Maintenance Plan or Extended Service Agreement

[Warkovision]

Finalized my reservation for a new Model S75D.
Just checking to see if there's a consensus here regarding the financial "wisdom" of purchasing into any of these. I bought both for my previous Tesla in 2013 and should have a better idea but just sort of lost track of some of the repair data and didn't really pay enough attention over the 4 1/3 years I owned it. All repairs were $0 or just labeled "accommodation." I'm aware at times of paying a $200 labor "deductible" regardless of being covered by the both of these as I never reached the 100,000 mile mark.

Folks say Tesla repairs aren't cheap but is $4200 a reasonable insurance rate to pay on the parts only warrantied for 4 years/50,000 miles?

 

[Tam]

...consensus...

There are a variety of opinions so I don't think everyone thinks the same.

Here's mine:

1) Maintenance Plan: If you faithfully bring your car in annually or 12,500 miles then I don't see why you wouldn't pay upfront in order to save a few bucks. If you don't plan to do that, you would save by not paying upfront (as in never or once in a while).

2) Extended Service Agreement: If you have a crystal ball to predict how many repairs you will need after the expiration of standard new warranty then it's a no brainer.

It's bad for those who cannot afford it and expect the least repairs but ending up by paying up more than $4,200. If you are not in that group, then there's no need to worry about it because you can certainly afford to pay it in advance for $4,200 plus $200 deductible or later for more than $4,200 with no deductibles.

 

[Scott_K]

I agree with Tam re: the maintenance plans. Only typically save a couple hundred bucks over the life of the plan even if you take it in exactly on Tesla’s schedule.

As for the extended service agreement: the good news is that (unlike most car brands) you don’t have make the decision right away. ESPs can be purchased up to 30 days (or 1000 miles/1600km; whichever comes first) after the expiration of your initial car warranty. Full details on the Tesla warranty page: Vehicle Warranty

 

[FlatSix911]

I agree with Tam re: the maintenance plans. Only typically save a couple hundred bucks over the life of the plan even if you take it in exactly on Tesla’s schedule.

As for the extended service agreement: the good news is that (unlike most car brands) you don’t have make the decision right away. ESPs can be purchased up to 30 days (or 1000 miles/1600km; whichever comes first) after the expiration of your initial car warranty. Full details on the Tesla warranty page: Vehicle Warranty

Keep in mind that the ESA may be affected if you do not perform annual service ... so add another $700-900 per year
The Deductible under this Vehicle ESA is $200 per visit.

 

[bob_p]

We bought both for our two Model S cars.

For our 2012 S P85 - we were able to buy 8 years of maintenance along with the extra 4 years of the extended warranty - which locked in savings for 100K miles/8 years (we're over 90K already). Since Tesla's service costs have increased some since we purchased the maintenance plan, we seem to be ahead - plus they've done the tire rotation every 6 months. And we've had a few repairs after the first 50K warranty expired and believe we've probably come out OK on that too.

For our 2017 (March) S 100D, we purchased the 4 year maintenance plan (we would have bought 8 years, but they no longer offer that) along with the 4 year extended warranty.

Some things to consider about the extended warranty:

• Tesla now includes towing to the nearest Service Center in the extended warranty. This wasn't true of the original extended warranties - and our insurance company had to pick up towing from the middle of Kansas to the KC Service Center during a road trip.
• The extended warranty is insurance. Some people will find they don't have enough warranty repairs to justify the cost - while others will have enough service to save money with the warranty.
• When you have an extended warranty, you pay $200 for the entire repair - no matter how much they replace. When we had a problem with the frunk latch on the P85, rather than trying to figure out the specific part - they replaced everything that might have caused the failure - all covered by the single $200 payment. If we'd have been paying for the repairs, we would probably have had them replace only the item most likely to have caused the failure - to keep the costs down.

We'll likely buy the service plan and extended warranty whenever we get our Model 3...

 

[mdk1a]

It seems like there are 2 angles to your question:
1. Should one buy the ESA and pre-paid maintenance plan early (e.g. presumably around the time you got the new car)?
I would personally not do it. The savings are minimal and in case of the ESA, I have all the way until 30 days after the standard warranty expires as Scott_K pointed out to do it if I wanted to. Combined together, they would cost me around $6650 up-front that I think I could do more things with. The only risk here is really if the prices increase, but I talked to a couple of folks at my local SC during delivery and they mentioned they couldn't recall seeing that or if it happened, not by much. I think I would take my chances.

2. Are they worth getting at all?
IMO, this isn't quite relevant for the annual service. Even if I didn't get the pre-paid plan, I do plan on taking my car in annually. Yes, you could probably do it cheaper (DIY) but to not do it would incur risks and potential implication down the road. If I have my home's furnace be inspected every year, it doesn't make sense if I don't do the same thing for a car this advanced/complicated.

As for whether or not I would get the ESA, I plan on having a checkpoint in 4 years in terms of keeping the car (and for how long) or selling/trading it in for another and better EV at that point (hopefully another Tesla ). If I decide to keep it, I would get the ESA only if I think I'll keep the car for another 3-4 years. As I mentioned earlier, this is an advanced car and there's still not a lot of history with Tesla overall, so if you want to keep the car for that long beyond the standard warranty period, not getting the ESA would present a lot of risk IMO.

 

[dcmetro]

I concur with @mdk1a . If I plan to keeping the Tesla past 4 years (which I most likely will), I will take the extended warranty then. It's going to be $500 more, which is fine. At least, I'll be super sure by then if I want to keep the same one or switch to another Tesla (in case car and it's technology) get a major upgrade (also quite likely).

Not sure about maintenance plan pre-purchase though. Typically I buy if discounted at onset. Right now, even at 4 years, it's only discounted $200..which isn't very appealing...ofcourse, taking into account any price increases.

For folks who've taken the warranty and are past 4 years, what kinds of issues have you experienced? Any particular 'known' repair items. For example, its well know MB GL trucks need suspension and battery replacement around 90K...

 

[TK16688]

Keep in mind that the ESA may be affected if you do not perform annual service ... so add another $700-900 per year
The Deductible under this Vehicle ESA is $200 per visit.
View attachment 273378
View attachment 273377

So it's not clear to me. You can skip annual maintenance the first 4 years, but if you buy the ESA, you must do the maintenance annually going forward after the year 4 (during the coverage) to keep it in force?

 

[Tam]

So it's not clear to me....

If you have skipped annual checks for the first 4 years and ready to buy ESA, Tesla might cite the lack of maintenance as a reason to refuse to sell you ESA.

If you have already bought ESA on your first day of delivery, and on your first day of expired standard warranty, you want to fix your cabin heater that costs $4,500, Tesla might refund your $4,200 ESA purchase citing the lack of maintenance and it has the right to not cover the cost for your heater.

 

[FlatSix911]

So it's not clear to me. You can skip annual maintenance the first 4 years, but if you buy the ESA, you must do the maintenance annually going forward after the year 4 (during the coverage) to keep it in force?

Correct. You get a pass on the first 4 years under warranty but need to perform annual maintenance during the 5-8 year ESA period

 

[FlatSix911]

If you have skipped annual checks for the first 4 years and ready to buy ESA, Tesla might cite the lack of maintenance as a reason to refuse to sell you ESA.

If you have already bought ESA on your first day of delivery, and on your first day of expired standard warranty, you want to fix your cabin heater that costs $4,500, Tesla might refund your $4,200 ESA purchase citing the lack of maintenance and it has the right to not cover the cost for your heater.

Highly unlikely ... if you read the fine print
.
Section K. Cancellation by Tesla
This Vehicle ESA cannot be cancelled by Tesla except for an invalid transfer of this ESA, fraud or material
misrepresentation on Your part or for Your failure to pay for this Vehicle ESA. If Tesla cancels this Vehicle ESA due to an
invalid transfer of this ESA, fraud or material misrepresentation, You will receive a refund calculated on a pro-rata basis
equal to the lesser of the unused portion of the days or mileage that this Vehicle ESA has been in effect, compared to the
term or mileage of the selected Service Type, less the amount of any claims paid under this Vehicle ESA. This Vehicle
ESA is not being sold in any jurisdiction in which the sale or performance of this Vehicle ESA is not permitted pursuant to
applicable law at the time of purchase. Any such sale is void ab initio and of no force and effect and will not be deemed a
cancellation. You will receive a full refund provided no services have been provided by Tesla.

 

[dcmetro]

Yeah, I'd be shocked if they completely refuse repair. With not many options for Tesla work outside of dealerships, they almost have a monopoly on repairs....kinda scary

 

[DFibRL8R]

I opted not to buy the$4,000 extended warranty for my 2013 Model S, primarily due to high milage so would hit 100k at less than 5 years.

Here is my out of pocket repair costs that I had after 50k miles:
12v Battery replaced $195.07
1st Door Handle replaced by Tesla $895.74
2nd door handle replaced (by me DIY) for $1 part cost
L front suspension Control Arm $235.60
Touchscreen bubbles $983 (parts only, labor was goodwilled)
MCU failure at 95 k miles $2535
Roof rack cover latch broken $17.50

Grand total $4861.91
Since each of those repairs would have also had a $200 deductible, that would have been another $1,200 on top of the $4,000 warranty cost. So I came out ahead by $5,200-$4,861.91=338.09

 

[bob_p]

If Tesla has correctly priced the extended warranty, on the average customers will come out about even, or slightly lose money on purchasing the extended warranty. Some customers will save money by buying the plan - others will not.

It's really like an insurance policy - you buy it not because you expect something bad to happen - but if something really bad does happen, the insurance will cover the high, unexpected, costs.

The previous poster came out slightly ahead by not buying the insurance - and is likely around the median customer. However, the labor was goodwilled on the touchscreen repair - if Tesla hadn't done that, the service plan may have had a slight savings instead of a slight loss.

 

[SMAlset]

If you decide to sell after your 4 years to upgrade to a larger battery or whatever, the extended plan is definitely a selling feature.

We just bought our maintenance plan and have our first annual service plan coming up. Lost track of time and missed out on doing it after purchase of the car and within that period of time to get it at a lower price so cost ourselves extra money. We'll probably take our chances on the extended warranty price going up but eventually get it as we do plan to keep our car long term, but you never know. At least you can get your money back for any unused portion if the car gets totalled or you trade it in to them on another purchase from what I remember reading. Been a while since we read the details of that plan though. I guess the plan is a hedge against higher labor and part costs down the road.