Service if tesla goes bankrupt within six months

[Norbert]

This discussion makes me wonder if the TSLA short interest is going to increase above 30 Million. How high can it go?

[dmckinstry]

Well, the universe IS expanding. I hadn't heard the six months figure. I may not get my Model X in time.

It's the end of the current Mayan calendar this Dec. Anyway, I personally would worry more about the world ending than Tesla failing in the next 6 months, and I don't really worry about either of them.

[vfx]

[hide][top]Service if gm goes bankrupt within six months

What about the service on our volt when gm not makes it in "next crutial six months" ?

Does the computer in the car still gets update's ? What if there is an software problem ?

what if.....what if.....

[SCW-Greg]

We don't have to worry. The world comes to an end within 6 months.

Exactly! Might as well go out with a bang.
And Larry nailed it too with early adopter mind set.
Actually... all good responses in this thread.

[daniel]

I'm late to this thread. But...

If Tesla goes bankrupt and nobody else buys the company and accepts the warranty obligations there may be no service for the cars. It's a risk. I considered that when I bought my Roadster, and I dismissed it as extremely unlikely. OTOH, the people who laid out $5,000 reservations for the Roadster when it was still under development took a real risk. It was touch and go for a while. I recall back in 2004 when Prius buyers crowed about being pioneers (for buying a car whose technology had been on the road for 7 years, from a solid company with a long track record). The people who bought the first Roadsters were pioneers. Today the chances that Tesla will fail and leave car owners stranded is small, but nobody who finds that possibility worrisome should buy a Model S. There are plenty of eager buyers. It's a risk-benefit equation: All the benefits of owning the car vs. the risk of failure. Lots of people advocated waiting until 2005 to buy the Prius, but I didn't want to wait a year to own such a cool car. (It was cool back then!) But I'm glad I waited until last year to buy my Roadster because there were numerous improvements.

So on the Model S, reasons for delaying purchase would be possible improvements in the next year or two, and a greater level of confidence in the company (if you still think they might fail); and the main reason for not delaying would be that if you delay you lose a year (or more) of driving an amazing car.

Caveat: I'm not buying a Model S: It's too big a car for me, and I don't need another electric car. The Roadster is all the electric car I need.

[dsm363]

I believe the original Roadster owners put down the entire cost of the car and waited for 2 years! I think that's correct. That's definitely taking a risk. There is always a risk Tesla could go under but we'll know a lot more by next summer I think how things are shaking out.

[ryanjm]

Responding to the title of the thread alone...

Perhaps someone has a collation of links that might help the OP and others get a feel for "what is servicing like for owners of vehicles produced by manufacturers that have since closed their doors". Tucker, Delorean and Saab owner stories might provide an interesting spectrum of "owner life" a couple years from now.

Speaking as a 12-year DeLorean owner (and hopefully future Tesla owner), it's a bit of an apples-to-oranges comparison. The DeLorean was built with 99% off-the-shelf parts (Volvo-sourced engine, Bosch fuel injection system, etc.) and when the company went under there was a massive stockpile of parts to keep the owners going for many, many years. Today, it's actually very easy to own a DeLorean, service-wise, because the original stash of parts is still strong and those bits and pieces that have run out have been re-manufactured. Heck, you can go to delorean.com right now and order any part you want straight off of the website.

Model S, however, according to that recent interview with Elon, is 98% new parts. And the heart of it all is 100% proprietary, unlike, say, the DeLorean's PRV-6 engine. I suspect the orphaned Model S owners, being an extremely intelligent and resourceful bunch if the people on this forum are anything to go by, would find a way to get by, but due to the custom/proprietary nature of EVERYTHING in a Model S, I think the situation would be much more difficult and different for owners if Tesla went out of business than it was/is for DeLorean owners.

Like others, though, I don't see that happening. And for all you conspiracy theorists, Detroit no longer has the clout to try and run a company like Tesla out of town the way they did with Tucker and, to a lesser extent, DeLorean.

[bonnie1194]

... And for all you conspiracy theorists, Detroit no longer has the clout to try and run a company like Tesla out of town the way they did with Tucker and, to a lesser extent, DeLorean.

We don't have any conspiracy theorists on THIS forum. You must be thinking about another forum.

[brianman]

The internet has changed a lot when it comes to information and technology sharing as well. You don't have to find the "20 guys that know" scattered across the globe, when a company folds. You just have to find somebody that knows somebody and then soon after everybody goes to some website that has all the data. It's quite remarkable.

[daniel]

I believe the original Roadster owners put down the entire cost of the car and waited for 2 years! I think that's correct. That's definitely taking a risk. There is always a risk Tesla could go under but we'll know a lot more by next summer I think how things are shaking out.

I think maybe we're both wrong. Wasn't it $50,000? Refundable, as long as the company didn't go bust.