Roadster annual service price increased to $720

[dhrivnak]

Even at the $600/year that is more than any repair on any ICE car I have had up to 100,000 miles which is normally how long I keep a car. So for me $720 is very expensive especially for a "low maintenance" car. Now I normally do my own serving but still never approached $600 let alone $720.

 

[Stuart]

And how much has TSLA made for us in the past year/years? Gotta give a little back now and then.

That depends on how you look at it.

Like many other people, I gave Tesla a down payment of $30,000, and then waited for two years for them to make my Roadster. If Tesla went out of business I would have lost it all and got nothing. If Tesla succeeded, then for my two-year unsecured high-risk interest-free loan all I got in exchange was a modest discount on the price of what could be described as an overpriced electric Lotus Elise. Oh, wait, I didn’t get that discount because once Tesla was successful, it decided to renege on the deal.

So forgive me if I don’t see Tesla as a charity in need of donations.

 

[wiztecy]

That depends on how you look at it.

... all I got in exchange was a modest discount on the price of what could be described as an overpriced electric Lotus Elise.

Its honestly not an overpriced Lotus Elise but a well engineered custom, hand built, carbon fiber shelled aluminum framed car that cost over $250,000+ for the 1.5's to make. I worked with the purchasing agent for the parts of that car and wasn't surprised, early stages of development for any unique cutting edge product will cost more. So I feel I got a pretty darn good deal on my Tesla. I by far could not make one as beautiful and as reliable for sure.

 

[yobigd20]

For as much as you drive you'd probably save more money buying the extended warranty and driving the MS instead of paying for gas in an ICE, assuming a similar class vehicle as the MS.

Not that I'm suggesting the cost of the extended warranty is reasonable, or the quoted prices for repairs/replacements. They should be able to offer all of those for much less. No reason a faulty drive unit could not be repaired very cheaply instead of being replaced.

Yeah not exactly. The most expensive car I owned prior to 2013 was $35k. I would never pay this kind of money for an ICE vehicle and then still have to pay for gas on top of that.

 

[Jaff]

Well said!

Its honestly not an overpriced Lotus Elise but a well engineered custom, hand built, carbon fiber shelled aluminum framed car that cost over $250,000+ for the 1.5's to make. I worked with the purchasing agent for the parts of that car and wasn't surprised, early stages of development for any unique cutting edge product will cost more. So I feel I got a pretty darn good deal on my Tesla. I by far could not make one as beautiful and as reliable for sure.

 

[Doug_G]

Replacement wiper blade: $57.31

Uh, yeah, I always decline the replacement wiper blade. The OEM blades are crap. I use a Bosch Icon and it's far, far superior. Even after being on the car for two years it's way better than a brand-new OEM blade.

 

[djp]

Uh, yeah, I always decline the replacement wiper blade. The OEM blades are crap. I use a Bosch Icon and it's far, far superior. Even after being on the car for two years it's way better than a brand-new OEM blade.

Ha - yeah, I meant to decline it this year and completely forgot. Good thing I didn't have a decent blade on the car - they might have thrown it out!

Interesting that the charge for the blade and key fob battery rounds the total service fee to exactly $650. I always thought $57 for one wiper blade was crazy. Do they reduce your fee by $57, or make it up by charging an extra $57 for the battery?

 

[hcsharp]

Uh, yeah, I always decline the replacement wiper blade. The OEM blades are crap. I use a Bosch Icon and it's far, far superior. Even after being on the car for two years it's way better than a brand-new OEM blade.

For the life of me I can't understand why they do that. At my first annual I specifically said not to replace my Bosch wiper. They did anyway and billed for the crappy replacement. I refused to pay it and since they had already discarded my Bosch, they had to buy me a new one.

 

[bonnie]

ARrrrrrgh! I totally forgot that I'd replaced my blade with a Bosch Icon & now I realize why, since I had annual service performed, the wiper isn't working as well.

-beats head against wall-

Guess I'll be ordering a new one tomorrow.

 

[brianman]

they're pressuring me to pay $4000 for extended warranty

Move to WA or FL. No pressure here at all.

- - - Updated - - -

ARrrrrrgh! I totally forgot that I'd replaced my blade with a Bosch Icon & now I realize why, since I had annual service performed, the wiper isn't working as well.

-beats head against wall-

Guess I'll be ordering a new one tomorrow.

This is where I feel compelled to say...

Roadster owners that have an "in" with some ears at Tesla should really open this discussion. They're charging people to downgrade their wipers rather than upgrading the OEM offering? That seems like a very bad Tesla policy which ownership@ should be pressured to address.

 

[bonnie]

It's true. Roadster owners are cut from a different cloth.

 

[wiztecy]

Roadster owners that have an "in" with some ears at Tesla should really open this discussion. They're charging people to downgrade their wipers rather than upgrading the OEM offering? That seems like a very bad Tesla policy which ownership@ should be pressured to address.

Silly thing is that at one point it appeared that either the Roadster came with the Bosch wiper or else the annual service included it (at least at the Burlingame Service Center). I still have a very like new condition Bosch Icon blade that was pulled off my Roadster. It sat for 1.5 years in their service bay while the original owner toured the world and neglected to give the car some love. At least Tesla didn't tossed the blade in the trash but saved it in the truck. Don't know at what point in time it was installed. I do know that they installed the non Bosch version when I took it in for the last 2 times it was serviced there (last year and year before that). It appears to be the same blade that Lotus uses as an OEM replacement as well.

An interesting observation is that the Tesla Roadster has a slightly different wiper arm than the Lotus Elise, its got a more aggressive arch built into it. I believe that design was changed over the Elise to help with the wiper to work better over the curved center/middle part of the windshield.

 

[wycolo]

> So forgive me if I don’t see Tesla as a charity in need of donations. [Stuart]

TM Service may not be 'for profit' as per CEO but still needs to cover employee's cost of living, etc, pay increases. This latest increase would seem to be in line with that.

Had you put $30k into 1500 shares TSLA @20- summer of 2010 - you would see over $300k value during an entire 45 day period just recently.

What has TM done for me lately? Really?
--

 

[JRP3]

I don't see the correlation between taking a risk and investing in a stock that happens to pay off and the costs you have to pay for service. Should the people who bought at $265 get free service?

 

[wycolo]

> Should the people who bought at $265 get free service? [JRP3]

So that was you on the other side of the trade? Give this man Free Service For Life!! :love:
--

 

[strider]

I don't see the correlation between taking a risk and investing in a stock that happens to pay off and the costs you have to pay for service. Should the people who bought at $265 get free service?

+1. Linking these things are completely irrelevant. Tesla didn't give you those stock gains, other investors did. So to presume that you should "give back" to Tesla for your investment gains is just simply wrong.

This is a cost/benefit discussion about annual service for Roadsters. Can we keep on topic please?

 

[hcsharp]

TM Service may not be 'for profit' as per CEO but still needs to cover employee's cost of living, etc, pay increases. This latest increase would seem to be in line with that.

Had you put $30k into 1500 shares TSLA @20- summer of 2010 - you would see over $300k value during an entire 45 day period just recently.

What has TM done for me lately? Really?
--

Do you know how much they pay their service center employees? It's not much. Of course they have overhead but the new price is way more than they need to cover costs and substantial profit as well. And the ridiculously stupid practice of removing high quality wipers, replacing them with crappy ones and charging 3x what they cost despite years of complaining about it... don't get me going. I'm usually quite happy with Tesla service but I pay for it and agree with Stuart they're not a charity.

I don't see the correlation between taking a risk and investing in a stock that happens to pay off and the costs you have to pay for service. Should the people who bought at $265 get free service?

+1. Could not have said it better than you and strider.

 

[Stuart]

Do you know how much they pay their service center employees? It's not much.

To give due credit, I should say that the service center employees have generally been excellent. My commentary concerns the corporate policy about how much they charge for it, not the employees who do the work.

Tesla continues to suggest on its web site that that electric cars have lower maintenance costs than ICE cars:

<http://www.teslamotors.com/goelectric#savings>

(I suppose, if we’re being pedantic, the web page is claiming that electric cars require less maintenance than ICE cars, not that it costs less.)

 

[Stuart]

Replacement key fob battery: $6.37

Tesla always charged me $13 for this — two CR1616 cells at $6.50 each. (For context, on Amazon you can get a five-pack of CR1616’s from a reputable manufacturer like Maxell for about $3.)

The irony is that I have one Roadster key on my keyring, which I use, and another Roadster key by itself, which I don’t use, which is the one I leave when the car is being serviced.

So, the key I use is still on the original cells and is still working fine, but the key I don’t use has had its unused cells thrown in the trash every year. (At $13/yr, that adds up to $65 over five years.)

[Posting edited to correct which kind of lithium cells the key uses. If you’re planning to buy new cells for your key, you need CR1616, not CR2016.]

 

[JRP3]

Some of the things Tesla does seem to be completely opposite from Elon's vision. Overcharging for unnecessary wiper blades is not "operating from first principles". The ill will generated is not worth the few dollars they collect. Anyone try contacting him directly about some of this stuff?