Manufacturer Study

Between the years 2013 and 2015, Tesla fought only three breach of warranty cases in court; two in the California Supreme court, one in federal court. During this time period, Tesla had the least amount of claims against any manufacturer included in our study. At first we were impressed, but then we noticed that Tesla, by far, sold less vehicles than anyone else. In fact, Tesla only sold 61,653 vehicles during this time period. Fiat sold over twice that amount and only received four breach of warranty claims.

So, does Tesla produce the highest quality vehicle? Not necessarily, and here are some numbers to prove it. We looked at lemon law claims per 10,000 vehicles sold. Tesla received 0.0487 claims per 1,000 vehicles sold. Toyota, Mazda, and Fiat all beat this number with 409, 374, and 304 claims per 1,000 vehicle sold, respectively. Yes, Toyota fought 163 state cases and 82 federal cases, but this is made less egregious when we remember that Toyota sold almost 6 million cars.

And Tesla feels it. An investigation done by Reuters shows that last year General Motors spent an average of $400 per vehicle on under-warranty repairs, and set aside $332 for predicted repairs down the road. Tesla spent an average of $1,043 per car on repairs, and set aside $2,036 for predicted problems.

Tesla isn’t doing the worst. But, to answer our question, it certainly isn’t doing the best either.