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Good luck! Tesla's are marvels of technology, but the lockdown they have on maintenance and repair -- which includes extremely high costs -- is enough to shy me

Good luck! Tesla's are marvels of technology, but the lockdown they have on maintenance and repair -- which includes extremely high costs -- is enough to shy me away until we get a 'right-to-repair' law.

beamatronic 6y ago
I would just settle for a full pipeline of replacement parts!
revnode 6y ago
You are absolutely right, but it's also not as bad as it was before. You can now buy "unrestricted" parts. Before, you couldn't even buy an air filter.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- FireBeyond 6y ago
  Thanks to legislation, not to Tesla's magnanimous nature. Several states (notably, MA) had to wave increasingly large sticks at Tesla to get any traction there. You couldn't even buy a screw from their online ordering system. "Price: Not listed". "Order: Contact Tesla" (who would then say "not available to you". Even their service manuals. Make an appointment, in MA. Pay a fee. Go to a specified location, weeks later. Go into a room with paper and pencil, no cameras, phones, or computers allowed. Be given a time limit.
  - dawnerd 6y ago
    You can get them online... https://service.teslamotors.com/ https://service.teslamotors.com/ It’s just expensive
    - revnode 6y ago
      That wasn't always the case. That was his point.
jm4 6y ago
There is hardly any maintenance on them. I had a minor wind noise issue when I first got it that they took care of in a couple hours. Since then, it’s been washer fluid and tires. The kinds of routine maintenance and repair items you typically don’t want to take your car to a dealer for aren’t much of a thing on a Tesla. Then there are the big ones where you probably do want the dealer working on it. Like if some significant mechanical problem occurs I want Tesla working on it. Not to mention, a lot of the more expensive repairs are going to be covered by warranty or insurance anyway. Sure, they’re expensive, but so is everyone else. If you bought a new or new-ish Ford and there was a mechanical failure would you want to take it to a Ford shop or a random mechanic? Yes, there’s a significant number of people in the latter group, but they’re going to feel that way no matter what they drive. Most of them probably don’t buy new cars because of it. Many people who buy new cars either don’t care or actually prefer to go to the dealer.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- FireBeyond 6y ago
  > Not to mention, a lot of the more expensive repairs are going to be covered by warranty or insurance anyway. Sure, they’re expensive, but so is everyone else. This ignores the timing aspect too. What other major manufacturers might have up to 6 weeks or more lead times for repair parts for current vehicles? > Many people who buy new cars either don’t care or actually prefer to go to the dealer. I own a new, high-end car. I'd rather find (an orthogonal issue) and go to a passionate mechanic than a dealership who has lock-in (and of the two issues my vehicle has had, I am fairly certain the dealer service center _caused_ one of them, and then couldn't answer a simple question that anyone with a multimeter could, with the other).
  - jjoonathan 6y ago
    Yeah. Independent mechanics are a mixed bag. Dealerships aren't -- they're all bad.
- nicoburns 6y ago
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
jgalt212 6y ago
> the lockdown they have on maintenance and repair This is not endemic to Telsa, or even to the auto industry. It's in $800K tractors as well. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-03-05/farmers-fight-john-deere-over-who-gets-to-fix-an-800-000-tractor https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-03-05/farmers-f...
- ariwilson 6y ago
  Tesla's much worse about it than other car manufacturers. Not sure how industrial equipment is relevant here (not sold to consumers).
  - jgalt212 6y ago
    many farms are small businesses, and thus are closer to a B2C relationship than B2B. But aside from equivalency, I posit that the general expectation of buying something is that you should be able to do what you lawfully want with it.
cptskippy 6y ago
> which includes extremely high costs Yes that's a Tesla exclusive... I took my Leaf in for a recall repair and they quoted about $800 to replace all fluids and filters. They wanted $120 to swap out the $9 cabin filter from under the dash that took me all of 20 minutes to do. They encouraged me to spend another $600 to replace a door handle because of an engineering defect that was purely cosmetic and easily fixed with a dab of hot glue.

beamatronic 6y ago

I would just settle for a full pipeline of replacement parts!

revnode 6y ago

You are absolutely right, but it's also not as bad as it was before. You can now buy "unrestricted" parts. Before, you couldn't even buy an air filter.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
FireBeyond 6y ago
Thanks to legislation, not to Tesla's magnanimous nature. Several states (notably, MA) had to wave increasingly large sticks at Tesla to get any traction there. You couldn't even buy a screw from their online ordering system. "Price: Not listed". "Order: Contact Tesla" (who would then say "not available to you". Even their service manuals. Make an appointment, in MA. Pay a fee. Go to a specified location, weeks later. Go into a room with paper and pencil, no cameras, phones, or computers allowed. Be given a time limit.
- dawnerd 6y ago
  You can get them online... https://service.teslamotors.com/ https://service.teslamotors.com/ It’s just expensive
  - revnode 6y ago
    That wasn't always the case. That was his point.

jm4 6y ago

There is hardly any maintenance on them. I had a minor wind noise issue when I first got it that they took care of in a couple hours. Since then, it’s been washer fluid and tires. The kinds of routine maintenance and repair items you typically don’t want to take your car to a dealer for aren’t much of a thing on a Tesla. Then there are the big ones where you probably do want the dealer working on it. Like if some significant mechanical problem occurs I want Tesla working on it. Not to mention, a lot of the more expensive repairs are going to be covered by warranty or insurance anyway. Sure, they’re expensive, but so is everyone else. If you bought a new or new-ish Ford and there was a mechanical failure would you want to take it to a Ford shop or a random mechanic? Yes, there’s a significant number of people in the latter group, but they’re going to feel that way no matter what they drive. Most of them probably don’t buy new cars because of it. Many people who buy new cars either don’t care or actually prefer to go to the dealer.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
FireBeyond 6y ago
> Not to mention, a lot of the more expensive repairs are going to be covered by warranty or insurance anyway. Sure, they’re expensive, but so is everyone else. This ignores the timing aspect too. What other major manufacturers might have up to 6 weeks or more lead times for repair parts for current vehicles? > Many people who buy new cars either don’t care or actually prefer to go to the dealer. I own a new, high-end car. I'd rather find (an orthogonal issue) and go to a passionate mechanic than a dealership who has lock-in (and of the two issues my vehicle has had, I am fairly certain the dealer service center _caused_ one of them, and then couldn't answer a simple question that anyone with a multimeter could, with the other).
- jjoonathan 6y ago
  Yeah. Independent mechanics are a mixed bag. Dealerships aren't -- they're all bad.
nicoburns 6y ago

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

jgalt212 6y ago

> the lockdown they have on maintenance and repair This is not endemic to Telsa, or even to the auto industry. It's in $800K tractors as well. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-03-05/farmers-fight-john-deere-over-who-gets-to-fix-an-800-000-tractor https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-03-05/farmers-f...

ariwilson 6y ago
Tesla's much worse about it than other car manufacturers. Not sure how industrial equipment is relevant here (not sold to consumers).
- jgalt212 6y ago
  many farms are small businesses, and thus are closer to a B2C relationship than B2B. But aside from equivalency, I posit that the general expectation of buying something is that you should be able to do what you lawfully want with it.

cptskippy 6y ago

> which includes extremely high costs Yes that's a Tesla exclusive... I took my Leaf in for a recall repair and they quoted about $800 to replace all fluids and filters. They wanted $120 to swap out the $9 cabin filter from under the dash that took me all of 20 minutes to do. They encouraged me to spend another $600 to replace a door handle because of an engineering defect that was purely cosmetic and easily fixed with a dab of hot glue.