Apologies if this goes really long (Stephen King once said something about "diarrhea of the word processor" or something like that). Let's get right to it.
I have made many mistakes in the course of owning this vehicle and I will admit full responsibility for matters as we go. While I generally hate getting out of my comfort zone, I also have a curious nature and a propensity to do things "for science!" that is potentially problematic when it comes to the long term upkeep of a sick ride.
2015 Model S 85D (Deep Metallic Blue)
Mistake #1 - doing no research at all before choosing which Tesla to buy other than what was cheap (relative to the crazy at the time, more on that later), near me, pre-approved for financing with zero down payment, and available right then because someone offered to cover my shift at work of I wanted to buy this car and because I had the itch bad I just went for it. If I knew then what I know now I would have tried to find a facelifted S with FUSC if possible (idk how easy they are to find as that information doesn't tend to be shown in car listing), MCU2, ability to FSD, USS, etc.
Sticker price for said 2015 S 85D - $46990
Mistake #2 - I bought my Tesla in March 2022 near the peak of insane used vehicle prices. Needless to say I am pretty far underwater.
Mistake #3 - Long story short, there were two small dents and a gouge that I paid to fix that weren't my fault. Is what it is. $2200
Mistake #4 - A friend of mine has a driveway with a nasty drop off. Parking to the side of the road is not really an option in the winter so brave the drop off against my better judgement, you bet. Cracked radiator with other miscellany, $1200. Now, I just go really slow and precise over that drop off, cross my fingers and pray.
Mistake number #5 - Scratched rear slightly when I was backing it off of ramps at another friend's house due to me going too fast in R, not paying attention to the USS, and his girlfriend's yard being an absolutely chaotic mess (I microscopically dinged my door on an unfortunately placed wagon that I should have seen the same night). Low priority, have yet to fix. Estimated to run $800. I barely notice it nowadays but intend to fix eventually.
Mistake #6 - Worst yet. I was way too overconfident and tried to take a 90 degree turn at much too high a speed in snow. Curbed it, and quite hard. I was extraordinarily lucky and did not scratch or dent the body of the vehicle at all. What I did do was destroy the driver side front wheel, control arm, and drive shaft. With the $800 94 mile tow to the nearest Service Center and the repair running a cool $2400, I'm beginning to get a bit hot under the collar.
Of course, not even two weeks after receiving the car back, my parking brake capped out. For several days I was able to drive around by fighting with the PB using tow mode and a bit of luck. Got it to the Service Center once more $750.
It's been about a month since then. Now one of the light strips for my driver side rear brake light is out, and while I could likely replace it myself, I need to go to the city where the Service Center is anyway in the near future so I figured I'd just schedule another appointment. God knows what this is going to cost, especially if I roll in a fix for the charging port door, which neither opens nor closes reliably.
Also, I left out the part where I ended up in the ditch in a snowstorm and had to tow it out by the control arm because I haven't pulled up the frunk and confirmed if I have a tow eye in there or not, let alone practiced taking off the nose cone. Go slow when the weather is bad kids, real, real slow. I didn't count it as a full mistake because it cost me $0, there was no damage to the vehicle, and with the road conditions what they were something like that can happen easily, though I recognize I should have been going slower (was hardly ripping it up however).
Needless to say, the first year of ownership of this vehicle has been a disaster, mostly my fault. I recognize this and am committed to improving my treatment of this vehicle for my safety and the safety of others.
I share this so that others can avoid the same mistakes I've made.
I have made many mistakes in the course of owning this vehicle and I will admit full responsibility for matters as we go. While I generally hate getting out of my comfort zone, I also have a curious nature and a propensity to do things "for science!" that is potentially problematic when it comes to the long term upkeep of a sick ride.
2015 Model S 85D (Deep Metallic Blue)
Mistake #1 - doing no research at all before choosing which Tesla to buy other than what was cheap (relative to the crazy at the time, more on that later), near me, pre-approved for financing with zero down payment, and available right then because someone offered to cover my shift at work of I wanted to buy this car and because I had the itch bad I just went for it. If I knew then what I know now I would have tried to find a facelifted S with FUSC if possible (idk how easy they are to find as that information doesn't tend to be shown in car listing), MCU2, ability to FSD, USS, etc.
Sticker price for said 2015 S 85D - $46990
Mistake #2 - I bought my Tesla in March 2022 near the peak of insane used vehicle prices. Needless to say I am pretty far underwater.
Mistake #3 - Long story short, there were two small dents and a gouge that I paid to fix that weren't my fault. Is what it is. $2200
Mistake #4 - A friend of mine has a driveway with a nasty drop off. Parking to the side of the road is not really an option in the winter so brave the drop off against my better judgement, you bet. Cracked radiator with other miscellany, $1200. Now, I just go really slow and precise over that drop off, cross my fingers and pray.
Mistake number #5 - Scratched rear slightly when I was backing it off of ramps at another friend's house due to me going too fast in R, not paying attention to the USS, and his girlfriend's yard being an absolutely chaotic mess (I microscopically dinged my door on an unfortunately placed wagon that I should have seen the same night). Low priority, have yet to fix. Estimated to run $800. I barely notice it nowadays but intend to fix eventually.
Mistake #6 - Worst yet. I was way too overconfident and tried to take a 90 degree turn at much too high a speed in snow. Curbed it, and quite hard. I was extraordinarily lucky and did not scratch or dent the body of the vehicle at all. What I did do was destroy the driver side front wheel, control arm, and drive shaft. With the $800 94 mile tow to the nearest Service Center and the repair running a cool $2400, I'm beginning to get a bit hot under the collar.
Of course, not even two weeks after receiving the car back, my parking brake capped out. For several days I was able to drive around by fighting with the PB using tow mode and a bit of luck. Got it to the Service Center once more $750.
It's been about a month since then. Now one of the light strips for my driver side rear brake light is out, and while I could likely replace it myself, I need to go to the city where the Service Center is anyway in the near future so I figured I'd just schedule another appointment. God knows what this is going to cost, especially if I roll in a fix for the charging port door, which neither opens nor closes reliably.
Also, I left out the part where I ended up in the ditch in a snowstorm and had to tow it out by the control arm because I haven't pulled up the frunk and confirmed if I have a tow eye in there or not, let alone practiced taking off the nose cone. Go slow when the weather is bad kids, real, real slow. I didn't count it as a full mistake because it cost me $0, there was no damage to the vehicle, and with the road conditions what they were something like that can happen easily, though I recognize I should have been going slower (was hardly ripping it up however).
Needless to say, the first year of ownership of this vehicle has been a disaster, mostly my fault. I recognize this and am committed to improving my treatment of this vehicle for my safety and the safety of others.
I share this so that others can avoid the same mistakes I've made.
I can handle getting nickeled and dimed to a point but a $20-$25k battery on top of everything would be slightly... problematic. But I wouldn't be surprised if it happened given my luck and the amount of miles I'm racking on this thing. On track for 24k miles in the first year of ownership.
