Tesla slashes its used car warranty — killing another confidence builder

October 19, 2020

Tesla has significantly weakened its used car warranty in another strange killing of a consumer confidence builder from the automaker.

Last week, we reported on Tesla canceling its ballsy ‘no questions asked’ 7-day return policy, which was used as a confidence builder by the automaker and directly by CEO Elon Musk.

Now we’ve learned that Tesla has also slashed its used car warranty.

Tesla used to offer 2 to 4 -year warranty on used Model S and Model X vehicles:

Model S and Model X that were under 4 years old and under 50,000 miles at the time of Tesla delivery: Used Model S and Model X are protected by a Used Vehicle Limited Warranty for 4 years or 50,000 miles, whichever comes first, starting from your delivery date. The balance of original Battery and Drive Unit Limited warranty still applies for used vehicles. The Tesla Used Vehicle Limited Warranty does not extend or otherwise alter the original warranty.
Model S and Model X that were over 4 years old or over 50,000 miles and under 6 years old and 100,000 miles at the time of Tesla delivery: Used Vehicle Extended Limited Warranty provides coverage for up to 2 years post-delivery or up to 100,000 miles, whichever comes first. The balance of the original Battery and Drive Unit Limited Warranty still applies for used vehicles. The Tesla Used Vehicle Limited Warranty does not extend or otherwise alter the original warranty.

Now Tesla has updated its used vehicle warranty to only one year or 10,000 miles over the original warranty:

“Tesla used vehicles are covered by the remainder of 4 years or 50,000 miles left on the Basic Vehicle Limited Warranty. After expiration, the Used Vehicle Limited Warranty provides additional coverage of 1 year or 10,000 miles. If the Basic Vehicle Limited Warranty has already expired, the Used Vehicle Limited Warranty will provide coverage of 1 year or 10,000 miles, starting from your delivery date.”

While the new used car warranty being added on top of the new car warranty is good for more recent used vehicles purchased from Tesla, it really cripples any kind of warranty on used Tesla vehicles from 2016 and older.

Instead of getting 2 to 4 years of warranty, now they only get 1 year or 10,000 miles.