of reading on this. In general the battery loses capacity over time and use. A lot of it happens right away and then the curve almost flattens out and degradation slows. If you are fine with the car having say 80% of its rated range then I probably wouldn’t care about it. As with any car an unexpected catastrophic failure of any system or component is a possibility.

Yeah, that's what I read up as well. The fact that that one guy has 430k miles on the original battery with over 65% capacity I believe is good evidence of the longevity potential at least. The reason I don't mind too much is the furthest I'd ever travel is 145 miles away, and if this car was at 50% range it'd do 175 miles so I'm not too fussed about that.

The only worry is if the battery dies completely and is out of warranty but I don't know how likely that is to happen which is why I'm not sure if I should go for a different one with less mileage but costs more so it's still got plenty of warranty left just in case.

The 110k mileage Tesla is being sold at £15k but the other one I looked at was £19,200 with 78k on the clock, and there's varying others between those numbers but the next cheapest is £17,700 with 92k miles.

I can afford the more expensive one but if the only downside to the higher mileage one was a lower range then I'd just go straight for it because it wouldn't be an issue for my use.

Guess it's always a high risk:high reward issue at the end of the day.

 

[cmaster]

Yeah, that's what I read up as well. The fact that that one guy has 430k miles on the original battery with over 65% capacity I believe is good evidence of the longevity potential at least. The reason I don't mind too much is the furthest I'd ever travel is 145 miles away, and if this car was at 50% range it'd do 175 miles so I'm not too fussed about that.

The only worry is if the battery dies completely and is out of warranty but I don't know how likely that is to happen which is why I'm not sure if I should go for a different one with less mileage but costs more so it's still got plenty of warranty left just in case.

The 110k mileage Tesla is being sold at £15k but the other one I looked at was £19,200 with 78k on the clock, and there's varying others between those numbers but the next cheapest is £17,700 with 92k miles.

I can afford the more expensive one but if the only downside to the higher mileage one was a lower range then I'd just go straight for it because it wouldn't be an issue for my use.

Guess it's always a high risk:high reward issue at the end of the day.

The risk is very high that a high mileage out of warranty that you may need to replace the battery alot sooner than later.

If it was my choice, I wouldn't buy it. After hearing lots of folks suffering 6-12 months down the road immediately after the purchasing of a high mileage Tesla, I will definitely not buy it.

Even this dude in the video needs to replace his battery after 150k miles. So, be careful. The risk is definitely there. It will probably make you have a sour experience to EVs in general if this happens to you.

 

[KenC]

The dude was using a SR+ as an Uber, and he mentions driving 120k in a year. That has to put a huge number of cycles on a SR+ pack. Just scanning the transcript, it sounds like the pack range dropped suddenly, implying a possible cell imbalance issue, and then he had to replace the pack for about $9k.

If you amortized the cost over the amount of miles driven, I'd guesstimate the pack replacement cost at less than 10c/mile driven. Add that to the other costs, and I'd think it might still be less than a gas vehicle's Total Cost of Ownership.

 

[cmaster]

Regardless, high risk. Otherwise, it's the OP's money. If he wants to, go for it. It's out of warranty and he may not experience that dreadful battery event. But, the risk is definitely there.

I'd say go for it knowing that he could be left for dead at any point in time. It could happen a few weeks after he buys the car or in a few months. But hey, if I'm a Tesla simp, I'd be telling him "Nothing is wrong with it, don't be scared."....But, if it does happen, only hindsight will comeback to haunt ya.

I know what's it's like when the Tesla get a message "unable to drive", "system shutting down"....struggling to get a tow truck to come tow ya out in the middle of nowhere....I don't recommend someone wanting to get into EV have to experience that problem immediately after a car purchase, not fun

 

[FH93]

The risk is very high that a high mileage out of warranty that you may need to replace the battery alot sooner than later.

If it was my choice, I wouldn't buy it. After hearing lots of folks suffering 6-12 months down the road immediately after the purchasing of a high mileage Tesla, I will definitely not buy it.

Even this dude in the video needs to replace his battery after 150k miles. So, be careful. The risk is definitely there. It will probably make you have a sour experience to EVs in general if this happens to you.

I mean that guy did 120k miles in a single year, which is a bit excessive but I will look more into it and look for more stories of people buying high mileage Tesla's because I want to know as much as I can.

 

[FH93]

Regardless, high risk. Otherwise, it's the OP's money. If he wants to, go for it. It's out of warranty and he may not experience that dreadful battery event. But, the risk is definitely there.

I'd say go for it knowing that he could be left for dead at any point in time. It could happen a few weeks after he buys the car or in a few months. But hey, if I'm a Tesla simp, I'd be telling him "Nothing is wrong with it, don't be scared."....But, if it does happen, only hindsight will comeback to haunt ya.

I know what's it's like when the Tesla get a message "unable to drive", "system shutting down"....struggling to get a tow truck to come tow ya out in the middle of nowhere....I don't recommend someone wanting to get into EV have to experience that problem immediately after a car purchase, not fun

I get where you're coming from and I will take it under advisement. This purchase was purely because of the cost being a lot better than the other ones but if it's too much of a risk then it won't be cheaper in the long run in any case.

 

[Gasaraki]

Battery failures usually happen fast, like within the first year. If it makes it past the first year, and it wasn't abused, it should last 300,000 miles. Obviously you get outliers so don't judge all batteries from one video.

 

[FH93]

Battery failures usually happen fast, like within the first year. If it makes it past the first year, and it wasn't abused, it should last 300,000 miles. Obviously you get outliers so don't judge all batteries from one video.

That was my other viewpoint. I figured if it hasn't died after 110k miles, I doubt it'll just die so suddenly after I buy it, but it's all a gamble at the end of the day.

 

[Gasaraki]

That was my other viewpoint. I figured if it hasn't died after 110k miles, I doubt it'll just die so suddenly after I buy it, but it's all a gamble at the end of the day.

As with every used car you buy. I don't know about the UK but in the US there are some companies that sell aftermarket warranties.

 

[FH93]

As with every used car you buy. I don't know about the UK but in the US there are some companies that sell aftermarket warranties.

I've seen one which was about £1100 a year or £100 a month for an aftermarket warranty for the car. Not sure if that's a normal price but I'll have a look at others if I can find them

*I found another that was £330 a year for a silver cover but it doesn't cover batteries even with the maximum platinum cover. I assume that the first one I checked doesn't cover it either as I didn't directly see it.