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Is service plan necessary?

Elon declared in his 4/26/13 tweet: ---$600 annual service plan is optional with no effect on warranty---. Why does one pay extra minimum of $1900 for a 4y service plan? I'm getting my red ms in about 10 days, and my service center is going to be about 50 miles away from me and is "coming soon".

So, gentlemen (and ladies ), please advise! Do I really need to buy ANY service plan at all? What does the basic warranty do?

Ps: when requested, Porsche dealership sends guys to my house pickup-service-return my car with no extra charge beyond the routine costs for annual maintenance ($350ish).

If you go to and search for "service plan" you will find multiple threads discussing this at length.

Search link lead me to lots of readings of prior posts. Thanks. Vokerize didn't work but thanks too

NO, there is no need to buy service because everything is covered under a no-fault warranty.

This is clearly NOT the case, only the battery has a no fault warranty. The car's 4-year warranty is not no fault.


Ted Merendino, a product planner and the Tesla tech who received the phone calls from Broder during his infamous adventure, said point blank that the only difference between taking the service plan and taking it in for service is hat you save money with the service plan if you happen to have it serviced every year.

People who pay ahead of time get nothing special. No hardware upgrades, no service perks, no priority treatment whatsoever.

So, your 4 year service plan adds nothing to your coverage.

Where am I missing something?

Being early adopters, the clear line of paid & unpaid are blurred.

Once, the novelty wears off, if you don't pre-pay, you'll need to pay for:

• Annual inspection (or every 12,500 miles)
• Replacement parts like brake pads and windshield wipers (excluding tires)
• 24 hour roadside assistance
• System monitoring
• Remote diagnostics
• Hardware upgrades
Tesla Valet Service
Tesla Rangers

Jtodtman, that's how I understand it and will spend the extra $500 over 4 years to (a) spread out the payments, and (b) just in case for some reason I can't use the last 1, 2, or 3 years!


What you are missing is that "Annual Service" is considered a "Service Plan" also. When someone asks, "Is a service plan necessary?" telling him "there is no need to buy a service plan" means there is no need to have annual service.


Elon said that there is no need for annual service for warranty to be in force.

Here's the thing.

If I don't take the 4 year service plan and I go in for service they're going to take care of my car just as professionally as they take care of your car but they're going to charge me $600.00.

Now, since I am not going to be putting 12,500 miles on my car in a year, not even close, I plan on taking my car in for the annual service every 16 months, saving me $100.00 over the prepaid 4 year plan.

What do you think I'm missing now?


Your choice works perfectly for you.

However, a short distance of towing can cost hundreds of dollars.

When a fuse is blown, Tesla could drive up to your home to hand you a new fuse.

Just two simple examples above are worth the pre-pay cost and peace of mind.

Elon said in the TM annual shareholder meeting that TM does not make money in service. It is true that if MS owner does not purchase any service plan, it would not affect your MS battery warranty. However, as many pointed out and the issue has been previously discussed, if you do not buy any per-paid service plan, you are risking not to have warranty (except the battery) on your MS. TM recommends doing the annual or 12,500 mile service. Even if you do not drive more than 12,500 miles per year, the annual service would still be good for your MS.

It is not clear if MS owner does the service every 16 or 18 months instead of 12 months, the warranty (except the battery) on the car would still be valid.

The simple answer is NO.

However it comes with an asterisk.

Is garage remote control necessary for my home? No, but I love the fact that I no longer have to get out of the car and manually pull up the garage door.

Is 85kwh battery necessary? No, but I bought it because it comes handy in road trips although statistically, average American commute is only 16 miles.

Is twin charger necessary? No, but I love the fact that I've been able to charge twice the speed of single chargers at San Diego Tesla Store (I'm in Los Angeles area).

Is Active Suspension necessary? No, but I love the fact that it lowers itself in high speed and I can raise it to prevent scraping.

Ok! Lots of things are not necessary, but it is up to you to decide.

I was told by Tesla corporate that there is no service requirement in the warranty, therefore any annual service is at the owner's discretion and not required to maintain the vehicle warranty. All car warranties primarily cover defects in manufacturing or workmanship, so maintenance would have no bearing on this. What do they do at these regular services anyway? Rotate tires, replace your windshield wipers and run a system diagnostic? What else?

I'm arguing against those who say there is no need to take the car in for service at all. It's not because of the warranty. Your car is warranted for four years or 50,000 miles whether you take it in or not. And it is also not for the reasons @Tam stated. When you take it in for your $600 service, you will get the needed replacement parts. All of the other items on his list (roadside assistance, remote diagnostics, system monitoring) do not require a service plan, except that Ranger service will cost $100 a pop.

But TM recommends that the car be inspected and serviced every 12 months or 12,500 miles, whichever comes first. Maybe you know more than the TM engineers, but I think it makes sense to follow their recommendation. It is new technology and an expensive investment. Things can and do go wrong. TM has service bulletins and maintenance issues that come up all the time, and it is simply prudent to stay ahead of these. The warranty is not "no fault." If a problem arises that could have been avoided with an annual inspection, TM has a right to refuse coverage for that problem. More important is simply having the car work the way it was intended to work. Sure, you can save $100 dollars by cutting corners, but in my view, that is a false economy.

+1 DouglasR


There are voluntary "corrections", not mandatory recalls:

I'd like to clarify a couple of points.

First, the prepaid plans vs. the post paid plans.

@jtodtman is quite right about this: there is no difference between prepaid plans and post paid plans except in the way you pay. The question of annual vs. four years vs. eight years is a matter of whether you want to pay a fixed amount today, or take the chance that by paying in the future, you can make better use of the money in the interim and that the price won't go up too much. However, you get exactly the same service. Regarding Ranger service, by prepaying you are betting that you will use the service at least five times ($500) over the next four years, or ten times over the next eight years. If you live close to a service center, you will probably have less occasion to use Ranger service. But it is always available for $100 per incident.

Second, the warranty.

True, Elon has said that failure to have annual service will not void the warranty. As a legal matter, however, that was true even before Elon said it. The warranty never stated that it would be void if you failed to purchase annual maintenance and inspection. Even if it had stated that, such a warranty condition would be difficult to enforce. What the warranty does say, however, is that it may not cover problems that could have been avoided by an inspection and maintenance service. And Elon's statement did not modify that provision. Note that we are not talking about the entire warranty becoming void, but just whether a particular repair or replacement will be covered. Moreover, your negligence in failing to have the car serviced must be directly related to the problem your are having or the part that is giving you trouble in order for TM to invoke this coverage exclusion. But make no mistake: if your rear axle falls off because the bolts were loose, and if you skipped the annual maintenance where those bolts would have been checked, you may end up paying for the repair out of your own pocket.


DoublasR, I beg to disagree. In your example of the bolts coming loose and the axle falls off that would be covered under warranty. Tightening bolts should not be a service issue. Bolts are designed to stay tight so that the axle will not fall off.

I'm still looking for a reason to fork over $2,400 when the warranty will cover any problems I have on the car. Someone above mentioned a tow cost. Not an issue when the free Tesla service will come and tow my car for free and bring me a loaner.

Here is the conclusion to this issue: This is directly from the service dept: "Good evening, the service plan will not affect your warranty at all. The only advantage to pre-paying for your service is the discount per service". So there you have it folks...

Exactly - pre-paying the service. Not eliminating the service. Not that complicated actually.

@JZ13 - Read your warranty. It says, "This New Vehicle Limited Warranty does not cover any vehicle damage or malfunction directly or indirectly caused by, due to or resulting from . . . lack of or improper maintenance." Also: "You may void this New Vehicle Limited Warranty if you do not follow the specific instructions and recommendations regarding the use, operation, and maintenance of the vehicle provided in your Model S owner documentation, including, but not limited to:
. . .
• Observing scheduled inspections and making all services and repairs;
• Performing all vehicle maintenance and service requirements,
including those indicated by the vehicle’s systems"

Let's assume TM distributes a service bulletin to all service centers stating that certain bolts had not been properly tightened at the factory, and that this affects a small number of cars. All cars should be checked when they are brought in for service at their next regularly scheduled maintenance. You fail to bring your car in for three years, and consequently experience the problem covered in the bulletin, resulting in extensive damage when the part fails. Under the terms of the warranty, TM would be within its rights to deny coverage. Whether they would actually do so is another question.

I'm quite shocked at the lack of understanding on this board. A 'warranty' does not mean that everything is covered. For example, brakes are not covered under the standard Tesla warranty. If you get the service plan, it is. Windshield wipers, not covered by the warranty, it is under the service plan. now those are just two examples.

Now its true that if you do not get an annual inspection (covered under the service plan), it doesn't void your warranty, but that doesn't mean everything is covered. I mean this is not different than any other car. Go back owners, and either read or download the 4/50k warranty language, you will see what is and what is not covered. Its really quite simple.

So by pre-paying service, you save some money, that's the advantage over not pre-paying. If you need brakes, or replacement parts not covered by the warranty, then you pay up, if you have the service plan, you don't.

There is no right or wrong answer, its whatever the owner wants to do for his/her own situation.

Remember everyone "service" does not equal "warranty". Every car, ICE or electric requires tires to be balanced and rotated periodically. Every car, ICE or electric requires periodic maintenance. Some of that maintenance is covered by a warranty, some is not. You choose to either 1) pre pay, 2) post-pay, 3) pay ad hoc on as needed basis...


We're going to go back and forth about this for a while, I think.

Let me try this, I can pay for the service plan one service visit at a time and get the same coverage that you would get by paying for 4 service visits ahead of time.

You save $500.00 by paying for 4 at once. I will save $600.00 if i choose to only pay for 3 services (one at atime) in 4 years.

Does that clear it up?

This horse


what you don't seem to grasp is that by paying the $600 per visit you ARE PAYING FOR THE SERVICE PLAN. So you contradict yourself when you say one don't need the service plan. What you are arguing is that one doesn't require the PRE-PAID service plan. Does THAT clear it up. Really not that confusing.

Again, WARRANTY does not equal SERVICE.

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