Upset with service costs, is this normal

[Evoforce]

Another example, I had a rear seat latch mechanism that broke. Tesla said that they had to order the whole rear seat back for $2000 because just the latch was not serviceable. They also were afraid they may not find the seat available either. I went home and repaired it better than new for a few dollars and a little time. That was a good payday too!

Now let me qualify, I have also been very happy with Tesla Service for all other things...under warranty..

They have also been great in the past to me in what they called good will repairs.

 

[Evoforce]

You got what you paid for.

I got the same result as Tesla would have provided and was paid handsomely for my time!

 

[Qbenjamin]

One of the primary reason that I'll never own a Tesla outside of the warranty period (or any luxury vehicle).

 

[mswlogo]

One of the primary reason that I'll never own a Tesla outside of the warranty period (or any luxury vehicle).

Brakes are typically not covered though.

 

[jboy210]

My family runs service shops and I have seen this numerous times. People that own high end cars get shocked when they have to pay for repairs. The worse we every had was a young man who brought an AMG Merc. It had a ZF high performance automatic transmission that was trashed. He had just bought the 6-7 year old car for under $20,000. The transmission was a special variant used for the only one or two years of AMG special signature editions. We could not find a used one under $15,000. He was in tears in the office. He ended up towing it away. No idea if it every ran again.

Bottom line the parts for a $100,000+ car do not drop with the price of the car. And labor prices are always going up.

 

[viperssd]

Brakes are typically not covered though.

Also, really anyone can do brakes so this should be fairly cheap.

 

[jboy210]

Also, really anyone can do brakes so this should be fairly cheap.

Agreed. I believe Tesla brakes are Brembos which are pretty common.

 

[aloha1906]

As someone who is debating the merits of the extended warranty versus putting the money in the bank, can you share a bit more information that breaks down the costs of: control arm work, new tires/wheels/alignment, and any misc fees? I think I am reading $7100 for the control arms only which sounds like it would be a warranty issue because I experienced that while in warranty repaired at no cost. I don’t know if this could occur again or what may cause this. I need to do some research but I don’t recall hearing about this often.

 

[oneplusinc]

I have a 2017 Model X that I love. Never had any serious issues. Hit 65,000 miles and finally got a new set of tires/wheels/alignment/service done at Tesla Burbank. I got the car back and it didn't drive the same and then a squeaking noise began in the left right suspension when going over any little bump. I brought it to Tesla Centinela because Burbank didn't have appointments and they are now saying I need $7100 in repairs done. Replacing the control arms and brake pads. I told them i can't afford it and they said it was only necessary to fix the right side Control arm for $3300, fixing the left side would be preventative. If i wanted brake pad replace i was additional $900.... Are these prices outrageous? If i wanted to pick up the car to go get an opinion elsewhere i needed to pay a $400 "diagnosis fee". I've never had issues with anything Tesla before but this doesnt seem right?

I'm so sorry you're experiencing this. I am too, but luckily still under warranty. I had my first set of tire replacements done on my 2017 MX at ~35k miles and after that, the car drove like an unsafe piece of junk. See my story here: Violently out of alignment - 5 repair attempts

My guess is that they did an alignment with that tire replacement and you are suffering the same fate I am.

Your experience has confirmed for me that I want out out out of this Tesla experiment. Yesterday.

 

[kennethowens]

You got what you paid for.

Good and allways check for TESLA parts online

 

[Aggmeister2010]

Has anyone seen or anyone started a DIY repair thread or posts for Tesla owners for these type of repairs? With my typical ICE cars there were always videos of people doing their own repairs in detail or at least pictures to go with instructions on how to do the task.

Tesla repair videos are few and far between, unfortunately. I considered making some, but the folks in the local Tesla Club that I polled didn't seem to care. They're all "Take it to the SC" folks.

But to be honest, Tesla's are pretty simple to work on. There's far less grime and heat and mess than dealing with ICE cars, the components themselves are generally simpler to service or swap, and as long as you know what you're doing, it's hard to screw stuff up.

I've done a decent amount of suspension work on mine myself - suspension wise, they're quite similar to Mercedes (especially the air suspension....same exact air struts IIRC). Brakes are super straight forward too.

I have a 2017 Model X that I love. Never had any serious issues. Hit 65,000 miles and finally got a new set of tires/wheels/alignment/service done at Tesla Burbank. I got the car back and it didn't drive the same and then a squeaking noise began in the left right suspension when going over any little bump. I brought it to Tesla Centinela because Burbank didn't have appointments and they are now saying I need $7100 in repairs done. Replacing the control arms and brake pads. I told them i can't afford it and they said it was only necessary to fix the right side Control arm for $3300, fixing the left side would be preventative. If i wanted brake pad replace i was additional $900.... Are these prices outrageous? If i wanted to pick up the car to go get an opinion elsewhere i needed to pay a $400 "diagnosis fee". I've never had issues with anything Tesla before but this doesnt seem right?

I'm 99% confident that SB-17-31-001 (that another poster mentioned as well) is the resolution to your issues. My 5/2016 P90D is going in for service next week for that exact bulletin. Found out about it because the car failed two alignments and the caster kept creeping out.

The big front bushing on the control arm has an eccentric bolt that lets you adjust caster - if it gets micro-tears in it, your front wheels will be able to move forward and backward as the car moves. That means your steering will wander quite a bit, and you'll start to notice your wheels rub the fender liner randomly.

If you're out of warranty, replacing the front lower control arms is super easy - but you need to get an alignment when it's done.