Extended Service Agreements No Longer Transferable?

[mikeash]

And those who didn't buy it, but planned to, well "you snooze you lose".

Truly an impressive rebuttal. I shall cease to be disgruntled forthwith.

 

[Gizmotoy]

If I'm buying a used car, I think it would actually be good to know that up until the point I bought it, it was covered by the ESA.

So if there were any issues/repairs after the factory warranty ran out, they were taken care of under the ESA. Otherwise, buying a used Tesla without having the ESA, you could be "buying someone else's problems" that you might not find out until after you bought the car. At least with the ESA, that chance is minimized, if not eliminated. So there is value there.

One could also take their car in for ESA service to fix any small nits right before selling.

I had been planning on, even before the change in terms, buying the ESA. I probably will still get it soon, possibly using some credit from the referral program.

Seems like very minimal value to me. I've had family members almost become second owners of vehicles with full 10 year warranties. The catch was the warranty was limited to the original owner. So you'd assume issues were taken care of because it was under warranty? You'd be wrong. There were tons of existing issues the owner didn't address. Add on top of that the per-issue fee of the ESA, and I think assuming a second-hand ESA-covered car is free of problems, or even less likely to have problems, is folly.

 

[MP3Mike]

Some of us (future buyers) are not so saddened by things that negatively impact resale values. If prices from 3rd party sellers fall, CPO prices will also have to fall. If you buy the car new you can still get the ESA. If you buy CPO it was never an option. If you buy an inventory car you can still get the ESA. It's not like they took it away completely.

I thought that people said that one of the changes they made to the ESA was that you can now buy the one on a CPO. Which is a good thing.

 

[brkaus]

Wonder if it is related to the "properly maintain" requirement to have a repair under the ESA? Someone buys a car that was not maintained but the seller said ESA would cover... Then when they find something isn't covered the new owner complains to Tesla.

 

[HankLloydRight]

Seems like very minimal value to me. I've had family members almost become second owners of vehicles with full 10 year warranties. The catch was the warranty was limited to the original owner. So you'd assume issues were taken care of because it was under warranty? You'd be wrong. There were tons of existing issues the owner didn't address. Add on top of that the per-issue fee of the ESA, and I think assuming a second-hand ESA-covered car is free of problems, or even less likely to have problems, is folly.

Well, that's just your experience and small sample size. I've had the opposite experience.

Also, before one buys a car, any issues could be easily fixed under the ESA before the sale. That has value.

The $200 ESA deductible is pre visit, not per issue.

Don't know how many times I need to repeat that.

 

[3mp_kwh]

Let's be clear here. Tesla did not change base warranty terms as your reply would imply. They changed terms for their optional extended warranty and prepaid service agreements which I suspect a minority of owners purchase -- at least that's the case with Lexus, BMW and MBZ I'm more familiar with. For MS owners that purchased the agreements before this change, transferability terms remain in effect. For owners that didn't lock in the prior terms by purchasing the agreements when they had the opportunity to do so, they only have the new terms available to them. I'm not saying non-transferability is good for customers or I like the change Tesla has made, I'm simply trying to ensure people reading this keep the facts straight.

Thanks, for clarity. I doubted Tesla would nullify existing ESA terms. Myself, I didn't have enough miles to justify the ESA, not that I wouldn't have eventually purchased it. When you are still under the factory warranty, paying up for extensions is money-lost if the car gets wrecked, or, now, sold. I guess i can take solace in not having spent those funds, even if Tesla just guaranteed me a lower price, at resale.

Generally, I'm a firm believer Tesla needs to do this type of thing, to boost new car sales. We aren't too far away from Model 3 / Used Model S shopper comparisons, at same price. Actions like this tell me Tesla's preference. They also provoke the development of systems that will take the cars almost completely out of their hands. I have faith in that, too.

 

[liuping]

The $200 ESA deductible is pre visit, not per issue.

Sorry, I read the per item thing in previous posts it was per item, so I never looked into it much. Thanks for correcting my misinformation.

Even $200 per visit seems high for an extended warranty that costs $4000k for 4 years/50,000 miles, especially a car that is supposed to be low maintenance, etc.

I absolutely love my Model S, but it has not really lived up to to promise of lower maintenance. Well, maybe it's lower maintenance, but certainly not lower maintenance costs.

But while our Volt costs a tiny fraction as much to maintain (it's cost 1/2 as much over 3 years as one single prepaid Tesla service visit), I still prefer the Model S to any other car out there. And we saved enough on fuel (we have solar) to easily offset the service costs.

 

[HankLloydRight]

Even $200 per visit seems high for an extended warranty that costs $4000k for 4 years/50,000 miles, especially a car that is supposed to be low maintenance, etc.

Yes, I agree that the $200 per visit deductible is very high compared to other policies.

But what I like about both the ESA and the pre-paid service plan is that my total annual cost for repairs and maintenance is capped at $475 per year during the factory warranty, and $1475 per year under the ESA (plus $200 per visit).

It really doesn't matter what happens to my car, that's the most I'll spend to get it maintained and/or repaired.

I *wish* that were the case for every other car I've ever owned.

 

[green1]

The $200 ESA deductible is pre visit, not per issue.

Don't know how many times I need to repeat that.

Maybe until Tesla rewords their agreement to reflect that? because as it's worded right now, it's per issue, not per visit.
It should also be noted, that even if you were correct in your interpretation, stocking up known issues isn't allowed either, because if you fail to bring the vehicle in for service once you know of an issue, it's no longer covered.
On the bright side, there is a limit such that on any individual part you only pay the deductible once, no matter how many times it needs replacing.

There are also an awful lot of other neat ways to void your ESA, anyone using their car for any commercial purpose (uber?), anyone who's ever taken it to a track, anyone who's ever "raced" on the street (not sure how they define that one), Anyone who's ever towed a trailer, anyone who's ever had their MS towed (really???)

 

[Gizmotoy]

Well, that's just your experience and small sample size. I've had the opposite experience.

Well, that's just your experience and small sample size. :smile:

The $200 ESA deductible is pre visit, not per issue.
Don't know how many times I need to repeat that.

I don't have the ESA, so just remembered what I'd read others here say. Thanks for the correction. That's actually substantially worse than when I thought it was per-issue, considering the number of repeat failures I've had on a small number of subsystems.

 

[HankLloydRight]

Maybe until Tesla rewords their agreement to reflect that? because as it's worded right now, it's per issue, not per visit.

In the current contract:

A. Deductible
You are responsible for the Deductible of $200 per Visit.

“Deductible” means the portion that You must pay for each Visit. The Deductible under this Vehicle ESA is $200 per Visit

 

[green1]

In the current contract:

Not the contract I looked at, in fact the word "visit" isn't in the agreement at all, anywhere.

Definitions: 
“Deductible” means the portion that You must pay for a covered repair, as indicated above. TheDeductible under this Vehicle ESA is CAD$200.

it talks about a repair, not a visit. Again, the word visit does not appear anywhere in the entire document.

The only other place deductible is mentioned:

A. One-Time Deductible Guarantee
Once a part is repaired or replaced under the terms and conditions of this Vehicle ESA, and theDeductible is paid, any Deductible for a future repair or replacement of that part will be waived for theterm of this Vehicle ESA.

referencing a deductible paid on a part, not on a visit.

 

[markb1]

Some of us (future buyers) are not so saddened by things that negatively impact resale values. If prices from 3rd party sellers fall, CPO prices will also have to fall. If you buy the car new you can still get the ESA. If you buy CPO it was never an option. If you buy an inventory car you can still get the ESA. It's not like they took it away completely.

CPOs come with their own warranty, so they have that advantage over private sales. If private sale values fall because of the lack of transferability of the ESA, it won't affect CPO values.

 

[liuping]

Not the contract I looked at, in fact the word "visit" isn't in the agreement at all, anywhere.

Definitions: 
“Deductible” means the portion that You must pay for a covered repair, as indicated above. TheDeductible under this Vehicle ESA is CAD$200.

it talks about a repair, not a visit. Again, the word visit does not appear anywhere in the entire document.

The only other place deductible is mentioned:

A. One-Time Deductible Guarantee
Once a part is repaired or replaced under the terms and conditions of this Vehicle ESA, and theDeductible is paid, any Deductible for a future repair or replacement of that part will be waived for theterm of this Vehicle ESA.

referencing a deductible paid on a part, not on a visit.

I checked the link on my "My Tesla" page, and it says per visit as Hank says.

So it seems there are different versions out there. Perhaps based on when your car was purchased?

 

[FlasherZ]

I checked the link on my "My Tesla" page, and it says per visit as Hank says.

So it seems there are different versions out there. Perhaps based on when your car was purchased?

Or the Canadian version vs. US version?

 

[green1]

I checked the link on my "My Tesla" page, and it says per visit as Hank says.

So it seems there are different versions out there. Perhaps based on when your car was purchased?

Well, if that's the case, seems like it's just one more way us Canadians are getting screwed over. Don't worry, we're used to it.

Of course he didn't address the other issue I brought up, that if you don't bring your car in as soon as you notice an issue, they won't cover it (per the plan) so no stocking up issues to save on deductibles anyway.

 

[HankLloydRight]

Not the contract I looked at, in fact the word "visit" isn't in the agreement at all, anywhere.

It's either the existing ESA you bought previously, or there's a difference for Canada (sorry).

Either way, I can't imagine Tesla holding you to more onerous terms than the current (new) contract stipulates for the deductible.

Of course he didn't address the other issue I brought up, that if you don't bring your car in as soon as you notice an issue, they won't cover it (per the plan) so no stocking up issues to save on deductibles anyway.

That's a pretty hard thing to prove objectively, and I doubt they'll actually deny a warranty repair because you didn't bring it in "soon enough".

 

[green1]

It's either the existing ESA you bought previously, or there's a difference for Canada (sorry).

Either way, I can't imagine Tesla holding you to more onerous terms than the current (new) contract stipulates for the deductible.

Haven't bought the ESA yet, have a few years to decide. So apparently Canada just has different wording than the USA.

 

[liuping]

Haven't bought the ESA yet, have a few years to decide. So apparently Canada just has different wording than the USA.

Possibly just the old wording. Maybe Canadian lawyers are still reviewing the new wording before it's available there.

 

[markb1]

At some point today, My Tesla switched from showing me the ESA that I signed to the the ESA that is currently for sale. That's incorrect.