Thoughts on Prepaid Service and Extended Warranty

[Sony SS-M7]

Are you all planning on taking your X's in once a year? If so, how many are planning on doing the prepaid option? For the 8yr, I think you save $800 on today's pricing and I'm guessing the cost of service over time will only go up if it changes at all.

I don't know the cost of the extended warranty, and normally I never would buy an extended warranty, but with such a high tech car, I'm on the fence. No idea how much it costs as pricing isn't listed on the website, but any thoughts on this too?

 

[quartzav]

I would buy it... Too many gizmos that can go wrong

 

[Sony SS-M7]

I would buy it... Too many gizmos that can go wrong

Did you buy it? How much was the extended warranty?

 

[quartzav]

I would buy it when it's available and not insanely priced. No, I don't have a crystal ball to know how much it will be. my estimate is $500 over comparable S plan

 

[K-MTG]

Are the service plans or extended 4 year warranty available yet for the X? Also, what happened when you sell the car or trade it in.

 

[Sony SS-M7]

I think the service plans are, but can't see any pricing for the extended warranty.

I'm thinking if you trade it in, you lose it, but it would be transferable to a new owner if you sold it. Just guessing though.

 

[Softwizard]

I am planning on buying (pre-paying) the full 8 years. I think it's no longer transferable if I sell my MX, but I agree with a previous post that there are too many electric gizmos. At least if there is a problem, I'll be able to hold up my extended warranty paperwork and say WTF Besides what's another $4K now...

 

[Tam]

...planning on doing the prepaid option?...

I don't have Model X, but I do have a much cheaper Model S and I did not hesitate to pre-pay Service Plans as well as Service Agreement (extended warranty.)

Both are well worth your investment and if you sell your car back to Tesla, it will refund the unused amount back to you.

I wear a $15 watch and I didn't buy any warranty for it because if it's broken, I can afford to buy another one easily. But that is not the case with my Model S.

I do bring in my Model S in every year and they did a whole lot of stuffs each time.

If someone buys a used car and previous owner didn't buy extended warranty, new owner can't buy the extended warranty.

If someone buys Certified Pre-owned car from Tesla, they can't buy the extended warranty either.

If you sell your car to someone else, those are added values because you can transfer to a new owner for a fee and new owner would get the entire benefit of basic 4 year warranty and additional 4 year extended warranty.

 

[Gaston]

> ...and they did a whole lot of stuff each time.

That's what warranty is for, right?
The actual service plan is terribly expensive if you see what it entails.

So, please correct me if I am wrong, we're better off without the prepaid service plan. All issues with the car will be fixed under warranty. If warranty expires any new issues are not covered by a service plan anyway.
Extended warranty might be useful.

 

[Tam]

...The actual service plan is terribly expensive if you see what it entails...

Without paying for a Service Plan you can still get free repairs under the warranty.

However, Tesla does not have to do any repair until a problem flares up and by that time you might be stalled on the road.

With a Service Plan, Tesla fixes things that are proactive and not even covered under the warranty.

Both of my FOBs were severely worn out cosmetically but they were functioning perfectly but Tesla replaced them for no charge. They were not broken so technically the replacements were not covered under the warranty. That's hundreds of dollars right there.

The cover under the front bumper and the frunk were severely scratched because I first didn't appreciate the use my Air Suspension properly and Tesla replaced that for free while that would cost others hundreds of dollars.

Tesla proactively switched out my 12V battery even though I got no symptoms/warnings from it and my VIN was not qualified for any Internal Service Bulletin. It's technically not broken and the replacement could have costed me another few hundreds of dollars but I've been doing this annual thing for 3 years and each time the bill is zero!


In addition, if I didn’t bring my car in, I wouldn’t know about Service Bulletins that gave me a free set of floor carpet upgrade and they installed a free upgraded bigger pair of windshield visors for my classic Model S.

Ok! Too much "free" but just like "free" Superchargers, it's technically "included" in the Service Plans/Agreement pricing.

So take your pick:

1) Free warranty and passively wait for your car to stall on the road

or

2) Pay Extra and pro-actively maintain your car.

 

[vandacca]

Without paying for a Service Plan you can still get free repairs under the warranty.

However, Tesla does not have to do any repair until a problem flares up and by that time you might be stalled on the road.

With a Service Plan, Tesla fixes things that are proactive and not even covered under the warranty.

Both of my FOBs were severely worn out cosmetically but they were functioning perfectly but Tesla replaced them for no charge. They were not broken so technically the replacements were not covered under the warranty. That's hundreds of dollars right there.

The cover under the front bumper and the frunk were severely scratched because I first didn't appreciate the use my Air Suspension properly and Tesla replaced that for free while that would cost others hundreds of dollars.

Tesla proactively switched out my 12V battery even though I got no symptoms/warnings from it and my VIN was not qualified for any Internal Service Bulletin. It's technically not broken and the replacement could have costed me another few hundreds of dollars but I've been doing this annual thing for 3 years and each time the bill is zero!


In addition, if I didn’t bring my car in, I wouldn’t know about Service Bulletins that gave me a free set of floor carpet upgrade and they installed a free upgraded bigger pair of windshield visors for my classic Model S.

Ok! Too much "free" but just like "free" Superchargers, it's technically "included" in the Service Plans/Agreement pricing.

So take your pick:

1) Free warranty and passively wait for your car to stall on the road

or

2) Pay Extra and pro-actively maintain your car.

I don't think a 12V battery is going to be much more than $100, but let's just say $300 for each of those items. That's going to be around $1200. How much was the service plan? If it was a lot more than $1200, then I'd say it would have been cheaper to pay for the repairs individually, as required.

 

[Tam]

...How much was the service plan...

According to Jon Wray | January 31, 2013, a physical FOB costs $350 and you have to pay 1 hour of labor cost for programming which is another $175. So, that's $525 for one.

That pair of FOB replacement ($525x2=$1,050) alone is much more expensive than a $500 pre-paid annual Service plan ($4,000 / 8 years = $500.)


I agree that a 12V battery replacement should not cost more than $100 but you'll be surprised if it is done by a dealer or in this case, Tesla. I would estimate around $200 to 400 as the minimum labor is already $175.

By the way, Tesla has many "Service Bulletins" which are not voluntary nor mandatory recalls. Those includes perks that I got like free carpets, free visor upgrades but also more serious stuffs like window rails/mechanisms, chrome finish, seals, bolts, screws and washers....

Tesla is not obligated to perform "Service Bulletins" unless you bring your car in.

 

[Keith]

I was never offered a service plan or warranty for my X. When were they supposed to offer that to me?

 

[Gaston]

I certainly think that Tesla has given you great customer service, doing all that pro-active maintenance. Not sure if this is standard customer service at all SCs?

I will buy the extended warranty for my Model X and have it serviced by Tesla, but without the prepaid service plan. I guess this will be fine and hopefully still gives me that superb pro-active maintenance.

 

[Tam]

...Not sure if this is standard customer service at all SCs...

That is correct! All Service Centers are not as nice for doing things that are not covered by the warranty.

However, it is consistent that Service Centers proactively make sure to do things to lessen your chance of being stranded on the roads.

There have been reports that they proactively swap out very expensive Drive Units that owners had no complaints. (Drive Units is a module that consists of 1) Inverter, 2) Gear Box, 3) Motor and costs about $18,000.)


I think it is wise to get covered with Extended Service Agreement (Extended Warranty.)


I don’t know why the price of Extended Service Agreement (Extended Warranty) is not posted.


It used to be $4,000 for year 5 to 8 or 50,000 miles to 100,000 whichever comes first.

If that is too much to you, consider the following case:

rmbod | September 3, 2015

Who drove 60,000 miles in 2.5 years and his 17” display gone bad which could have costed him $4,000 without the Extended Service Agreement. Fortunately he was able to work out 1 time deal with Tesla. And I don't think other Service Centers are just as gracious as that one.

 

[Ven Rala]

I don't think a 12V battery is going to be much more than $100, but let's just say $300 for each of those items. That's going to be around $1200. How much was the service plan? If it was a lot more than $1200, then I'd say it would have been cheaper to pay for the repairs individually, as required.

I just had the 12V battery replaced 'out of warranty' and it was $319 with labor and tax.

 

[madodel]

I just called the Springfield NJ Service Center to ask about the 3rd row recall (still don't have the seats yet) and also asked about the Model X Service plan. The person put me on hold and said he checked and told me it is the same price as the Model S, then I told him I had been waiting and asking for almost 3 months since I picked up my X and been told that it wasn't finalized yet and he told me he has to check with his manager to see if I can still get it since it is now beyond the 60 days. Beginning to think Tesla Service is like Military Intelligence. Anyway hopefully they clear it up tomorrow. Maybe need to tweet Elon as he seems to be the only one who knows for sure what is going on.

 

[Tam]

...now beyond the 60 days...

Has Your Model X Page looked like My Model S page with a red button "Services Signup"?

 

[madodel]

Has Your Model X Page looked like My Model S page with a red button "Services Signup"?

No red button on MyTesla page for my Model X. Just the Charging Installation, My Contacts and the My Documents sections. I think the person I spoke with was incorrect about the Model X Service Plan being available, but he sounded pretty sure. I tweeted Elon. Most likely I will never hear back, but it's worth a try. Hopefully I hear from someone at some point.

 

[omarsultan]

I bought the ESA on my Model S because the car was only 1 year into production at the time and the 8-year/infinite mile warranty was not a thing, so everything was a bit more risky back then. But reality is the car (now at ~84K miles) has been pretty bulletproof. Tesla made money on me with the ESA. Based on those experiences, we'll not be getting the extended warranty on the Model X.