With Tesla, you can turn a $2,442 windshield installation into a $3,174 windshield installation through the power of interest.
This is being reported by the Teslasphere as an “excellent option” to restore affordability to a car market that desperately needs more affordability.
Only, neither of those numbers is even in the same ballpark as affordable.
When I had mine, the back seat started rattling one time so I took it in for service. A week later, I finally got it back with a piece of electrical tape stopping the rattle and an invoice for $160.
Glad you no longer have it, but next time, regardless of manufacturer, if you have a minor issue that isn’t covered by warranty, don’t bother taking it to the dealer. They all scam you based on the hourly pricing (not competitive to independent shops, even specialists of the marque) and replacement policy (replace as big a part as possible because more money + less chance of customer coming back. Example for ICE based cars: Friend did his apprenticeship at a Toyota dealer. Car came in with a bad alternator voltage regulator (probably 20-30 euros for an aftermarket part, Toyota would obviously ask more for a genuine Toyota branded part), his boss told him it’s going to have to be a full alternator replacement, they won’t replace the regulator itself. This policy is great under warranty (you get more parts renewed, yay), but not so much when it’s an out of pocket repair.
I know, I was assuming they would maybe have to replace a latch or something. Tesla doesn’t sell parts to repair shops, so getting the right one would have been difficult or impossible. Tesla’s service used to be white-glove when I first had the car, and rapidly declined to a shit-covered dumpster fire.
Fair enough. Though in such a case (zero aftermarket parts availability), you’re better off getting a used part IMO, unless it’s a wear item. But that’s just my opinion of course.
Not understanding the alternator bit. I’m not aware of any shop of any stripe that will replace only the regulator.
EDIT: Leaving the above. Seems like back in the day you couldn’t replace the regulator alone. Looked at pics and it seems easy now days.
Depends on the model. When my first car was having alternator trouble, I replaced the regulator which required me to remove a whopping two bolts. Of course it’s not possible on all alternators, but it was the first example I could think of. Similarly, if you’ve got a bad valve body in your auto transmission, most main dealers would tell you that you need to replace the entire transmission. Etc.
god damn, lol.