My Tesla S P85d nightmare. I don't think I ever want another tesla ever again and want to get rid of this junk asap

[David.85D]

Sorry. I tuned out at the expectation of $100 annual maintenance.

You can’t keep tires on a car for that much, let alone everything else.

You had unreasonable expectations. Not Tesla’s fault. But you’ve learned something. I hope…

 

[FOOLSLFDRVNG]

What did you pay for this vehicle?

If it was 25% below market value you are still ahead.

It sounds like a too good to be true deal where you pay the price in the backdoor.

 

[GazMav]

I feel for you, they are shitly built cars that don't warrant a luxury brand reputation, at least the early ones are, afterall its a brand new car company.

I didn't buy mine for the quality, I bought it for the amazing performance.

I maintain it myself as its a salvage car and parts are easy to come by.

IMO , unless you are wealthy , EVs are 5-10 years off truly being an ICE replacement, we still have an Evoque sat on the drive as backup.

 

[dannycamps]

I hope the OP got a good deal on that car. It sounds like a shady place to purchase a car from for sure. Did you have a chance to see/look over the car before you purchased it?

I recently purchased an inexpensive (read: very cheap) car for one of my kids who is just starting to drive from a used car place. Car had a reasonably clean carfax and dealer said they would guarantee with a warranty so low risk. Well, the car showed some issues during the 80 mile drive home from the dealer to the tune of $2600 in repairs that the place I purchased from will now not cover citing "preexisting conditions". Even with the repairs (assuming no other major repairs), I will come out okay (I had planned for it needing some work) but "caveat emptor" for sure.

I can't imagine buying a Tesla from one of those places. I would suggest the OP get a carfax report to find out more about the history of the car.

 

[Huachipato]

I wish Carfax showed much... On my car is showed it sold and registration renewed and that literally was it. It's kind of useless since Tesla doesn't share anything. However I guess it's possible the accident might have shown up.

 

[Wooloomooloo]

“Maintenance-free” EV’s are a myth.

The fact of the matter is these were just really poorly built. I would not touch anything pre-2019 from Tesla.

^ this

My first service for my 2018 Model 3 Performance cost me $680 which is more than I spent on all services for my previous 2 cars (both Volkswagens) combined. Most of that was a break fluid flush. I won't go into how much money I spent replacing those 20" OEM tires it came with, or that I had to go with OEM wheels eventually because the rims kept breaking on NYC's awful roads.

I'm probably going to keep this car for at least another 2 or 3 years, but if this got totalled tomorrow, I would not get another Tesla as much as I admire the company and what it's doing.

 

[Zhelko Dimic]

“Maintenance-free” EV’s are a myth.

My P85D needed $40K+ worth of repairs (thankfully under warranty).

The fact of the matter is these were just really poorly built. I would not touch anything pre-2019 from Tesla.

I have very late '16 Model S 60
2 12V batteries (one under warranty) and one set of tires just recently.
That's all of my experience so far in 5 years (knock-knock)
Oh, and a recent, 15 sec front hood recall check

 

[advocate8]

Fix it to driving condition, dump it, walk away and never, ever buy a used car again without looking it over properly and getting Carfax. Sometimes they can sneak a dog past you but not one as crappy as this.

also, reading between lines you got a deal on it. Fancy older cars bought cheap are for 23-year-old-boys who want to look rich. For example, nothing says "uh oh, there goes the whole cost of the car” faster than a bro buying a slightly ragged 10-year-old Maserati.
And they never, ever work out. You’d have been a million years better off with something much much less fancy and much much newer, say a 2020 or 2021 CPO pristine Honda or Toyota, or Model 3 for that matter.

 

[Huachipato]

Buying a 1 or 2 year old car can cost more than a new one... just look over there at Tesla.com....

 

[advocate8]

Buying a 1 or 2 year old car can cost more than a new one... just look over there at Tesla.com....

This is a temporary and unique point in the history of the car market, for well-known reasons. It will be back to normal in 18 months or so,
Regardless, the advice still holds true. Should have gotten the best 1-2 year-old car that made sense. Or a new one.
If a 2021 Rav4 or whatever normally would have been $22k, but is now $32k, then step down another level and buy whatever solid pristine car IS available for $22k.
Regardless of the weirdness of the market there is no claiming with a straight face it was wise to buy this car.

 

[dannycamps]

This is a temporary and unique point in the history of the car market, for well-known reasons. It will be back to normal in 18 months or so,
Regardless, the advice still holds true. Should have gotten the best 1-2 year-old car that made sense. Or a new one.
If a 2021 Rav4 or whatever normally would have been $22k, but is now $32k, then step down another level and buy whatever solid pristine car IS available for $22k.
Regardless of the weirdness of the market there is no claiming with a straight face it was wise to buy this car.

Facts. Remember around 2 years ago when Tesla was selling some early used Model Xs for like $49k? Now the lowest you see listed is like $80k. It truly is a crazy time.

 

[djinn1]

YMMV. My first Tesla was a 2012 S P85D. While the fit and finish was subpar (I was coming from a BMW 5), it was the most amazing car I had ever driven. Hi tech, stark but clean interior, faster then …, and just a lot of fun. Traded in for Tessie #2 four years and 60+k miles later - only repairs were replacing 12 volt battery and one handle.

Either I was really really lucky or you unfortunately got snookered. So sorry.

 

[advocate8]

YMMV. My first Tesla was a 2012 S P85D. While the fit and finish was subpar (I was coming from a BMW 5), it was the most amazing car I had ever driven. Hi tech, stark but clean interior, faster then …, and just a lot of fun. Traded in for Tessie #2 four years and 60+k miles later - only repairs were replacing 12 volt battery and one handle.

Either I was really really lucky or you unfortunately got snookered. So sorry.

My M3P stealth had one rear door slightly out at the bottom when delivered. Only faint flaw. I never bothered with that, and in two years I never ever had to do a single thing to the car except... once I put in washer fluid. Just a super car.

 

[tengtengvn]

You bought the car in May 2021 so the price probably was reasonable then. Have you checked its current price recently? I waited and sold one of my cars 2 months ago and the price was 7k more than last year.
Next time, don't buy a used Tesla without buying the warranty.

 

[glide]

YMMV. My first Tesla was a 2012 S P85D. While the fit and finish was subpar (I was coming from a BMW 5), it was the most amazing car I had ever driven. Hi tech, stark but clean interior, faster then …, and just a lot of fun. Traded in for Tessie #2 four years and 60+k miles later - only repairs were replacing 12 volt battery and one handle.

Either I was really really lucky or you unfortunately got snookered. So sorry.

You were really lucky. You owned a car in 2012 that they didn’t start producing until 2015.

 

[Pandas752]

Fix it to driving condition, dump it, walk away and never, ever buy a used car again without looking it over properly and getting Carfax. Sometimes they can sneak a dog past you but not one as crappy as this.

also, reading between lines you got a deal on it. Fancy older cars bought cheap are for 23-year-old-boys who want to look rich. For example, nothing says "uh oh, there goes the whole cost of the car” faster than a bro buying a slightly ragged 10-year-old Maserati.
And they never, ever work out. You’d have been a million years better off with something much much less fancy and much much newer, say a 2020 or 2021 CPO pristine Honda or Toyota, or Model 3 for that matter.

It had a clean carfax, got the carfax before buying it

 

[Pandas752]

You bought the car in May 2021 so the price probably was reasonable then. Have you checked its current price recently? I waited and sold one of my cars 2 months ago and the price was 7k more than last year.
Next time, don't buy a used Tesla without buying the warranty.

Yeah I've been trying to sell it for months but it's been in service for 3 weeks now. Trying to just trade it into dealerships now since I didn't get any reasonable offers from ebay motors. I just need to get it back from tesla service in order to do a dealership trade in

 

[Pandas752]

You bought a turd and you're mad at tesla? lol

Where did I say I was mad at tesla? Lol

 

[zoomer0056]

Its not too late, you can get a Carfax. Dont stop at the free one, spend $40 or so for the full report. Do this on your next car, especially if you buy it sight unseen. Lessons learned the hard way.

 

[Neon001]

“Maintenance-free” EV’s are a myth.

My P85D needed $40K+ worth of repairs (thankfully under warranty).

In fairness, these aren't maintenance costs. Though I'll absolutely agree that NO car is maintenance free, Tesla's really do require much less maintenance than the average ICE car. No oil changes, no transmission fluid flushes, severely reduced brake maintenance (thanks to regen braking the average user probably won't have to replace pads/rotors in the car's lifetime), no spark plugs, no timing belt/chain, etc. Tires, wipers/wiper fluid, and maybe brake fluid flushes are about it unless you're talking very long term ownership. Given how often I use the brakes I probably wouldn't even bother with fluid flushes until I hit 4 years or more. DOT 3/4 fluids are hygroscopic, of course, but the fluid will still work just fine unless you're doing REALLY heavy braking (cycling brakes repeatedly/heavy snubs). Not that I'd take it to the track like that, but if I ever did I'd be doing a full brake system overhaul anyway (including hi-temp fluids).

I digress, but I'm seeing a lot of folks conflating car maintenance with car repairs in this thread, but these are very different things.

To OP: I'm sorry to hear about your issues with Tesla. When it comes to reliability, I've found them to be pretty average if not sligtly worse than average among the other makes I've owned. It sure sounds like you got one that's been ragged on pretty hard. As another poster said, if you have any documentation at all of their assurance that it had never been in an accident, I'd at least seek legal advice to find out what your recourse is (provided you can be certain that it WAS in an accident). I'm guessing you may be out of luck if you have nothing in writing, especially with a clean carfax on the car. They can probably hide behind that unless you can show some other way that they would have had knowledge of the accident. Can't hurt to look into it, though.