One Insane Way To Deal With An Expensive Car Repair Bill
A car owner didn’t want to pay a massive repair bill. So he took matters into his own hands—using dynamite to total his car outright.
Written by Tom Hindle
Reviewed by Kathleen Flear
Have you ever received a car repair estimate so horrendous that you thought your head would explode? Well, one unlucky recipient did actually experience an explosion—in his car. That's right, he blew up his 2013
Tesla
Model S, opting to destroy his vehicle rather than pay the $22,000 to replace the electric car battery
in the Tesla. Why the Tesla was doomed
The car's new owner was delighted with his purchase for about a year and a half. He drove the modified car for around 900 miles with hardly any problems.
Then, things took a turn for the worse.
The check engine light came on, and he started seeing error codes. He also noticed water leaks, so he had it towed to the Tesla dealer's repair shop.
About a month later, he got the bad news. The battery needed to be replaced—if the shop received permission from Tesla headquarters. Since replacing the battery in the eight-year-old car was roughly half the cost of buying a new model, he chose a unique way out.
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Why such a high price to replace the electric car battery?
It's no secret that manufacturing batteries for electric cars uses a lot of expensive natural resources like nickel, cobalt, and especially lithium. Those expensive natural materials are the main reason for the high price of electric car batteries. That's why Tesla places a lot of emphasis on
recycling its electric car batteries
when they're no longer functioning properly.Fortunately, they may still get a chance to recycle this car's battery. It and the motors were removed for safety purposes before the rest of the car was blown to smithereens. Considering that electric car fires are exceptionally dangerous, that was probably a very wise move!
A slow-motion blast
MORE: Scary Moment for Pennsylvania Tesla Owner as Car Catches Fire
People
reported that Tuomas Katainen of Finland was so disgusted by the Tesla repair estimate he received to replace the battery that he used 66 lbs. of dynamite to make sure the car was well and truly blown up. He and the team from
Pommijätkät
(Bomb Dudes) recorded the event for posterity. The video was posted on YouTube on Dec. 17th, 2021, and quickly went viral with over five million views in less than two weeks. The explosives experts and volunteers from the Pommijätkät channel ensured the destruction went off without a hitch. They transported the chassis of the car to an abandoned quarry outside the village of Jaala, Finland. There were plenty of cameras on hand, too, so the blast could be enjoyed in glorious slow-motion.
To ensure that everyone knew just what they thought of Tesla cars and their really expensive batteries, the team strapped a realistic effigy of Tesla founder Elon Musk into the car before blowing both to bits. At least the effigy made a proper entrance for the video. It was dropped from a helicopter next to the doomed car before being strapped in for the ride of a lifetime!
Insurance is probably cheaper than dynamite
An outrageous Tesla repair bill might drive you to thoughts of dynamite, but blowing a vehicle up might be a bit extreme. However, Tesla's "Unsupported or Salvage Vehicle Policy" that denies owners the right to seek third-party repairs was almost certainly the reason for this Finnish owner's extreme reaction.
Maybe if Tesla supported an owner's "Right to Repair" their vehicle, other owners wouldn't follow Tuomas Katainen's example in pursuit of their own viral videos of exploding Teslas!
In the meantime, check out Jerry for cheap car insurance for your Tesla. It may not help with expensive repairs, but you will save plenty of money on your car insurance when you use the
Jerry
super app. It lets you compare rates from more than 50 of the top-ranked insurance companies, like Allstate, Nationwide, and Travelers. With the Jerry app, companies will be competing for your precious money for a change!
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