It's a no-no. I know. I'm not in the market for one but one just kind of presented itself to me. A 2013 85KwH, fully loaded, fixed and looking/ working nice at an impossible to believe price. When I say impossible to believe I mean pretty much impossible. The guy seems terrified of what's going to happen to him financially should it break. I don't blame him.
First off, the things I know: Tesla's warranty is gone. I have no powertrain warranty on the car if I get it and if it needs a drive unit at some point (likely) I'm totally boned. It's an out of pocket expense. No bueno. If there's an issue with the battery, forget about it. It's a paperweight. I also know that Tesla has disabled the internal 3G radio and the car's supercharging capabilities. So I spoke with Tesla's corporate offices and with a few service centers. Everyone was really nice but nobody really had confidence in the advice they were giving me. Corporate said:
The car must be re-certified. To do this I would take the car to a Tesla certified body shop and they would confirm that the work is done to Tesla's specifications. If it is not then I would either need to pay to have it brought to their specifications or they'll never touch it, even if I want to pay to have it worked on. Fair enough. If the car DOES pass the bodyshop's inspection they would then accept it at a service center where I could then request that they re-activate the 3G radio and supercharger capabilities. The person I spoke to seemed confident that for a re-certified car, both would be turned back on with no fuss.
Here are my questions for the group:
1. In the group's experience or given what you've seen on these forums, do people have a hard time getting their body shops to re-certify these cars?
2. If the car is re-certified, do they generally re-activate the internet/ 3G and supercharging capabilities as they said they would?
3. If (when) the drive unit fails, does anyone know what the out of pocket replacement cost is? I've seen 15k but I can't find anyone that's actually paid that (or anything).
4. If I do pay out of pocket for a drive unit do they then warranty that part now that they've replaced it?
A word to those that say don't do it:
I know, trust me I do. The car is being offered to me for a price that's basically the same as a parts car and it's fully running with no issues. It's almost to the point where I'm reasonably confident that if the drive unit failed the day after I bought it I could simply sell the car for parts and instantly recoup my investment. That is the only reason I'm even entertaining this idea. I'm weighing the potential downside to the potential upside. While I've been looking at used Model S's as a main car, I'd probably buy this as an extra car just to play with and put off actually replacing my main car with one.
First off, the things I know: Tesla's warranty is gone. I have no powertrain warranty on the car if I get it and if it needs a drive unit at some point (likely) I'm totally boned. It's an out of pocket expense. No bueno. If there's an issue with the battery, forget about it. It's a paperweight. I also know that Tesla has disabled the internal 3G radio and the car's supercharging capabilities. So I spoke with Tesla's corporate offices and with a few service centers. Everyone was really nice but nobody really had confidence in the advice they were giving me. Corporate said:
The car must be re-certified. To do this I would take the car to a Tesla certified body shop and they would confirm that the work is done to Tesla's specifications. If it is not then I would either need to pay to have it brought to their specifications or they'll never touch it, even if I want to pay to have it worked on. Fair enough. If the car DOES pass the bodyshop's inspection they would then accept it at a service center where I could then request that they re-activate the 3G radio and supercharger capabilities. The person I spoke to seemed confident that for a re-certified car, both would be turned back on with no fuss.
Here are my questions for the group:
1. In the group's experience or given what you've seen on these forums, do people have a hard time getting their body shops to re-certify these cars?
2. If the car is re-certified, do they generally re-activate the internet/ 3G and supercharging capabilities as they said they would?
3. If (when) the drive unit fails, does anyone know what the out of pocket replacement cost is? I've seen 15k but I can't find anyone that's actually paid that (or anything).
4. If I do pay out of pocket for a drive unit do they then warranty that part now that they've replaced it?
A word to those that say don't do it:
I know, trust me I do. The car is being offered to me for a price that's basically the same as a parts car and it's fully running with no issues. It's almost to the point where I'm reasonably confident that if the drive unit failed the day after I bought it I could simply sell the car for parts and instantly recoup my investment. That is the only reason I'm even entertaining this idea. I'm weighing the potential downside to the potential upside. While I've been looking at used Model S's as a main car, I'd probably buy this as an extra car just to play with and put off actually replacing my main car with one.
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