I’m interested to know who has had the worst experience and most unreliable second hand model S. I saved for 5 years for mine and purchased a 2015 Model S with 53,000 miles on the clock. It has been a totally unreliable disaster. Breakages and failures time after time. I’ve had it for 6 months and it has been in the repair shop 4 times now and undriveable for 11 weeks. It is disgraceful.
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Most unreliable second hand model S
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IslandHydro
Member
I bought a 2015 MS 1.5 years ago with 27K on it, directly from Tesla with a 4 year / 50K warranty, and after ironing out a couple small things up front, it's been flawless. Sorry your experience has not been as good....
amiral_sub
Member
I own a P85+ from 2013 with 220.000 km for one year. I already had one door handle, one HV battery (it is its third HV battery!) and now the sd card of the gateway broken. And last week end I found the car totally shut down, it was long to wake it up, I had several bad messages "power limited", and after a few minutes the systems were ok.... Added to that I changed the emmc from the mcu with a specialized company in Nederland and the new emmc failed, so it is now my third emmc in the car ! And each time I had to open the dashboard. And the first owner had a lot of failures: drive unit, HV battery, charger, AC compressor, wiper motor, door handle.
So appart the error "power limited" I have only the sd card to change (I bought a high quality sd card at 8 €) and I hope my car is now reliable
So appart the error "power limited" I have only the sd card to change (I bought a high quality sd card at 8 €) and I hope my car is now reliable
I’m a front line essential worker and it has caused me so much stress through the worst of Covid. I am gutted to have my heart and wallet ripped apart after having bought my dream car.
First failure early April after 2 weeks was the battery coolant heater £1300 and off the road for 2 1/2 weeks
Next failure 3 weeks later was a boot lock but I couldn’t lock the car since it still believed the boot was open, 4 days off road to get that fixed
all the tesla service would offer me was a normal hire car at £140 per day ffs.totally useless.
It worked for most of June and July.
As I was travelling home from work the night before I went away on a 2 week family holiday I stayed getting a horribly loud crackling and arcing noise over the audio at max volume. No radio, sound or anything. The car was only driveable with ear plugs and ear defenders over the top.
3 weeks to get the car into the service Center a week to diagnose an MCU fault, 2 weeks to wait for the wrong part to be delivered then half a week for the correct part. A week to fit it, total over 7 weeks and £1724
I picked it up last thursday then on Saturday night. I stoppped to charge at a supercharger On my way to work and reversing in there was a very loud bang from the front suspension and It part collapsed. Car towed back to service Center and an £85 taxi to get me to work. Goodness knows how long it will be in the Center for now and how much it will cost.
I just don’t know what to do with it.. advice appreciated..
I think Tesla should buy it and crush it. Unless something changes I won’t ever be recommending anyone to ever buy one.
many dream has been destroyed!
Destiny1701
22’ M3LR ‘DrkNite’/ 22’ MYP BliueRocket
Not to sound negative or judging as everyone works within their budget and abilities, but personally I would never purchase a used Tesla in version 1...2012-2015. The car is the first iteration of mass market Vehicle for the company in its infancy. One would expect that there is zero history on how well they perform over 5-10 yrs and higher mileage. The production line automation and even the technology Itself was improved every quarter with continuous improvements.
If it were a model with 15-20 yrs of history to fall back on with long term repair averages etc. then sure, you know what your getting into. I’ve talked 5 buddies into buying new model 3’s over a 2014/15 used model S and all 5 are super happy with full warranties.
For those of you with a great experience .... great it worked out
I just think buying an iPhone 5/6 on wheels today is not something one should do and expect it to function well for any length of time.
Only an opinion. Please don’t shoot me! I chose to lease for this very reason until I can see good solid 6-10 yr repair history stats.
disclaimer: I also know 3 guys who adore their 2013/14 P85 and P85D and couldn’t be happier. They however owned them from day 1 and this know how they drive, how the car was treated and maintained from day 1.
If it were a model with 15-20 yrs of history to fall back on with long term repair averages etc. then sure, you know what your getting into. I’ve talked 5 buddies into buying new model 3’s over a 2014/15 used model S and all 5 are super happy with full warranties.
For those of you with a great experience .... great it worked out
I just think buying an iPhone 5/6 on wheels today is not something one should do and expect it to function well for any length of time.
Only an opinion. Please don’t shoot me! I chose to lease for this very reason until I can see good solid 6-10 yr repair history stats.
disclaimer: I also know 3 guys who adore their 2013/14 P85 and P85D and couldn’t be happier. They however owned them from day 1 and this know how they drive, how the car was treated and maintained from day 1.
I agree with Navsarin, in that buying a 3/Y new from Tesla now is not terribly different from buying a car from any other manufacturer, and as such buying one of them used in a few years will be much the same as from any other manufacturer that's had a decade+ of experience, but the 2012-2015 Model S was a completely different story. Buying one new at that time was showing support for a fledgling startup automaker; it was their first "real" car to be made on a production line, and there is much to learn.
What you have is a piece of history, and likely some day will be valuable in the context of "the first successful electric car", but unfortunately right now it's not treating you well for basic transportation purposes, and for that I'm sorry to hear as that is the most important thing. I've owned a lot of used cars in my past, and all of them seem to go through time periods where everything seems to break, then there's a sea of calm after that once you "catch up". Fortunately, the Model S has far fewer moving parts than your average internal combustion car, so hopefully you've seen the last of trouble for some time to come.
What you have is a piece of history, and likely some day will be valuable in the context of "the first successful electric car", but unfortunately right now it's not treating you well for basic transportation purposes, and for that I'm sorry to hear as that is the most important thing. I've owned a lot of used cars in my past, and all of them seem to go through time periods where everything seems to break, then there's a sea of calm after that once you "catch up". Fortunately, the Model S has far fewer moving parts than your average internal combustion car, so hopefully you've seen the last of trouble for some time to come.
iqless
Member
No matter how much money I have I would NEVER own a Tesla outside of warranty.
My 2015 S 85D, had plenty of problems God knows would cost how much if I didn't have warranty on it.
The 2016 P90DL also had a billion problems.
The P100D was OK, but the MCU and the dashboard would scarily and randomly lock up sometimes. It was rare, but it's really scary... it should just not happen.
My 2015 S 85D, had plenty of problems God knows would cost how much if I didn't have warranty on it.
The 2016 P90DL also had a billion problems.
The P100D was OK, but the MCU and the dashboard would scarily and randomly lock up sometimes. It was rare, but it's really scary... it should just not happen.
Just inputting my opinion. I owned a 2014 Model S (December build) I acquired it used years ago with I believe 50k miles at the time of purchase. It was a risk but it’s been mostly solid. Just a door handle replacement. I currently have 133k miles with no issues. I’m happy with it. I hope your ongoing experience is light years better long term
I know many folks share your approach to never owning a Tesla out of warranty because it can be shockingly expensive to repair given that Tesla pretty much owners to service and repair market; it's not like there are a lot of independent mechanics who can work through the common and obscure issues, and it's not like there is a large third-party parts manufacturer with an inventory of driveunits, inverters, or batteries.
It makes me wonder who will step in to make Teslas sustainable for lengthy ownership. I've got a 2001 VW Golf TDI with over 300K miles on it with no signs of slowing down. I'd love to see my 99K mile old 2013 MS85 still rolling for another 10-20 years...anything short of that would seem rather wasteful. I'm hoping some advancements and retrofitting will be in the near future.
I’m on my second Model S, my first was a 2015 85D that I had for just shy of 5 years. It was out of warranty and let me tell you NEVER buy a Tesla S/X out of warranty unless you would be willing to buy an old used Mercedes for a “great deal” LOL. Only difference is you get better service from MB.
FWIW, I did exactly what you said -- for 48 years, I bought used Mercedes. In the beginning, I could not afford a new one. Probably by the end I could have afforded a new one but still bought used -- I knew the likely failures and had a good mechanic (not a dealer). And speaking of the dealers, I certainly had mixed experiences with Mercedes Benz dealerships over the years -- some were great to deal with, some not. Overall, I have had better experience with my local Tesla service center (Dedham, MA) than I did with the average MB dealer. For one thing, since I never bought a new car, I never got loaners -- only one loaner in 48 years.
As for the cars themselves, in my experience they are not as "bullet-proof" as their reputation might suggest. In the 1960s and 1970s, they had a very high reliability rating in Consumer Reports, but older cars like I was driving had plenty of problems. The engines were pretty reliable (although I did need one short block), but I certainly bought plenty of shocks, steering dampers, AC components, brakes, etc. And they rusted! I will say that in several hundred thousand miles of driving, I was only left by the roadside, unable to drive my MB, once or twice (leaving aside flat tires). My Model S has left me unable to drive only twice as well, but that is in 50,000 miles.
As for your wise advice about warranty, I do have the Extended Service Agreement, and glad for it. It has already saved me more than 2 grand so it is well on its way to paying for itself.
Sorry to hear about the OP's experience. I credit you for working and saving up for your dream car, but when I did my research the 2012-2015 had problems with leaky roofs, door handles, drive units, etc. Tesla was starting to build them better by late 2015 and onwards. Still though, I didn't want to take the risk of an out-of-warranty Tesla. Hope the situation improves for you and the car doesn't give you any more headaches from here on out.
I am the original owner of a 2015 MS 70D, currently @ 85,000 trouble free miles. Had to replace tires and 12V battery @ 50K miles. I don't even rotate the tires anymore, just not worth the time. I would NEVER buy the extended warranty for this car. Not worth the money. That 4,000 invested over the last 5 years is worth way more than any repair. I browse this forum every now and again and its usually the same opinions on the same stuff. Lots of anecdotes. EVERY car is a depreciating risk. If you cant afford the repairs don't buy that particular car, boat, house, etc..
Aggmeister2010
Active Member
Yeah....maybe I've been lucky with my P90D, but I haven't had any out of pocket expenses that I haven't caused myself. And even my Service Center visits for issues have been minor, in-and-out in a day or so.
I have owned both 2013 P85+ and 2014 P85D basically trouble free cars I would have taken a hit buying ESA ..unfortunate situation for OP though in my experience on my third Tesla with close to 100k miles the cars are reliable compared to BMWs and MBZ I owned prior to Tesla’s
ElectricIAC
Good-Natured Rascal
The kicker for me on these cars is that I used to be able to insulate myself from big repair costs via DIY on the drivetrain (and heaven knows I've done a lot of it over the years on my BMWs...my 2002 M5 was like getting a car and a hobby all in one). With my Tesla I can't do that with the drivetrain for the most part (note: I can do brakes, suspension, some body stuff, etc.). I have seen a handful of DIYs (the axle one comes to mind), but they are few and far between...
