Lifestyle
Should I Buy the Tesla Extended Service Agreement?
Tesla’s basic warranty for the Model S covers 50,000 miles or 4 years, whichever comes first. Once that point is reached, you have 30 days to decide on whether you want to further extend warranty and sign up for the Tesla Extended Service Agreement (ESA).
With 48,000 miles under my belt and averaging 3,000 miles per month, I’m faced with the tough decision – to ESA, or not ESA, that is the question. I’ll describe my thoughts on Tesla’s ESA (as it relates to me), but ultimately you’ll want to make your own decision on what’s best for you.
Tesla Extended Service Agreement (ESA)
First it’s good to understand how Tesla describes its extended warranty program. According to Tesla,
“Tesla’s extended service program covers the repair or replacement of Model S parts due to defects in materials or workmanship provided by Tesla. Coverage lasts for four years or 50,000 miles (whichever comes first) and begins on the date your warranty expires, as long as you purchase this service within 30 days of your warranty’s expiration.”
There are really two main points to the statement:
- The duration for the additional coverage + timeframe for signing up
- Tesla ESA covers defects in materials or workmanship on parts by Tesla
Exclusions
As with most warranties, wear and tear is not covered by the extended service. Even a Model S with its limited number of moving parts, it still has every day items such as tires, shocks, door seals, fluids, 12V battery, brake pads/parts, filters, etc. that would wear over time, and thus require maintenance.
A key point to note when thinking about the ESA is that your Tesla is already covered for 8 years, and infinite miles, on the main battery and motor(s). Having an extended warranty to cover these items won’t matter.
Cost for Extending Warranty
The extended warranty costs $4,000 which is on par with the price charged by other premium car manufacturers. However, what’s different about Tesla’s ESA program is the additional $200 deductible.
While you will only have to pay for it once for the part being replaced, even if the same part were to fail multiple times, you have to keep in mind that the $200 is charged per part. For example, should a single Model S door handle fail, the deductible would be $200. However, in the unfortunate event that all four door handles fail, you might be shelling out an $800 deductible. (someone please confirm in the comments below)
The extended warranty can be transferred to a new owner for a $100 fee, but it cannot be transferred to a car dealer or third party reseller.
Grey Area with Coverage
The Tesla Extended Service Agreement states:
“Tampering with the Vehicle and its systems, including installation of non-Tesla accessories or parts or their installation, or any damage directly or indirectly caused by, due to or resulting from the installation or use of non-Tesla parts or accessories;”
Does this apply to Model S owners who have upgraded with aftermarket lighting accessories such as the popular “Lighted T” or even a dash cam?
Another passage on regular maintenance is a bit fuzzy to me. According to the ESA,
“If requested, proof of required service, including receipts showing date and mileage of the Vehicle at the time of service, must be presented before any repairs under this Vehicle ESA commence. Service within 1,000 miles and/or 30 days of Tesla’s recommended intervals shall be considered compliant with the terms of this Vehicle ESA.”
Tesla has been all over the place on what it recommends for its maintenance intervals. The official paperwork indicates annual maintenance is every 12,500 miles or 12 months, whichever comes first, although, depending on which Tesla Service Center you speak with, you may hear a different account on what the service interval should be.
My personal belief is that Tesla just intends owners to have an annual service regardless of mileage (and that’s the plan I’ve been following as suggested by my service center), but this frequency for maintenance technically wouldn’t meet Tesla’s requirement for extended warranty, especially given the number of miles I put on per year. I drive a lot, but I doubt I top those that embark on epic cross-country road trips in the Model S.
How Much Value Can I Get?
As with all insurance, trying to derive value from the plan really comes down to a “bet” on whether you think you might need coverage, and also whether coverage on the parts + labor would exceed the cost of the coverage itself.
Averaging 32,000 miles of driving per year, Tesla’s extended warranty will last me a whopping 18 months. It costs $4,000 which backs out to $222/month over 18 months, plus a $200 per item deductible.
I used my historical Model S service records as a sample to see what could potentially be covered down the road with the ESA. I should note that other than the annual service cost of $600 which I’ve already paid, I’ve spent $0 for service so far.
- 12V battery failure (7 months) (wouldn’t be covered by extended warranty)
- 17″ screen reacting to static electricity (missing MCU ground) (7 months) (wouldn’t be covered by extended warranty)
- Sunroof rattle on back roads (shims added) (7 months) (wouldn’t be covered by extended warranty)
- UMC failure (8 months) (may be covered by extended warranty)
- Front right tire rubbing wheel well (11 months) (wouldn’t be covered by extended warranty)
- Bad ball joint (11 months) (would be covered by extended warranty)
- Leaky sunroof seal (12 months) (wouldn’t be covered by extended warranty)
- Charge port rings discolored (12 months) (would be covered by extended warranty)
- Key fob falling apart (13 months) (wouldn’t be covered by extended warranty)
- Drive unit failure (15 months) (covered by infinite mile drive unit warranty)
Based on the above I would have had 2 or 3 of the 10 total issues that would have been covered by the extended warranty. One was purely cosmetic (charge port rings). The other two were not. A new UMC is $600, so paying $4,000 for warranty coverage for it makes no sense let alone it’s not clear if the UMC is even covered. The bad ball joint is really the only thing of significant value that would have been covered and I find it difficult to believe that it would cost more than $4,000 plus the $200 deductible to replace.
Based on my own history with needing repairs, it doesn’t seem to make sense for me to purchase the extended warranty. However there are big ticket items that could potentially go wrong and make the extended warranty bring tremendous value. Unfortunate (but rare) occurrences of Model S defects / failures as follows:
- The 17″ screen could develop bubbles (est. $2,900)
- The main control unit (MCU) could fail (est. $6,000)
I rarely hear about a Model S needing big repairs which I hope is a testament to how durable the vehicle is, or it could mean Tesla is covering it on their own through more discreet service bulletins. I started a discussion/poll over on TMC to see how many owners actually had to pay for their service.
Summary
What am I going to do? My high mileage driving greatly reduces any value for purchasing Tesla’s Extended Service Agreement.
Based on the data I’ve collected over the last 18 months and 50,000 miles of driving, the lack of having any major services leads me to believe that having a Tesla ESA is not a good investment for me.
Now, should I put my money aside for a just-in-case type of repair? Probably. But, let’s be real. The lack of servicing is truly a testament to how amazing the Tesla Model S is. No parts to worry about, no major issues, and no out-of-pocket surprises.
My plan is to take the $4,000 I had set aside for the extended warranty and put it in Tesla stock ($TSLA). I believe in the company, love the car, and I think it’s a far better investment than the Extended Service Agreement would be.
Lifestyle
Tesla Cybertruck targets job site crews with new Tailgate Utility Track and Bed Gear Box accessory
Tesla launched a $350 tailgate track and a $985 lockable Bed Gear Box for Cybertruck.
Tesla’s Cybertruck team added two more items to the Tesla Shop, targeting job site crews and owners who use the truck bed for actual work rather than just showing it off. The official Cybertruck X account posted the Tailgate Utility Track and the Bed Gear Box within minutes of each other, part of a five item batch that also included a reflective jacket, a spray paint hat and an updated reflective tee.
The Tailgate Utility Track runs $350 and turns the folded down tailgate into another mounting surface. It’s a single aluminum track with a T-slot for sliding accessories and two L-track attachment points, plus two load stops included in the box. The pitch is straightforward: strap down oversized cargo, like lumber or a cooler, that hangs off the back of the bed without it sliding out mid-drive. It bolts onto the existing tailgate and works on every Cybertruck trim.
Tailgate Utility Trackhttps://t.co/PCAYXlFBvS pic.twitter.com/sCV2NVxf1W
— Cybertruck (@cybertruck) September 3, 2026
The Bed Gear Box costs $985 and is a different kind of accessory. It’s a lockable aluminum storage box, 55.78 inches long, 19.8 inches wide and 7.79 inches tall, that mounts to the bed’s L-track rails and comes with two internal bins for smaller items. According to Tesla, at just over 57 pounds empty, it’s meant to stay in place rather than come in and out with each trip, giving owners a factory-fit alternative to loose totes for tools, recovery gear or emergency supplies. Tesla’s listing notes that Long Range and Dual Motor AWD Cybertrucks need the L-Tracks accessory installed separately before the Gear Box will mount, since L-tracks come standard only on certain configurations.
Tesla Cybertruck bed gear box accessory
Both accessories lean on the idea Tesla has been building toward since Elon Musk first described the Cybertruck’s third-party attachment strategy at the 2023 shareholder meeting, when he said the truck would ship with mounting points so outside companies, and Tesla itself, could keep adding gear without redesigning the bed. That’s the same L-track backbone underneath the tailgate shield and jumpseats Tesla launched last year, and the off-road armor package that arrived through the same X account in 2025.
Owners looking to round out the rest of the L-track ecosystem, cargo dividers, MOLLE panels, bed racks and similar gear, can find a wider range of options through our Cybertruck accessories collection.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk says he knows how to save Earth for a billion years
Elon Musk says sentient AI satellites launched from the Moon could keep Earth livable forever.
Elon Musk spent part of his weekend describing a plan to keep the planet livable for roughly a billion years, and it starts with satellites that can think for themselves.
In a post on X, Musk argued that swapping fossil fuels for solar and wind power will not be enough to protect humanity from what he called extremely severe extinction events, the kind that occur roughly every 100 million years. His fix is what he called sentient satellites, or solar-powered satellites, controlled by AI, that would sit in a fixed spot between Earth and the Sun after being launched off the Moon using a giant electromagnetic catapult instead of rockets.
The satellites’ onboard AI would make continuous, small adjustments rather than waiting on human instructions. The mass driver is Musk’s proposed way of getting the raw material there cheaply by using an electromagnetic launch track built on the Moon, where lower gravity and no atmosphere make it far easier to fling cargo into space than it is from Earth.
But we do need to act much faster than that if people still want to live where the beach is today. We have about 50 years or so to take action, which should be more than enough time for the space satellites to solve any heating problems. https://t.co/xhrVQALwQw
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 30, 2026
Musk shared a Grok generated estimate suggesting roughly 5 percent of Florida’s land, or about 1.68 million acres, could face regular flooding by 2070 under a high sea level rise scenario, and said humanity has about 50 years to act before coastal living looks very different than it does today.
This is not the first time Musk has floated the idea. He raised a similar concept in November, describing a solar powered AI satellite constellation that could make tiny adjustments to incoming sunlight to fine tune Earth’s temperature. Musk has also tied planetary risk to his broader vision at SpaceX, where his compensation package is explicitly linked to establishing a self-sustaining Mars colony, one he has described as an insurance policy against the kind of extinction event he referenced this weekend, and where he has said humans could set foot within five to seven years.
A former Vancouver police sergeant with ALS accounts his journey to become a patient for Elon Musk’s Neuralink wireless brain-computer interface technology.
“I’m texting you from my brain right now.” That was the first message Lee Marten sent after waking up from Neuralink surgery, five hours and one migraine after dozens of threads were stitched into his motor cortex.
Marten, a former Vancouver police sergeant, is one of the first Canadian ALS patients to receive Neuralink’s N1 brain implant, and the 26th recipient overall. He tells his story in a first-person account published by Maclean’s.
Marten recounts how he was a healthy, athletic Vancouver police sergeant until April 2022 when symptoms of muscle twitching and balance loss, were followed by a bad fall that broke his leg. He would eventually be diagnosed with ALS in early 2025 at the age of 47. ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a fatal neurodegenerative disease that progressively destroys the motor neurons controlling voluntary muscle movement, eventually taking away a patient’s ability to walk, speak, swallow and breathe. There’s no cure, and most patients live two to five years after diagnosis.
He describes the devastation of the diagnosis and how he began preparing for it while connecting with other young ALS patients through a WhatsApp group called Young Guns. Through that group he learned about a Neuralink clinical trial at Toronto Western Hospital and, after a roughly seven-month vetting process (physical assessments, psychiatric evaluation, a final interview with the Neuralink team), was accepted this past April as the trial’s 26th recipient and the first Canadian ALS patient to get the N1 implant. He recounts the May surgery in detail, including the robotic system that stitched 64 threads into his brain, and describes the app, Link, translating his neural signals into cursor control, which he was using within hours of waking up.
Marten walks through what daily use looks like, including weekly “brain training” exercises, a real-time neural-activity display, charging the implant via a beanie-mounted MagSafe charger, and using the implant for emailing, texting, social media, and gaming via a “Magic Box” that connects it to other devices. He also gives brief context on brain-computer interface history and quite candid about Musk, calling him “divisive” but saying he found him “easy to admire.
The piece closes on a heavier note, with Marten seeking to pursue medical assistance in dying as his symptoms progressed, noting that he’ll be able to communicate his final words to his family through Neuralink rather than facing a silent decline. He expresses hope the data from his case will help future ALS patients, even without a cure in his own lifetime.
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