I know this has been covered extensively, but it's always good to share the latest experience. My Model S 75D got rear-ended at a traffic light here in Northern Virginia on 23 July; the damage did not appear extensive--damaged bumper cover, knocked-out ultrasonic sensors, bent hatch cover, bent rear body panel. The hatch would still close (with a gap) and the car was driveable and functional save the parking assist. The other driver's insurance was State Farm, and they were immediately helpful. I called Tesla Service for a list of Tesla-certified repair shops and was referred to the list on the website. I selected Chantilly Auto Body because they were both Tesla certified and had an affiliation with State Farm, so I thought that would make things smoother. They are a large outfit with a good reputation, so I figured they'd seen this rodeo before.
Chantilly had me bring it in immediately and did an initial assessment. I was warned up front of the realities of Tesla repair:
- They would order the parts obviously in need of replacement right away.
- About a month would pass before Tesla responded; they would prod them, and eventually the parts would be sent.
- When the parts came in, they would put me in the queue--at the time they had 40 Teslas awaiting repair
--When my number came up, they would call me and I would then bring the car in.
- They would disassemble the damaged parts and find out what ELSE needed replacement.
- They would then order those parts, and the process would repeat.
- The situation would be the same at any other repair shop.
- Any other car could have had similar damage repaired in a week or so.
Another quirk was that ordinarily State Farm allows Chantilly to make the initial estimate on their behalf, because of their certified relationship. State Farm evaluates the repair shop on jobs in this program, however, and because timeliness is one of the parameters of the evaluation, Chantilly refuses to repair Teslas under that program (for obvious reasons). So, State Farm had to do the estimate themselves, but this only created one day of delay.
This was the state of affairs until 10 September, when I finally was able to bring the car in. I was informed at that time that it would take 30 working days to repair, and "we don't do Tesla work on weekends." I was given a VW Tiguan rental, but State Farm wouldn't pay for my gas (grrrr!). Things played out from there pretty much as Chantilly had predicted--the only additional glitch was there was a sensor problem Chantilly couldn't fix, so they had to take it to Tesla repair (fortunately that's local). Chantilly was very good about giving e-mail status updates nearly daily--even when there wasn't much progress to report. I got the car back today (23 October), 32 working days after I took it in. So far, everything seems to be fine.
Lessons:
- Tesla parts availability continues to be a nightmare, especially for non-Tesla shops, even those on the "certified" list
- Even when the shops are competent and the repair situation straightforward, the time to repair a Tesla is unconscionably long.
Chantilly had me bring it in immediately and did an initial assessment. I was warned up front of the realities of Tesla repair:
- They would order the parts obviously in need of replacement right away.
- About a month would pass before Tesla responded; they would prod them, and eventually the parts would be sent.
- When the parts came in, they would put me in the queue--at the time they had 40 Teslas awaiting repair
--When my number came up, they would call me and I would then bring the car in.
- They would disassemble the damaged parts and find out what ELSE needed replacement.
- They would then order those parts, and the process would repeat.
- The situation would be the same at any other repair shop.
- Any other car could have had similar damage repaired in a week or so.
Another quirk was that ordinarily State Farm allows Chantilly to make the initial estimate on their behalf, because of their certified relationship. State Farm evaluates the repair shop on jobs in this program, however, and because timeliness is one of the parameters of the evaluation, Chantilly refuses to repair Teslas under that program (for obvious reasons). So, State Farm had to do the estimate themselves, but this only created one day of delay.
This was the state of affairs until 10 September, when I finally was able to bring the car in. I was informed at that time that it would take 30 working days to repair, and "we don't do Tesla work on weekends." I was given a VW Tiguan rental, but State Farm wouldn't pay for my gas (grrrr!). Things played out from there pretty much as Chantilly had predicted--the only additional glitch was there was a sensor problem Chantilly couldn't fix, so they had to take it to Tesla repair (fortunately that's local). Chantilly was very good about giving e-mail status updates nearly daily--even when there wasn't much progress to report. I got the car back today (23 October), 32 working days after I took it in. So far, everything seems to be fine.
Lessons:
- Tesla parts availability continues to be a nightmare, especially for non-Tesla shops, even those on the "certified" list
- Even when the shops are competent and the repair situation straightforward, the time to repair a Tesla is unconscionably long.
