Extended Warranty (UK / Europe)

hi Scene
it is almost a year since I faced the same dilemma and my reaction was the same as yours. I still have not had any major failures of the electronics on my low mileage 2010 Roadster S, just the PEM requiring some attention. The absence of a major event may have helped sway me to paying up last year for the extended cover, on the basis that all major components are original still. Self insurance is certainly a reasonable choice given the cost of the warranty, but I grimaced and paid the ransom. I don't intend to sell but the resale was certainly a factor. I am also hoping that in 3 years time when the extension expires the company will be making so much money that they will get serious about protecting the cars and owners who made the S possible by offering some updated replacement parts.

I had the same dilemma last year. As my Roadster is a daily driver and the technician noticed some misbehaviour of the main battery pack, I did extend the warranty for the battery for 1 year and for the car for two years.
Indeed, the main battery pack failed last august and needed replacement, In the meantime the bluetooth module and some display failed, too.
I was happy that I had took the extension. However I m not sure how many years is the ideal solution!
During regular warranty I had the PEM replaced and the motor...

Hi Guys, You could always try trusting your pride and joy to an independant ex-Tesla Senior Service technician such as myself (in the UK) as I can can offer rebuild , overhauls and upgrades of most of the elctrical and mechanic components at a fraction of the cost!
Regular maintenance and cleaning of the PEM and associated fans will help to extend vehicle life, without the need for pocket crippling warranties.

Happy driving,

supercharged20v said:

Hi Guys, You could always try trusting your pride and joy to an independant ex-Tesla Senior Service technician such as myself (in the UK) as I can can offer rebuild , overhauls and upgrades of most of the elctrical and mechanic components at a fraction of the cost!
Regular maintenance and cleaning of the PEM and associated fans will help to extend vehicle life, without the need for pocket crippling warranties.

Happy driving,

Click to expand...

That's a fascinating option ... there's potentially a business to be built up offering EV maintenance skills once they start falling out of dealer warranty and owners look to ways of keeping them going without handing over the odd £10k - £20k for PEMS and ESS's to keep the car on the road. Heck, 2nd hand values might rise if people realise there are ways to keep them in good health without the crippling official costs, as well as the potential to tweak them without worrying about voiding official warranty.


In the past 30 yrs I've owned many Italian exotics, and used to get fed up with way franchised dealers would keep a straight face when inventing extortionate 4 and 5 digit random numbers for the cost of some often minor parts, and even more to fit them for you. Naturally they expect you not to wince as you bend over and take a good thrashing whilst being fleeced senseless. They all rely upon the belief that you wont be able to sell your cherished exotic once if falls out of warranty unless you continue to pay them huge wads so that the all important service history is seen to be with a franchised dealer. But, the various cars warranties would expire and I soon learned to seek out skilled independent experts and specialists who were nearly always ex-franchised dealers and/or factory trained. And 99% of the time the relationship was far far better and more personal, and the cost of maintenance would be far more realistic.

Despite the electronic / software complexity of EV's I suspect there will be a growing support network for all EVs which is good news for maintaining them for years to come and upholding their value as time goes by. Who knows, one day a Roadster might be deemed a classic car as it goes down in history as the first usable electric supercar.


I've been following the exploits of "Marco2228" as he rebuilds his roadster and tackles previously impossible looking tasks like splitting out bricks from the ESS. By doing so he is acquiring knowledge and skills which one day could be very useful in the used-Roadster market and I hope he develops that idea !

Just look at what he did here :-

#34 Salvage auction - Page 6


I can even see there being a future dilemma for the owner of a 6+ yr old Roadster in that they might have a choice of keeping it all original ... OR consider an upgrade to a new aftermarket ESS with 4ah 18650s and 400+ miles of range and one or two other benefits, and for considerably less $$ than if Tesla supplied it!!

supercharged20v said:

Hi Guys, You could always try trusting your pride and joy to an independant ex-Tesla Senior Service technician such as myself (in the UK) as I can can offer rebuild , overhauls and upgrades of most of the elctrical and mechanic components at a fraction of the cost!
Regular maintenance and cleaning of the PEM and associated fans will help to extend vehicle life, without the need for pocket crippling warranties.

Happy driving,

Click to expand...

Any chance you have a twin brother with the same career path in the US? :wink:
Seriously, I've been waiting for an ex-Tesla tech to open up shop somewhere. Are you able to acquire the software diagnostic tools that Tesla has? Will they sell you parts?

Hi guys,
I do have access to the diagnostic tools, can't say how I came by them !) but being senior tech covering most of Northern Europe for 2 years does mean you come by the odd spare tools and parts along the way....!

in all seriousness, I haven't opened up a shop, yet, as I still have a day job working for another well known EV design and prototyping company near Guildford. I am just still happy to help my fellow Tesla enthusiasts to maintain and upgrade their cars, and Should a business develope out of it, that would be nice, and I guess would be successful?

As tesla's support of Roadster becomes less reliable and more costly, I feel that it is down to the specialist with the knowledge to keep the cars on the road day to day, as is the way with other makes of niche market vehicles which I look after.

Neil.

Just to clarify my statement above. The diagnostic tools I use are not Tesla specific, but readily available CAN tools coupled with years of knowledge of the product. All other tools and products I use or supply are obtained from OEM suppliers and are of equal quality to Tesla supplied parts.

sorry if my earlier statement was in anyway misleading, I was being slightly 'tongue in cheek'.

happy motoring,
Neil

Hi Ray, yes we will have. That's when it was a small underground workshop! But at least the location was nice....!)

this is more like it, a UK skunkworks for EVs... Good to hear of your expertise Supercharged20v. You must have worked on my white Sport in that amazing Knightsbridge basement too, back in the early days before TSLA became front page news

Hi Norty,
That's more than likely, unless I was touring round the Netherlands in the Service Vito!-)
Still happy to lend a hand if needed.

Its Very interesting to see more of the knowledge that Tesla tries to hide come into the public domain.

For example this advert on ebay for a 2.5 roadster by a Tesla technician (read the description) ..
Tesla Roadster Base Convertible 2 Door | eBay

The CAC value is becoming a common factor in assessing a Roadsters health (and so Value ?).
It is good that with tools like the excellent TeslaGLoP app (thanks to THIS forum !) we can access stuff that Tesla would rather keep secret.
Bring on more access to the technician code (for those who want, and can understand it), and generally more transparency about the running of these cars.
for example commonality with Lotus/VX 220 parts, (eg brakes) etc. Common faults etc.

This could effect the value of both individual cars and the brand, badly handled, both could suffer.
Thanks to this forum and supercharged20v for starting to demystify the roadster.