In context: Tesla news has been a bit of a mixed bag lately. A few days ago, Tesla refreshed its mass-market Model 3 vehicle with a whole host of spicy upgrades, but shortly after, it made some other controversial changes to its customer-facing sales policies.
For starters, let's talk about Tesla's "no questions asked" seven-day return policy, which was used as a core marketing strategy for quite some time. The guidelines once said that if a customer is unhappy with their new vehicle at any time within seven days of receiving the car, they are free to return it for a full refund.
Policies like these are scarce in the car industry, so it was a pretty useful tool for Tesla to have in its marketing tool chest. Unfortunately, though the policy was initially created to boost customer confidence, it seems Tesla has lost faith in its own policy. As reported by Electrek on Friday, it has been quietly scrapped, as has any language referencing it on the Tesla website.
If that wasn't bad enough for consumers, a new Electrek report published today claims that Tesla has altered its warranties for used Model S and X vehicles.
According to the newly-updated warranty, any used vehicles you buy from Tesla will only be covered by a 1-year "Used Vehicle Limited Warranty," which guarantees you for 365 days or 10,000 miles from the date your used car is delivered.
Tesla's old policy gave you a brand new two or four-year warranty based on the age of the used vehicle you purchased. If it was under 6 years old, you'd get a two-year warranty, and if it was under 4 years old, you'd get a four-year warranty. Now, that's no longer the case.
However, there is one saving grace here: the new policy is additive, so if the used car you purchase still has warranty time remaining, the extra time will be slapped on top. If you're purchasing a used car whose warranty has already expired, though, it's a different story. All you can really do is hope you don't run into any issues after your first year of ownership.