Teacher Aces EV Warranty Research

One day in 2019, Steve Tow’s older brother offered to sell him an upgraded 2016 Tesla Model S. The first thing Steve thought about was unexpected car repairs—that's the last thing he wanted to worry about on a teacher's salary. An elementary and middle school computer science teacher based in Chicago, Steve approaches his family's financial decisions with a certain level of pragmatism and caution. After all, few teacher salaries can absorb repairs costing thousands—and sometimes tens of thousands—of dollars.

Steve wasn’t buying it at first.

Aside from potential repair costs though, Steve wasn't sure if the Model S was the right car for him and his family. The three-year-old EV was used and already had 50,000 miles on it.

He joined a few EV driver Facebook groups and read up on maintenance costs to see if it might be a good option. And after running the numbers and test-driving the car on a family road trip from California to Vegas, Steve realized, “This could save me a lot of money in the long run.” The FSD [Full Self-Driving] capabilities and free supercharging of that model were particularly appealing. So, he bought the car and had it shipped from his brother’s home state of California to Illinois.

Since then, Steve has put over a hundred thousand miles on the Model S, driving everywhere from Florida to Canada with his family. He’s found charging to be seamless even outside the U.S. “It's been the best car I've ever driven in my life,” he says, adding that his next car will definitely be an EV.

Shopping for peace of mind

Steve was aware that his Tesla’s electrical components could fail, resulting in costly repairs. He dreaded potentially paying $12,000 or $14,000 for a refurbished battery—or $4,000 for an AC compressor. As his Model S approached the Tesla ESA’s [Extended Service Agreement] expiration, he started to think about an extended warranty, which covers issues precisely like these.

He joined a high-mileage Tesla group and a Chicago EV group on Facebook to see what other EV drivers said about extended warranties. He researched several options, including XCare. Senior Account Executive Cary Clark gave Steve his personal number, inviting him to call anytime with questions.

“I like knowing that I can always reach somebody,” Steve says.

True to his profession, Steve did his own homework, and decided on XCare. The XCare extended warranty covered more electrical components than other plans he considered. “Electronics always break,” Steve says, “so why not have that peace of mind? I don't have $12,000 just laying around.”

The car already had nearly 100,000 miles when he bought XCare in December 2023. XCare covered 150,000 miles or nine years of additional battery warranty. “I'm like, ‘okay, well if my car can hit 244,000 and it's covered, I don't have to worry about it, let's do it!’” he says. “For me, that's just a peace of mind thing.”

XCare in Action

On a hot summer day in July 2024, right before Steve and his family left on a trip, he turned on the air in his Tesla—only to be met with a blast of heat. “I had a feeling it was the compressor,” says Steve. He was driving around on errands at the time, “so I called my brother because he had his AC compressor already changed and I said, ‘hey, what were the symptoms that you had?’ And he goes, ‘Blowing out hot air.’”

Steve immediately turned off the AC. “I knew that it was probably that and I didn't want to burn the motor,” he says. “I remember driving with the windows open trying to get back home and there was no air.”

It turned out the car’s AC condenser had failed, putting XCare to the test. “They said, just make sure before the work is done, that [the paperwork] gives the reason why it needs to be replaced,” he says. The Tesla dealer handling it was familiar with XCare and finished repairs in about two days.

“I liked the option of, you can have them pay for it or you can pay for it with your own [money] so you can get the credit card miles and then get a reimbursement in two weeks, which is fine with me,” Steve says. “Overall, the experience was pretty seamless and getting reimbursed was really quick.”

Then, in the fall, the door handles started jamming, so Steve set up a mobile appointment for Tesla to replace the door handles. Few other car manufacturers offer mobile service, and Steve certainly appreciated the convenience. “I didn't even have to go to the car,” he says. “They just went in, they did the work and I submitted it through XCare. Got the check 15 days later.” 

"You can communicate more with XCare than other warranties. With other warranties, you kind of just buy it and then you don't hear from them. I like knowing that I can always reach somebody."

- Steve Tow

The 1,200-lb gorilla in the car: the BDU

When we first spoke to Steve, his now eight-year-old Model S still had its original high voltage battery and lots of road left to travel. “I'm planning on driving this car to the ground,” he had told us. “I want that peace of mind that if something does happen in the next 150,000 miles, I know I'm covered.”

We all thought the story was going to end there. But not too long after our initial interview, in January of this year, Steve called in a new claim: the rear drive unit. This small ~90-kg motor can make or break a ski trip, as Steve had just learned.

It’s every road tripping parent’s worst EV nightmare: you plug in to supercharge your car, and when you unplug, your vehicle throws the dreaded BMS error (BMS stands for Battery Management System). The error warned Steve that the car may not restart—and indeed, it didn’t. This would be an issue anywhere, but Steve and his daughters were hours away in snow-country Wisconsin on a ski trip. Not the ideal time for a car to fail to start.

But Steve is a computer science teacher, so he’s used to solving problems, be it his students’ assignments or troubleshooting an EV system. Without losing his cool, he thought through his next steps. “Okay, it's at 70% [charge],” he thought to himself. “Let me just plug it back in and see if it will keep charging and I'll get it up to, like, 90%, in case I have to leave it at the supercharger.” After it charged up to 90%, Steve continues, “I unplugged it and I got the same message saying the vehicle may not restart. Then it said something like ‘performing system check’. So I figured I'd just wait before I try to start the car. Then I put it into Drive, and it worked.”

Relief!

Steve had seen the BMS error before, but the car had always started, so he had chalked it up to the car’s age or perhaps a glitch in the system. But on that cold winter night at a Wisconsin supercharger far away from home, he wasn’t about to play roulette. He drove back to the hotel and parked the car backwards in case they’d need to have it towed the next morning. The family was supposed to ski the following day, but instead they headed home, not wanting to risk getting stuck in the mountains.

The earliest appointment his mobile app listed was three weeks out. So on the way home, Steve called his local Tesla service center, explained the situation, and asked them if he could just drop the car off and leave it there till they’re able to look at it. They agreed, but warned him it might be a few days before they can look at it. Luckily, it was the holidays, and Steve wouldn't need to be back at work until school was back in session. Even more happily, he was able to get a loaner. "They gave me a Model X," Steve beams. "Like, fully loaded, Plaid, everything." It was going to be a little difficult going back to his Model S!

When the diagnosis came in, it was a hefty one. The rear drive unit had to be replaced. The cost of a drive unit, without warranty coverage, is approximately $5k. That's a lot for anyone, but especially for a schoolteacher. Without a warranty to cover it, that would not have been a very nice Christmas present. Steve, of course, had XCare, so he wasn't concerned.

But wait, there's more

But the story doesn't end there. Steve noticed, as he checked his mobile app during the time his car was at the service center, that his battery level was dropping. Too quickly. It looked as if something was draining it. "I drove in with 40%," Steve says, "and now it was down to 10%." He had recently changed his 12V battery, so it couldn't be that. At the same time, if it were the high voltage battery, the power drain from the HV could kill his 12V. He sent screenshots to the service center, asking them to look at it. The problem was, they were in the middle of replacing the drive unit. They wouldn't be able to charge the car until the drive unit was in. And so, the HV battery went to 0%.

And sure enough... when the technicians looked into it, they discovered a leak in one of the cells on the HV battery. It would have to be replaced, too. As you can imagine, the cost of a rear drive unit is peanuts compared to that of an HV battery.

The final tab? $25,720. All covered by XCare (minus Steve's deductible).

Big fan of XCare

All in all, it took over a month for Steve to get his Model S back, but he's got no regrets. His monster repair bill was covered, he was able to get a loaner car, and, as he says, "I still have another five years and 75,000 [miles]. So I'm happy everything worked out. I feel thankful that I did my research—I'm a big fan of XCare."

No matter where you go on a road trip, you should never have to solve complex mathematical equations to make sure your budget can cover the big-ticket items. Contact our XCare team for more info!