What to do ? owners of S's about to go out of 8 year warranty

[George S. Bower]

Yeh I know it's a bit of a stretch but 2020 will be here before we know it.

At that point we will own a car with no battery or drivetrain warranty.

The main impact to said owners will be resale value.

So here's the question:

Sell now while there's still 2+ years of warranty left or

Hold and just enjoy the car.

Replacement packs are 12-17k$ NOW. So maybe pack replacement is an option.

What do you think???

 

[AEdennis]

Yeh I know it's a bit of a stretch but 2020 will be here before we know it.

At that point we will own a car with no battery or drivetrain warranty.

The main impact to said owners will be resale value.

So here's the question:

Sell now while there's still 2+ years of warranty left or

Hold and just enjoy the car.

Replacement packs are 12-17k$ NOW. So maybe pack replacement is an option.

What do you think???

You can ask those of us with 2008 Tesla Roadsters and see what OUR experience is like with Tesla.

It would seem to be analagous to the future you're looking at.

 

[florida2017]

Get a new Tesla in 2020, comparing a 2012 to a 2020 is just not close to the same.
The Tesla will always be great but Elon works on constant improvement and 2012 will be like comparing a smart phone from 2012 to 2020, sort of.

 

[George S. Bower]

You can ask those of us with 2008 Tesla Roadsters and see what OUR experience is like with Tesla.

It would seem to be analagous to the future you're looking at.

Consider it asked. Did you guys see a big drop in resale when the battery went off warranty??

 

[demundus]

Yeh I know it's a bit of a stretch but 2020 will be here before we know it.

At that point we will own a car with no battery or drivetrain warranty.

The main impact to said owners will be resale value.

So here's the question:

Sell now while there's still 2+ years of warranty left or

Hold and just enjoy the car.

Replacement packs are 12-17k$ NOW. So maybe pack replacement is an option.

What do you think???

Are you having issues with your battery? They salvage these cars at the drop of a hat... once you're out of warranty there are some people floating around the USA who would help you do the swap for some $$. If it even came to that.

 

[AEdennis]

There is a 3.0 Battery upgrade available to Roadster owners.

The cost is $30k and many have opted to do that.

The resale price of Roadsters are pretty steady and hold to the same dynamics that they have done the past few years, but other guys around here watch those like a hawk...

 

[freeewilly]

I will keep it as long as my MS is in good shape, and wait for the completely redesign (exterior, interior, battery pack) MS coming out in a few years.

 

[George S. Bower]

The resale price of Roadsters are pretty steady and hold to the same dynamics that they have done the past few years, .

That's a good point. I used to watch Roadster prices and they did seem to hold up pretty well.

 

[George S. Bower]

There is a 3.0 Battery upgrade available to Roadster owners.

The cost is $30k and many have opted to do that.

.

Just curious if Tesla offers a replacement pack for roadster with the same kwh's as stock for less $. Doesn't the 30K pack have more kwh's??

 

[kort677]

Yeh I know it's a bit of a stretch but 2020 will be here before we know it.

At that point we will own a car with no battery or drivetrain warranty.

The main impact to said owners will be resale value.

So here's the question:

Sell now while there's still 2+ years of warranty left or

Hold and just enjoy the car.

Replacement packs are 12-17k$ NOW. So maybe pack replacement is an option.

What do you think???

have you considered getting a new vehicle?

 

[Darren Donovan]

I'm not sure how relevant the comparison to the Roadster is, because it was discontinued. Model S will be in production for a while, that alone will impact resale prices. I also don't like how bad the QC and reliability are on the current Tesla vehicles.

 

[kort677]

I'm not sure how relevant the comparison to the Roadster is, because it was discontinued. Model S will be in production for a while, that alone will impact resale prices. I also don't like how bad the QC and reliability are on the current Tesla vehicles.

the roadster was essentially a concept car where 2k+ units were actually sold to the public. essentially these cars have a status of one notch above orphan. the model S is a far different animal.

 

[Half Dollar Bill]

Some of us have already exceeded the extended warranty mileage, so we're on our own for everything but the battery and drivetrain.
Unless you have a crystal ball and KNOW your stuff is going to die immediately after 8 years......
I'd posit that financially, it should be better to invest money in a non-appreciating object as late as possible. If there's nothing wrong with your car after 8 years, why worry and just keep driving it, if it still gives you joy. At the point that the motor or battery die, then you're going to have a monetary outflow, either for a new component or a new car. If there's still nothing else wrong with the car AND it still gives me joy, I'd probably opt for the component replacement. If for some reason the car doesn't make me happy, then I'd opt for a new one, taking advantage of all the available new features that I might not have had access to at the end of the 8 year warranty period.
There's going to be 100 different replies to the question and no one answer will be the right one for everyone. Things break; that's inevitable. But for every owner that has a problem in their first week there will be another owner that gets to 200,000 miles without an issue. Just drive the car and have tons of fun doing it.

 

[kort677]

Some of us have already exceeded the extended warranty mileage, so we're on our own for everything but the battery and drivetrain.
Unless you have a crystal ball and KNOW your stuff is going to die immediately after 8 years......
I'd posit that financially, it should be better to invest money in a non-appreciating object as late as possible. If there's nothing wrong with your car after 8 years, why worry and just keep driving it, if it still gives you joy. At the point that the motor or battery die, then you're going to have a monetary outflow, either for a new component or a new car. If there's still nothing else wrong with the car AND it still gives me joy, I'd probably opt for the component replacement. If for some reason the car doesn't make me happy, then I'd opt for a new one, taking advantage of all the available new features that I might not have had access to at the end of the 8 year warranty period.
There's going to be 100 different replies to the question and no one answer will be the right one for everyone. Things break; that's inevitable. But for every owner that has a problem in their first week there will be another owner that gets to 200,000 miles without an issue. Just drive the car and have tons of fun doing it.

regardless of battery issues at eight years of service many other important components of the vehicle are subject to failure.

 

[George S. Bower]

have you considered getting a new vehicle?

Yes. I'm like most and am always hankering for a newer one. I do have a rez on a Model 3. So one option is to sell now before the S depreciates more and then get the M3. However, I want AWD so that means a wait plus we don't know how late Tesla will be getting going anyway. ...but at least I'd have the money sitting there ready for M3 when the time comes.

Thing is I like my S and don't want to be without for who knows how long.

Now some may suggest trading it in:

I asked Tesla for a trade in value and it sucks. Sorry but I'm not willing to take that big of a loss.

I'd posit that financially, it should be better to invest money in a non-appreciating object as late as possible. .

I agree. Every time I buy and sell a vehicle it seems I lose 50% of the initial investment. So the more times you stir the pot the more money it costs. Also the S is a known quantity at this point. Tires are new. We just drive it. We log a lot of HWY miles.

So financially your advise is good. The best way to lose more money at this point is to buy a new Tesla.....I don't care what people say, the M3 isn't going to hold it's value any better than the other Teslas.

 

[SeminoleFSU]

I'm not sure how relevant the comparison to the Roadster is, because it was discontinued. Model S will be in production for a while, that alone will impact resale prices. I also don't like how bad the QC and reliability are on the current Tesla vehicles.

Exactly. Roadster was a very limited run of the very first Tesla ever made. It's kind of apples and oranges to the MS. Compare resale values with a grain of salt, IMHO. Also- Tesla was in a very different place then than it is now. I do not expect a lot of the here, let me fix this on your Roadster (which is out of warranty as goodwill) feel good warm and fuzzy stories to be as common with the MS. And even less so with the M3. Each year they're transitioning from niche/boutique OEM to more mainstream and be prepared for what comes with that. My only hope is that there will be 3rd party shops and individuals that can help those of us out who want to keep our investments and working order as long as possible...

 

[ev-now]

I have an 18 year old SUV, a 10 year old SUV and an almost 3 year old Model S. I plan to drive it until it dies - same as the rest. Of course whether it can be resuscitated depends on what dies

I think once there are a body of S's which are no longer under warranty there will be a decent industry in 3rd party specialists, and of course decent info on the web to support DIY. The older the vehicle (earlier production) the more likely there are less common issues which may be harder to diagnose, and possibly more expensive to fix.

That said - with fewer moving parts it should be a decent DIY candidate when we get there ...

 

[Brando]

out of warranty talk starts at 3:50

 

[xyeahtony]

Who needs a warranty? are these batteries at risk of failing? I'm sure the majority of these cars and battery packs will keep going after 10+ years.

Unless you're talking about resale value, in which case that's difficult to gauge. From what we've seen here on the TMC and for sale posts, nobody really cares about extended warranty when factoring in price, so i'm not sure the battery/drivetrain warranty will factor much into prices either.

 

[.jg.]

I have a 2005 Prius which we will likely drive until it dies. The Toyota 8 year warranty on the hybrid components expired 5 years ago. The 12v lead acid battery has given some problems (not being sufficiently charged from the DC/DC converter and then dying when the car is left for a while). However, the main battery is showing no changes in behaviour, there are no errors on the CAN bus and the fuel consumption has not deterioated. That is for 2005 battery technology. ev-now suggested that a market would develop for third party specialists for Tesla batteries - and this is precisely what has happened for Prius batteries. It is possible to buy replacement batteries, using newer battery technology, at a considerable discount from the price of a Toyota replacement battery.