Hi Alysashley, thanks for the tip, I actually did ask them to consider waiving the extended warranty fee since I have an unusually prone car, but the current status is they do not feel anything on their part is warranted at the moment since I'm at 49,000 miles of my original warranty period, which is still under original manufacturer's warranty but too close for comfort on their part I guess. I'm surprised you are still under warranty at 69,000 miles? At first things were just a cute annoyance, little things here and there, but lately it has been a safety hazard, so that's why I have to do something about it now. Having the rear axle break while driving on the freeway is not an experience I would wish on anybody (they said the drive train puts a lot of torque on the axle so they "think" that's why it randomly just broke), especially in Southern California freeways, where everyone is happy to let you know how they feel about you delaying their commute home...
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Make Lemonade out of a Lemon?
- Thread starter callmehere
- Start date
Sigh... I keep hoping my car isn't one of those, but so far it's following that track with [thankfully minor] repairs monthly.
Month 1 - Broken door handle, scroll-wheel replacement, A/C vibration (deemed normal)
Month 2 - Rear parking sensors acting up (TSB about too much paint), arm rest screws fell out
Month 3-4 (scheduled) - Fogged headlights, fogged fog lights.
dhrivnak
Active Member
Maybe he did not want to pass on a problem car to another. Some of us have a conscience.
That sounds very reasonable. But realize the extended warranty comes with a $200 per issue (not per visit) deductible and if many things go wrong that could add up.
If I was the OP, I would sell or trade in that car and buy a new Model S that likely has much better build quality. Perhaps a new 90D or P90D
Maybe the OP can convince Tesla to give him a decent trade in value for the car given all the problems.It costs Tesla a ton of money to release cars that need constant service. It is in their financial interest to build cars that are as reliable as they can make it. We know that they make many improvements to their parts and processes each week to build better cars. Newer cars will have far fewer issues.
Also something to keep in mind is that all manufacturers manage to build "problem cars" sometimes. After reading the forums diligently I think we can all agree that such a large degree of problems in one car is not common but rather an aberration.
Before you go the path or arbitration or something more involved with litigation, I really suggest that you take a step back and think of a simpler solution that is reasonable for you and for Tesla and push for that. Do you really want to invest months of your time, frustration, effort and resources on a fight? I think the best thing to do in your case is convince Tesla to give you a decent trade in price so you can get a new or inventory Model S. At least this is what I would do if I were you.
For those looking to buy a used or CPO Model S, OP's post and Alysashley79's post are the reason why you should only buy a used Model S after reviewing the entirety of the service records of the car.
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I suppose if this car is traded in, Tesla may sell this car as a "used" car and not a "CPO" car and ostensibly the lower price would make up for a potentially greater propensity for things going wrong. Or the person buying this car might completely luck out as perhaps after 50K miles, all that can go wrong and needs replacing has been already taken care of
taurusking
Member
Agreed with you ...Not sell it to anyone but do differently than OP ...I would try going up on the chain of command and seeing if I can get resolution of this case
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Problem solved??? You are stating this so easy but it is not...what about OP's expectation of the car.
islandbayy
Active Member
I've been in the same boat since day one. I recently printed my service records for a hard copy (easier to read and make notes on as well), over 120 pages of service records....... As someone had mentioned, selling it right away problem solved... Doesn't work like that. The value hit right off the bat is so high. I planned on keeping my car long enough for my Younger Midget to get it as a hand me down first car. I don't believe mine will make it much past when the extended agreement expires. Mostly minor stuff the first year I had it (While still under Lemon Law, and Wisconsin has a dang good Lemon Law for Consumers) and almost immediately after my 1 year anniversary, Battery packs, door handles, motors, ball joints, stabilizers, cooling fans, pumps, charge ports, the list goes on and on. Unfortunately, the huge hit in resale value when the "D"/"Autopilot" release didn't help. Basically, as a trade in, Tesla would give me $1 per mile off the value for trade in, plus a bit per year. I have 70,000 miles, So basically, my car is valued at Nill for trade in because they can't CPO such a high mileage car. They would have a third party come in to purchase it at pennies on the dollar and then send it to auction. Short of taking Tesla to court, of which, I don't have the financial reasures or the desire to do, I suppose I will be making as much use of my (Currently as of this posting) 12 Tesla Referral Credits to pay for repairs once I surpass my ESA by the end of 2015. Too bad the credits expire at the end of next year
Sad to say, but it is very frustrating. If my first battery had failed just a few weeks sooner, I would have/could have lemon'd my car (The failures must have a impact on the drive-ability/safety of a vehicle, water in tail lights, and miscellaneous quirks don't cut it for failures unless it's out of service more then 30 days here).
To the OP, I know exactly what your saying, and where your coming from.
My last statement in this post, while I have had excessive issues, Tesla has gone above and beyond to correct the problems on my car. I just believe, at this point, the car should have been completely replaced. Tesla knows as well how far I've gone to make things work as well. Of which I'm not at liberty to post here.
Sad to say, but it is very frustrating. If my first battery had failed just a few weeks sooner, I would have/could have lemon'd my car (The failures must have a impact on the drive-ability/safety of a vehicle, water in tail lights, and miscellaneous quirks don't cut it for failures unless it's out of service more then 30 days here).
To the OP, I know exactly what your saying, and where your coming from.
My last statement in this post, while I have had excessive issues, Tesla has gone above and beyond to correct the problems on my car. I just believe, at this point, the car should have been completely replaced. Tesla knows as well how far I've gone to make things work as well. Of which I'm not at liberty to post here.
mknox
Well-Known Member
Same here. I think I can honestly say that I've had more issues with my Model S than with every other car I've owned in my lifetime combined. A lot of them were small "early adopter" issues like the Gen 1 door handles and a number of bits that corroded quite badly, but have since been re-engineered. A couple of "bigger" issues too. At the end of the day, however, Tesla has always taken good care of me. I have about 60,000 miles on my 2.5 year old car, so resale value also becomes a concern. I am hopeful that most of the stuff that was going to break has broken and been fixed, and that I can keep the car for another 2 or 3 years, consistent with how long I've kept past cars.
taurusking
Member
Yes you are right mknox. Same here I have had lot of issues with MS. First microphone...then parking sensors...then drive unit ..then horn....now I am due for an inspection for possible drive unit issues.
But man they took care of me...(Dallas Service Center).
I drove a Camry before for 3 yrs and all I had until I sold it ....was one battery issue (cost $99.00)
Electricfan
Active Member
lemon
What is the current state of your car? Running ok? Any issues?
I know selling it is tough because of the financial loss, but if you've lost confidence in it maybe you should bite the bullet.
I'm getting a new drive unit soon - first major repair on the car which I picked up new in June this year. It did have a problem with a fan making a loud noise in the dash, which Tesla also fixed.
As long as Tesla is willing to stand behind it, I'm going to stick with it. It's an electric car that you can drive across country! Nothing else comes close. That makes me want it to work out very badly.
If I have a broken rear axle while I'm going down the highway, though, I admit I might change my mind. Did that happen to you? Where were you when you had that problem?
What is the current state of your car? Running ok? Any issues?
I know selling it is tough because of the financial loss, but if you've lost confidence in it maybe you should bite the bullet.
I'm getting a new drive unit soon - first major repair on the car which I picked up new in June this year. It did have a problem with a fan making a loud noise in the dash, which Tesla also fixed.
As long as Tesla is willing to stand behind it, I'm going to stick with it. It's an electric car that you can drive across country! Nothing else comes close. That makes me want it to work out very badly.
If I have a broken rear axle while I'm going down the highway, though, I admit I might change my mind. Did that happen to you? Where were you when you had that problem?
I'm confused by this as well. How did you manage to get the extended warranty in WA state?
High mileage? Wasn't Elon talking about million mile drivetrains not too long ago?
You have met the criteria for a lemon law arbitration. I did it with a RAV4EV. With the payout you can buy a new Tesla. You don't need attorney to make a claim.
Alysashley79
Active Member
If tesla hadn't been amazing service wise I'd have jumped ship and run but...they have bent over backwards to fix everything and then some. I can't say anything bad about their service. I do also love my car but I'm not in the financial position to trade (high miles) or fork over $ for another one. I wish I could.
I've owned just about every make of car out there and none of them even come close to the service tesla has. I just hope that continues once the x is out.
I've owned just about every make of car out there and none of them even come close to the service tesla has. I just hope that continues once the x is out.
Hi electricianfan,
At the moment the car drives as intended, but we are only 1 week beyond the last major repair, the broken axle/drive train. They stated they had no idea why the axle broke, but suspect it's due to the high torque of the drive train. I have an S85, not a P85 or P85+, I'm not flooring the acceleration at any time either so it's just so strange that an axle will break on a less than two year old car. Unfortunately it did happen on the freeway, 405, on a Friday evening commute home...SoCal drivers were very open to express their thoughts each time sometime drove by...as if it was my intention to have my car break down. I feel like arbitration at this point would be the best option, I really do not want to draw this out or elevate this beyond that, should be easy for them to see my record and nature of malfunctions shouldn't it?
Electricfan
Active Member
Unfortunately I have no experience to share on applying lemon law or arbitration. Sounds like one person who responded above did this successfully though. Good luck whatever path you take.
And you can bet that Tesla reads this forum also. That backfired on Tony Williams and his RAV4EV arbitration. It is wise to assume Tesla knows everything about the car and how it has been driven.
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