Purchasing a vehicle is typically a significant and crucial choice, but a YouTuber has now shared some guidance if you’re contemplating buying a used Tesla.
YouTuber Samcrac believed he had secured an incredible bargain when he purchased a used Tesla at a price much lower than anticipated, but things didn’t go as planned.
In a recent video, he revealed that he acquired the first-generation Tesla Model S for just $11,000 at an auction, with a mileage of 100,000.
Seems like quite the bargain, right?
Unfortunately, he explained that things took a frustrating turn.
He stated: “I bought this old Tesla Model S super cheap and I’ve owned it for 8 months now.
“In that time it broke, then it broke again, and again and today I’m going to fix it myself wishing I had just got a new one to begin with.”
Ouch. He further elaborated that he also purchased another car, a secondhand Model S Plaid, and faced similar problems.
As expected, it too kept experiencing breakdowns and required repairs.
Discussing his Model S repairs, he needed to replace a battery fuse, front control arms, window regulator, trunk latch, and charge port door.
While he managed to address some issues on his own, for others he had to rely on Tesla, which, as anticipated, wasn’t inexpensive.
He also noted that, in his experience, the repair process tended to be lengthy and often resulted in increased costs over the original estimate he received.
Ultimately, he spent thousands on repair bills just months after his purchase.
When comparing the two second-hand cars, he referred to them as ‘moneypits’ due to the significant amount of money he had to spend on professional repairs or doing it himself.
Despite the challenges he faced, Samcrac still considered both vehicles to be excellent cars. However, he offered some prudent advice if you’re thinking about purchasing a non-new one.
He commented: “I still think they’re an amazing value as long as you can DIY fix them every time they break and as long as you don’t have some sort of catastrophic failure like a drive unit going out or like a high voltage battery failure.”
If you typically depend on professionals for your repairs, like many people do, a cheaper second-hand car might end up being more expensive in the long run, so it’s important to stay informed.