CPO warranty. Want opinion holdback mileage consumption or just drive.

[RokuMaster]

I have a 2015 CPO model S which I drove off lot with 12k miles. I am starting month number 10 at 22k so at the current rate of consumption I will deplete the CPO 50K warranty before the 4 year mark. I have thought of the following scenarios.

1) Just drive and enjoy the car without care for mileage until 50k. Trade in car when 50k warranty depletes which will be around 3 years at the current usage rate.

2) Just drive and enjoy the car without care for mileage and consume the risk of driving car outside of warranty for some tolerable time. Relatively the car will have low miles but will be out of warranty after 62k.

3) Throttle back consumption (We have a secondary ICE SUV in the household) to sync with the 4 year warranty. Trade or keep car after 4 year mark. Obviously this is compromise we enjoy driving the Tesla much more and the SUV consumes 15-20mpg.

As additional background I already had the car serviced for 3 door handles not presenting, and a frunk adjustment when it wouldnt unlatch. I have not done any service maintenance yet. The verdict is still out there to purchase maintenance plan or not.

I would appreciate you opinions. Thanks!

 

[Tam]

...2015 CPO model S...

Enjoy the drive. Don't be held up. Follow Tesloop that drives 420,000 miles just in 3 years!

 

[viper2ko]

I was at 25k miles after 1 year of ownership in my new 2017 S. Large chunk of those miles due to the daily 85 mile commute for work. I realized I didn't wanna run the warranty out after just 2 years of ownership because of driving to work. I now alternate my older car for work and drive the Tesla primarily for all other occasions.

 

[RokuMaster]

I was at 25k miles after 1 year of ownership in my new 2017 S. Large chunk of those miles due to the daily 85 mile commute for work. I realized I didn't wanna run the warranty out after just 2 years of ownership because of driving to work. I now alternate my older car for work and drive the Tesla primarily for all other occasions.

Thanks viper2ko for the reply. The warranty indirectly has value to retain versus consume too fast. Trading car in after early warranty expiration would result in a in a higher debt to income ratio (I dont want to get into specifics here ) even though monthly payment is within same ballpark. I dont think the car will be upside down by that time but eventually I will have to decide what to do at the 4 year mark if I manage to stay within warranty mileage allowance which is another topic discussed in detail in other threads.

 

[CyberShy]

Drive it!

 

[BridgeMojo]

"Luxury should be lived in." -- Infiniti

 

[dgpcolorado]

I averaged 20k miles a year so my car went out of warranty in two and a half years. It would have been too expensive to trade in and get a newer car -- and I decided I liked the S much better than the 3, so no switching to a 3. While I had a number of significant warranty repairs, my car seems pretty solid, so I decided to keep it. I figure that any repairs will be a lot cheaper than a new or newer used car. I do still have the battery and drive unit warranty until about 2022, so that helps.

That was my reasoning, so I suggest just driving the car and paying for repairs as needed.

 

[henderrj]

I agree with @dgpcolorado. We've got 140k miles on ours now. There have been a few costs but paying for the 50K/4 year bumper to bumper just before the warranty ran out caught a few items and, I think, saved us some bucks. We've got to December 2022 on the drive unit/battery warranty so that worry isn't there.

 

[pinball_player]

Just drive the car. I would never drive another car if I had access to my Model S.

 

[Wild One]

I felt the same way too, but I just decided to enjoy the car as much as I can while I'm still breathing. Don't want to worry about anything other than getting free supercharging, drive to the store, the movie theater, a nice restaurant, the beach, the mountains, SoCal, Disneyland, Universal Studios, Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, Reno, Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, Cache Creek Casino, Thunder Valley Casino, Sacramento, Vacaville Outlet Stores, Oregon, Washington State, Vancouver BC, the many museums, Highway 5, oh and did I forget to mention the free supercharging.

 

[Johann Koeber]

You only live once.

I feel sorry for those who don't.

 

[aerodyne]

I have a 2015 CPO model S which I drove off lot with 12k miles. I am starting month number 10 at 22k so at the current rate of consumption I will deplete the CPO 50K warranty before the 4 year mark.

Similar problem here, like you 2015 MS CPO, 27k. I have not decided best path, but for now only drive it in good weather, and on good roads, use the old ICE to haul stuff. It stays garaged and covered almost always, plugged in at 53%. I am thinking keeping it pristine and with highest possible range (now 269+) will be more important that warranty come resale, which I will do PP.

 

[Dublin 'Eer]

Just drive it and put as many miles as possible on it before the 8 yearly battery warranty expires. That is where the huge repair expenses are. I bought a new S in September 16 and am around 58K miles. I hope to have 200K+ on it by the time my 8 year warranty is done.

 

[maximizese]

Just drive it and put as many miles as possible on it before the 8 yearly battery warranty expires. That is where the huge repair expenses are. I bought a new S in September 16 and am around 58K miles. I hope to have 200K+ on it by the time my 8 year warranty is done.

I'm following a similar philosophy. I bought a used 13 TMS85 last month for my wife's commuter car and touring car for road trips. It came with 60K miles and has 2 years and 8 months left on the battery warranty. We project to drive about 25K miles a year on it and will see if the battery holds up or degrades to point it will need to replacement. Her previous commuter was an 83-mile ranged Fiat 500e, so the Tesla would still be useful to her as long as the car can hold 100 miles of range (at least this car can Supercharge). Hopefully be the time the battery will need replacement, a more advanced and affordable alternative would be available. I have no problem shelling out $10K for a larger battery as long as I can get 8yrs/150K miles of use out of it...we would have spent $15K on gasoline (assuming 30mpg and $3/gal. over that duration.

Simply put, we are paying for the utility of the car and it wouldn't make sense to not use the car as we need it.

 

[Dublin 'Eer]

I'm following a similar philosophy. I bought a used 13 TMS85 last month for my wife's commuter car and touring car for road trips. It came with 60K miles and has 2 years and 8 months left on the battery warranty. We project to drive about 25K miles a year on it and will see if the battery holds up or degrades to point it will need to replacement. Her previous commuter was an 83-mile ranged Fiat 500e, so the Tesla would still be useful to her as long as the car can hold 100 miles of range (at least this car can Supercharge). Hopefully be the time the battery will need replacement, a more advanced and affordable alternative would be available. I have no problem shelling out $10K for a larger battery as long as I can get 8yrs/150K miles of use out of it...we would have spent $15K on gasoline (assuming 30mpg and $3/gal. over that duration.

Simply put, we are paying for the utility of the car and it wouldn't make sense to not use the car as we need it.

Completely agree!

 

[ucmndd]

Drive the car. Repair it when you need to. Enjoy.

 

[Jashev]

Drive the car man! What's the sense of owning one of these amazing cars if you aren't going to drive it!

 

[ramting]

I am also purchasing a CPO tesla soon and had the same thought process. I am hoping all the major repairs will happen in warranty... hoping

 

[RokuMaster]

Thanks for the replies.

Great point regarding the 8 year battery warranty. I did not consider that perspective.

Since I bought low mileage and a somewhat more newer year model with my CPO I should utilize it more. The only concern should be in that delta of time between when 50k miles get consumed and the 4 year mark if I manage to stay within the mileage allowance. The cost of potential repairs in that time versus the cost of gas (I have access to free charging at work and SC) squeeze the expense gap more. There is also some indirect value to consuming the car more early in the ownership versus later because I do notice a difference in driving a Tesla 10 months ago versus now which you can guess what I am talking about. Tesla S's are very common now.

 

[PhilDavid]

You can always flatbed your car when you travel

No, seriously, just drive it. Perhaps set aside $4,500K for unexpected repairs as that's about what a warranty extension would cost anyway.

Hopefully before long we will have independent Tesla repair shops...