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Ah, but you can't. Great customer service on their part, eh? Tesla refuses to provide maintenance manuals, except in the one state, and the few countries where law requires. They carefully dance around Magnuson-Moss in the US. They do not want you doing your own maintenance. No manuals and very carefully controlled/limited parts allow them to claim that you didn't have the right information, tools, and parts.
Wankers.
With the exception of the battery coolant, there are no required inspection or maintenance items that require repair information. That said, it still seems impossible that Tesla isn't required to provide service procedure documentation for items that are required.
Brakes (rotors, pads)? Do you need a computer tool to roll back the e-brake pistons? Brake fluid flush? Control arms, struts, bushings? Body work? There are a lot of maintenance and inspection items. That's the problem.
Allegedly, the battery coolant is just DexCool? It's on the shelf at WalMart....
stopcrazypp
Well-Known Member
This is incorrect. The language did change in the warranty after Elon made that statement. Notably, the "lack of" maintenance was removed as a reason to void the warranty, as did this part "Performing all vehicle maintenance and service requirements, including those indicated by the vehicle’s systems; and".
Do you need a positive test drive before taking delivery of your Model 3 pre-order?
I detailed the changes in warranty language here:
Extended Service Agreements No Longer Transferable?
What didn't change is that the ESA still requires it.
There's nothing special about the brakes on the Tesla. Wheelworks here in the Bay Area does brake jobs on Tesla's all the time and they don't have any special Tesla specific tools.
Same with the suspension.
The battery coolant may be DexCool, but that's the one thing I wouldn't want to chance because it might require computerized control to purge air from the system. Then it again it may not, but I won't chance that. My MS is going straight to Tesla prior to 50K to have the battery coolant changed. I'm not messing with that as that is the 8 year unlimited mileage battery warranty you'd be rolling the dice on.
Just to clarify, the language did change in the ESA after his statement but it took them a good long while to finally update the ESA agreement to the current "during" wording.
JPP
Active Member
In reality, how many Tesla Model S have had/needed brake jobs? I would venture a guess that with regen, the number should be very small. where did you source your data? Just curious....
Less maintenance was a selling point for Tesla. Far less moving parts make service simpler for sure. Tesla also said that the regular service is not required for the original warranty which is pretty awesome and a statement that they have faith in their product. Especially unlimited miles and 8 years on battery and drive train!
The extended warranty is a totally different thing. It's not a good value. There is a deductible for each repair and the cost for it is pretty high. Having to do service for $600 every 12k miles adds even more cost. In my case I drove 100k miles in less than 3 years. That means I would have to do 8 service visits for $600 each which is another $4800. Doing the numbers it becomes obvious quickly that the extended warranty is a pretty bad deal unless something really bad goes wrong with your car which is unlikely.
The extended warranty is a totally different thing. It's not a good value. There is a deductible for each repair and the cost for it is pretty high. Having to do service for $600 every 12k miles adds even more cost. In my case I drove 100k miles in less than 3 years. That means I would have to do 8 service visits for $600 each which is another $4800. Doing the numbers it becomes obvious quickly that the extended warranty is a pretty bad deal unless something really bad goes wrong with your car which is unlikely.
Good point. An extended warranty is really insurance against something really bad being discovered (manufacturing flaw or whatever) that was not identified during the original warranty period. For most cars, the technology is so static and manufacturing so consistent that an extended warranty generally makes about as much sense as getting the Best Buy extended warranty on the purchase of a new television -- the item is likely to fail during the manufacturer's initial warranty period or just keep going and going....making these extended warranties a cash cow for the seller.
In the case of Tesla, given the fact the car's design, technology and manufacturing processes are so now, I can see why many people choose to buy the extended warranty as a hedge against the possibility some defect or problem or failure happens just after the warranty expires. The already-provided extended warranty for the battery certainly does hedge against what is the most revolutionary technology in the car, but I can see people worried about a screen failure (for example) costing a lot of money and viewing the warranty as cheap insurance against it.
In the case of Tesla, given the fact the car's design, technology and manufacturing processes are so now, I can see why many people choose to buy the extended warranty as a hedge against the possibility some defect or problem or failure happens just after the warranty expires. The already-provided extended warranty for the battery certainly does hedge against what is the most revolutionary technology in the car, but I can see people worried about a screen failure (for example) costing a lot of money and viewing the warranty as cheap insurance against it.
One of the biggest reasons I'm buying one is because it is a much less complex machine than an ICE.
Other than tires, I don't think I've spent that much in the last 10 years of car ownership. I just paid $34 USD for oil change and tire rotation. I changed engine air filters and cabin filter myself ($75 USD).
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My Prius still has 85% of the pads after 240K miles.
Well, maybe from the standpoint of an ICE drivetrain with a transmission and engine, the the rest of the Model S is quite a bit more complicated. There are 58 separate motors and servos to control all kinds of stuff that is typically manually controlled on ICE cars. Heck, just opening the passenger door from the outside involves 4 motors pushing out 4 door handles and one actuator to undo the latch all of which is normally a manual operation on any other car. The trans and ICE that isn't there does represent a lot of complexity but typical japanese imports go hundreds of thousands of miles with 0 problems on these two ICE areas that have been refined for over 100 years.
I don't think my 3 will have those, and admittedly I was focusing on the drive train.
ev-now
Member
Seems to me an ESA is not a right, it's something they can offer you but equally may not.
I was told my another owner that there are some of the third party warranty companies offering ESA for Tesla - but I have not looked for it. With regular ICE ESA they are not at all concerned about signing you up, and are happy to take your money - just very selective about paying out. Honestly I'd rather be denied on the front-end, than stiffed later on when expensive work needs doing.
I was told my another owner that there are some of the third party warranty companies offering ESA for Tesla - but I have not looked for it. With regular ICE ESA they are not at all concerned about signing you up, and are happy to take your money - just very selective about paying out. Honestly I'd rather be denied on the front-end, than stiffed later on when expensive work needs doing.
