My 5+ years of "low maintenance" ownership

[SDKoala]

Having had another service call today, I'm reflecting back at the maintenance/repair issues my 2018 RWD LR Model 3 has needed over the years. It has about 55K on it in a mild California climate.

1. 4/2018: Delivery (3/2018 build)
2. 4/2018: Service Center visit for delivery issues, including door seals incorrectly installed and interior B-pillar trim buckling. They had it for 3 days. I got a Nissan POS as a loaner.
3. 8/2018: Tire shop for rotation and puncture repair
4. 10/2018: Mobile Service for right headlight replacement due to accent light going out
5. 10/2018: Mobile Service call back for improperly installed right headlight (the thing was whirring like a blender non-stop)
6. 3/2019: Tire shop for rotation
7. 3/2019: Service Center for alignment issue causing premature tire wear (waited on site)
8. 4/2019: Tire shop for replacement tires (only got 10K out of the original set due to the alignment issue)
9. 7/2019: Service Center for the rear axle click (waited on site)
10. 10/2019: Tire shop for rotation
11. 12/2019: Mobile Service for left headlight replacement due to accent light going out
12. 1/2020: DIY cabin air filter replacement and AC coil cleaning for the moldy AC smell problem
13. 6/2020: Mobile Service for tire rotation (finally found out it was offered as a mobile service)
14. 7/2020: Service Center for break pad burnishing for metallic screeching sound while breaking (waited on site)
15. 8/2020: Tire shop for replacement tires (yep...put on summer sport tires 18 months prior and only got 14K out of them)
16. 8/2020: Mobile Service for FSD HW3 retrofit
17. 10/2020: Mobile Service for backup camera not working -- issue not resolved
18. 10/2020: Mobile Service for backup camera replacement -- issue still not resolved
19. 11/2020: Service Center for trunk harness replacement -- more than a year before the recall was issued. You can thank cars like mine for why that recall exists, because it really sucked not having a functioning backup camera for a month while the Tesla techs had no idea what the problem was. They had the car for 2 days and I got a Model S loaner.
20. 3/2021: Mobile Service for tire rotation
21. 7/2021: Mobile Service for 12V battery replacement (preemptive)
22. 11/2021: Mobile Service for tire rotation and reseal front control arm ball joints
23. 2/2022: Mobile Service for broken driver window control switch
24. 7/2022: Mobile Service for tire rotation
25. 2/2023: Tire shop for rotation and puncture repair
26. 9/2023: Tire shop for new tires (got 27K out of this set without changing anything about the way I drive)
27. 10/2023: Mobile Service for broken charge port door and replacement repeater cameras (my request for the night time blinker issue)
28. Still on the list of things to do: repeat DIY cabin air filter replacement and AC coil cleaning. The smell came back after about 2.5 years and I've been too lazy to take it all apart and do it again.

It seems like all the major things that have plagued the Model 3 over the years has all happened to my particular car. It comes out to about 5 service events per year, either as regular maintenance (tires, cabin air filter), things at my request (HW3, 12V battery), and stuff just flat out breaking. If mobile didn't exist, this would have been a lot of service center visits, so I'm really thankful that has been an option. The car has been to the actual service center 5 times and 3 of those were for things that were done while I waited. The other 2 times I got a loaner car. So even though it's been a lot of service, most of it has been done without even having to leave my house.

I still have fun driving it every day and I'm amazed that more than 5 years later, it's still getting updates and improvements. If I were to do it over again, I might have waited until it was in production for a while instead of jumping right in. It was pretty exciting at the beginning to have one of the only Model 3s on the road, though.

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[xilex]

Nice timeline but sorry for all the maintenance.

When do you think of swapping 12V battery again? Mine failed at just under 3 years, so never had a chance to replace ahead of time. This was when my car was parked outside at work under the sun, and I had the cabin overheat enabled most of the time. Nowadays it is in parking structure and no cabin overheat. Not sure if that contributed.

 

[Chisale]

It does seem like you've had all the regular issues with the 3 rolled into one. That being said take out the tire rotations, air filter replacements and warranty repairs. Honestly, it's not all too bad and not much worse if not the same than what an ICE car would be. And those too have individual cars that are repair prone and just "bad luck" units.
My 2019 M3 has had virtually nothing go wrong. I also got the 12V battery replaced as precaution as soon as it was out of warranty. The truck wiring harness repair (free) the ball joint reseal (free) and other than that the only issue is that it goes through tires about twice as fast as the most pedestrian ICE.

 

[smogne41]

Two items:
How many miles?

Also, for the AC smell there is something else you can try that is oddly not common knowledge but (so far) has worked fantastic for me. From the app, just blast the heat and defrost for about 30 minutes while the car is parked (and nobody is in it obviously). I started to get the smell about 4 months ago, heard about the heat trick, did it, and not a whiff of the smell since. Seems to do a good job of killing off the nasties, at least for a while.

 

[SDKoala]

Nice timeline but sorry for all the maintenance.

When do you think of swapping 12V battery again? Mine failed at just under 3 years, so never had a chance to replace ahead of time. This was when my car was parked outside at work under the sun, and I had the cabin overheat enabled most of the time. Nowadays it is in parking structure and no cabin overheat. Not sure if that contributed.

I'll probably do it as a preventative measure again late 2024 or early 2025. It was replaced with a regular lead acid battery. Maybe by then there will be an OEM Li-ion. I have no interest in dealing with a dead 12V and if that means I'm replacing the battery a year or 2 sooner than expected, that's fine by me.

 

[SDKoala]

It does seem like you've had all the regular issues with the 3 rolled into one. That being said take out the tire rotations, air filter replacements and warranty repairs. Honestly, it's not all too bad and not much worse if not the same than what an ICE car would be. And those too have individual cars that are repair prone and just "bad luck" units.
My 2019 M3 has had virtually nothing go wrong. I also got the 12V battery replaced as precaution as soon as it was out of warranty. The truck wiring harness repair (free) the ball joint reseal (free) and other than that the only issue is that it goes through tires about twice as fast as the most pedestrian ICE.

It's obviously a lot of bad luck, but I can't ignore the repairs. A huge part of being low maintenance is not having to deal with repairs. Can't ignore the tires either because like you've experienced also, it goes through tires about twice as fast as ICE cars. I should be at 1 replacement set in the life of the car instead of 3 replacements already.

I have a 2021 LR Model Y as well and it has already had 4 warranty repair issues over 2 years (door gasket, air bag sensor, front seat replacement, mysterious rattling determined to be loose bolts inside a door).

 

[SDKoala]

Two items:
How many miles?

Also, for the AC smell there is something else you can try that is oddly not common knowledge but (so far) has worked fantastic for me. From the app, just blast the heat and defrost for about 30 minutes while the car is parked (and nobody is in it obviously). I started to get the smell about 4 months ago, heard about the heat trick, did it, and not a whiff of the smell since. Seems to do a good job of killing off the nasties, at least for a while.

It's at the top of my post: 55K.

I tried the high heat trick a few years ago when it was suggested by other people who also started noticing the odor. It didn't do anything in my particular case, and I got tired of dealing with it after doing it daily for a few weeks. I do think that that the software update a couple of years ago that kept the fan running for a while after parking has helped some, but it's not enough to keep it completely controlled.

 

[xilex]

My 2019 M3 has had virtually nothing go wrong. I also got the 12V battery replaced as precaution as soon as it was out of warranty. The truck wiring harness repair (free) the ball joint reseal (free) and other than that the only issue is that it goes through tires about twice as fast as the most pedestrian ICE.

1. 11/2021: Mobile Service for tire rotation and reseal front control arm ball joints

Hmm, I have 11/2018 production, but recall search does not show anything related to this ball joint

 

[dhrivnak]

I have had half the service calls on my 2018 with 113,000 miles. My last set of Michelin Cross Climates lasted 56,000 miles about as good as any car I have had. I too had the rear camera go out early, but mobile Ranger corrected and Tesla eventually compensated me for it. I did have a seat belt harness and front bushings have issues about 68,000 miles, conveniently after the warranty period. Overall I would say it has been as good as any other car I have owned and the lowest cost.

Date	Miles
Mar-19​	20,843​	Frunk latch replacement	Warranty
Oct-19​	31,000​	Cross Climate Tires	$900​
Jul-20​	42,943​	Charge pins replaced	Warranty
Aug-21​	60,000​	Replaced air filter with a carbon filter one	$55​
Oct-21​	68,225​	Upper Control Arms & Seat Belt harness	$433​
Oct-21​	68,225​	Replace cracked windshield	$900​
Feb-22​	75,054​	Rear Trunk wiring harness	Recall
Jul-22​	82,000​	Replaced 12V battery	$228​
Oct-22​	96,000​	Cross Climate 2 Tires	$894​
Nov-22​	98,000​	Wiper Blades	$55​
Jan-23​	100,000​	Brighter trunk lights	$25​
Mar-23​	105,000​	Brake fluid Change	$6​

 

[Shelburne]

I keep reading stories about excessive tire wear. We've had our M3LR for 3 years and one week now. I just had our tires rotated for the third time. It came with Continental tires and after 23,200 miles the tread wear is still less than half. Most of our driving is on secondary rural roads with speed limits of 50mph or less. When I drive on the interstates, I keep the speed below 75mph, usually around 70. So maybe, just maybe, all these complaints are due to high driving speeds and rapid acceleration.

 

[RSpanner]

One mobile service call for the left headlight malfunction on our 2021 M3AWD with 20K miles. Replaced cabin air filters myself , tire rotations, that is it. Knock on wood now.

 

[WyoDude]

Considering you got an early edition of the M3, a totally new model, this doesn’t seem to bad to me (as an outside observer) as some of these issues were remedied with improvements in later cycles. Don’t love you had to deal with that though.

 

[SDKoala]

I keep reading stories about excessive tire wear. We've had our M3LR for 3 years and one week now. I just had our tires rotated for the third time. It came with Continental tires and after 23,200 miles the tread wear is still less than half. Most of our driving is on secondary rural roads with speed limits of 50mph or less. When I drive on the interstates, I keep the speed below 75mph, usually around 70. So maybe, just maybe, all these complaints are due to high driving speeds and rapid acceleration.

The first set I know was an alignment issue (OEM Michelin MXM4). The second set was just flat out the wrong tire choice (Michelin PS3). The third set (Michelin PS4 A/S) going at 27K is probably about the best I can expect with my specific daily commute. I drive about 40 miles round trip about 4-5 days/week completely on surface streets with speed limits of 55 MPH. My lifetime Wh/mi is around 235 over 55K miles, which from what I remember isn't too excessive. I stay with the flow of traffic and don't floor it off the line. I don't let it regen hard. There's something like 20 stop lights or stop signs each way and I'm constantly accelerating/decelerating, which has to be putting more wear on the tires than just cruising at the same speed the entire time. Being RWD instead of AWD probably contributes as well.

 

[Chisale]

It's obviously a lot of bad luck, but I can't ignore the repairs. A huge part of being low maintenance is not having to deal with repairs. Can't ignore the tires either because like you've experienced also, it goes through tires about twice as fast as ICE cars. I should be at 1 replacement set in the life of the car instead of 3 replacements already.

I have a 2021 LR Model Y as well and it has already had 4 warranty repair issues over 2 years (door gasket, air bag sensor, front seat replacement, mysterious rattling determined to be loose bolts inside a door).

I will say the belief that "EVs have little to no maintenance costs" is way overblown. I did a check on what I spent on my 2019 Model 3 and my 2014 Honda Accord over the first 85,000 miles and it's practically identical. The Honda has more oil and other fluid changes and the Tesla went through tires faster. I'd say if you compare Teslas to ICE cars like Honda or Toyota that are very reliable then it'll be similar. Now, if you're comparing to Jeep or any GM product, then yes, Teslas will have less maintenance. The cost to drive savings are really seen more in the savings of electricity vs gasoline. And even that isn't much if you do a lot of supercharging.

 

[Chisale]

Hmm, I have 11/2018 production, but recall search does not show anything related to this ball joint

I don't think it was an actual official warranty if I remember correctly. And it wasn't all model 3s either. There was a date range. What they did was add it in for free when it was in the shop for something else. The job took less than 5 minutes.

 

[afadeev]

Having had another service call today, I'm reflecting back at the maintenance/repair issues my 2018 RWD LR Model 3 has needed over the years. It has about 55K on it in a mild California climate.

I still have fun driving it every day and I'm amazed that more than 5 years later, it's still getting updates and improvements. If I were to do it over again, I might have waited until it was in production for a while instead of jumping right in. It was pretty exciting at the beginning to have one of the only Model 3s on the road, though.

Your 28 maintenance events over 5.5 years ~= 5.1 events / year.
I've just checked mine - I am averaging 5.0 events / year over 5 years and 60K miles. $2,700.59 / year.

My maintenance records do not include the cost or frequency of miscellaneous items like windshield wipers, windshield fluid, or brake fluid bleeding services I do at home from existing car supplies shared across the garage. Nor the tool purchases. Nor paint chip repairs.
My rear harness recall is still pending, no ETA.
Running costs are not included (insurance, electricity, etc.).

You are a bit ahead of me on frequency, but probably behind on cost / year. My tire cost is up there with roughly annual replacements.

YMMV,
a

P.S.: I have not added up all the true costs of EV ownership (above + insurance + electricity). Looking at my average annual "maintenance" cost for the first time, I suspect that owning a performance luxury ICE vehicle is very comparable. Sadly.
P.P.S.: Tracking depreciation cost might be also worthwhile, although it's a somewhat subjective and definitely highly unstable variable. The recent rapid drop in resale Tesla values (for multiple reasons) does not bode well for total EV cost of ownership argument.

 

[Gauss Guzzler]

I think I counted 27 tire rotations in that list. Apparently your alignment is whack if you need to replace all-seasons, but what's with all the rotations? Seems like you get the tires rotated every 300 yards?

 

[KenC]

It's all about expectations. I'm coming from BMWs, so I like fresh rubber on my wheels. 3yrs is good, but 2yrs is acceptable. It's the tires that make the difference when it comes to safety, so I don't complain if they only make it thru 2yrs and not 3.

 

[Unclepaul]

While your car might have been an outlier for service, millions of ICE vehicles have had far more service issues over the same period of time.

Your Tesla will be averaged out by so many that have needed almost no service over the same period of time.

Seems like almost 1/2 of the OPs services were due to tires. Has little or nothing due to Tesla, as they do not make the tires.

 

[afadeev]

While your car might have been an outlier for service, millions of ICE vehicles have had far more service issues over the same period of time.

Do you have any data to substantiate this claim?
Wishful thinking?
For example, luxury ICE vehicles include free maintenance for all new vehicles for the first 3 years/36K miles. That, by definition, will make them cheaper to run for the first 3 years.

Seems like almost 1/2 of the OPs services were due to tires. Has little or nothing due to Tesla, as they do not make the tires.

Tesla's weight and impractically narrow tire selection (for increased range) have EVERYTHING to do with Model 3's accelerated tire wear.
Tesla does not make most parts that go into its cars (true for most other OEMs), but their design specs dictate wear and tear outcomes. In the case of tire wear, Model 3's are notorious for accelerated tire wear and extra costs that come with that.

If you plan to own a Model 3 for any length of time, it helps to be upfront and honest with the costs associated with that ownership.