Tesla Owner Charged $21,000 To Fix Rain-Damaged Battery

It’s never fun dealing with water damage in your car, whether it’s a leaky roof in a downpour or a flood that ruined your precious McLaren P1. Now, a Tesla owner in the UK has found the cost of repairs on a water-damaged EV, and it’s not cheap.

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According to a report from Edinburgh Live, a Scottish couple was left stranded after their Tesla wouldn’t start following a bout of extreme weather. The local news outlet reports that Johnny Bacigalupo and Rob Hussey had driven out to dinner in their Tesla during a rain storm that hit Edinburgh last weekend. They made it to their reservation without issue, but when they went to leave, their Model Y wouldn’t start. Edinburgh Live reports:

“After dinner the car just wouldn’t move. Eventually we had to contact the Tesla Roadside Assistance – around 10pm,” [Johnny Bacigalupo told Edinburgh Live].

“After a few annoyingly difficult further calls, and one failed collection attempt, our car was collected by a firm suitable for Tesla collection and delivered to Tesla Edinburgh about 1am.

“After complaints from me, we received a call at 5.30pm on the Wednesday saying the battery was damaged due to water ingress and it was unfortunately not covered by the battery’s eight-year warranty and so the repair would be around £17,500.”

That’s not a misprint, the quote Bacigalupo and Hussey were given for a new battery in their Tesla was £17,500, which is more than $21,000 at today’s exchange rate.

In case you didn’t know, it rains a lot in Scotalnd. Photo: Jane Barlow/PA Images (Getty Images)

According to Tesla representatives that Bacigalupo spoke with, the car’s battery had become “effectively submerged” after Scotland was hit with severe rain last weekend. As such, he was told that the repair work was “not Tesla’s to pay under warranty” and that he would need to cover it if he wanted to get his $70,000 EV back on the road.

Edinburgh Live adds that Tesla customer relations has pledged to launch an investigation into the complaint, and says that the couple should expect a response on behalf of the business soon. However, the car still doesn’t run and, at this point, Bacigalupo says that’s proof that, “Teslas are unfit for purpose in Scotland.”