Ludicrous Roadster Parts Pricing

[dpeilow]

My Roadster is due its MOT (annual inspection) in the UK next week and the rear tyres are a bit near the legal limit. I'm still in the Netherlands and not having much time to change them back there, and wanting to stick with Yokohama AD07s which previously seemed to only be available through OEM channels, I booked it into Den Haag service centre to get 2 new ones.

Before getting the job done I asked the price. €825. WTF?!?

The same tyres are now available on line for €117 each.



Guess where I bought the tyres?


This is more than 300% of the price for the parts. I can also have them fitted for €12 at a local tyre shop.

Tesla - I don't mind paying a small premium to have it done at a service centre (even just to support the company) but this is ridiculous and you shot yourself in the foot by losing the business.


This is not the first time I have seen rip off parts pricing. In February I asked for a quote for a new 70 Amp HPC in the UK, knowing it is $1999 on the US website. I was told £4351.86. That was around $6000 at the time. Unsurprisingly I didn't buy a new one.


Everything I have seen says this kind of pricing is set centrally. The service centre staff do what they can to be helpful in every interaction I have with them, but I fear the way things are headed if the company thinks Roadster owners are mugs that will pay prices like that. So much for cutting franchise dealers out of the servicing racket.

 

[ChadS]

Yikes.

I know you said it sounds like central pricing; but from some things I've heard it sounds like there is a lot of variation between service centers - although that might only be for service; it would make more sense that parts are centrally priced. I haven't been parts shopping in quite a while; I too bought my tires elsewhere, but the Tesla price premium was only something like 30% rather than 300%. I haven't been putting many miles on the Roadster so I haven't shopped for tires recently.

It would be very interesting to hear from others that have priced things recently, especially on different continents to see how consistent the pricing is. This doesn't sound like the direction Tesla indicated they were going.

 

[dpeilow]

I think that they do have local flexibility on the service cost Chad. When London SC removed the bolt that pierced my mud guard and inspected the car for any other damage, that was done gratis. I was expecting an hour's labour but was pleasantly surprised. It just seems to be parts that are the issue.

 

[GVTesla]

I think I might know where the price difference comes from. This is my hunch. As far as I could tell after some internet research, there are 2 types of AD07's. The 'regular AD07' and the Lotus OEM 'AD07 LTS'. The latter are usually around 300 350-ish Euro. The former are the ones on tyre rack etc for less than half the price.

What might be the difference? I thought that I've read somewhere (sorry, don't remember the source anymore) that the LTS is for 'lightweight' vehicles (like the Lotus) and the regular one has slightly firmer walls specifically for cars of normal weight.

That said, I'd expect that Tesla would use the non-LTS ones (the RS being quite a bit heavier than Lotus), but my wallet found out that my SC works with the LTS-es. Like them a lot but expensive - yes.

 

[dpeilow]

I just checked back to the last invoice when the London Service Centre changed all four tyres. The fronts were £116.67 and the rears were £121.12. This is much more in line with market prices and the kind of premium that to me is acceptable.

Sometime between January and now (yes I really did burn through the rears in 7 months) there has been a massive hike in pricing, or perhaps it is the difference between the Netherlands and UK policy, but either way it is daft.

 

[GVTesla]

Ouch, I just paid 2x 300+ last june for 2 new AD's at the back

 

[TEG]

When I first saw this thread title, I thought you might be saying you found a way to buy parts to make your Roadster have ludicrous mode acceleration.
(How much the parts would cost to get the Ludicrous upgrade...)
Like hoping the 3.0 upgrade was going to include some major performance boost.
Sadly, I was mistaken.

Just coincidental that we have ludicrous Model S upgrade pricing discussion going on at the same time...
Have any P85D owners confirmed service date for Ludicrous mode retrofit?
Does the $5k P85D upgrade get you a ludicrous P85D or a ludicrous P90D?

 

[Andrew Wolfe]

I don't remember what I paid for my Roadster tires - but the last set I put on my Model S at the service center the tire price was within 5% of the online price (Tire Rack) and they gave me a choice of 3 models.

 

[pjhartog]

Our RS was serviced in Amsterdam a few weeks ago and they advised to replace the rear tires (EUR 250 / piece) and to do a 4-wheel realignment (EUR 496) - ex VAT. I asked about the realignment, if this was indicated by the tire wear but was told that it was standard to do after tire replacements. I kindly declined.

Our local Profile (E Rally sponsor as well, but not related to this post) - told me the tires were fine for use and passing the APK (MOT) but that before the bad weather would start a replacement would make sense. They saw no signs in the wear to justify an alignment.

To complete the picture, they quoted for the AD07 tires (OE Tesla version) EUR 370 for 2 incl. 21% VAT and mounting and balancing - so that is about 40% less than Tesla. They also said that a full 4 wheel alignment would cost EUR 85 incl VAT (86% less than Tesla).

Tesla seems to become a mature automobile company - this type of pricing for brand dealers vs generic is nothing new in the industry but well worth keeping in mind !

 

[dpeilow]

Well, the online pricing I saw was "generic" and was 30% of Tesla's price for the part.

I forwarded my London invoice to The Hague. They are looking into it...

 

[Chillout]

Parts are insanely expensive... that's the reason I no longer have a Roadster. Minor damage on my front was €33.000.- worth of parts

 

[dpeilow]

That's a shame. I guess in that case it was for body panels and other things that are Roadster-specific. In my case it's a commodity item that it turns out London gave me an ok price on before, and I can't really see the justification for it this time.

 

[dpeilow]

I think I might know where the price difference comes from. This is my hunch. As far as I could tell after some internet research, there are 2 types of AD07's. The 'regular AD07' and the Lotus OEM 'AD07 LTS'. The latter are usually around 300 350-ish Euro. The former are the ones on tyre rack etc for less than half the price.

So I double checked and the tyres London fitted for £117 were also LTS versions. I still have those on the front. So unless London has decided to take a huge loss, that also doesn't explain the massive markup.

 

[GVTesla]

That's interesting news. And food for discussion next time I'm in need of a new set. Tx for sharing!

 

[smac]

So I double checked and the tyres London fitted for £117 were also LTS versions. I still have those on the front. So unless London has decided to take a huge loss, that also doesn't explain the massive markup.

I think I might know why the tyres have jumped up!

Lotus are now no longer allowed to fit the LTS ones to new Elises because they are G rated for fuel economy, and EU rules recently came in preventing anything with this for OEM on type approved cars.. The AD07 was an obsolete model anyway, having been superseded by the AD08 and AD08R..

With no manufacturer buying them, and an old range, I suspect they are now an even more niche item with limited production runs.

There have been rumours people were buying them from pnuesonline (esp. fronts) and getting LTS specific ones despite not asking, whilst others got non LTS ones, so seems luck of the draw and worth checking in advance.

I'm not sure what the latest Elises come with but I can find out.

FWIW I found going up a size on the front of my old Elise to 195s made the choices much broader for matching sets (I rate the T1R), and improved the brakes and cornering, but really you need slightly wider front rims to do this, and in the Roadster it would hurt range.

 

[Adm]

@chillout
This thread makes me wonder if you would still be driving your Roadster if the London SeC would have given you an estimate!

 

[m0rph]

FWIW I found going up a size on the front of my old Elise to 195s made the choices much broader for matching sets (I rate the T1R), and improved the brakes and cornering, but really you need slightly wider front rims to do this, and in the Roadster it would hurt range.

The Roadster Sport came with 195s standard. My winters are also 195s.

 

[smac]

The Roadster Sport came with 195s standard. My winters are also 195s.

Thanks for the clarification

 

[S-2000 Roadster]

Speaking of part pricing - other than tires - I just paid US$53 for one knob on the temperature / fan dash panel. Someone tried to turn one of the knobs further than it would go, and the plastic inside cracked. I thought I'd buy two of them so I'd have a spare in case another one breaks, but at these ludicrous prices I'm going to be super-gluing the old one to see if I can fix it.

I heard a rumor that Tesla Motors has too many Roadster parts in stock. But for some reason they've decided to charge triple for everything that sells (lowering the number of parts that will sell), rather than lowering the price as much as possible to sell more of the inventory. As dpeilow said, Tesla is losing business every time they quote these super-inflated prices.

 

[MileHighMotoring]

I too got a quote for some minor interior pieces that were 95% perfect but I'm a perfectionist and thought maybe I'd replace them with new. The prices were out of this world, what would have been $400 total at a Lotus dealer for equivalent on an Elise was many thousands. Not sure why they just want NOS parts rotting in a warehouse instead of being sold to customers, but not much I can do about it.