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.
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.
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).
The difference is that a "random mechanic" is an option with most manufacturers. And it's not with Tesla.
This is like arguing that the iPhone is a bad phone because it doesn’t have a removable battery. For some, that’s a real issue. It may have been somewhat controversial in the beginning. These days no one cares because it hasn’t turned out to be a major issue for most.
A bunch of manufacturers find ways to get owners back to the dealership. Sure, Tesla has more lock in than most, but try taking any other electric car to an independent mechanic. Or a high end import.
Plenty do, they just also want a premium electric car despite the downsides, not because it has none. You just keep oscillating between your point being that "you" don't care, or "most people" don't care.
I think the biggest single disadvantage Tesla has compared to other manufacturers is the service network, either dedicated or partnerships. Even in places where there's no "dealership mafia" like the EU.
Outside of internet discussions where someone needed to convince themselves that everyone shares their point of view I never met a person who said "I don't care how much my personal car costs to repair, how long it takes, or how many hoops I have to jump through to do it". Definitely not after they faced the challenges. Some may afford to absorb the extra costs but this doesn't mean they don't care.
I'm thinking more like fixing even a minor fender bender. Anecdote but I personally know of someone from an Eastern European country who had to ferry the damaged Tesla Model 3 on a platform to a neighboring country to repair it because that was the closest authorized garage. It took months and the insurance premium exploded. You get a simple cracked headlight? There are no aftermarket parts, and even if you have an original one no garage can "legally" install it. Knowing someone in a Tesla authorized service partner I can confirm the practices are... not great. According to the agreement they signed to become an authorized partner and under the threat of withdrawing said authorization, they have quite a few limitations that make for longer wait times and more expensive repairs. They are not allowed to order extra parts for stock (they have to "tie" them to a car in service) and they are not allowed to use aftermarket replacement parts, only consumables. These are real issues and even if recently I was looking for electrics I just wasn't willing to take the chance. I have to consider the plausible worst case when making a purchase decision.
The yearly maintenance for my car just meant a maximum 45 minute visit to the nearest shop to my office that I did in the morning on my way to work.
> high mileage repairs and most people, particularly the ones who buy a Tesla, won't own the car long enough to be concerned about that
That's not good advertisement for a car. You're saying it's great as long as you can get rid of it fast enough? I'd really like to have the option to stick with the car without such caveats. I mean every car's maintenance increases with age and perhaps Teslas today involve the same overall effort and expense except distributed differently over the lifecycle (lower than average for the first few years, through your nose when it gets old). This may be ok for expensive cars like an Model X or an MB S-class, but not for something like a Model 3. And it suggests the very same Tesla owners talk out of both sides of their mouths. On one hand they are just trying to be green, on the other they're changing cars every few years? Don't get me wrong, I'm not asking for a justification, just pointing out the dissonance.
They're still cars. Give it 10yr and you'll still need all the same suspension and steering related service that every other car needs. Nobody wants to pay a dealer to do something trivial like CV boots or wheel bearings.
What do you think happens to a car when you're done with it? In the USA, the average passenger vehicle age in 2019 was 11.8 years: https://www.bts.gov/content/average-age-automobiles-and-truc...
This must be a regional thing. I would guess the majority of vehicleS on the road in Arkansas are more than 10 years old. My daily driver is a 2000 (built in 1999). Granted, it’s a Jeep Wrangler, so that’s probably not representative of the overall market... but my wife’s vehicle is a 2015 Kia Sorento and still looks and feels “new”.
Out of curiosity, how much do you drive your Tesla? I don’t commute every day but my Jeep has ~180k on it. The Kia has ~120k. We’re starting to consider upgrading the Kia, but unless we find a crazy deal it would surprise me if we kept it another five years and 100k+ miles.
P.S. An old Wrangler definitely isn’t representative. Hell, the old ones are even better. My wife has a newer one and we will probably keep it forever. Great vehicles.
https://www.autoblog.com/2019/06/27/record-average-age-cars-...
Even ICE cars these days have very little maintenance. Oil changes every 7000-10000 miles is about the only thing, and that cost is not very high.
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.
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.
https://service.teslamotors.com/
It’s just expensive
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-f...
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.