Cost of Drive Unit Replacement?

Didn't they make all cars have an 8 year drive unit warranty?

Mike K said:

I don't believe 60 kWh cars have it and also a salvage car wouldn't have it. Before someone tells me Tesla won't service a salvage car, hypothetically let's say I'm talking about a salvage car that's gone through the re-certification process and Tesla is willing to service it but not warranty it.

So basically here's the question: regardless of reason, how much have people paid for DU replacements?

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60kwh cars have 8 years and 125k mile warranty on DU and Battery.

Honestly, give the widely known issues with older DUs, I'd be shocked if tesla didn't goodwill swap an old DU even if the car was over 125k miles. For example, suppose your 60kwh car had 80k when the DU was replaced. Then at 130k miles that DU was making the milling noise with only 50k miles on that DU. I'd be very surprised in tesla didn't swap it out on goodwill.

I don't think there's such a thing as goodwill anymore. Here's one case where they won't replace a defective screen after passing 50k miles by a tiny bit.

Gel Leaking from Touchscreen | Forums | Tesla Motors

If they won't replace a screen, why would they replace a drive unit for free?

I also did a prepaid 8 year service plan with them. They said I'm entitled to 8 visits within the mileage limits, if I don't use the 8 visits before the mileage is up, I will lose the remaining. So now I have to drive less or take my vehicle in every 5/6 months.

FredTMC said:

60kwh cars have 8 years and 125k mile warranty on DU and Battery.

Honestly, give the widely known issues with older DUs, I'd be shocked if tesla didn't goodwill swap an old DU even if the car was over 125k miles. For example, suppose your 60kwh car had 80k when the DU was replaced. Then at 130k miles that DU was making the milling noise with only 50k miles on that DU. I'd be very surprised in tesla didn't swap it out on goodwill.

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Doubt it on such a expensive piece of hardware. Though, weather your car is out of warranty or not, repairs are warranted for 1 year or 12,000 miles. So say, your DU fails on your 60 at 124k miles. They replace it. Then, at 135k miles and say 11 months later, it fails again. They would replace it at no charge.

Haven't had my DU replaced, but I've been at the SC and heard conversations with other owners who were getting the DU replaced, at no cost to owner. None had failed, but were making noises so the SC replaced the units. Each time the service rep was apologetic for the inconvenience. One time the owner was planning a trip the next morning so the rep said they would make it top priority so it would be ready when the owner returned in the morning with the loaner. I go to the Devon, PA (USA) center and they are great. They have always provided me with superb service. Even though my car has performed flawlessly, I recently had switches in the power unit replaced under a Tesla recall. They had my car for 3 days and I enjoyed a brand new P85 loaner while they fixed the switches, a noise in my steering which required replacing original bolts with newer spec parts and had the right rear door handle replaced because of some pitting on the chrome. They also replaced my charge cable and Nema 14-50 adapter which worked, but had some evidence of overheating. Other than having to have a few tires replaced that I damaged on curbs in my narrow street, that is the only visit I've had on my 2013 S60 that wasn't an annual checkup. Perhaps not all SC's are created equal, but FWIW, I could not be happier with what I have experienced and observed at Tesla of Devon, PA.

Mike K said:

Hey all. Just a heads up for anyone that's looking for an answer to this question in the future. I spoke with a few guys at a local service center and they said that they haven't seen someone pay out of pocket for a drive unit yet but that they bill out at ~$6000 for replacement on the paperwork. So in a few years they seem to have come down a lot in price. They also said that the battery is still way up there and they just replaced one to the tune of $40,000. Yikes.

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Did someone actually pay $40k or was that what the "bill out" paperwork said? 8 years unlimited miles warranty sounds nicer and nicer.

Mike K said:

I spoke with a few guys at a local service center and they said that they haven't seen someone pay out of pocket for a drive unit yet but that they bill out at ~$6000 for replacement on the paperwork. So in a few years they seem to have come down a lot in price. They also said that the battery is still way up there and they just replaced one to the tune of $40,000. Yikes.

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Almost all Model S drive units and batteries are still under factory warranty (maybe some 60's and the rare 40's are not) so I question whether any owner has actually "paid" money for a new battery. I suppose it is possible for an accident to damage a battery without totaling the car and the owner decided to buy a new battery, but that seems very unlikely.
In any case, I'm skeptical that a new battery would cost that much, as that price is far higher than what I have seen posted by others who have asked Tesla over the past year.

FredTMC said:

60kwh cars have 8 years and 125k mile warranty on DU and Battery.

Honestly, give the widely known issues with older DUs, I'd be shocked if tesla didn't goodwill swap an old DU even if the car was over 125k miles. For example, suppose your 60kwh car had 80k when the DU was replaced. Then at 130k miles that DU was making the milling noise with only 50k miles on that DU. I'd be very surprised in tesla didn't swap it out on goodwill.

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I was under the impression that my warranty reset, since I got a "new" unit under warranty. I will check with the SC today, as I'm getting my 2nd DU put in. Also there's no way they'd goodwill that, they wouldn't goodwill my bubbly screen. Although it does irritate me that the screen is half the price of a new drive unit, if prices posted here are correct... either the units are cheap, or the screens are too expensive. Hah! :cursing:

demundus said:

I was under the impression that my warranty reset, since I got a "new" unit under warranty. I will check with the SC today, as I'm getting my 2nd DU put in. Also there's no way they'd goodwill that, they wouldn't goodwill my bubbly screen. Although it does irritate me that the screen is half the price of a new drive unit, if prices posted here are correct... either the units are cheap, or the screens are too expensive. Hah! :cursing:

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Warranty does not reset when you get a new DU. Just like your iPhone warranty doesn't reset when you get a new iPhone. It's 8 years all-you-can-eat.

AmpedRealtor said:

Warranty does not reset when you get a new DU. Just like your iPhone warranty doesn't reset when you get a new iPhone. It's 8 years all-you-can-eat.

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In the US, after some research, you are right and I learned something. Although I think in the EU, under EU Consumer Protection laws you might be able to get away with a warranty replacement -> reset warranty coverage.

Also don't things billed as "new" come with a factory warranty? Because this is refurb, your argument makes sense, but had they dropped a "new" driveunit in it would get the new factory warranty?

PS: you can mail in a warranty extension to Apple to get your replaced device covered as if it was new, doubt Tesla would do this though.

Is my thread about what I found in the 7.0 update warranty section in the owners manual.
60Kwh Battery and Drive Unit Warranty...

Mike K said:

Hey all. Just a heads up for anyone that's looking for an answer to this question in the future. I spoke with a few guys at a local service center and they said that they haven't seen someone pay out of pocket for a drive unit yet but that they bill out at ~$6000 for replacement on the paperwork. So in a few years they seem to have come down a lot in price. They also said that the battery is still way up there and they just replaced one to the tune of $40,000. Yikes.

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This 40K number for a replacement battery doesn't make sense to me. Tesla has already quoted me 22.5K for a 60 to 90kwh upgrade with 2.5K core exchange.

glhs272 said:

This 40K number for a replacement battery doesn't make sense to me. Tesla has already quoted me 22.5K for a 60 to 90kwh upgrade with 2.5K core exchange.

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22.5k/2.5k doesn't make sense to me given that the 70->85 upgrade is 10k and the 85->90 upgrade is 3k. Is the core exchange mandatory? If so, perhaps the true price of the pack is 40k and they're willing to give you 20k for your battery. But they're marketing it as 22.5k/2.5k (with mandatory core exchange) to avoid sticker shock.

The cells in your old pack certainly have a lot more value than 2.5k.

glhs272 said:

This 40K number for a replacement battery doesn't make sense to me. Tesla has already quoted me 22.5K for a 60 to 90kwh upgrade with 2.5K core exchange.

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Did you ask when they would perform the update? Just wondering how long you'd have to wait for the new battery.

ChadFeldheimer said:

22.5k/2.5k doesn't make sense to me given that the 70->85 upgrade is 10k and the 85->90 upgrade is 3k.

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No. Those are the incremental prices when you compare a new 70 versus a new 85. Prices for replacing your battery in an existing car have nothing to do with those. Upgrading an existing 85 with a 90 battery costs $22500. When Tesla announced that price they said there is essentially no consideration afforded for the battery you trade in. What's interesting is that they quoted the same number to glhs for a 60->90 which supports the notion of no consideration for your current battery.

Mike K said:

Hey all, hypothetical question here. Does anyone know what Tesla is charging for drive unit replacements when paid out of pocket? I realize this doesn't apply to pretty much any 85kwh with the exception of salvage cars that have been re-certified and so I can't find any kind of mention of it with the exception of people saying they think it costs $15,000 and those posts are from 2013. I imagine things have changed since then.

Does anyone have a more solid number than $15,000? If the customer is paying out of pocket does Tesla try to replace the broken component in the DU to be cost effective or do they still approach it as a singular non-serviceable part that requires replacement regardless of fault?

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Wow how is this for a novel idea. Call tesla and ask