Warranty inverter failure - charge for testing?

[+ARDIS3]

Hi, all.

My 2018 M3 LR with 43k miles recently threw a BMS_a170 (Acceleration and Top Speed Reduced) and BMS_a027 error (Power Limited, OK to drive). I made an appointment with Tesla Service, and they found that the rear inverter had failed testing. My new-car warranty just expired in October, but the inverter is part of the eight-year drivetrain/battery warranty.

However, it looks like they are still charging me $420 (plus WA tax) for two hours of diagnosis?
It looks like labor is covered for warranty repairs, so I'm a bit confused.

Anyone have experience with this?
Thanks!

 

[804son]

If it ends up being a warranty issue, which it sounds like it is. I believe they remove that charge. To be sure just ask in the service app.

 

[+ARDIS3]

They took a few hours to respond to my message, but did remove the charge. They are saying that they did it as goodwill, since it wasn't communicated, but that the charge was for a "HV battery integrity check".

I'm not super-impressed by that line of reasoning, since the "integrity check" is apparently super-easy, and just involves opening the service menu, and shouldn't be two hours of labor. Plus, the diagnosis led to a part failure that's under warranty...

Otherwise, it's the only real thing that's required repair on the car, other than a power-seat switch, and a set of tires, so I'm pretty happy overall.

 

[jkdman123]

They took a few hours to respond to my message, but did remove the charge. They are saying that they did it as goodwill, since it wasn't communicated, but that the charge was for a "HV battery integrity check".

I'm not super-impressed by that line of reasoning, since the "integrity check" is apparently super-easy, and just involves opening the service menu, and shouldn't be two hours of labor. Plus, the diagnosis led to a part failure that's under warranty...

Otherwise, it's the only real thing that's required repair on the car, other than a power-seat switch, and a set of tires, so I'm pretty happy overall.

It's good that they removed the charge, but FYI, even for warranty work, my experience has been that they send an estimate that shows charges. When you get there, they zero out the charges for anything that's under warranty.

I would guess they do that to cover themselves in case they find anything with your issue that isn't covered by the warranty, they can say you approved the estimate so pay up.

 

[XCare EV]

Tesla Service defaults a charge for diagnostics, but if confirmed its cover under warranty, they should roll the diag cost into the warranty payment. If they find out that there was some outside forces to cause the issue, then they charge you the diag and cost of replacement.

It is a little backwards, especially if you are under warranty for that component. It should be they assume its covered, unless they find a reason why its not, and then charge you, but what they do is the reverse.

 

[letterk]

I've owned Tesla's since 2018, and only seen a pre-repair estimate with an actual charge once, on the 2022 Model 3 I own now. And it wasn't a diagnostic fee, it was a fee to repair the component that broke. They also told me that they would drop the charge if it should be covered under warranty. They did not. Still charged me. My three cars have all been in for warranty repair many, many times, and this is the first time they've done this to me. So I don't trust the "they will drop the charge" thing.

 

[comanchepilot]

how would they know what to replace if they don't do the test? If you have a warranty repair that is required any dx necessary to get to that point is on them - if there is a mixed repair of warranty and non-warranty items then they can attempt to collect a portion of the cost - but if its not disclosed on the estimate in most states they cannot charge for it later . . .

 

[jkdman123]

I've owned Tesla's since 2018, and only seen a pre-repair estimate with an actual charge once, on the 2022 Model 3 I own now. And it wasn't a diagnostic fee, it was a fee to repair the component that broke. They also told me that they would drop the charge if it should be covered under warranty. They did not. Still charged me. My three cars have all been in for warranty repair many, many times, and this is the first time they've done this to me. So I don't trust the "they will drop the charge" thing.

Not all service centers do the same things. I've seen it at least 3 times where I made an appt for an obvious warranty issue and the estimate had charges that they later zeroed out.

 

[JDM06026]

I had the same fault and got banged for the diagnostic charge. Questioned it, and they didn’t remove it. That’s trash in my mind, but not worth setting the place on fire over. There were other things they looked at as good will so I’ll consider it a wash