[bdangubic]

what is fascinating about your comment to me is thag the value of your car has dropped precisely because people fear battery issues. my friend had a 2015 Tesla S in pristine condition, just a ridiculous car. replaced the battery so now we have 50k miles new battery like-new Tesla S that he could not sell for more than $30k. wild stuff…

even though most people don’t do it, on more expensive cars it actually makes serious financial sense to replace the battery but on cheaper cars it does not!

[aprilthird2021]

Your friend's Tesla did not drop in resale value because of the battery. If anything a new battery would make those who fear battery degradation more willing to buy this used car.

It dropped because Teslas in general have a high maintenance cost associated and a high insurance cost (because insurers also see it as costly to maintain). High maintenance cost tends to sink a car's resale value.

I know the car does not need oil changes or have the possibility of various failure modes an ICE car has, but when it does have an issue, like a dent or a scrape, etc. the cost to repair is much higher.

[cobri]

As of 11/13/2024, Consumer Reports rates Tesla as the lowest maintenance and repair costs over the first 10 years of ownership, not factoring in insurance or collision repair.

https://www.consumerreports.org/cars/car-maintenance/the-cos...

[thejazzman]

They didn't ask me about my $15k battery replacement that occurred the day after my warranty expired

Doesn't much matter how good the cells are when the wires in the pack just magically corrode

[bdangubic]

outliers always exist, you were dealt bad hands. I think also if you pushed hard you could have gotten this covered, just needs a whole lot of yelling and if that doesn’t work going social and trying to get some publicity behind it, especially if it was 1 DAY after warranty expired.

I personally thinks it makes financial sense to get extended warranty for things like this, $15k used to be a price of a new car, getting a warranty to cover that past Tesla’s warranty I think makes financial sense.

My wife recently bought pre-owned eTron and I made her get extended warranty after doing research online about maintenance costs on them

[thejazzman]

Arguing got it down to $7.5k and beyond that I needed a lawyer. I paid it, and kinda regret it, because not only is it a refurbished battery, it's basically useless on a trip/supercharger now as they cap the speed to absurdly low levels. Like 10%/h. Car only had 70k miles on it, too.

I appreciate that you didn't call me a liar, which has been my past experience anytime I mention something negative about that company

[bdangubic]

I have a colleague at work that had the same experience as you - it was close to 9 months after warranty! For sure this is a thing - can’t believe someone called you a liar! There are other people on various Tesla forums with issues like yours.

Is the supecharger capping a thing? Like for any refurbished battery? I didn’t know about this!!

[aprilthird2021]

But that's not factoring in the exact things I'm talking about: insurance and collision repair, which are both higher on this make

[bdangubic]

insurance and collision repair works out not much different from other luxury cars. if you think tesla’s repairs are high see about owning a mercedes or audi…

again, even if this was true, you are shitty driver and have to pay premium for tesla insurance, given virtually $0 in maintenance you’d still come out on top

[aprilthird2021]

I agree that if you pay $0 in maintenance you come out on top. But since you will have to pay high insurance and potentially high repair costs (and those repair costs get closer the older the car is), the price of the car tanks on the used market.

> insurance and collision repair works out not much different from other luxury cars

No, it does work out differently than other cars of a same retail value, that's very well documented. See my other comment

[bdangubic]

This is poor documentation... again I'll say if you are a shitty driver you will be paying high insurance and you will be having issues fixing the car and whatnot not matter what the car is. I have been a driver since 1993 and have had one claim where I was at fault (slippery road, rear-ended a car in front of me). my insurance on the Tesla is as cheap as it gets, like $68/month. have several friends that drive Teslas too (mostly 3 and Y) and no one is paying high insurance.

if you know you are going to F sh*t up with the car and have bunch of claims on it and have it at the shop all the time - I agree with you Tesla is not for you. But if you are a good driver insurance and maintenance is not a thing you need to worry about at all...

[bdangubic]

with all due respect every single reason you listed here is 100% wrong… I have had Tesla S 2014 for now over a decade - the cost of “maintenance” exactly $0.00. here’s what my costs have been (I have free supercharging so we can say this has been total cost of ownership)

- new internal battery $220 - new modem when switch to “5G” was made - $250-ish - new tires

that is it. after 80k miles I am still on original brakes cause with regerative braking I seldom-to-never use the brake (as my wife would say if I use a brake on Tesla it is always followed by F-bomb at another driver)

not sure who told you all these things but they are all 100% wrong - no exception

[aprilthird2021]

Please read this part of my comment:

> but when it does have an issue, like a dent or a scrape, etc. the cost to repair is much higher.

This is why insurance on Teslas is higher. It is not uncommon for bodywork on Teslas to be far more expensive than on other cars, and since bodywork is the majority of insurance claims, it factors in.

You can read about why insurance and repair costs are higher at many sites:

https://www.compare.com/auto-insurance/vehicles/tesla/why-is...

https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-car-insurance

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2023/sep/30/the-quotes-wer...

https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/insurance/tesla-insurance

[bdangubic]

I HAVE a Tesla :) Insurance is fine unless you are a bad driver, just like insurance should be.

I pay roughly 40% less for Tesla vs. my other car which is audi etron. KBB on both comparable.

Even if insurance was higher, the actual cost of ownership/maintenance is practically $0.00 so even if I was paying 25% more in insurance compared to some comporable I’d still choose Tesla every day of the week and twice on sunday

[aprilthird2021]

But the original question was about why Tesla prices drop on the used market. It is not about fear of batteries. It is due to real, documented cost increases in other sides: insurance and repair costs.

You having a Tesla doesn't mean all the statistics and articles I posted are false.

[bdangubic]

the reason prices drop is exactly the battery, not insurance or repair costs.

as most tesla owners will tell you there is no maintenance costs and insurance (if you are not a shitty driver) is not bad at all considering it is a luxury vehicle and repair costs are also not that bad. the real issue is the cost to replace a battery fear of which drives people away from buying used teslas. this is true for other EVs, if I tried to sell you 2018 audi etron your first thought will be “that is a 7-year old battery in that car”, not “ain’t going for it cause of insurance and repairs.”

if tesla offerred lifetime warranty on the battery (or if battery replacement was like <$2k) the used tesla prices would go through the roof