Extended Warranty?

Yes, they have a factory warranty. It extends the included 4 yr, 50,000 mile warrant to 8 years, 100,000 miles. Note, however, that the powertrain (battery, inverter, etc.) already have an 8 year, unlimited mile warranty, which one could argue reduces the value of the extended warranty. The extended warranty is $4k and may be purchased any time during the first warranty period.

After going back and forth on the issue, I decided to purchase the extended warranty. Even though the powertrain is fully covered, there are still other components (like my air suspension) that might become an issue in later years. I was able to fund the extended warranty at the same low rate as my car loan, which made it pretty compelling.

As for the prepaid service, I'm still on the fence about that. I can see the advantages and convenience of prepaying for service, but there are compelling reasons not to, not the least of which is that the warranty does not depend upon an owner paying for service each year. The window of opportunity for purchasing prepaid service is much shorter, 60 days I think, than for purchasing the extended warranty. Most people argue that the only benefit of the prepaid service is that it makes each service visit $475 or so instead of $600 and other than that, the service visit is identical. A smaller percentage of people state (though proof has not been presented that I have noticed) that Tesla strives to give prepaid service customers an enhanced service experience through an increased chance of a loaner Model S (versus a loaner ICE vehicle) and perhaps scheduling priority. I don't believe this differential is substantiated in any ironclad way and may be just a Tesla urban legend.

Bear in mind that high-mileage people like us will hit the mileage cap far sooner than the time cap and at 20,000 miles per year, which is what we also put on a Model S over the past 18 months, we'll get about one additional calendar year of warranty for our $4k since we'll hit 100,000 miles in about five years.

Im in the same boat Q. I was thinking of purchasing the extended warranty but may wait to buy it closer to the end of the first warranty. im still on the fence.

Ya, I made the decision to wait to extend the warranty. It makes sense to see how things are going. Plus, why give them my cash now. On the other hand, I did get the service package. Not sure what service will be needed beyond the annual check up. But as has been pointed out, it works out to be less expensive for the annual check-ups.

I'm at 46,000 miles and am also on the fence about getting the extended warranty. Air suspension, door handles, and key fob issues have me concerned....although $4k is a lot of money for what will amount to a little over 2 more years (I drive about 20k per year). Will I spend $2k on maintenance each of the next 2 years? I highly doubt it.

As for the service plan, I've had mine done once and it felt like throwing 600 bucks away. There's no 'maintenance' that's being done, other than new wiper blades, new battery for the key fobs, and filling up the wiper fluid. With the battery and drive unit covered under the warranty, there's just not that much to do. But everyone has different levels of comfort.

Hogfighter said:

As for the service plan, I've had mine done once and it felt like throwing 600 bucks away. There's no 'maintenance' that's being done, other than new wiper blades, new battery for the key fobs, and filling up the wiper fluid. With the battery and drive unit covered under the warranty, there's just not that much to do.

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^this.

both the extended warranty and the prepaid service plans are a waste of money IMO.

I mean this all comes down to peace of mind right fellas? Is the cash worth your own peace of mind? And at this point I'm not sure it's worth it for me.

Hogfighter said:

I'm at 46,000 miles and am also on the fence about getting the extended warranty. Air suspension, door handles, and key fob issues have me concerned....although $4k is a lot of money for what will amount to a little over 2 more years (I drive about 20k per year). Will I spend $2k on maintenance each of the next 2 years? I highly doubt it.

As for the service plan, I've had mine done once and it felt like throwing 600 bucks away. There's no 'maintenance' that's being done, other than new wiper blades, new battery for the key fobs, and filling up the wiper fluid. With the battery and drive unit covered under the warranty, there's just not that much to do. But everyone has different levels of comfort.

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We drive ~40,000 miles/year so it's a no brainer for us to NOT get the extended warranty and we will only be doing service once a year contrary to the once every 12,500 miles (I think that's what's suggested). At our first service visit we plan on telling them that we won't have our next service visit till 80,000. We just don't see the point in doing a visit roughly every 3-4 months nor is it worth it to us. Extended warranty gets us through another year and a half roughly. Again that's not worth it to us. IF we drove very few miles we'd get the warranty due to time causing more problems than miles driven we believe. So there's my two cents. By the way the only problems we've had would have been covered by the battery warranty and the UMC which is covered by it's own 1 year warranty.

Hogfighter said:

As for the service plan, I've had mine done once and it felt like throwing 600 bucks away. There's no 'maintenance' that's being done, other than new wiper blades, new battery for the key fobs, and filling up the wiper fluid. With the battery and drive unit covered under the warranty, there's just not that much to do. But everyone has different levels of comfort.

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Except there is "real" maintenance done every 2 years. If I recall correctly they change the brake fluid and something else every 2 years and every 4 years they change something else that also needs to be done. I plan to take it in for service once every 2 years.

Sure, people haven't had many problems in the first 4 years that they owned the car...but how will the car age in the subsequent 4 years? That is the main question to know whether it is worth the 4k for the extended warranty. And right now I don't think we have a big enough data pool to decide if it is worth it or not.

pmoa said:

Im in the same boat Q. I was thinking of purchasing the extended warranty but may wait to buy it closer to the end of the first warranty. im still on the fence.

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The only thought that prevented me from taking this approach is that the price of the extended warranty has already gone up once in the history of the Model S. There's no guarantee that if I were to wait just short of four years to buy the extended warranty that it would be the same price as today.

Rockster said:

The only thought that prevented me from taking this approach is that the price of the extended warranty has already gone up once in the history of the Model S. There's no guarantee that if I were to wait just short of four years to buy the extended warranty that it would be the same price as today.

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Another wrinkle in this debate!

I drive about 24k miles/year, so it would still expire shortly after my fourth year. I have had several issues repaired in the year an half I've owned it, but aside from the drive unit swap (clunk issue), which would be covered up to the end of the eighth year anyway, everything else was minor mechanical stuff. OK, except for one of the cooling pumps. I still don't think anywhere near $4k worth. Years 2-4 will probably be the most reliable. Also, the ESA ("Extended Service Agreement", aka extended warranty) has a $200 deductible per part on top of that $4k purchase price.

Maybe for someone whose annual mileage is closer to 12.5k, the $4k which will get them to year 8 may be worth it - assuming they want to keep it that long.

In general, I don't like to bet against a product; or I wouldn't have bought it in the first place. Since the update of the battery/drive unit warranty, and subsequent status quo of the cost of the ESA, I'm skipping it.

0Q991 said:

so are you just paying for annual service out of pocket?

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Yes we are. With our mileage $600/yr will be cheap. We'll just hope nothing breaks anytime after 50,000 miles but the likelihood of something breaking is likely. We plan on putting atleast 300,000 miles on it.

0Q991 said:

I hear ya.

I only do about 20k miles a year, but I feel like going in every 12,500 is overkill. That's every 7.5 months. I figure going in once a year makes sense and spending $600 a year is better than spending $1,900, but having to cram in 4 visits within 50k miles.

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Ours has been into the shop twice since we got it so they may not have done a full annual but if there was anything wrong they would have noticed it. We got the car around Thanksgiving last year with ~4,100 miles on it and currently have around ~21,000 miles on it. It would seem dumb to us to take it in for a annual when we just got it back from Minneapolis. If you look in the owners manual there isn't anything that really needs service until 40,000 miles I think it is. Having said that though I do agree that if someone drives it very low mileage per year they should take it in sooner (although I don't understand how anyone can drive this low mileage).

This is what I have read in the Service Plan and the Extended Warranty plan paper work:
Please correct me if I have read it in-correctly.

EXTENDED WARRANTY SERVICE AGREEMENT that adds four years (or 50,000 miles) of coverage beyond your original new car warranty.
- Four year extension warranty plans are 'ONLY AVAILABLE IN COMBINATION'
with an initial 'FOUR YEAR SERVICE PLAN' at this time.
Extension plans may be available for individual purchase in the future.
Availability, duration, and pricing subject to change.

Tesla’s 'EXTENDED WARRANTY SERVICE' program covers the Model S repair or replacement of parts due to defects in materials or workmanship provided by Tesla.
Coverage lasts for four years or 50,000 miles, 'WHICHEVER COMES FIRST', and begins on the date your 'ORIGINAL WARRANTY EXPIRES', as long as you purchase this service within 30 days of your warranty’s expiration.