Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Tesla’s $16k Quote for a $700 Fix Is Why Right to Repair Matters

thedrive.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

521–530 of 564 posts

Re: Tesla’s $16k Quote for a $700 Fix Is Why Right to Repair Matters

#521

Post by effingwewt »

Marsymars wrote: post #418
effingwewt wrote: post #379

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed. I have full coverage with Geico, as well as uninsured motorist coverage, damage etc. Well the other night some asshole decided to pac-man all the cones on the highway late at night so we had to navigate a field of almost impossible to see cones (the borders are black and there were no lights up). Several cars, including mine ended up running over a few. I got lucky as it just messed up my paint a bit on the f…

> Forcing nsurance (health and renters, cars,etc) should be illegal,it doesn't work as it should. What's your alternative to mandatory liability insurance, given that there are drivers with much greater liability risk than others?

Not sure maybe we all just pay a tax to cover the damage...exactly like insurance is supppsed to be, but more like a co-op so it's just us, no C-Suite asshats stealing 99% of the money for themselves. Insurance on paper sounds good, it's the ever-greedier businesses that eff it all up.

As another reply to me mentioned, 'full-coverage' should be just that. The US allows so much lies I believe nothing, our gov't lies ,ads lie, politicians lie,police lie,lawyers...well

Re: Tesla’s $16k Quote for a $700 Fix Is Why Right to Repair Matters

#522

Post by jlbooker »

throwaway0a5e wrote: post #33
mschild wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, except Tesla has a history of performing just as janky repairs on their cars themselves. Its even stated in the article.[0] Another question to consider is why the repair is 16k. Does is actually cost Tesla that much or do they just quote that much because they are realistically the only ones who can fix it so they can charge the price? Driving around with a shoddy fix on a combustion engine can be just as dang…

>Sure, except Tesla has a history of performing just as janky repairs on their cars themselves. Its even stated in the article.[0] Drilling and tapping a broken off plastic barb for a brass (or steel, or plastic, or whatever) barb is a very, very, very, standard procedure in any trade where you repair things. I wouldn't call this hack. Appealing to authority is fashionable. People will poo-poo anything if they think…

>Another question to consider is why the repair is 16k

If you watch the video on 'Rich Rebuilds' YouTube channel that this article comes from, they mention the problem... The battery pack _can_ be opened and repaired, but it requires special training, equipment, and a specialized area of the service center to perform the work. They mention that Tesla _used_ to do this work and some of the Service Centers were properly equipped/trained to do handle it. However, Tesla found it was cost prohibitive to do at individual Service Centers, so now they have one central facility that repairs/reprocesses packs.

Rather than equip and train every Service Center, they've found it makes more sense to just replace the whole battery pack and send the old one back to the one central facility for service.

The battery pack is considered a high-voltage part. Tesla, by their policy (safety and liability reasons, presumably), won't sell you any of the high-voltage components.

Re: Tesla’s $16k Quote for a $700 Fix Is Why Right to Repair Matters

#523

Post by atatatat »

londons_explore wrote: post #378
userbinator wrote: post #354

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The piping is essentially house plumbing level stuff. Much lower pressure, actually - domestic water is supplied closer to 50-60psi. This fix is only inferior to Tesla because it exposed a design flaw and removed their chance to massively overcharge for a tiny repair.

> Much lower pressure, actually - domestic water is supplied closer to 50-60psi. Cries in England where domestic water can be as low as 10 psi and sometimes won't even reach the top of your house and you have to go downstairs to get water...

Ew.

Re: Tesla’s $16k Quote for a $700 Fix Is Why Right to Repair Matters

#524

Post by Chris2048 »

lexs wrote: post #513
Chris2048 wrote: post #487

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the pipes in an apartment fail, the building won't murder someone on the highway.

Electrical fires, mold, etc etc there is enough things can be dangerous and harmful in an apartment.

to people on the highway?

Re: Tesla’s $16k Quote for a $700 Fix Is Why Right to Repair Matters

#525

Post by dd36 »

ineedasername wrote: post #387
dd36 wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Self-service portal should catch this too. It’s neglect on the insurers side. They have superior information on what is normal and customary and can flag unusual policies for confirmation.

I just got a new car, the dealership handled the insurance transfer. It was on us to separately verify current vs. desired coverage separately. Not sure this is the norm though.

Ultimately it’s the insurer’s product. They should verify everything, especially if they’re allowing third parties to input policies. They can easily flag outliers.

Re: Tesla’s $16k Quote for a $700 Fix Is Why Right to Repair Matters

#526

Post by [deleted] »

oblio wrote: post #476
asdff wrote: post #438

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not all cars are set to depreciate. If you buy something more rare or in demand you will probably see it worth about the same when you sell, sometimes decades down the line. If you bought an aircooled 911 or some old land cruiser today, it would probably be worth even more in 15 years even with your mileage.

This is a very niche case, though, maybe 1% of cars, at best. It doesn't apply to mass market cars.

[deleted]

Re: Tesla’s $16k Quote for a $700 Fix Is Why Right to Repair Matters

#527

Post by smileysteve »

rdtwo wrote: post #359
smileysteve wrote: post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdotal. But I haven't spent $5k in repairs to my 17 year old bmw in the 10 years I've owned it. I do budget for $1k a year though.

You are in the bmw sweet spot I think. Newer ones have even more complex and expensive parts but reliability isn’t better and access is difficult

Sure. I'm pre turbo. The electric water pump is undoubtedly better for long term, but had initial issues (on the other hand, it has a clear engine code and is easier to access)

Re: Tesla’s $16k Quote for a $700 Fix Is Why Right to Repair Matters

#528

Post by mulmen »

smileysteve wrote: post #353
rdtwo wrote: post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An older bmw could easily cost you 3-5k a year in repairs . Couple that with lesser but still substantial depreciation and you might find it too be a lot more expensive than you thought.

Anecdotal. But I haven't spent $5k in repairs to my 17 year old bmw in the 10 years I've owned it. I do budget for $1k a year though.

My 2010 BMW had $5,000.00 in repairs in the first year after the warranty expired. That doesn’t include the $15,000.00 in unnecessary repairs the dealership quoted me. In the four years since then repairs have been closer to $2,000.00 a year.

The electric water water pump alone was $2,000.00. $1,200.00 in parts and $800.00 in labor. This is basically a “maintenance” item. The car has less than 100k miles and is on the third pump.

Re: Tesla’s $16k Quote for a $700 Fix Is Why Right to Repair Matters

#529

Post by rasz »

toomanybeersies wrote: post #500
jws wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But why are you calling it a hack fix? My first question would relate to "dezincification". A chemical process where the zinc leaves brass and leaves a copper sponge behind. Does the coolant cause dezincification? Is zinc tolerable in the coolant? Learned this one in my home when my city water dezincified a kitchen faucet causing water to escape through to "solid" surfaces. My second question would be about how tha…

I'm certain that the mechanic, who took 3 or 4 years to learn his trade, has thought of these things. That repair will likely last longer than the car. Brass fittings have been standard for hydraulic and cooling systems for over 150 years. Tesla has been cheap and used plastic instead.

Plastic is fine, every car has some part of cooling circuit made out of plastic.

At least its not glued in https://rennlist.com/forums/cayenne-958-2011-2018/1045931-20...

Re: Tesla’s $16k Quote for a $700 Fix Is Why Right to Repair Matters

#530

Post by Marsymars »

effingwewt wrote: post #521
Marsymars wrote: post #418

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Forcing nsurance (health and renters, cars,etc) should be illegal,it doesn't work as it should. What's your alternative to mandatory liability insurance, given that there are drivers with much greater liability risk than others?

Not sure maybe we all just pay a tax to cover the damage...exactly like insurance is supppsed to be, but more like a co-op so it's just us, no C-Suite asshats stealing 99% of the money for themselves. Insurance on paper sounds good, it's the ever-greedier businesses that eff it all up. As another reply to me mentioned, 'full-coverage' should be just that. The US allows so much lies I believe nothing, our gov't lies ,…

That doesn't pass the smell test for me - with a co-op, incentives are aligned for everyone. With liability that's covered by society, you create incentives that are directly opposed - e.g. you can drive a giant SUV that's more deadly to other drivers and pedestrians - and without mandatory insurance, you're getting the benefits of driving a tank-like vehicle while offloading all the costs and risks onto others.

You'd also need some new framework for dealing with high-risk drivers - e.g. instead of increasing the insurance cost for someone with a DUI conviction, you'd need to simply take away their ability to drive.

There also exist numerous jurisdictions with publicly provided insurance, e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurance_Corporation_of_Briti...

Post reply on HN