Model S Service Contracts - the poll edition(tm)!

[Doug_G]

But how often have you had to replace your brake pads before 50,000 miles. I've never had that done. And with regen I would expect pads to last about 100,000 miles. Wiper blades is a nice addition but at $25 a shot I hardy see a benefit to not doing it myself.

If you take your car on the track, you'll probably kill your brake pads in 2,000 miles. I'm guessing they won't cover that.

 

[swegman]

The more I read, the more disapppointed I become in the car, and I have waited 3 years for the car. I already canceled my signature reservation and will now likely cancel my production reservation (I had planned on getting 2 cars). Safety fearures found in other luxury cars are omitted from the Model S. Features announced for the model S are not shipping with the car, and we are being told they will be added via updates (which it appears you may only get if you subscribe to the maintennance plan). My experience with other products is not to believe that a feature will be added until it actually has been; bought too many products where the manufacturer said a feature would be added and it never happened. Iwas originally told that the touchscreen would display everything that a require computer/ipad would display; i.e., annimated video. Ii turns out this is not true. Now Tesla wants $600/year for maintennance. I haven't purchased a car in the last 15 years that did not include at least some free service during the first several years of ownership. And even now, with my Mercedes and Prius being out of warranty, the annual service cost has been less than $600/year. For example, my total cost for service for the Prius in 2012 so far has been under $100 for oild changes with Mobil 1 oil. My expensives for the Mercedes has been $90 so far, again for oil changes.

BTW, the Model S should not require brake pads very often becausae of the regen system. I have 96,000 miles on my Prius and am on the original brakes. The dealer told me they rarely have to replace brake pads. I know one person that had to replace pads on the first generation Prius after more than 120,000 miles. I do not expect brake pads to need replacement during the first 4 years of ownership. Anything that requires replacement on the car (alternator, radio, computer, etc.) should be covered under warranty.

The car was advertised as requiring little maintennance. So why the high fee? I am not an average consumer. I can afford the $600/year fee without problem. In fact, I can afford to buy more than a dozen Model S's for cash. But I object to the appearance of being nickeled and dimed by Tesla when buying a luxury car for approximately $100,000. This is not going to go over well with the average consumer.

 

[onlinespending]

This sucks. They took one of the important selling points of an EV out to the back of the factory and shot it in the head.

They took the car from $50,000 to $50,000 + $600 per year.

The blog post was terrible. It didn't explain about how this works with the warranty at all. It waxed lyrical about how great EVs are ("over a thousand fewer moving parts!") and then, boom, but somehow they're $600 per year to maintain. Say what? Weren't we just reading about how little maintenance is needed?

I think you really hit the head on the nail with this one. Way to call out the blog post. You can't simultaneously claim that EVs have over a thousand fewer moving parts and are therefore easier to maintain, yet ask owners to cough up more in annual maintenance for the first 4 years of ownership than you would on a far more complex car like an Audi or BMW! Tesla really needs to react fast to this, because they are going to have a lot of negative backlash over this as they have killed one of the biggest selling points of EVs. It's sad but true, but if they were looking to increase profit margin, they could have added $2000 to the cost of each Model S but provided free maintenance for the first 4 years and people would be reacting far more favorably. But obviously they can't now just arbitrarily raise the cost of the car.

 

[AnOutsider]

The more I read, the more disapppointed I become in the car, and I have waited 3 years for the car.

haha, it's so funny I was just thinking these exact same thoughts (except, disappointed in Tesla)

 

[Doug_G]

If some of the money goes toward software updates then I'm ok with it.

Really? They're going to be building the software updates regardless. They want to make the car as attractive as possible for new buyers. The updates will be distributed automatically. If that causes them extra work then they're not doing it right.

In my company we charge a fee for upgrades to our software products, but firmware and driver updates for our hardware products have always been free. The reason is simple: we can add some little do-dads to our hardware products via firmware updates, but we can and do make massive improvements to our software products.

 

[ddruz]

It would appear that the extra $100 gets you unlimited ranger coverage for warranty repairs for the first 4 years.

I have an email in to my Tesla rep attempting to confirm this.

 

[ElSupreme]

Safety fearures found in other luxury cars are omitted from the Model S.

Pet peeve but blind spot detection, adaptive cruise control, auto braking when backing up (in about 90% of vehicles), and back up (front bumper) sensors are NOT safety features. They are crappy/lazy driver crutches. Air bags, and proper crumple zones are safety features. Nice neutral handeling and good tires are safety features. The Model S has every safety feature I can imagine (except nodding/sleeping driver alert, which is pretty new). It doesn't have crappy/lazy driver crutches.

I agree with you about the 12k maintenance costs being about double what I would accept as reasonable (the ranger fees seem really good on the other hand). But I will probably shed some options and grudgingly pony up the money.

 

[sp4rk]

I have to agree with Rifleman and Swegman.

The whole point of this car is it's "maintenance free".

What costs them $600 a year to look at?????

Especially for Sig holders who have had $40,000 of their dosh tied up for 3 years, I'd be beyond pissed off.

The interest alone at, say 1.5% (CD rubbish), is $600 a year and you know when you take $40,000,000 to the bank you get more than 1.5% interest!

"Thank you Sigs, we've cost you a pile of interest, now we'll nickel and dime you some more." Except it's not nickel and dime.

My last 3 cars, Lexus, Range Rover and Mini all had expensive maintenance and that's why I am (partially) supposed to be getting away from GAS!!!

No, IMO, this is utter BS. And NOT GOOD PR.

I will finally drive the S this week but I am now over 50% towards cancelling. But I am but 1 in over 12,000?

 

[mnx]

I thought you were already going to cancel since you couldn't get signature red...

I have to agree with Rifleman and Swegman.

The whole point of this car is it's "maintenance free".

What costs them $600 a year to look at?????

Especially for Sig holders who have had $40,000 of their dosh tied up for 3 years, I'd be beyond pissed off.

The interest alone at, say 1.5% (CD rubbish), is $600 a year and you know when you take $40,000,000 to the bank you get more than 1.5% interest!

"Thank you Sigs, we've cost you a pile of interest, now we'll nickel and dime you some more." Except it's not nickel and dime.

My last 3 cars, Lexus, Range Rover and Mini all had expensive maintenance and that's why I am (partially) supposed to be getting away from GAS!!!

No, IMO, this is utter BS. And NOT GOOD PR.

I will finally drive the S this week but I am now over 50% towards cancelling. But I am but 1 in over 12,000?

 

[sp4rk]

I thought you were already going to cancel since you couldn't get signature red...

Will not know what (color) options are available till I actually place the order, do I?
Maybe they'll have come to their senses?
Or maybe I will have ...

 

[Right_Said_Fred]

If Elon or George read this topic, they must be having a huge 'oh noos'-moment now. How to alienate your (potential) customers...

I think some people had an off-day when they were setting such a high maintenance fee (mandatory?!) for a car that is supposed to require 'minimal service'. You build the greatest car on earth and then throw all that hard work away by a. forgetting to include basics things like cup holders and then b. overcharging on service. Such a waste of goodwill. Even Fisker provides 4 years of free maintenance!

I am really reconsidering my purchase now (I drive 22.500 miles a year, which means I will have to pay almost 2 x $ 600 for service a year!). I hope Elon and George can swallow their pride, admit they made a mistake and lower the fee to at least $ 400, which is still high for a 'low maintenance-car' but no longer outrageous.

 

[Adm]

BMW charges €2530,= or $ 3150 for a comparable 4 year/50k mi service in the Netherlands

http://www.bmw.nl/nl/nl/general/downloads/_narrowband/pdf/BMW_Service_Inclusive_prijslijst_v4_12-07.pdf

Page 7 SI plus/ 4 years/ 80k km's

 

[DriverOne]

some people had an off-day when they were setting such a high maintenance fee (mandatory?!) for a car that is supposed to require 'minimal service'

Exactly. I don't understand how Tesla will explain the disparity between claiming low ongoing maintenance, and yet having expensive annual service.

Really really expensive wiper blades?

 

[ElSupreme]

I am really reconsidering my purchase now (I drive 22.500 miles a year, which means I will have to pay almost 2 x $ 600 for service a year!). I hope Elon and George can swallow their pride, admit they made a mistake and lower the fee to at least $ 400, which is still high for a 'low maintenance-car' but no longer outrageous.

Yeah I drive about 20,000 a year and the 12.5k is looking rough. When my current car only needs oil ever 10k (even though I only go about 9k before I burn a quart and I am showing low on the dipstick, so it gets changed a bit more often).

I honestly think they are overcharging to build out a service center network. Which is admirable. And will be able to support a 3rd generation vehicle properly. But currently they don't have enough customers to support it. I see why they did it. It just really hurts that they did it. My service over 6 years of payments is going to be more than half a battery upgrade. And my hope of squeezing out the 60kWh pack is pretty much dashed right now. And I am having honest thoughts about driving my GTI until it dies (I'm a little over 110,000 miles, and have had 2 major engine repairs, actually the same repair, under warranty) then buying the cheapest used car I can find and get back on the list.

Hopefully I can negotiate a raise, and forgo all that nonsense.

 

[Lloyd]

I would give tesla a break (and I usually do), but in my mind, I'm not getting something really good. What other luxury car dealer (not exotics) prices out the first 12,500 miles of service at $600.

Mercedes, First service will run you a little less than that. Someone else posted that their pre-purchased service was $1800 for three years.

 

[VolkerP]

Since running Model S will be way more expensive than my current one, I consider deferring my order to save up for the 4 year maintenance plan.

 

[qwk]

Yes, any savings for people who drive a lot have been flushed down the toilet with this service plan. In the blog post Tesla assumes that they have 12000 model S buyers. What they fail to realize is that by using tactics like the expensive service plan, they HAD 12000 buyers. Apparently, they still haven't learned their lesson from the customer attrition that happened when the roadster deliveries started. Same BS, different car.

 

[DriverOne]

cf Nissan Leaf maintenance: Nissan Leaf 6-month service is a simple tire-rotating, coffee-drinking pit stop

"Well, it's more for the company than the car, really. This stop provides Nissan with a way to keeps tabs on the Leaf

"What gets done if a Leaf owner decides to drop by the dealership at the six-month mark? Just about next to nothing... There's no motor oil to change and, aside from a thorough exterior washing, there's not much to be done to the Leaf.

"In fact, the service is so brief that most Leaf owners drink a cup o' joe in the waiting room while roaming the web for the few minutes it takes to complete the recommended checks. The cost? Some Nissan dealers perform the service for free, while others charge up to $89."

That's the sort of expectation that Tesla set with their claims of low ongoing maintenance. For those of us where the price of the car is already a stretch, this news is disenchanting.

 

[Tommy]

For $600 a year, I plan on visiting the service center on a monthly basis just to drink their lattes and munch on their pastries.:wink:

 

[Right_Said_Fred]

$600 is a lot of money for NOT doing the following things:

Blog:

"There are no spark plugs, timing belts or oil filters to replace. Model S will never need a smog check or a typical oil change. In fact, the only oil needing to be changed is in the gearbox, which on average needs replacement once every twelve years.

Model S has at least a thousand fewer moving parts than a traditional car – no internal combustion engine, no transmission, no mufflers or catalytic converters – thereby lowering the chances of things breaking down or wearing out. Thanks to regenerative braking, even brake pads will last longer on Model S than on other cars."