Tesla: The real out of warranty costs

[Brian-MS90D]

@LCR1 every example you mentioned (including Ferarri), that company has been in existence for decades and sold dramatically more cars than Tesla. When you buy a Tesla, you're buying from a company that is brand new and is intentionally doing things different from the old days. Everyone knows this in advance. Tesla doesn't want to be like everyone else (no matter how much you want them to be)!

 

[Atlantan]

While calculating the real costs, shouldn't we be factoring in how much money a Model S is saving us vs a comparable ICE car (assuming acquisition cost, depreciation, tires brakes and rotors wear were all equal to a performance ICE car)

IF I choose to keep the car out of bumper to bumper warranty and MCU is replaced say once every two years, per my calculation, the savings pay for the replacement. The Drive Units replaced under warranty, I would like to know how many were actually dead on the side of the road vs replaced for low volume whine from the motor.

I am leaning towards keeping it past the bumper to bumper warranty expires, at least until the battery and drivetrain are under warranty.

 

[roblab]

How many motors and revisions has Tesla gone through?

Leafs are pushing 150-200k and still dead quiet. How many 1st gen S/Rav motors can even hit 30k without screaming and whining?

My Rav is at 60k and on its 3rd motor. Lol

I don't know how many motors Tesla has gone through... But my S was not screaming or whining as far as I could tell at 80K Current one is at 60K, not whining. Sold RAV at 60K, not whining, original motor.

Unless you mean the standard gear reduction noise that it came with when new.

 

[KidDoc]

While calculating the real costs, shouldn't we be factoring in how much money a Model S is saving us vs a comparable ICE car (assuming acquisition cost, depreciation, tires brakes and rotors wear were all equal to a performance ICE car)

IF I choose to keep the car out of bumper to bumper warranty and MCU is replaced say once every two years, per my calculation, the savings pay for the replacement. The Drive Units replaced under warranty, I would like to know how many were actually dead on the side of the road vs replaced for low volume whine from the motor.

I am leaning towards keeping it past the bumper to bumper warranty expires, at least until the battery and drivetrain are under warranty.

I took that bet as well and it has not been going well because even very minor things are expensive because they do not fix anything they just replace.

Leaking seal into headliner $1000
Door handle extends but doesn't open the door $750
Brake lights with bugs in them $950

That is just in the last year and my car is not yet 4 years old just at 65k miles now. I have since rescinded my bet and I purchased a 3rd party plan.

 

[Atlantan]

I took that bet as well and it has not been going well because even very minor things are expensive because they do not fix anything they just replace.

Leaking seal into headliner $1000
Door handle extends but doesn't open the door $750
Brake lights with bugs in them $950

That is just in the last year and my car is not yet 4 years old just at 65k miles now. I have since rescinded my bet and I purchased a 3rd party plan.

Thanks for the input @KidDoc, in that case I may have to reconsider and cut if loose after the bumper to bumper warranty expires. My track record with keeping cars isn't great, my better half has agreed to letting me buy any car IF I keep the S till warranty expires in June of 2020. By then my younger one should have his own car and I could get by with a 2 seater...lots of options

Cheers

 

[Electricious]

I took that bet as well and it has not been going well because even very minor things are expensive because they do not fix anything they just replace.

Leaking seal into headliner $1000
Door handle extends but doesn't open the door $750
Brake lights with bugs in them $950

That is just in the last year and my car is not yet 4 years old just at 65k miles now. I have since rescinded my bet and I purchased a 3rd party plan.

What third party warranty did you buy? Have you used it yet?

 

[Ketchups]

Why is Tesla refusing to service his out of warranty Model S? Salvage Title?

 

[LCR1]

@LCR1 every example you mentioned (including Ferarri), that company has been in existence for decades and sold dramatically more cars than Tesla. When you buy a Tesla, you're buying from a company that is brand new and is intentionally doing things different from the old days. Everyone knows this in advance. Tesla doesn't want to be like everyone else (no matter how much you want them to be)!

There is no reason not to sell parts to someone and forcing them to use your services.

 

[Zaxxon]

Leaf Spy Pro recently added the ability to disable the noise maker via software so you don't need to go trying to pull the speaker. It's intended for those with US '12+ Leafs which don't even have the noisemaker disable button any more but I believe it works on the '11.

It came thanks to this post: Disable VSP sound by software - My Nissan Leaf Forum. Bizarre that it came out of left field as that guy's 1st post on an 11-month old account. Turbo3, the author, implemented it and put it into Leaf Spy Pro.

I'd give you a Like, Love, and Informative if I could. Thanks! Just nuked my 17 Leaf's backup and fake whine noises. My neighbors thank you.

 

[KidDoc]

What third party warranty did you buy? Have you used it yet?

CarShield and no I am still in the 30 day/1000 mile probation. It has good reviews overall online- cost me $5200 with $100 per repair maximum of $15000 payout. Extends my warranty until 2022/113,000 miles. They do require you follow the recommended maintenance so I'll be making an appointment for the 4 year service in the next month. Will see how it goes.

 

[P85Dave]

CarShield and no I am still in the 30 day/1000 mile probation. It has good reviews overall online- cost me $5200 with $100 per repair maximum of $15000 payout. Extends my warranty until 2022/113,000 miles. They do require you follow the recommended maintenance so I'll be making an appointment for the 4 year service in the next month. Will see how it goes.

Please keep us posted. If we keep our Tesla beyond the ESA the only way we will keep the car is if we can buy a warranty.

Wish Tesla would offer a similar warranty beyond 100,000 miles.

 

[roblab]

The point is I shouldn't have to look at youtube, buy new tools, and spend hours of my free time for minor repairs. I have a job and skillset already I should not have to learn new skills and upgrade my garage due to a car company's unwillingness to sell their repair manuals to independent shops and insist on replacing instead of repairing any and every part when something goes wrong.

"The point is" that those who want to save a few bucks on a simple repair go to Youtube to find out how, or dig into the car itself and see what they can and can't do. Those with a job and a skillset can pay someone else to do their repairs. And for the record, my local body shop was able to get access to Tesla's repair manuals. You might want to change repair shops.

One of my favorite sayings has been, "When you stop learning, you're dead."

 

[David_Cary]

Minimal repairs on mine. Never stranded. 54k miles. Not owning a Tesla out of warranty talk to me is paranoia. If you spent $5k a year on repairs, you would still come out ahead vs depreciation on a new one. The expensive parts are under warranty until 8 years anyway.

 

[Brian-MS90D]

There is no reason not to sell parts to someone and forcing them to use your services.

That would certainly be your opinion if Tesla was your company to run. My point is that this reality is not a surprise. I would maybe go so far as to say complaining about it is the same as complaining that one's Tesla doesn't have a back up ICE generator like the Volt.

 

[P85Dave]

That would certainly be your opinion if Tesla was your company to run. My point is that this reality is not a surprise. I would maybe go so far as to say complaining about it is the same as complaining that one's Tesla doesn't have a back up ICE generator like the Volt.

Wow.

I guess you disagree with Elon Musk on how Tesla should be run What Makes Tesla such a wonderful company that I love so much is not necessarily because they get all their decisions right the first time, but because they listen to customer feedback and improve or do better.

Pay particular attention to point #3 on the video @ 1:45.

 

[Brian-MS90D]

Wow.

I guess you disagree with Elon Musk on how Tesla should be run What Makes Tesla such a wonderful company that I love so much is not necessarily because they get all their decisions right the first time, but because they listen to customer feedback and improve or do better.

Pay particular attention to point #3 on the video @ 1:45.

Again, you're merely projecting your own preferences onto Tesla. An equally valid opposite argument is that the Tesla way is better. I would also argue that the dealership/distributorship method is old and bad; Tesla should not mimic it.

I never said Tesla is perfect. In fact, at the end of the day you could be right and Tesla's failure to mimic the old traditional auto industry will be its downfall. However, today when you buy a Tesla, you're buying from a company that has barely existed and is intentionally doing things different from the old days. Everyone knows this in advance. I read a lot of crying here on this topic as if Tesla has wronged people because of this and I disagree strongly with that.

 

[tyson]

Again, you're merely projecting your own preferences onto Tesla. An equally valid opposite argument is that the Tesla way is better. I would also argue that the dealership/distributorship method is old and bad; Tesla should not mimic it.

I never said Tesla is perfect. In fact, at the end of the day you could be right and Tesla's failure to mimic the old traditional auto industry will be its downfall. However, today when you buy a Tesla, you're buying from a company that has barely existed and is intentionally doing things different from the old days. Everyone knows this in advance. I read a lot of crying here on this topic as if Tesla has wronged people because of this and I disagree strongly with that.

I don't think anyone would argue that Tesla should "mimic the old traditional auto industry". There is a huge difference between having a dealership/distributor model and allowing third party shops to service vehicles that are out of warranty or allowing people to work on their own cars. That's what is being discussed here. Service only, not the "dealership" model.

Elon's stated goal is to further adoption of electric vehicles. One way to kill that for people buying used Tesla's, those that are at the end of or way past warranty is to make it prohibitively expensive to fix/maintain them. Model 3 will prove this in 5 years or so when they start entering the secondary market en mass. The secondary market is a HUGE part of furthering the adoption of electric cars. If you don't have a secondary market then you are only playing with half the market at very best.

 

[tyson]

To add some data to my post.. 17.6 million new vehicles were sold in 2016, which was a record at the time. However, there were 268.8 million cars registered across the US that same year. So just over 6.5% of cars on the road were new cars.

 

[Electricious]

I don't think anyone would argue that Tesla should "mimic the old traditional auto industry". There is a huge difference between having a dealership/distributor model and allowing third party shops to service vehicles that are out of warranty or allowing people to work on their own cars. That's what is being discussed here. Service only, not the "dealership" model.

Elon's stated goal is to further adoption of electric vehicles. One way to kill that for people buying used Tesla's, those that are at the end of or way past warranty is to make it prohibitively expensive to fix/maintain them. Model 3 will prove this in 5 years or so when they start entering the secondary market en mass. The secondary market is a HUGE part of furthering the adoption of electric cars. If you don't have a secondary market then you are only playing with half the market at very best.

This is what some people who blindly defend the status quo does not understand.

If they refuse to sell parts and these cars end up with a reputation for being exorbitantly expensive to fix out of warranty, the value of out of warranty Tesla vehicles will plummet and all Tesla owners will pay for this in higher depreciation costs.

 

[Brian-MS90D]

@Electricious , ironically it is you who are defending the status quo and arguing that Tesla should mimic the status quote regarding service/parts.

We'll have to agree to disagree. You guys sounds like those (Nokia, Palm, Microsoft) who scoffed at Apple's weird closed system way of doing things early on. Only time will tell which of us is right.