Extended Warranty Worth it for Model S

[youngjoseph]

Hi All,

Do you think it's worthwhile to get the extended warranty on a used Model S with 50k miles? I believe you can add it after the sale as long as you do before 30 days or 1,000 miles after hitting 50,000 miles. Correct?

The options I see online are:
2 years / 25,000 miles for $2,600
4 years / 50,000 miles for $4,750

My question is if a lot of issues arise from 50k-100k? What are some of the common issues I may encounter and how much would they cost to repair if out of warranty? I'm excited about the car, but all these additional options are adding up!

 

[wdolson]

The critical things: motors and batteries are warrantied for 8 years, but the Models S and X have a lot of gadgets that are expensive to fix. I believe a door handle on a Model S is something like $600 out of warranty, and fixing a problem with Falcon Wing Doors probably involves selling body parts.

From the relatively few high miles cars out there, the drive systems don't tend to have a lot of problems as the miles rack up, but on a Model S those door handles present every time you get in and out of the car and a lot of cars have had problems with them.

I still have 2 years to go on the initial warranty, but I'm thinking about it when the base warranty expires because anything that does break will cost a fortune. Once a significant number of Ss are out of warranty it may become profitable for some aftermarket company to make some of the parts that are needed as time goes on, but right now everyone is beholden to either Tesla or buy parts off a wreck.

 

[JPUConn]

My 2015 has had zero issues the past 46k Miles and at this point I’m not considering the extended warranty.

With the extended warranty you have to consider not only the cost of the warranty, but also the $200 deductible and mandatory annual service requirement.

I will hold the $5k aside and ‘self warranty’

 

[HankLloydRight]

95% of the problems with the door handles is a faulty micro-switch connection (bad design) which is easy to fix if you're handy with that kind of thing. I guess I'm surprised there's not a third-party door handle repair service available at this point since it's so easy to DIY. There are lots of youtube videos on how to do it.

Getting the door handle out of the door is harder than fixing the door handle.


That said, I have bought the full four-year ESA on both cars I've owned. It also helped resale value a little bit.

 

[hmmm]

95% of the problems with the door handles is a faulty micro-switch connection (bad design) which is easy to fix if you're handy with that kind of thing. I guess I'm surprised there's not a third-party door handle repair service available at this point since it's so easy to DIY. There are lots of youtube videos on how to do it.

Getting the door handle out of the door is harder than fixing the door handle.


That said, I have bought the full four-year ESA on both cars I've owned. It also helped resale value a little bit.

Out of curiosity, did it end up paying for itself/being worth it? (excluding the positive impact on resale value)

 

[HankLloydRight]

Out of curiosity, did it end up paying for itself/being worth it? (excluding the positive impact on resale value)

For the P85+ I sold, it was still under factory warranty when I sold it early last year.
For the P85D, it's still under factory warranty for the rest of this year.

So I really can't answer that question until 2022 when the ESA expires on the P85D.

 

[youngjoseph]

Thank you all for the feedback!

 

[Electricfan]

I have about 3k miles of factory warranty left on my 2015. I finally concluded the extended warranty is not worth it. I bought one on a previous GM car, and even though it was much cheaper, it still did not end up paying off. I've had my Volt since 2011 and had zero major problems with it. If the drive unit and battery were not covered, then the extended warranty on the S would be worth it, maybe.

 

[Lasttoy]

I have 118k on my S. Only maintenance in yrs, one door gear at $1.18 to fix myself. Oh front end alignment , $200.00
2 sets of tires on my 40k.

 

[johnster007]

Agree with other posters. Usually everything’s sorted out during factory warranty. I’m at 85k miles and while I do have have bubble screen issue, the fix is $1000. After deductible, $800 “saved” but still $5000ish more in repairs to go to break even in next 15k miles. I think self-insuring is the way to go.

 

[MSEV]

Today, I came looking for thoughts about ESA and look at this thread already! I did not know you had to extend it before 50k; I didn't remember that 50k meant anything. I was traveling (Glacier National Park) as it rolled over and past also 51k this last week. My local service people seem very good and got me approved to pursue it. I am hesitant to not do it, but I do think it would be better to self-insure, hanging on to the the money and paying as need be. As we were leaving for the trip, the driver door would not extend; they came right out and we were on the road only a couple hours late. A second door does not extend now (two going out within a week) and they will fix it Monday. So, I am hoping that the little glitches are done for awhile and I will self-insure.

 

[PhilDavid]

Why I would never risk owning a Tesla out of warranty...

 

[roblab]

At 150,000 +/- miles on two Model Ss, 4,000 on the 3, and knowing several other Tesla owners, I definitely have to say that the warranty is not worth it. But Tesla had to do something for all those wanting to throw money at them.

 

[xyeahtony]

As with most cars, extended warranties are designed to pad the profit of the seller and not benefit the buyer at all. More often than not you will lose money on an extended warranty. Otherwise, why would a car maker knowingly sell you something they know will cost them more money in the long run? Obviously they're selling it to you to hedge their bets that they will get more bang for their buck, and they usually do.

Yes, Teslas are expensive to fix, but ONLY if they break. Do you think anything will break that will cost more than $4000 in repairs? that's rare.

 

[Sunshine State]

As with most cars, extended warranties are designed to pad the profit of the seller and not benefit the buyer at all. More often than not you will lose money on an extended warranty. Otherwise, why would a car maker knowingly sell you something they know will cost them more money in the long run? Obviously they're selling it to you to hedge their bets that they will get more bang for their buck, and they usually do.

Yes, Teslas are expensive to fix, but ONLY if they break. Do you think anything will break that will cost more than $4000 in repairs? that's rare.

Keep in mind that the manufacturer has much lower costs repairing the car than the customer does when customer pays for the repairs. $5000 in owner paid repairs will only cost Tesla their parts costs (new or rebuilt) and their labor. In many cases it could be a win/win for both parties. You seem to forget that it would never cost Tesla $5000 to do $5000 in billable repairs

 

[wdolson]

Tesla has made noises about opening up out of warranty repairs to 3rd parties and certifying mechanics. They had little pressure to do it a few years ago because the entire fleet minus a few outlier high mileage cars were still in warranty. Now more and more cars are out of warranty and there is mounting pressure for people to be able to take their Teslas to someone else. When people can take them to their local shop, parts will still be expensive, but the labor should be a bit cheaper.

 

[HankLloydRight]

As with most cars, extended warranties are designed to pad the profit of the seller and not benefit the buyer at all. More often than not you will lose money on an extended warranty.

You described the entire insurance industry. All insurance is designed to benefit the insurance writer. More often than not, you will lose money on insurance (not including health insurance in the U.S., because that's too complex for analogies).

But I totally disagree that insurance doesn't benefit the buyer at all. In the event of a covered loss, it surely benefits the buyer. In the case the buyer bought insurance and never used it, it still provided the buyer the benefit of peace-of-mind knowing that if they had a loss, it would be covered.

Insurance always benefits both parties (in different ways), otherwise it wouldn't exist.

 

[MSEV]

Ahh, which way to gamble. Is it safe to say that Tesla is saying, on average, THEY won't have to spend more than about $3000 on their cars out of warranty (wholesale costs to them), which is about $4500 for us, the owner?

Is it safe to say that most Teslas won't have more than about $4500 worth of repairs after warranty, on average, because if it did, Tesla would charge owners $10,000 for extended warranty?

I would like to know: for 100 Model Ss out of warranty, what is the yearly maintenance cost, the average? The median? Anybody know where to get that information?

 

[hmmm]

Ahh, which way to gamble. Is it safe to say that Tesla is saying, on average, THEY won't have to spend more than about $3000 on their cars out of warranty (wholesale costs to them), which is about $4500 for us, the owner?

Is it safe to say that most Teslas won't have more than about $4500 worth of repairs after warranty, on average, because if it did, Tesla would charge owners $10,000 for extended warranty?

I would like to know: for 100 Model Ss out of warranty, what is the yearly maintenance cost, the average? The median? Anybody know where to get that information?

That would be a great idea for a dedicated thread with a poll, inquiring minds want to know.

 

[Brutaka]

I have 118k on my S. Only maintenance in yrs, one door gear at $1.18 to fix myself. Oh front end alignment , $200.00
2 sets of tires on my 40k.

Where did you buy your door gear and what year do you have?