Extended Warranty decision help

[efusco]

All insurance and extended warranties are a gamble. I get that. We almost never purchase extended warranties or trip insurance. Once in a while we get burned and have to pay for an expensive repair/replacement, but in the end we feel we are ultimately saving money vs if we'd chosen to buy every extended warranty or insurance option that came our way.

I did not buy the extended warranty on my Model S, but thanks to goodwill and maybe a bit of luck, have had few repairs that I had to pay out of pocket as I now sit at 5 1/2 years of ownership and ~97,000 miles. My touch screen now has bubbles, so I may have to pay to get that fixed to sell the car (getting a Model 3), but ultimately I've probably spent less on repairs than the extended warranty would have cost even 5 1/2 years ago.

Our 2016 Model X is about to hit 50k miles. We just had a 'breakdown' of sorts (the ABS, emergency braking, cruise control, issue) that should be covered under warranty, but I'm concerned about potential costly repairs going forward (esp. the FWDs and now worried about the touch screen). However, at $4800-$5300 for the 4 yr 50k mile warranty (which will probably only get us 2 - 2.5 years before we hit 100k miles) I'm having a hard time imagining enough things breaking that would get us to that $4800 cost mark.

So (sorry for the long winded background, but trying to avoid less than helpful answers), does anyone have any actual experience with post-warranty repairs and costs that are relatively common and costly that might sway my decision toward going ahead and purchasing the warranty extension? Specific repairs and costs would be most helpful.

 

[Tam]

...All insurance and extended warranties are a gamble. I get that...

You already answered your question!

You did pretty well doing self-insured with your Model S by not buying Tesla extended warranty and you paid repairs out of your pocket as needed.

My philosophy for buying Tesla's Extended Warranty:

1) Predictable expenses
2) Crowd-funding: If I won't have any repair, I know that my unused premium could be used for others who need it in the pool and to make sure the pool is strong. It's just like paying raffle for charity: It's great that if I access the funding (winning), if not, it's for others who can use my money and I am totally fine with that!

Nevertheless, for my former 2012 Model S, I could have skipped buying and I could afford the expenses out-of-pocket but I still bought it as reasoned by the above.

Its troubles were minimal:

1) On the third year, 75,000 miles, bubbled screen was replaced for no additional cost (I did not pay $200 deductible because I brought it in the same time as scheduled maintenance.)

I could have paid $4,000 at that time out-of-pocket if I didn't have the extended warranty.

2) On the fifth year, 87,500 miles, the heater was replaced for no additional cost (I did not pay $200 deductible because I brought it in the same time as scheduled maintenance.)

I could have paid $4,500 at that time out-of-pocket if I didn't have the extended warranty.

Since I could paid $8,500 out-of-pocket myself for the ownership duration rather than paying extended warranty, I could skip the extended warranty for my current X too. But I stick to my philosophy and paid for the extended warranty for my current X.

As a matter of fact, it actually makes me feel good that I have the privilege to pay for that!

 

[Gwgan]

I have benefited from a lot of goodwill service on my 2016 FP90DX but with 58k miles I already paid the $200 deductible once (for parking brake calipers). I bought the extended warranty because I know at the very least the front half shafts will need to be replaced at least once more and there will probably be a few more 12V batteries (I’m on the 4th). If it were not looking at an early build X I would very likely not get the extended warrant.