Annual service price increased by 50%

Maybe they realized one of the negatives with electric vehicles is that the more miles driven, the more complicated the service will be? For the ordinary 10k mi/year driver its lowering the price.

and service is not a profit center?

Seems that's $200 for battery coolant replacement
Perhaps they got it mixed up with SpaceX stuff

I was all ready to grab my pitchfork until I did the math and saw that it still averages out at $600 per year. They're just making it less expensive for the years when you don't require the full service. I kinda like that--and am more likely to go in because of it.

While you may see it that your price went up 50% I think you were taking advantage of them getting four years service each year for only $600. You are supposed to come in every 12.5k miles so you could look at it that instead of paying $600 for $2400 in services you are now paying $900. Your rate of discount declined from 75% to 62.5%, still a sweet deal.

Another way to look at this is over 4 years the total cost of service is unchanged for those who drive average mileage-- $2400.

yobigd20 said:

No, your math is wrong. I'm not taking advantage of them at all. in fact, just the opposite. If I came in every 12.5k miles, my annual service cost would be $2400. Right now it's just $600. but now that's shot up to $900.

Click to expand...

Your cost for service is $900 per 50,000 miles, which is 1.8 cents per mile.

For the average driver (12.5k mi per year), they average out to 4.8 cents per mile.

The way I see it, you have significantly less maintenance costs than the average Model S driver. Tell me again why that sucks? It all depends on how you look at it. On a per year basis, you pay 50% more. On a per mile basis you pay almost a third what the average driver pays. Since maintenance on cars is usually mileage-based and not time-based, you're really at an advantage.

Todd Burch said:

Your cost for service is $900 per 50,000 miles, which is 1.8 cents per mile.

For the average driver (12.5k mi per year), they average out to 4.8 cents per mile.

The way I see it, you have significantly less maintenance costs than the average Model S driver. Tell me again why that sucks? It all depends on how you look at it. On a per year basis, you pay 50% more. On a per mile basis you pay almost a third what the average driver pays. Since maintenance on cars is usually mileage-based and not time-based, you're really at an advantage.

Click to expand...

Where did you get the math for that?

The service for both of our premium Germann cars is in the neighborhood of about 2 cents a mile. The cost of service for us is about $250 for most years that only call for a minor "service" if we only stick to what is called for on the owner's manual. An EV should cost less to maintain, not more but this has all been discussed before.

Model S is the world's finest car but not because of the cost of maintenance. Yogi is right in that for the amount of work involved, the Tesla service cost seems high at least compared to what we are used to paying for our ICE cars.

Todd Burch said:

Your cost for service is $900 per 50,000 miles, which is 1.8 cents per mile.

For the average driver (12.5k mi per year), they average out to 4.8 cents per mile.

The way I see it, you have significantly less maintenance costs than the average Model S driver. Tell me again why that sucks? It all depends on how you look at it. On a per year basis, you pay 50% more. On a per mile basis you pay almost a third what the average driver pays. Since maintenance on cars is usually mileage-based and not time-based, you're really at an advantage.

Click to expand...

I was wondering if the brake fluid and battery coolant deteriorate based on time or mileage?

MsElectric said:

Where did you get the math for that?

The service for both of our premium Germann cars is in the neighborhood of about 2 cents a mile.

Click to expand...

He meant for the average Model S driver it is 4.8 cents per mile.

Not-for-profit service doesn't come cheap!

Yep, I'm comparing to other Model S drivers, not cars as a whole. Although those premium German cars ought to include oil changes in the mix (if not already included).

So... What happens if you don't take it in for this "service"? Does Tesla void your warranty? What if you wait til 100,000 miles? Do they give you the 50,000 mile tune up for the $900?

Since you only took ONE year to go four years' worth of service, why are they replacing the battery coolant every year? It wears out? I don't believe it. Sounds like battery coolant should be replaced every four years. For me, that's over 150,000 miles.

I don't think I'll take mine in. Let's see what happens.

For that matter, the mechanic down the street can change wiper blades and check alignment. As far as coolant, how hard is that? I think Tesla is grossly overcharging (nothing new here, folks) for unnecessary "service". My opinion.

yobigd20 said:

Well this REALLY sucks, Tesla just price increased their annual service from $600 to $900. Service plans | Tesla Motors

granted, they lowered it for years 1 and 3, but I drive 50,000 miles/year, so every year when I go in I dont ask for the 12.5k increment, I ask them to do the 50k mile service each time. So my annual service fee went up from $600 to $900, a 50% increase. THIS SUCKS. For a car that's supposed to be maintenance free or cost basically nothing compared to an ICE, $900/year maintenance is SUPER expensive.

Click to expand...

No, they actually didn't change the cost for you. You are supposed to bring it in every 12,500 miles or year whichever comes first. So in your 50k of driving you should have had 4 services done either way:

• Old way: $600+$600+$600+$600 = $2,400
• New way: $400+$700+$400+$900 = $2,400

Maybe the changed the prices because people were taking advantage of them averaging the price across 4 years, and adjusted accordingly.

I think driving 50k/year is far from normal, and think probably skipping two of the services would be fine, which in your case increases the costs by $400. ($1,200 vs. $1,600)

I think only having 1 year of warranty will be your big issue and where costs can sky rocket quickly. (on everything but battery/drive-train)

yobigd20 said:

no, they (service center) actually tell you NOT to bring it in more than once per year as it's just a waste of you money. elon himself has been asked this question many times, and he also said only bring it in once per year. so it's not "whichever comes first". it's once per year max regardless of however little or many miles you drive, hence the name "annual service".

Click to expand...

Correct. Note that if you drive a lot of miles, they'll do the four year service (my four year services was done in year three, so this makes the prepaid maintenance well worth getting).

It's fantastic for people on a 3-yr lease.

I was wondering if the brake fluid and battery coolant deteriorate based on time or mileage?

Click to expand...

It deteriorates based on calendar and usage time.
Where 'hard' usage causes more degradation than 'light' usage.
Expressing it in mileage is just a guess at average deterioration.

yobigd20 said:

no, they (service center) actually tell you NOT to bring it in more than once per year as it's just a waste of you money. elon himself has been asked this question many times, and he also said only bring it in once per year. so it's not "whichever comes first". it's once per year max regardless of however little or many miles you drive, hence the name "annual service".

Click to expand...

It would be nice if they would actually update their documentation to say this. From Service plans | Tesla Motors

If I drive 25,000 miles in a year, do I need 2 inspections? How would that apply to the 4 year service plan?
The mileage and time period both prompt the service interval. If you drive 25,000 miles in 1 year, you’ll want to have your car inspected twice. If you drive 6,250 miles in a year, you’ll want to have Tesla vehicle inspected on the year anniversary of ownership.
Note: Tesla recommends that Annual Service Inspections be performed within 1,000 miles or 30 days of the specified maintenance intervals for the selected Plan.

How often do I need to bring my Tesla Vehicle in for maintenance service?
We recommend that you bring your Tesla vehicle into the nearest Service Center for maintenance service every 12,500 miles or once a year (whichever comes first). Please use our Find Us page to find a Service Center near you.

WarpedOne said:

It deteriorates based on calendar and usage time.
Where 'hard' usage causes more degradation than 'light' usage.
Expressing it in mileage is just a guess at average deterioration.

Click to expand...

Reading random posts on mechanic sites, it seems that the problem with brake fluid is that it absorbs moisture over time which can lead to hydrolock and corrosion. Most manufacturers recommended changes at two or three years (but GM recommends 150,000 miles).Tesla brake use is very light because of regeneration so you should be able to go several years before change.

mspohr said:

Reading random posts on mechanic sites, it seems that the problem with brake fluid is that it absorbs moisture over time

Click to expand...

This is the correct answer for brake fluid specifically - brake fluid is hygroscopic (attracts moisture), and adding moisture to the mix lowers the boiling point of brake fluid significantly. This is significant because when compressible gas is introduced into a hydraulic system like vehicle brakes, brake pedal movement will first compress the gas, then apply force to the brake pads. From a driver's perspective, the pedal gets soft and the brakes become much less effective - not so much fun in a 5,000 pound car.

Yes, there are very few conditions under which a Tesla driver would use the brakes heavily (track time or incredibly aggressive highway driving are about all I can think of), but adding in corrosion due to the moisture in the system, it's still a good idea to have brake fluid flushed every 2 years or so. That's the schedule I stick to with my daily driver vehicle - my track car gets at least 1 full flush per year, since the likelihood of boiling the fluid is much higher, and has a much greater consequence at 130MPH versus highway speed.

GM's recommended 150k interval may be partially influenced by the fact that their vehicles still use DOT3 fluid. DOT3 both has a significantly lower boiling point, and is much less hygroscopic than DOT4, DOT5.1, and other performance, non-silicone based brake fluids. Long story short, it's less of a big deal. Tesla, German manufacturers, and some others (sometimes vehicle specific) have jumped on using DOT4 or DOT5.1, and the maintenance schedules for those vehicles is accelerated. BMW recommends a brake fluid flush every 2 years as well, if I'm not mistaken. Even though Teslas may not use the hydraulic brakes very often, it's still worth following the 2 year recommendation, IMO - it's a safety item, one of those things you want to be ready to use when the need arises. Who knows when you'll need to flee from the next Bond villain driving an ICE Jaguar? :biggrin: