News

What Goes Into a Tesla Model S Annual Service?

Published

10 years ago

March 18, 2015

Rob M.

I’m still shy of the 12 month mark on owning my Model S, but I just had my first annual service and wanted to share my thoughts and experience on Tesla’s annual service.

Frequency of Service

Tesla recommends that you have your Model S serviced every 12,500 miles or every 12 months, whichever comes first. This has always been problematic for me since I drive 30,000 miles a year. So by their rules I’d be getting an “annual” service every 5 months.

When I explained this to my Tesla rep during delivery of my Model S, they had recommended that I perform the service at 24,000 miles which seemed very arbitrary to me, but that’s what I did.

At 24,000 miles (less than 10 months into ownership) I called for an Annual Service appointment. The service person I spoke to was shocked I hadn’t had my car serviced yet with all those miles and I explained that I had been following their recommendation. My appointment was booked 3 weeks out. It wasn’t urgent so timing wasn’t a big deal, but it did mean that I would be going in for my first service at 25,500 miles.

When should I take my Model S in?

I took to the TMC forum and asked other owners what their Tesla annual service experience was like. Universally, owners are treating the annual service as just that, an annual service regardless of miles and type of service needed. However similar to my experience, some owners are receiving mixed guidance from Tesla on when the annual service should really take place.

This gets even more confusing when it comes to those with the pre-paid service plan. I did an analysis of Tesla’s pre-paid service plan when purchasing the car and realized that it just wasn’t for me

One Model S owner who goes by the handle of AmpedRealtor received the following email from Jerome Guillen, former VP, Worldwide sales and service (he just changed roles):

Dear Mr. [AmpedRealtor]:
Any customer who has paid for a 4-year service plan is entitled to 4 “annual service” visits. The customer can elect to bring the car whenever they desire: we recommend every year or every 12,500 miles (whichever comes first), but the customer are free to do whatever they essentially desire. They can bring the car every 18 months or every 6 months. In the end, they will receive the 4 “annual service” they have paid for. I hope this clarifies the situation.
Many thanks for your continued support. Best regards,
Jerome Guillen | VP, WW sales and service

While thats a nice email and statement, it isn’t what the contract says when you sign up for the pre-paid plan. So while Elon, Jerome, and others have stated other things its hard to commit to a contract that clearly states something different and then expect otherwise.

Ultimately, Tesla needs to get their act together on what an Annual Service really entails and make sure the paperwork matches the intent.

What Goes Into the Tesla Annual Service?

The Annual Service price (if not pre-paid) is $600. Its an all-day affair and usually involves you dropping off your car and getting a loaner.

In many areas, Tesla offers a valet service (for free) where they’ll pick up your car and drop off a loaner, but they’ve started clamping down on that service. Nowadays it seems that they only want to do the valet service if you’re within 10 miles of the Tesla Service Center. I wasn’t offered valet service (I work 14 miles from the service center) and dropped my car off myself which wasn’t a big deal — I always love seeing all the Tesla’s on their lot.

The actual annual service was described as follows on my invoice:

They basically go over the car and check everything out. Along the way they’ll also perform any other needed updates where needed.

There was a service bulletin:

Bulletin: Model S | SB-14-17-002 | Corrosion on 12V Positive Jump Post

And I had some corrosion so they replaced the parts that were of concern.

They also did more than a normal “Annual” service since I was at twice the mileage for the annual and evidently they have different types of service at different mileages. This one they called:

24 Month/25000 Mile/40000 km Service (with Coil Suspension)

For that part of the service they removed, cleaned and lubricated front and rear brake pads and performed an alignment with some minor adjustments.

So while the service is annual, they do different things based on the mileage on the car again somewhat contradicting ideas of coming in whenever you want or only once a year regardless of mileage.

Extra Items

I generally have a list of less urgent items that I want addressed each time I go into the service center. I had two open issues this time as follows:

One of my Tesla UMCs was not working.
My right front tire was somehow rubbing when the wheel was at full turn and at low speeds (usually reversing into a spot).

The UMC (my original one that came with the car) was faulty and they replaced it for free after testing it themselves. I’m a little concerned it didn’t even last a year before failing but at least it was covered by the warranty. Fortunately when it failed I had a spare and had started using that after several bad charges with the original UMC.

To address the rubbing noises coming from the right front tire, Tesla mostly blamed the noise on my aftermarket Tsportsline wheels and Nokian tires but was able to address it with a wheel alignment. I don’t really buy that the aftermarket parts were the issue given there’s a forum discussion going on with owners with the exact same issue on the same front right wheel. But whatever they tweaked, it is much better now. I think their design tolerances in the wheel well are too tight.

Oddly they had an item on the service sheet as a customer complaint from me that I didn’t bring up when making the appointment:

Concern: Customer states cruise control is not working normally.

This was actually derived from an email to ownership a few months before the service about the problems around limited regeneration in the cold. It wasn’t a complaint about the car as it was working as designed, it was a suggestion that they may want to review how things worked in that area as I thought there was a safety issue.

Tesla collects all concerns / complaints that you email them with and will include it into your service checklist.

Getting a Loaner

Any service event (planned or unplanned) is an opportunity to experience a Model S with a different set of configurations. While I was hoping for a P85D, I ended up with a beautiful blue P85+.

While the extra performance was nice, I wasn’t blown away by it since I had a lot more trouble with keeping the wheels from spinning. With my S85 I really have to work at losing traction and the traction control does a great job. With the P85+ (it had winter tires on too, Sottozero) the tires spun a lot and I didn’t like the experience — the power was too much for either the tires or the traction control or both.

The other thing the car had that was new for me was the Alcantara headliner. I really liked the look of it and would have to think hard on that option next time. I’d want to hear about maintenance/cleaning experiences first though.

Summary

My first paid Tesla service appointment in over 25,000 miles cost a total of $600 and was overall a good experience. I felt that it was good value for the amount of work Tesla did on the car. Tesla did everything I expected (and more) and returned my car cleaner inside and out than it has been in many months of driving through a harsh New England winter.

Granted it got dirty before I even reached home but it was still great to see how beautiful the car looked when clean. I’m ready for spring.

News

Tesla adjusts Robotaxi safety monitor strategy in Austin with new service area

The positioning of the driver, as well as the driver’s hands being closer to the steering wheel, is more similar to what Tesla is doing in the Bay Area Robotaxi program than it is to what it has done in Austin.

Published

1 hour ago

September 2, 2025

Joey Klender

Credit: @AdanGuajardo/X

Tesla has adjusted its Robotaxi safety monitor strategy in Austin after it expanded its service area in the city last week for the third time.

Tesla has been operating its Robotaxi platform in Austin since June 22. The vehicles have been operated without a driver, but Tesla has placed safety monitors in the passenger’s seat as a precaution.

The safety monitors are responsible for performing any necessary interventions and maintaining a safe and comfortable cabin for riders as they experience Tesla’s first venture into the driverless ride-sharing space.

Last week, Tesla expanded its service area in Austin for the third time, expanding it from about 90 square miles to 170 square miles. The expansion included new territory, including the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, Tesla’s Gigafactory Texas, and several freeways.

Tesla Robotaxi geofence expansion enters Plaid Mode and includes a surprise

The freeway is an area that is uncharted territory for the Tesla Robotaxi program, and this fact alone encouraged Tesla to switch up its safety monitor positioning for the time being.

For now, they will be riding in the driver’s seat when routes require freeway travel:

Sept 1 in Austin and our Robotaxi arrived with Tesla safety driver in the driver seat, similar to the Bay area (no logo on the car). Here’s that first moment when I realized, our autonomous car was heading onto the freeway. pic.twitter.com/1QfyN2Ubzf
— Gail 🇺🇸 (@gailalfaratx) September 2, 2025

This is sure to draw criticism from skeptics, but it is simply a step to keep things controlled and safe while the first Robotaxi drives take passengers on the highway with this version of the Full Self-Driving software.

This FSD version differs from the one that customers have in their own vehicles, but CEO Elon Musk has indicated something big is coming soon. FSD v14 is coming to vehicles in the near future, and Musk has said its performance is pretty incredible.

Tesla’s Elon Musk shares optimistic teaser about FSD V14: “Feels sentient”

News

Tesla has best month ever in Turkey with drastic spike in sales

Tesla managed to sell 8,730 Model Y vehicles in Turkey, outpacing almost every competitor by a substantial margin. Only one brand sold better than Tesla in August in Turkey, and it was Renault.

Published

2 hours ago

September 2, 2025

Joey Klender

Credit: Tesla

Tesla had its best monthly performance ever in Turkey in August, thanks to a drastic spike in sales.

Tesla saw an 86 percent bump in sales of the new Model Y in Turkey in August compared to July, dominating the market.

The performance was one of Tesla’s best in the market, and the company’s sales for the month accounted for half of all EV sales in Turkey for August, as it dominated and led BYD, which was the second-best-selling brand with just 1,639 units sold.

Tesla managed to sell 8,730 Model Y vehicles in Turkey, outpacing almost every competitor by a substantial margin. Only one brand sold better than Tesla in August in Turkey, and it was Renault.

Turkey reported 8,730 Tesla sales and 10.6% market share in August. BEV penetration is 21.3% and Tesla has 49.9% of this segment. 🇹🇷
• Market share is 558 basis points or 111% above the 3-month trailing average of 5.0%
• Tesla second best-selling brand
• Model Y best-selling… pic.twitter.com/qLhX7VQWXp
Advertisement

— Roland Pircher (@piloly) September 2, 2025

Electric vehicles are, in some ways, more desirable than their gas counterparts in Turkey for several reasons. Most of the reasoning is financial.

First, EVs are subject to a lower Special Consumption Tax in Turkey. EVs can range from 25 percent to up to 170 percent, but this is less than the 70 to 220 percent rate that gas-powered vehicles can face. The tax is dependent on engine size.

Elon Musk courted to build a Tesla factory in Turkey

Additionally, EVs are exempt from the annual Motor Vehicle Tax for the first ten years, providing consumers with a long-term ownership advantage. There are also credits that can amount to $30,000 in breaks, which makes them more accessible and brings down the cost of ownership.

Let’s not forget the other advantages that are felt regardless of country: cheaper fuel costs, reduced maintenance, and improved performance.

The base Model Y is the only configuration available in Turkey currently.

News

Tesla is upgrading airbag safety through a crazy software update

“This upgrade builds upon your vehicle’s superior crash protection by now using Tesla Vision to help offer some of the most cutting-edge airbag performance in the event of a frontal crash.”

Published

5 hours ago

September 2, 2025

Joey Klender

(Credit: Tesla)

Tesla is upgrading airbag safety through a crazy software update, which will utilize the company’s vision-first approach to enable better protection in the event of an accident.

Over the years, Tesla has gained an incredible reputation for prioritizing safety in its vehicles, with crash test ratings at the forefront of its engineers’ minds.

This has led to Tesla gaining numerous five-star safety ratings and awards related to safety. It is not just a statistical thing, either. In the real world, we’ve seen Teslas demonstrate some impressive examples of crash safety.

Everything from that glass roof not caving in when a tree falls on it to a Model Y surviving a drive off a cliff has been recorded.

However, Tesla is always looking to improve safety, and unlike most companies, it does not need a physical hardware update to do so. It can enhance features such as crash response and airbag performance through Over-the-Air software updates, which download automatically to the vehicle.

In Tesla’s 2025.32 Software Update, the company is rolling out a Frontal Airbag System Enhancement, which aims to use Tesla Vision, the company’s camera-based approach to self-driving, to keep occupants safe.

The release notes state (via NotaTeslaApp):

“This upgrade builds upon your vehicle’s superior crash protection by now using Tesla Vision to help offer some of the most cutting-edge airbag performance in the event of a frontal crash. Building on top of regulatory and industry crash testing, this release enables front airbags to begin to inflate and restrain occupants earlier, in a way that only Tesla’s integrated systems are capable of doing, making your car safer over time.”

The use of cameras to predict a better time to restrain occupants with seatbelts and inflate airbags prior to a collision is a fantastic way to prevent injuries and limit harm done to those in the vehicle.

The feature is currently limited to the Model Y.