Car rental company Sixt throws Tesla out of its fleet

“The Teslas currently in our fleet will be sold after their term has expired,” a Sixt spokesperson said. “As a result, the number of Teslas will be gradually reduced.” According to the leading German news magazine Focus Tesla regrets Sixt’s decision. For many customers, a rental Tesla or a Tesla via subscription is a good introduction to electromobility. Sixt currently offers the Model Y and Model 3 for rent.

However, that does not mean that Sixt is turning away from electric cars. On the contrary: by 2030, Sixt’s fleets should consist of 70 to 90 percent electric vehicles, according to a spokesperson. Sixt recently signed a contract for more than 100,000 electric vehicles with Chinese car giant BYD. Currently, 20 percent of the Sixt fleet is electrified.

Sixt cites reasons for saying goodbye to Tesla such as the high purchase prices or a low residual value of the vehicles at the end of their lifespan. This is partly caused by the sharply decreased prices of new Teslas. According to Focus Agreements have been made with most other manufacturers to buy back the vehicles for a pre-agreed amount, so that the rental company does not run any residual value risk. No such agreement has been made with Tesla.

Sixt also cites the high repair costs as a reason. Due to the smaller number of wear parts, electric vehicles are considered less prone to failure than combustion engines and are also cheaper to maintain, but repair costs for damage to electric cars are still about 30 to 35 percent higher than for comparable combustion engines. This is evident from a study by the German Association of Insurers GDV. The higher costs are mainly caused by expensive damage to the battery and the unfamiliarity of some garage owners with electric cars, which is associated with longer downtime.

Nevertheless, Sixt does want to continue to offer electric cars from other brands and so there is a good chance that it is due to the Teslas themselves, the Swiss newspaper Blick concludes. Three years ago, Tesla introduced the Gigacasting production method for the Model 3 and Model Y. As a result, the back of the Model 3 now consists of two complex castings instead of about seventy separate parts. This not only saves time, but also costs for molds and tools.

However, according to Blick, these production savings pose a problem for repairs after an accident. Instead of replacing individual damaged sheet metal parts, in the event of a rear-end collision in a Model Y, for example, almost the entire rear end must be replaced. In the event of accident damage, this is of course many times more expensive than simply replacing individual parts.

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