Would you give up free supercharging for life?

[Chaserr]

My cars aren't even registered in the same state that I live. This is actually a common tactic among car aficionados, Ralph Lauren made it famous back when he was registering all of his Bugattis in Montana to avoid smog fees and registration taxes and so on. Montana was so abused that it's no longer a good idea to use the state as your car holding corporation address, but there are plenty of other friendly states that can be used for this purpose.

 

[jgs]

Not so fast ... aren't you leaving out the bit

Not leaving anything out -- the question was how much I paid. I answered. Simple as that.

that AFTER you paid the $4250 you still have to pay a deductible of, what is it, $250 per visit?

$200/visit per the T&C. But in proper TMC tradition, we are now completely off the topic of "Would you give up free supercharging for life?"

 

[brianman]

Same with not needing to replace brake pads and rotors because of regeneration.

You found my answer. I would trade free supercharging for life on my P3D for free timely brake pad and rotor replacements for life. In a heartbeat.

Not to take away from your post but...

I've had rotors replaced on all 3 Model S at <= 30,000 miles and on the Model 3 in < 6,000 miles. Regeneration has its limits.

 

[rsg123]

I've had rotors replaced on all 3 Model S at <= 30,000 miles and on the Model 3 in < 6,000 miles. Regeneration has its limits.

That must require some pretty aggressive driving to achieve. My last ICE car didn’t even need new brake pads until 110k miles.

 

[brianman]

That must require some pretty aggressive driving to achieve. My last ICE car didn’t even need new brake pads until 110k miles.

In areas where there are no speed limit signs and police have no interest or authority.

 

[EVDRVN]

I would rather invest the $5K into more solar panels.

 

[Shock-On-T]

I’d like to see them offer free supercharging for life (FSFL) but only at superchargers over 100 miles from the home of the owner. That way we could still go long distances without fuel costs but people would generally charge at home for local car use. I have FSFL but for me the FSFL with the 100 mile from home limitation would be just as valuable. I have a 75D which I love but the increased range of the 100KW battery does sound awfully good. I understand the FSFL isn’t very costly to Tesla for my car, I only use it for long trips, but now that I have it, I am reluctant to let it go in exchange for 3Y free supercharging on a new one. I plan to keep it for far more than 3 years.

I’d like to see all software enabled features move with the owner rather than the car. I paid for EAP, and FSD, why not disable them on the current car when I switch and enable it on the next one? It’d make buying a new Tesla less costly for me and I’d be much more likely to do it. Since those are seemingly permanently attached to my current car, the cost hurdle is a lot higher for a new one. It’s a software switch for Tesla. It might even be advantageous for Tesla, I currently have a level 2 computer. The FSD will require a level 3 computer. If the new one has the level 3, then Tesla wouldn’t need to upgrade my car’s computer.

I know the reason for not allowing the software to move with the car is that it adds additional profit for Tesla with the new car. From my perspective it is a real disincentive for me to trade cars. If I could transfer the EAP, FSD, and FSFL I might look at the P100D. Right now the software transfer isn’t an option, and I do so love my S75D.

Problem is that this has been argued to death, there are too many cases where local supercharging is reasonable. eg. suddenly need to go on long trip, need to leave again soon after getting home, etc etc.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

That must require some pretty aggressive driving to achieve. My last ICE car didn’t even need new brake pads until 110k miles.

In areas where there are no speed limit signs and police have no interest or authority.

On my old CR-V, they said at 100,000 miles that i had about 70% left. At 150,000 miles, I was down to 30%. At around 185,000 miles, I was coming back from a trip in the mountains and it was obvious that it was finally time to get them replaced. We have speed limits here but a large majority of those miles were highway miles. I only had the brakes done once in over 20 years of ownership.

 

[whitex]

A rather ambiguous question. Just give it up for nothing? Of course not. $5,000, take it, give me $10,000 for the free supercharging I have with on two cars today. Move to a new car, not even a consideration as big as color of the car. Anyone upgrading will be giving it up. Come 2022, is it worth driving a 10 year old, out of warranty Tesla just so you can hang onto free supercharging, probably not. So how would you have me answer the Yes/No survey?

Maybe a better question would be, how much is that free supercharging worth to you? For example, would you pay $25K for it if it was offered with a new car? If it's such a must have, some people should say definitely yes to even a high price like $25K.

 

[whitex]

Reading this thread made me thing that at some point the free supercharging Teslas will become a bit of a liability for Tesla, as they become sub $10K cars for students, who will be willing to spend time to supercharge daily, especially if the car's range will be reduced by then so more often charging will be required. There is a solution thought, Tesla could offer sales specials to transfer the free supercharging for old owners to any new Tesla, but limit its ability to be transferred to subsequent owners. Make more sales, kill the old unlimited and transferable supercharging in one move.

 

[rsg123]

Reading this thread made me thing that at some point the free supercharging Teslas will become a bit of a liability for Tesla, as they become sub $10K cars for students, who will be willing to spend time to supercharge daily, especially if the car's range will be reduced by then so more often charging will be required. There is a solution thought, Tesla could offer sales specials to transfer the free supercharging for old owners to any new Tesla, but limit its ability to be transferred to subsequent owners. Make more sales, kill the old unlimited and transferable supercharging in one move.

It’s unlikely they can make changes now. They have been clear the unlimited supercharging is for the lifetime of the vehicle. If they did this it would significantly reduce the resale value of a majority of their vehicles on the road, and piss off a majority of their customers.

 

[rsg123]

On my old CR-V, they said at 100,000 miles that i had about 70% left. At 150,000 miles, I was down to 30%. At around 185,000 miles, I was coming back from a trip in the mountains and it was obvious that it was finally time to get them replaced. We have speed limits here but a large majority of those miles were highway miles. I only had the brakes done once in over 20 years of ownership.

The ICE vehicle I was referring to is a Honda Pilot. It was difficult for me to use the lower Tesla maintenance costs as a reason for buying the car since (before Tesla changed their service schedule) I would end up paying much less maintaining the Pilot. I even got 90k miles on its first set of tires.

 

[David99]

I saved close to $16,000 using Superchargers with my Model S over the last 5 years. 60% of the miles I drive are long distance where I use Superchargers. For me it would be a big deal giving that up.

 

[jerry33]

I saved close to $16,000 using Superchargers with my Model S over the last 5 years. 60% of the miles I drive are long distance where I use Superchargers. For me it would be a big deal giving that up.

I have about 60K miles of road trips over the past six years. That's around 40K to 50K Supercharger miles. Yes, it's a big deal.

 

[MXn00b]

RE: sales specials to transfer the free supercharging for old owners to any new Tesla

It’s unlikely they can make changes now. They have been clear the unlimited supercharging is for the lifetime of the vehicle. If they did this it would significantly reduce the resale value of a majority of their vehicles on the road, and piss off a majority of their customers.

I don't have the exact date when FUSC became nontransferrable, but it seems long enough ago that this would not affect a majority of vehicles/owners. This proposed offer sounds very similar to the current trade in that's limited to 3 more years FUSC, and I expect it would be popular because
A) It's an offer, not required
2) It would reduce the resale value of your trade-in by transferring that value to your new vehicle
D) A common price point on this thread is $5k, which isn't that much when buying a new Tesla

I will definitely be motivated to trade up in a few years if offered to transfer FUSC (my version will not stay with vehicle, so does not affect resale), and no one can be upset if a potential offer doesn't motivate them to take it. I guess some people might be upset that they didn't get as good of a deal as others that bought at different times, but people here wouldn't be that irrational, would they?

 

[mknox]

I'm surprised no "long time" owners have mentioned this, but when I ordered my first Model S in 2012 and took delivery in early 2013, the deal was that I got free lifetime Supercharging on that car, and every subsequent Tesla I bought. In theory, I shouldn't have to give up lifetime Supercharging because that was the deal when I first purchased.

 

[David99]

I'm surprised no "long time" owners have mentioned this, but when I ordered my first Model S in 2012 and took delivery in early 2013, the deal was that I got free lifetime Supercharging on that car, and every subsequent Tesla I bought. In theory, I shouldn't have to give up lifetime Supercharging because that was the deal when I first purchased.

Interesting! Is there any documentation of that you still have? I bought in 2013 (delivered in 2014).

 

[mknox]

Interesting! Is there any documentation of that you still have? I bought in 2013 (delivered in 2014).

It was in all of the web site "ad copy" at the time, and Elon is even on record stating this. Look at the video where they introduce battery swapping, and Elon says "Supercharging is, and always will be free". There was nothing I could find in my original sales papers, so I will have to try the Wayback Machine and see if I can find something from that era.

 

[whitex]

It’s unlikely they can make changes now. They have been clear the unlimited supercharging is for the lifetime of the vehicle. If they did this it would significantly reduce the resale value of a majority of their vehicles on the road, and piss off a majority of their customers.

Why would it piss off the customer? It would be the customer who CHOOSES to strip the supercharging from their old car to the new car. It's like when Tivo runs promotions allowing customers to transfer their lifetime subscription to a new device. Yes, it lowers the resale value of the old one, but nobody is pissed off.

 

[kqnjml]

Folks have 2 positions depending on their use of superchargers. If it's right next door and not out of the way then why not use it, you prepaid for it. No one should call anyone cheap for using supercharger. They're just smart and utilizing what they prepaid for. If they have to drive 30 miles away just to fill up the battery then that's a different story. If Tesla have their way they would charge all of us to use the supercharger network. Think about it, it's like filling up at a gas station. It is naive to think people should only use supercharger for long trips. Tesla's goal is more ambitious than that! Anyhow, I see both arguments and let's just say everyone has a good reason for using or not using it. End of discussion.