Report: Couple Charged $20K After Their Tesla's Battery Got Rained On
A couple in Scotland expressed sticker shock after facing a bill of about 20,000 U.S. dollars to have their Tesla fixed when the battery was damaged by rain.
Tesla owners Johnny Bacigalupo and Rob Hussey told local media that they were shocked to get such a hefty bill -- and the needed repairs weren't covered under warranty.
Insider notes, via Autoblog, that a Canadian man faced a similar situation with his Model S last year -- that owner was quoted $26,000.
Tesla chief Elon Musk said, in 2019, that battery replacements would cost between $5,000 and $10,000. Prices change over time, of course, and a third party cited by Insider pointed out that while the low end remains $5,000, the high end is now $20,000.
There are really two issues at play here. The cost of the battery replacement, obviously, but also whether or not warranties should cover damage caused by unavoidable natural events like rain.
It's unclear if Bacigalupo and Hussey authorized the replacement or chose a different option.
[Image: Tesla]
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Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.
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It was a lovely day at Loch Ness; Johnny and Rob backed their Tesla up to the shore and got out to do some fishing. They raised the hatch and were sitting on the back to watch their lines when all of a sudden the water started churning and a head at the end of a long neck broke the surface, and wrapped around the neck - were the fishing lines! In a panic, they dropped the poles in the cargo area, slammed the hatch closed, and made a run for the doors. The slamming hatch panicked the already highly upset creature into diving for deeper waters. The sudden tension on the lines was just enough to tug the car down the bank. The experts were proved right when the car did actually float, but the battery proved singularly ill adapted to the task of ballast.
Story is woefully short on relevant details.
I tried to find more info- the owners say they never hit a puddle, the dealership says that it (the battery) was submerged. It occurred during a yellow weather warning for rain (which I don't know exactly what that means- but if it's raining hard enough for Scotland to issue a warning, I'm betting that's a lot). "Damaged by the rain" would appear to be selling it lightly.
There's clearly not enough information in that article to say who is in the right... or wrong. Saying, "The battery got rained on," suggests that it was removed from the vehicle and left out in the open. While I acknowledge that this is unlikely, without knowing the details of the incident, I wouldn't vote either way.