Out of warranty cost of repair

[Chancellor32]

Agree with most posts here, buy the car because its a freaking TESLA and you will smile everytime you drive/ talk about the car! Not paying for gas, cheap registration ($15 a year in AZ), HOV access and cheaping charging costs (.06cents per KW) are all big reasons why I bought a CPO but at the end of the day its the best car I have ever driven and its worth just about any amount of money! I drive 90 miles a day and used to drive a prius so its a bit of an upgrade.

 

[Evoforce]

Agree with most posts here, buy the car because its a freaking TESLA and you will smile everytime you drive/ talk about the car! Not paying for gas, cheap registration ($15 a year in AZ), HOV access and cheaping charging costs (.06cents per KW) are all big reasons why I bought a CPO but at the end of the day its the best car I have ever driven and its worth just about any amount of money! I drive 90 miles a day and used to drive a prius so its a bit of an upgrade.

Make sure that you hurry in to DMV and get the 5 year. Bob Worsley, Republican from Mesa, recently drafted a bill and presented it to Republican Governor Ducey. They were able to pass this bill without putting it up for a public vote. Ducey signed it into law. I am not sure if it goes into affect this fall or the beginning of year 2019. This change in law will result in fees identical to owning ICE. No deduction or incentive for electric vehicles. The money is earmarked to go to DPS purportedly to support more officers in remote cities. If it were instead used to support more and better charging infrastructure in our State I would be on board. Otherwise no!

 

[morrisdl]

Its not cheap, but its definitely cheaper and more reliable than my last car - Cayenne Turbo.

 

[ai4px]

I was very hesitant to step into Tesla with more that 50,000 miles on it, so wife and I got one with 43,000 miles. Once the apprehension was gone, my mother ended up buying one with 56,000 miles on it. Absolutely no problems. Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't hesitate to get one with >50,000 miles (ie out of the bumper to bumper warranty)

 

[jddssc121]

I love my car and will buy another when the time comes, but there is no way I want to own it when it's out of warranty. I would recommend getting Tesla's extended warranty.

 

[morrisdl]

I think there is significant value in getting a used one slightly under 50k miles. I logged a bunch of little things over the phone: B-pillar wear, water in tail lights, wheel bearing noise, etc and they all got sorted out for free at my 1st visit even though it was past 50k miles by the time I got it in to the shop.

 

[SlicerDicer]

I love my car and will buy another when the time comes, but there is no way I want to own it when it's out of warranty. I would recommend getting Tesla's extended warranty.

I'm at 135k fixing my own, it's totally acceptable out of warranty at this point. Just can't go to Tesla if you want it affordable.

 

[David_Cary]

Some people are not comfortable after warranty. Period full stop. That is a personal flaw (j/k).
The fact is there are some high dollar repairs that can happen. But the evidence suggests they aren't that common. The evidence being listening to people around here.
Some people do the required maintenance. Some think its a waste of money. Most agree that it makes the car relatively high cost for maintenance.

My 2 cents. Don't do the maintenance except every once in a while. The car does very well at high mileage generally. Lots of common problems were fixed by 2016 so there really aren't that many nuisance issues.
I have 61k miles on a 2015. I have one out of pocket - the 12 V battery at about 55k. It was $200 including labor done in my work's parking lot.

I have been to the dealer 3 times since I purchased it. The first was a loose armrest. If it was out of warranty, I would have figured it out.
I then went at 49.5k miles for my first maintenance visit. I had a vent rattle (again would have done it myself out of warranty) and a hatch rattle. The hatch the messed up and I brought it back the following week which was the 3rd visit. In retrospect, I would have done better on my own out of warranty since it still makes the rattle. Also at that visit, I complained about a driveline shudder which I knew from reading hear that it was the front half shafts. They replaced both under warranty which was something like $2500. This will be fixable by someone else for far cheaper soon. I would have figured it out with a local mechanic if I was paying for it. Tesla just replaces everything - which I appreciate given this is a reasonable common high failure part. I suspect this is a driving style issue.

There is the door handle issue which I have not had - and now $1.20 is the cost and 45 min of time. This was fixed by 2016 but always could be an issue.
There is the driveline half shafts as above.
There is the screen delaminating which is usually a problem on early cars but could happen to anyone. $5k or so I believe? I would argue that the failure rate for a 2016 doing high mileage would be relatively low on a per mileage basis. I suspect you have a 5-10% chance of MCU or screen failure before 100k miles
Another 5% for some random seat or window motor.
Cooling and a/c problems are relatively rare. I have heard of a $3000 repair here but have only heard of it once.

So to me - the extended warranty isn't worth it. You have to understand that you have a chance of needing a multi thousand dollar repair. But you are driving a fantastic car for cheap if you don't have anything.

Fact - high mileage drivers have significantly lower per mile cost than low mileage drivers with a Tesla. Significantly. Buy a 2010 Prius for $10k if you want super cheap.

I pay $.10 a kwh so my fuel is 3 cents a mile. Tires have been 2.5 cents. Maintenance 2 cents. Depreciation for the first 60k has been 50 cents (roughly $80k to $50k). The next 60k will probably be 30 cents. Obviously time depreciates also so it is hard to have strictly miles as a comparison.

I

 

[AmpedRealtor]

I am a new member on this forum and I am thinking of buying a used 2016 model S. I have never owned an EV before but my driving situation has changed due to a new job and I drive 100 miles a day. Therefore I thought of looking at Tesla for savings on gas and maintenance.
However I will be driving 30k miles a year and am nervous because of the cost of repairs after warranty. The car I am looking at now has 25k miles.
If someone can give me some advise if it is smart to get a car like the model s for a daily commuter car. I appreciate any help.
Thank you.

Buy a Model 3 if you can. It's a much higher quality vehicle all around than even the latest Model S rolling off the line and is a much simpler design. Model S is over-engineered in many respects and has a lot of expensive parts that fail (door handles, anyone?).

 

[Chancellor32]

Make sure that you hurry in to DMV and get the 5 year. Bob Worsley, Republican from Mesa, recently drafted a bill and presented it to Republican Governor Ducey. They were able to pass this bill without putting it up for a public vote. Ducey signed it into law. I am not sure if it goes into affect this fall or the beginning of year 2019. This change in law will result in fees identical to owning ICE. No deduction or incentive for electric vehicles. The money is earmarked to go to DPS purportedly to support more officers in remote cities. If it were instead used to support more and better charging infrastructure in our State I would be on board. Otherwise no!

LOL AGREED! I BOUGHT A 5YR SO IM GOOD TILL 2023!

 

[jddssc121]

Buy a Model 3 if you can. It's a much higher quality vehicle all around than even the latest Model S rolling off the line and is a much simpler design.

Is there any data to back that "higher quality" statement up? Or are we just rolling with anecdotes? I have the opposite impression that you do, but I am willing to admit up front that it's my subjective opinion and nothing more.

 

[Darren Donovan]

Buy a Model 3 if you can. It's a much higher quality vehicle all around than even the latest Model S rolling off the line and is a much simpler design. Model S is over-engineered in many respects and has a lot of expensive parts that fail (door handles, anyone?).

Being a member of many automotive forums and seeing how it's used, the term "over-engineered" as you use it, is incorrect. It's supposed to mean that a product was designed such that it usually can withstand extreme use, and sometimes abuse, without failing. In this case with Tesla, I think that "overwrought", "overzealous", "needlessly complex", or even "under-engineered" is more appropriate.

 

[jruiz510]

Is there any data to back that "higher quality" statement up? Or are we just rolling with anecdotes? I have the opposite impression that you do, but I am willing to admit up front that it's my subjective opinion and nothing more.

There is no evidence of it being higher quality, I live in Fremont and all of my high school buddies work at the factory at various capacities and they have told me that the Model 3 is not a higher quality vehicle. People who own model 3 or tried them will subjectively deceive themselves to believe its better than the Model S.