Gary Zhou 
All cars need maintenance and refueling or recharging. The greater the distance, the higher the cost of repair. Electric cars from Tesla are no exception but the cost difference is huge.
Let’s take a look at a 250,000 miles powered Model S P85, which is still in great condition. On his blog the second car owner, Steve Sasman, has detailed his ownership experience and cost.
Six years ago Steve realized his dream of owning a Tesla and purchased $79,000 for a used 35,000-mile Model S P85. The price was over $100,000, in new condition.
It should be noted that Steve did not go out of his way to preserve his Model S in pristine condition. He’d covered more than 200,000 miles in his car just 5 years. Around this time, Steve worked at Uber / Lyft, leased his car to strangers on Turo, converted it into a “one-night hotel,” went on a 27,615-mile, 132-day Tesla Road Trip in the summer of 2015 – reaching all the lower 48 states and Canada – and became the first person to visit 200 Tesla Superchargers.
After 200,000 miles, Steve spent about $5,415 on maintenance. The main costs were:
- Screen Replacement – $2,215
- Charge Port Replacement – $790
Other costs included Tesla’s relatively inexpensive standard maintenance, two sets of tires, replacing the door handle, replacing the 12-volt battery, and other minor expenses that Steve did not detail.
“All in, after 200,000 miles I’ve spent about $5415. Good luck spending that little on a 100K German luxury car. Your total will probably be 2 to 4X that total to make it to 200K.”
As a result of all the calculations (Turo Earnings, Uber / Lyft Earnings, Tax Savings and the selling of the car to the next owner), Steve personally gained $17,000 after 5 years of ownership. He also estimated that he saved more than $20,000 on petrol by driving a Tesla versus a gasoline vehicle.
This example shows that not only are Teslas reliable vehicles but they also make for very sound financial decisions.
“I think the numbers from 100,000 to 200,000 miles bear out the fact that buying a Tesla is not only incredibly fun and rewarding from a driving standpoint, but also a smart financial decision. Couple that with the spacious cargo room, ability to camp in the car, its record as the safest car ever tested make it a complete no brainer. Will I ever consider going back to a gas car? LOL,” said Steve.
Want to buy a Tesla Model 3, Model Y, Model S, or Model X? Feel free to use my referral code to get some free Supercharging miles with your purchase: http://ts.la/guanyu3423
You can also get a $100 discount on Tesla Solar with that code. No pressure.
