Recent content by BillShepp

Got a quote from a second body shop, Westcoast Auto Body and Painting in Santa Clara (very well reviewed on Yelp). Their quote came to $1,360: $490 for 7hrs @ $70/hr body labor $560 for 8hrs @ $70/hr paint/refinishing labor $285 for paint/materials They had another Tesla out front, which I...

I do have gap insurance (72-month loan term, about 50% paid), but I don't see any way they'll consider this car totaled, and if my understanding is correct the only way to find out would be to file a claim, in which case I'll likely see my insurance go up and, potentially, the car tagged as...

I got my first quote recently, from Sunnyvale Autobody. They're not Tesla-certified but they do aluminum. Bob said that they wouldn't need to replace the quarter-panel (nor could they, as a non-certified body shop), but it looks fully-repairable by taking off the bumper, reshaping the...

Thanks for all the advice and sympathy! A friend has highly recommended Sunnyvale Autobody, who get great Yelp reviews and are aluminum certified, so I'll certainly check them out, and Chilton's in Santa Clara is Tesla Authorized but also gets very good reviews, so I'll check there as well...

While attempting to navigate backwards into a 3-deep parking stall approximately 3mm wider than my Model S with a concrete wall on one side I relied too much on the rearview video (it turns out the lines represent where the wheels are, not where the widest point of the body is, who knew?!?) I...

I'm with ADT, we're working on a number of integration options to support this sort of capability.

Where is it a setting in Waze? I could neither find it in Waze nor a reference to it online...

My daughter threw the door open of our non-Tesla scraping some paint from the Tesla (aargh!). Anyone have a detailer they recommend in the Bay Area, ideally the peninsula or South Bay? - Bill

I stopped by a local tire store for a quote ($138 for the tire, $170 with various fees and labor, though they didn't have the Goodyear tire in stock). I also took it to the Sunnyvale Tesla Service Center, they called the Goodyear store who said this type of problem almost never qualifies as a...

Hi, Our Model S with 19" tires has a bulge in the rear passenger tire: I presume this needs to be addressed ASAP. Does anyone know if there will be full or partial warranty coverage for this (we have 9K miles on the car, delivered May 2013)? Would I get this addressed through Tesla...

The high-speed transponder checks also grab a photograph of your license plate and use that if they can't read the transponder.

The California law only requires free air/water to customers who buy fuel. See AB 531 Assembly Bill - CHAPTERED (paragraph two) for details. - Bill

I also fairly frequently find I need to kill the app on Android before it'll connect. Also the location tab updates much more fluidly on iOS when the car is traveling, on Android it updates every 5-10 seconds, less than 1 second on iOS.

On our previous cars we've always gotten a custom cover for the rear seats (with appropriate cutouts for headrests, seat belts, etc.) to protect against various spills and damage caused by our kids and dog. I haven't been able to find one for the Model S. Anyone know of anything? Bill

On the contrary, these seats work exactly as intended for us. We need the ability to carry four kids for school carpool, and hated the thought of getting a minivan or larger SUV just to accommodate the two or three mornings a week during the school year when we need the extra seating. We park...