There are two ways one can access Tesla FSD. One, pay in advance $10,000 and get full access to FSD. Two, pay a monthly FSD subscription fee to access it.
If you purchase the Tesla FSD, remember that it is a non-transferable software feature and exclusively tied to your Tesla car for which you bought FSD. Under no circumstance will Tesla allow you to transfer the FSD to another Tesla car.
In the quarterly earnings call of Tesla in January 2021, one investor asked Tesla CEO Elon Musk whether Tesla has any plan to allow customers to transfer their full self-driving software to another Tesla car. In response, Elon Musk said that Tesla does not have any plans to allow Tesla owners to transfer FSD software to another vehicle for the foreseeable future.
Tesla’s full self-driving (FSD) software is considered an aftermarket accessory. As a result, we have several issues with it. Prominently, car insurance does not cover FSD software. If you total your car, the insurance companies will not reimburse your FSD purchase cost.
We have heard many stories where Tesla owners totaled their car within days of Tesla’s purchase. However, insurance only paid for their vehicle, excluding FSD. As a result, they lost all their FSD software investment. Because of these reasons, we suggest you subscribe to FSD instead of buying it outright for a full price.
Furthermore, It’s also common for Tesla to remove FSD when they hand over used Teslas from one owner to another. Here’s an example. Suppose you have a Tesla with FSD software. If you trade in this vehicle to purchase another one, Tesla will remove the FSD features from your old car. Therefore, when someone buys your old Tesla, they again have to pay for the FSD software to Tesla.
As a Tesla owner, I understand the frustration. I, too, paid $10,000 for FSD. When I drive my car, I don’t want my Tesla to get totaled for fear of losing my $10,000 investment. It’s why I believe Tesla should allow an owner to transfer FSD from an old car to a new car.
We also want to mention that you should buy FSD for the features available today. Don’t buy FSD because you think its price may increase in the future. Also, don’t buy FSD for a feature that is not available today.
Tesla and Elon Musk promise many things but fail to deliver on time. We don’t doubt that FSD will not be feature complete. However, we doubt that it’s coming soon. Therefore, only purchase FSD if you believe the public FSD features available right now are worth the current price.
However, the best choice as a Tesla owner is to subscribe to Tesla FSD instead of purchasing it. This has several benefits:
- You don’t pay a considerable sum of money upfront.
- After an accident, you don’t lose your investment in FSD.
- You can transfer your FSD to a new car.
- Unsubscribe from FSD and save money when you don’t need it, for example, during an extended vacation.
Conclusion:
In short, as Tesla FSD is non-transferable, you should not purchase it, instead use the FSD subscription. It’s a better choice long term.
