Transcription
If you're in the market for a used Model Y, there are a lot of little quirks about this car that you need to look out for, like this or even this. We've had ours for a little over 30,000 mi, have taken on some big road trips, and have some decent wear and tear on it. So, this is your ultimate checklist for a used Model Y. What to look for, what's normal, and what could potentially save you some money.
So, first of all, there are more spots that are prone to damage, like this part of the car by the rear door here. Luckily, we have mud flaps, so it's not too bad for us back here, but with Model Y's, just with driving over time, you'll get some rocks and debris that can kick up and leave some rock chips and scratches in this area right here.
Now, when it comes to the wheels, just like all Teslas, they're more prone to curb rash because the rims on the Model Y stick out just a little bit more than the tires. So, if you do hit a curb, it's the rims getting damaged first before the tires. So, you're going to want to check the rims, or you can do what we did and get some aftermarket third party wheel covers that actually cover the rims. So, if you do get curb rash on these, these are easily replaceable and much cheaper to replace than actual rims. And you can swap these on and off pretty easily.
Now, the front bumper of the Model Y is like a massive bug collector. I know the shape makes it more aerodynamic, but it's like a graveyard for bugs on road trips. Seriously, it can be insane sometimes. Actually, kind of impressive how many bugs you can collect on your front bumper. And of course, you'll get some rock chips over time. That's with any used car. You can't be too picky about that. But I will say with these, if you do have dead bugs that are just sitting there for months baking in the summer heat, sometimes that dead bug juice can leave a stain on the front bumper of the Model Y. And that sounds gross, I know. Luckily, we have a wrap, so our bug stains are easy to clean. We do have some rock chips that show up, especially on ours, because it leaves a little dent in the wrap. But again, that's just something that's going to happen over time cuz we take road trips. It's our daily driver. So, you just can't be too picky about rock chips.
Now, the windshields, I don't know if they're actually more prone to cracks, but if you go on any online Tesla forum, you're going to hear that these things crack like all the time. So, you're going to want to check the windshield for some cracks or some scratches. But do note that Tesla actually now offers a windshield protection plan. You can purchase a Model Y windshield protection plan for $12 a month. And while we're on the windshield, I will say the area here by the camera can get a little foggy and a little dirty. Even ours has a little bit of something inside it. Nothing bad enough to impact the camera with full self-driving or autopilot, luckily. But you do want to check that front camera, make sure there's nothing in there so the camera can see. So you can actually use autopilot or full self-driving. But you can actually clean this area as well. We haven't done that with ours. I'm not sure how to, but I have heard to actually do that. requires a little bit of elbow grease, but it shouldn't be too hard to take this piece out. Clean that inside of the windshield to clear your camera.
And lastly, on the exterior, you're gonna want to check for a small chip or a small dent right in the middle of this trunk area. These trunks have a very large opening, which is great, but a lot of times if you open the trunk in an area with a small ceiling, the top of the trunk can hit the ceiling and leave a little dent right in the middle of the trunk. We actually did this ourselves. So, we opened the trunk in our garage all the way. And our garage is not that tall. We covered it with the spoiler so you can't really see it. But to avoid this, you can actually set your trunk height. So, if you open the trunk, you'll see it has a really large opening. And if you don't want it to open that high, you can manually grab it down to how high you want it to open. Hold this button right here till you hear this sound. And now whenever you open your trunk from here on out, it will only open to the height that you set it at, so you can avoid any damage up top.
Now, when it comes to interior quality, the biggest difference between the new Model Y and the old Model Y are these seats. There is some give and take here. The new Model Y has ventilated seats, whereas any used Model Y, you're probably going to get ones like these, which aren't ventilated. But they are a little more plush and more comfortable. So, it's a game of give and take. It's like your grandma's couch. It doesn't have the latest and greatest technology, but it's got a little extra love that makes it feel a little better. And time will tell with the new Model Y, but with the old used Model Y, these seats hold up very well. Even with the white interior, you're going to get some wrinkles in this area here where you get in and out of all the time. But besides that, these seats look and feel almost brand new. So, if you're buying used, just look for some wrinkles in the seats. But you don't have to worry about these seats like aging or cracking over time. And if you want to be extra safe, you can use this product here called a leather shield. We use it once every 6 months or so. Just adds an extra layer of protection for these leather seats to help with stains or spills and keeps them looking and feeling new.
In the older Model Y, sometimes the steering wheel with age will start to show signs of wear and tear by peeling up top or where your hands are a lot. Now, this was only a big issue in like the very early 2020 model wise, but it's still good to check the steering wheel, make sure there's no cracks in the leather all around the wheel. And honestly, most of everything else on the interior is just like any other car. There's nothing else too unique to the Model Y. Luckily, Tesla interiors are so minimalistic that there's not many things that can look used.
Now, of course, you want to check the battery health and understand battery degradation. There's two ways to check battery health. The first, which may not be the most accurate, you can just tap on the screen to switch between miles and percentage. And if the car isn't charged to 100%. You can do some math to see what the estimated miles would be at 100%. And secondly, the most accurate, but also very timeconuming, you can run a battery health test through the Tesla menu. Now, doing a battery health test will take overnight to do, and I think it might actually drain the battery down to 0%. but it'll give you the most accurate estimation of how much battery health you have. But it's important to know that degradation is normal and we have to understand the normal degradation curve of these Model Y's. Most degradation happens in the first 20 to 30,000 mi. For example, a Model Y with 25,000 mi will have high degradation, but don't be worried. It will flatten out over time. And if you're worried about these batteries just dying on you one day, that really shouldn't be a concern. Older Model S and X's may have had some battery life issues, but with the 3 and the Y, Tesla seemed to figure it out. Here's a study that shows Tesla's powertrain, aka their high voltage battery, actually lasting longer than every other car's powertrain, gas or electric. So, people who say that these cars last like 50,000 miles, then you'll need to change the battery and that costs like 20,000 mi to replace, that's just not a thing.
Now, when it comes to like accident history, of course, just like any other used car, you're going to want to know what damage the Model Y has had. But one thing to look out for, which will kind of contradict what I just said about batteries, but hear me out. You want to look out for if the Model Y has had a battery pack replacement. For some reason with Teslas that have needed a new battery in the past, like if they've been in an accident, Tesla will use a refurbished battery to replace it with instead of a whole new battery. The bad news is that although the new batteries seem to last like almost forever, like we just talked about, the refurbished batteries, not so much. The good news is that even on a Tesla that has had its battery replaced, it still comes with a warranty.
Now, if you're someone who likes to buy salvage vehicles or a Model Y that has had significant accident history, you're going to want to know this. If it's a heavily damaged Tesla, it may not be eligible for supercharging. Like for example, if it's a rebuilt title, sometimes the Tesla owner will have to take it to Tesla to go through some tests to make sure that the car is safe to be eligible for supercharging again. So, if you're looking at a Model Y with significant accident history, just make sure it's able to supercharge. And if it's not, you may have to take it to Tesla to go through some tests to make it eligible for supercharging, which may come at a cost.
Now, when it comes to Model Y's, we also have to talk about hardware because Tesla is coming closer and closer to becoming fully autonomous. If you care about full self-driving and the ability for your Model Y to one day be 100% autonomous, you're going to want to make sure you have the hardware for it. Tesla said in their last earnings call, straight up, they're going to want to make sure Hardware 4 is capable of unsupervised full self-driving before they figure out what to do with hardware 3 vehicles. So, if you want unsupervised full self-driving as soon as possible, you're going to want to make sure you have a hardware for Model Y. All Model Y's made after May of 2023 are hardware 4. And if you're unsure, you can actually check in the Tesla menu and it'll tell you right there. And do note Tesla did mention they would retrofit all Hardware 3 cars to hardware 4 if they had to, but there's no timeline on that. There's no guarantees. There's no specifics. They just kind of mentioned it in an earnings call one time and it hasn't been talked about since. So if you want full self-driving guaranteed eventually, you're going to want hardware 4.
But speaking of full self-driving, there are other subscriptions that you have to be aware about with the Model Y. You can buy full self-driving with a monthly subscription or a one-time outright purchase. And if the Model Y looking at has full self-driving, if it's a monthly subscription, the owner can just cancel it and it won't be transferred to you. But if the owner bought the Model Y with full self-driving outright, it will be transferred to you if you buy it used. And that is a heated debate in the Tesla community, but that's a different topic for a different time. So, if the Model Y does have full self-driving, you want to clarify if it's a monthly subscription or if it's purchased outright to see if it'll transfer to you or not.
And the other software upgrade the Model Y might have is the acceleration boost. That is a one-time purchase. It's about $2,000. It takes the long range Model Y's from 4.8 to 4.2 2 seconds in a 0 to 60, which is super fun. And if the Model Y has that, in all cases, it will be transferred to you as the new owner if you buy it used with the acceleration boost already on it.
And lastly, charging equipment. Does the Model Y come with a charger? And if so, what kind of charger? And if it does, do you have an outlet that that charger can plug into? If this is your first Tesla, you may not know this, but all Teslas, including the Model Y, can charge on any regular standard outlet. And if you have a charger that goes into that, unless you drive like way more than the average person, charging overnight on a regular outlet will give you enough range for your daily driving. But if you do need a faster charge, you can upgrade your outlet to a Nema 1450 outlet. that will require a different adapter with the mobile connector that it may come with. I don't want to get into too many specifics. I have videos on all the charging stuff you need to know. But just know if you're buying a used Model Y, does it come with the charger? And if you have a normal outlet, you can actually use that to charge your Model Y.
So, that's my ultimate guide for buying a used Model Y. If you're still in the market for a Model Y, you can check out my video, 10 Tesla Mistakes that every new owner makes. I'll leave it somewhere on screen right around here right now. unless you don't want to check it out and just learn the hard way like we did. And if you want just more Tesla content for potential new owners, I have a ton of that. So, make sure you subscribe. But anyways, thank you for watching and I will catch you in the next.