Outrageous $5000 repair bill after warranty expire!

[wolfwill23]

Pardon my ignorance, but I thought there was a 5 year warranty on my 2019 M3. And like 60K miles. I didn't even know there was an extended option. How much is the extended? Thanks

 

[XCare EV]

When picking an extended warranty, I prefer to look for one with exclusionary coverage, meaning that they cover everything that could go wrong with the vehicle except for a specific list of excluded items. Obvious things like maintenance items are excluded, but they often also exclude things like the entertainment system, rubber seals, internal and external body materials, etc. If you opt for an inclusionary policy, then that relies on you to know the systems of the vehicle that could go wrong and compare that to the list of specific items that they cover.

For the case of X-Care, it is an exclusionary policy only and all AC components (for the case of a 6 or 7 seater Model X) it does cover both AC compressors, lines, etc.

I have attached our digital brochure - exclusions are on the second page. Pretty much excludes most of everything you mentioned except the "entertainment system" because that is the MCU and we do cover the MCU (roughly $3,500 replacement)

 

[XCare EV]

Pardon my ignorance, but I thought there was a 5 year warranty on my 2019 M3. And like 60K miles. I didn't even know there was an extended option. How much is the extended? Thanks

Model S, Model X, and Model 3 have a 4 year and 50,000 mile factory limited warranty, with a separate 8 year battery and drive unit warranty.

Tesla does not offer an extended warranty option for Model 3 owners - X-Care is the only extended warranty for Model 3.

 

[paperjohn]

I got my model x in late summer 2016 for $110k. During the 3 years of ownership. I had several problems, they all covered under warranty. The most recent problem was this March, right before before my warranty expires. It was the Shock Spring on the suspension at the passenger front tire broke. I heard a very load "pop" when I was driving 10 miles a hour in my neighborhood. The car comes with 5 years warranty or 50k miles whichever comes first.

Unfortunately my car now just past 50k mile, I went to supercharger last week. While it is supercharging, I felt my whole car was shacking and making a big engine noise under the front hood. I could not figure out why and tried to unplug the super charger. It took me like 5-8 minutes to figure out after I turned of the A/C, then the shaking stopped. The AC after that completely quite working.

Same day evening the screen shows
Air conditioning reduced
DC Fast Charging / Supercharging rate maybe reduce.

I bought to the service center, it took them 2 business days to email me a quote. They said "the air conditioner compressor had an internal failure and sent aluminum shaving throughout the system and all needs to be replaced."

I only used the A/C for 2.5 summers... now I have to pay $5k+ to fix it.... I am very upset with it. I don't know if I can or how to get hold of their higher tier manager to see if I can try to ask them to make an exception to fix my car. It is apparently a quality issue. I have had bmw, mercedes, toyota, corvette, dodge, mazda in the past. Non of them had a problem like this. And tesla is the only NEW car I purchased....

I am a big fan of tesla and Elon, that is why I spend so much money on this car even tesla keeps dropping the price after I bought it. I still love it so much. However the $5147 A/C failure in 3 years is NOT acceptable.

Before my warranty expire couple of month ago. I did consider to purchase extended warranty. I read peoples opinion on the forum, agreed not to pay the $4000 ahead of the time, can't believe this.

I have a 2016 model S. July 4th 2019, same warning exactly in Glenwood Springs CO. Charged in Silverthorne, it was cold in the morning. I Made it 200 miles to Denver after incident happened . Denver was HOT, all kinds of faults came up and car refused to start once I stopped. Towed to Littleton Service Center. Begged for help on July 5th. They responded and replaced compressor. $200. I had purchased the extended warranty. Continued trip to Rhode Island and back via Texas. No problem. 7785 miles round trip. I love Tesla.

Keep in mind the car uses the air conditioner all the time to cool the battery. It is not just for the human. The BMS (battery management system) rules the car. I don't think it is unusual for an air conditioner to go out after 3 years and hard use like it gets while supercharging in 100 degree weather. There are plenty of other things to go out too, headlamps, computer etc. so obviously glad I made the decision to purchase the extended warranty.
I am sorry you had this experience. Maybe someday in the future we won't have to go through Tesla and our local mechanic will be able to fix issues like this.

 

[davewill]

...
I have attached our digital brochure - exclusions are on the second page. Pretty much excludes most of everything you mentioned except the "entertainment system" because that is the MCU and we do cover the MCU (roughly $3,500 replacement)

You exclude the "drive battery" and "electric motor"? I was actually interested in it for my Rav4EV after the extended factory warranty ended, but without those two, it's hard to see the point.

 

[Krazaak]

You exclude the "drive battery" and "electric motor"?

Why would you want to pay them to cover something covered by Tesla for at least 8yrs/100k miles?

 

[XCare EV]

You exclude the "drive battery" and "electric motor"?

Yes just like Tesla's extended warranty because the drive battery and motor is covered under your separate 8 year warranty. Tesla has never released pricing of the battery and motor so we have no ability to create a warranty with that included.

We benchmarked Tesla's ESA (their extended warranty) which also does not include the battery and drive unit.

 

[davewill]

Why would you want to pay them to cover something covered by Tesla for at least 8yrs/100k miles?

Because I might want to own the car longer than that?

 

[XCare EV]

Why would you want to pay them to cover something covered by Tesla for at least 8yrs/100k miles?

Thats correct. because it is already covered (and because we don't have prices for them) double paying wouldn't help most people out.

However, once we know the cost (which will likely happen when vehicles exit the 8 year window) then we will work on creating a separate warranty for that. Model 3 will be a different story since it has different battery technology than S and X, and motors are different than most cars on the road (with the exception of the Raven vehicles that are new)

 

[NoMoGas]

Even if on the average owners will come out ahead by skipping the extended warranty - out of that group, there will be owners who will end up paying more (and in some cases, much more) in repair costs than the cost of the extended warranty.

Assuming Tesla is selling the extended warranties as "break even" (since that's been Tesla's strategy for service), you have roughly a 50% chance of saving or losing money on purchasing the extended warranty.

While Tesla vehicles have fewer moving parts than ICEs, and even though the most expensive elements (battery pack & motor) have separate warranties, there are some components that are expensive to repair - and while ICEs are mature technologies, EVs are relatively new - and may have a higher risk of repair.

We've purchased the extended warranties for our two Model S and one Model X - to provide protection against spending much more should we need major repairs during the second 50K miles/4 years (since we plan to keep our Tesla vehicles until the extended warranty is close to expiring).

OK But the odds of you spending 15k to repair your cars is next tp zero. However, I totally get the "known cost" motives of this decision.

Those who say sell the car are being ridiculous. You'll NEVER spend the cost of a new one.

 

[ecospider5]

Isn't there some kind of legal warranty under consumer protection law? I know that there is one in the EU that says that the manufacturer is on the hook, as it is reasonable for a consumer to expect an air conditioner to last more than the 2.5 summers described, despite the warranty given by manufacturer.

If you don’t recharge you ac every 2 years you will probably destroy the pump on year 3. This is do to the chemical used lately. It is such a small molecule that you loose 10% of the chemical every year. Once you are below 80% your pump will start having problems.

 

[ecospider5]

I got my model x in late summer 2016 for $110k. During the 3 years of ownership. I had several problems, they all covered under warranty. The most recent problem was this March, right before before my warranty expires. It was the Shock Spring on the suspension at the passenger front tire broke. I heard a very load "pop" when I was driving 10 miles a hour in my neighborhood. The car comes with 5 years warranty or 50k miles whichever comes first.

Unfortunately my car now just past 50k mile, I went to supercharger last week. While it is supercharging, I felt my whole car was shacking and making a big engine noise under the front hood. I could not figure out why and tried to unplug the super charger. It took me like 5-8 minutes to figure out after I turned of the A/C, then the shaking stopped. The AC after that completely quite working.

Same day evening the screen shows
Air conditioning reduced
DC Fast Charging / Supercharging rate maybe reduce.

I bought to the service center, it took them 2 business days to email me a quote. They said "the air conditioner compressor had an internal failure and sent aluminum shaving throughout the system and all needs to be replaced."

I only used the A/C for 2.5 summers... now I have to pay $5k+ to fix it.... I am very upset with it. I don't know if I can or how to get hold of their higher tier manager to see if I can try to ask them to make an exception to fix my car. It is apparently a quality issue. I have had bmw, mercedes, toyota, corvette, dodge, mazda in the past. Non of them had a problem like this. And tesla is the only NEW car I purchased....

I am a big fan of tesla and Elon, that is why I spend so much money on this car even tesla keeps dropping the price after I bought it. I still love it so much. However the $5147 A/C failure in 3 years is NOT acceptable.

Before my warranty expire couple of month ago. I did consider to purchase extended warranty. I read peoples opinion on the forum, agreed not to pay the $4000 ahead of the time, can't believe this.

Did you have the ac recharged in 2018. Current AC systems loose 10% of the chemical every year because the molecule is so small. Once you go below 80% you are risking destroying the pump.

Recharging the AC every 2 years and checking the break fluid quality every 2 years are the only preventative maintenance that you have to do on Tesla’s now. I do not think Tesla is communicating this aggressively enough. There should be a maintenance pop up that only a technician can clear since not doing that is a $5000 mistake.

If you did recharge the system at the 2 year mark then this is worrying for the quality of the ac pump.

 

[Shaggy]

Does anyone know why extended warranties are not offered at time of purchase or able to roll the extended warranty into the loan? Just my 2 cents...thoughts?

State law. Each state law in fact. Some states you cannot buy extended warranties over the phone or internet (FL I think, I know there was one). Some it cannot be the same transaction, all kinds of funny going one.

I'm guessing it is consumer protection so you aren't pressured into them...

 

[Shaggy]

i8 is a dream car. It is so strange that with the i3 and i8 BMW had carbon fiber body construction, electric only and hybrid drive trains, etc. back in 2014. And they just let there technology stagnate. I guess the lure of gas and diesel was too much.

Sorry I like the front end of the i8, but the back end looks like a comb over...

 

[Eresan]

I asked my repair rep to ask the management on Monday to see if they can do something. Yesterday he said he was still waiting for the response. I hope they can still allow me to purchase the warranty.

 

[Bet TSLA]

I asked my repair rep to ask the management on Monday to see if they can do something. Yesterday he said he was still waiting for the response. I hope they can still allow me to purchase the warranty.

Good luck. I told you how to go about it if you actually wanted it to work (Outrageous $5000 repair bill after warranty expire!). This way is much less likely.

 

[hpartsch]

Did you have the ac recharged in 2018. Current AC systems loose 10% of the chemical every year because the molecule is so small. Once you go below 80% you are risking destroying the pump.

Recharging the AC every 2 years and checking the break fluid quality every 2 years are the only preventative maintenance that you have to do on Tesla’s now. I do not think Tesla is communicating this aggressively enough. There should be a maintenance pop up that only a technician can clear since not doing that is a $5000 mistake.

If you did recharge the system at the 2 year mark then this is worrying for the quality of the ac pump.

Is this "Desiccant Bag - Subcool Condenser replacement" that I see on the annual service a fancy term for recharging the coolant?

 

[RossBrindleyAU]

In Australia it appears we are a little luckier. Over here the Federal Government setup the "Australian Competition and Consumer Commission" (ACCC) a long time ago and now it makes no difference what the manufacturer has as a warranty. The bottom line is that they force companies to warrant items based on the the expected lifespan, which takes into account the cost, of a product. Obviously this only kicks in where the lifespan is considerably below the expected life.

In this case, had it happened in Australia, I would expect them to instruct Tesla to fix the problem at not cost. 2.5 years for an air conditioning unit in a $100+K vehicle is absolutely unacceptable and far below any valid expectation for such a product.

I was genuinely about to pull the trigger on a new Model S Performance but when I put together a list of Pros and Cons I was already back on the fence. This sort of treatment has finalised my decision to keep my P85D. It still has 2.5 years and 5.5 years left on the warranties so I think the logical option is to see the warranties out and then look at it again.

My Cons were:
1. No Sun Roof
2. 1 Year free maps and Spotify – then pay
3. Service woes – changes of policy and going back on commitments (to me)
4. Cannot get the interior I want (Cream with Black carpet and trim)
5. Lane change with indicator on Autopilot now requires FSD purchase
6. Yellowing screen issue and refusing warranty
7. No Speed Limit recognition
8. This thread.

My Pros were:
1. Extended Range
2. Unlimited Supercharging
3. Even better performance

 

[ChrML]

Isn't there some kind of legal warranty under consumer protection law? I know that there is one in the EU that says that the manufacturer is on the hook, as it is reasonable for a consumer to expect an air conditioner to last more than the 2.5 summers described, despite the warranty given by manufacturer.

In Norway the law requires Tesla to fix it for free atleast 5 years. It's covered by a general consumer law that says "Every purchase of an item that is expected to last atleast 5 years, the shop is obligated to fix defects that occur before 5 years".

A car is expected to last atleast 5 years (previously proven in court), so basically the "warranty" minimum is 5 years. Exception is parts expected to wear such as brakes.

Tesla keeps forgetting this though, and constantly need to be reminded that laws actually apply to them too ..

 

[sootless]

I asked my repair rep to ask the management on Monday to see if they can do something. Yesterday he said he was still waiting for the response. I hope they can still allow me to purchase the warranty.

19.5 hours to re and re the AC seems like a lot. Usually shop times listed per component don't take into consideration reduction in time by replacing several of the components at the same time. For example, if you were to start from scratch replacing an AC hose would be 1.5 hours as per the shop rate, but when replacing the hose with everything removed that attaches to it the time comes down significantly. I would be questioning the 19.5 hours. I am not a mechanic by any stretch but believe you may have some luck challenging the hours to do this job. A reduction of 5 hours at that crazy shop rate would be huge.

You may also consider another non Tesla shop. If you can find a high end AC specialist in your area then it might be worth at least getting a second opinion. There isn't much special in the Tesla AC system except maybe for the chiller. The rest of it is standard stuff I believe. I doubt it is hard to access. When a compressor fails the system can be cleaned out. It is of course safer to replace everything but may not be completely required for every component. I think the expansion valves and dryer are replaced if the failure is catastrophic. Tesla may lack the equipment to flush and clean the system so replacement is easier. I am not a mechanic so don't trust anything I am saying! I do think a second quote from a high end shop that specializes in ac systems wouldn't be a bad idea if you can get one.

The model X AC systems do seem to work hard at the superchargers. I have a model 3 and it is unusual for the AC fans to run at the supercharger. They must have improved the design.