On a particularly rainy Scottish Saturday in October, Johnny Bacigalupo and Rob Hussey took their Tesla out to enjoy a nice dinner in downtown Edinburgh. But after the meal, they were shocked to find that their car just … wouldn't move. Somehow, the battery had died, and they ended up having to call Tesla's roadside assistance service for help.
It wasn't until several days after the car was towed that they received the $21,000 repair bill.
Understandably, the couple was shocked — especially considering the fact that the battery was supposed to be covered under an 8-year warranty. Unfortunately, that warranty doesn't cover extensive water damage. As the couple explained to Edinburgh Live:
[Tesla] said that the battery is effectively submerged in water. How can that be our fault?
After finally getting to speak to a manager, he told me it had water in it due to the fact the weather in Scotland has been so bad. That was the issue. They said it's not necessarily my fault but it's not Tesla's to pay under warranty. He reminded me there was a yellow weather warning in some parts of Scotland.
Do they know that we're in Scotland? That weather was not abnormal for living here.
There are certainly plenty of warranties and other legal contracts that leave convenient outs of coverage for "acts of God." But climate change is a decidedly manmade phenomenon. You'd think that Tesla should at least be able to provide some sort of water ingress protection to their batteries. But I suppose you don't get to be a billionaire by offering basic customer service for things like Scottish rain.
Edinburgh couple fume as they are handed £17K bill by Tesla as they 'drove in rain' [Sean McGill / Edinburgh Live]
