[lnsru]

This article is biased in my opinion. Colleague bought BMW with broken gearbox. Warranty covered 2/3 of repair costs. That’s typical mistake when buying nice car and not checking it thoroughly.

For electric vehicle it is even more important. I would lift the car during test drive in random repair shop, go by myself under it and check the bottom. Battery is most expensive part there. And most fragile too. And also easy to check without special tooling.

I also wouldn’t buy a car with 70000 miles on it. That’s the mileage when things start to fail. It is also out of warranty. Battery might be still under warranty, but that’s not very useful. Tesla solved these issues in the past. Other thing is that these were rental cars. So they were treated extremely poor for years. The buyer of Herz Tesla should be well prepared for all possible expensive surprises.

Edit: I wouldn’t buy a car made after 2005 with 70000+ miles on it. The family cars made before outlived the ones made after 2015. 7 data points at the moment.

Edit2: CAN-Bluetooth dongle with an app isn’t really a tool. Not having it while buying a car for 25k is a gamble. Add also tool for paint thickness measurement. Everything else is naive. Nobody sells very good car for a very good price.

[MisterTea]

> I also wouldn’t buy a car with 70000 miles on it. That’s the mileage when things start to fail.

In an ICE sure (and that is even questionable, had a '96 Honda Civic go 300+k) but what wears on an EV aside from batteries? Bearings? There's so much less mechanical crap that an EV should really outlast a gas bunner by decades. Then again all the plastic crap and junk electronics have crippled automobiles.

[talldatethrow]

I have a 4runner with 260k miles,an F250 with 250k, and a Chevy Volt with 188k. Not a single one has ever left me stranded, and I wouldn't hesitate to take any of them on a cross country trip.

To be honest, I really think a newer car will be in the shop sooner than my vehicles will have a hiccup. My friends that buy Audi, BMW, jag, are usually in the shop soon after purchase for something random.

[jeffrallen]

> (batteries are) easy to check without special tooling.

What on earth are you taking about?

Physical damage to the case, maybe. But physical damage to the cells, no way. Water damage from the cooling system will only be inside. And battery capacity is only visible in the battery management system. Which is only available from CAN with vendor-specific software.

[ProfessorLayton]

>I also wouldn’t buy a car with 70000 miles on it. That’s the mileage when things start to fail.

California, the state with the highest EV sales especially for Tesla, mandates that batteries be warrantied for 10y/150k miles. 70k leaves most of the warranty intact.

[Grazester]

70k? I had a Toyota at 115k and I felt like the things was just getting broken in. I was sorry when I sold it because I needed something with 4 doors.