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Body Shop Repair Story (So far: No Happy Ending)

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- From Ottawa
- Currently own Model S P85 and Model 3
- Needed body repair work done to back bumper and quarter panel on drivers side of my Model S
When I called for the claim, RBC Insurance approved it to be fixed at Assured in Bells Corners (Ottawa)
They offered Valet service since my policy pays for this.
Body shop was busy and had to wait a complete month.
Car went in to the body shop 30 days later and I received a call after a few days saying that Tesla would not support the car to be fixed because they were not an “Authorized Tesla Repair shop”
The reason given was that they needed to do some body work near the tail light that houses the charge port and the car needed to be disconnected from the battery.
Made sense.
I was told this could take a while. While = 1 day to never
I called Tesla and asked if their local repair service ranger could stop by the body shop to do the disconnect. They said NO! Must be approved shop.
I called my Insurance adjuster and asked for an alternate solution. I was upset that Aviva Canada did not know that Tesla’s require this process and allowed a 30 day wait for me to find out. I let him know and he said it was not their fault.
These cars have been around in Ottawa for FIVE years!
Montreal ( 2 hours away) was the closest with a six week wait.
Next closest was another shop in Montreal that needed to see the car before submitting the paperwork to Aviva and then I had a 4 week wait.
I asked Aviva to transport the car to have this estimate done and they refused my request. I was told that Valet service was provided for local short distance service.
I asked my adjuster to email me a copy of the part of my policy that said this. No response. I emailed again and again… no response.
I called RBC Insurance (my broker) and asked them to escalate my claim to a higher and more responsive authority.
I was contacted by a “Customer Experience Specialist” at Aviva (Love these job titles) who said they escalated my concern and were looking at my claim.
I received an email from my adjuster who suddenly did a 180 turn and said that my car was scheduled to be picked up the next day by a flatbed tow truck and it would be sent to Toronto (four hours away) to be repaired immediately. Upon the completed repair, it would be towed back to my home fully paid by the insurance. Three days later it was in the shop being repaired. It took three days because Aviva sent the paperwork to the wrong body repair shop. Ughhhhhh!!!!!!

It is my opinion that regardless of everything else Tesla is doing and how hard working Tesla employees are, management has dropped the ball on this one. In the face of totally inadequate service they need to improvise and do what needs to be done. If a disconnect needs to be done then the Tesla ranger could have done this on day one. If it is parts then just ship the bloody part Fed Ex. There is no excuse.

Failing grade.

Hope no one else ever has to waste their time dealing with this type of thing.
 
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Reactions: GreenT
Read some of my posts about Aviva. Aviva, Wawanesa and State Farm are all pretty bad right now.

Tesla requires approved body shops because of their own liability. What if a non-approved shop messed up autopilot and you were seriously injured or killed? Tesla wants to avoid being tangled up in this kind of mess or say if a body shop did something that led to a battery fire.

Can you imagine the news stories and the effect it could have on the company?
 
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Read some of my posts about Aviva. Aviva, Wawanesa and State Farm are all pretty bad right now.

Tesla requires approved body shops because of their own liability. What if a non-approved shop messed up autopilot and you were seriously injured or killed? Tesla wants to avoid being tangled up in this kind of mess or say if a body shop did something that led to a battery fire.

Can you imagine the news stories and the effect it could have on the company?

Sure. If I had autopilot. I don’t. The car is early 2013 vin 7xxx. It does no even have parking sensors. Battery disconnect takes minutes and can be done by the Tesla Ranger.
 
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Sure. If I had autopilot. I don’t. The car is early 2013 vin 7xxx. It does no even have parking sensors. Battery disconnect takes minutes and can be done by the Tesla Ranger.

That's fine, but you do have a battery and the disconnect doesn't insure the safety and integrity of the battery during the repair. The problem for Tesla is that they can't go on a "case by case" repair because that would eat up too much of their resources.

They have qualified repair shops (as I understand) that have to go a pretty rigorous training program on how to do body work on a Tesla. I don't know what it entails, but I would imagine, some of it entails ensuring battery integrity. I have only had my S for about 14 months now, but I had assumed (maybe wrongly) that Tesla requires all body work done by an approved shop. I have seen many people writing about it on the forum and I think the one shop people use in Toronto gets pretty good reviews about their work and customer service.
 
That's fine, but you do have a battery and the disconnect doesn't insure the safety and integrity of the battery during the repair. The problem for Tesla is that they can't go on a "case by case" repair because that would eat up too much of their resources.

They have qualified repair shops (as I understand) that have to go a pretty rigorous training program on how to do body work on a Tesla. I don't know what it entails, but I would imagine, some of it entails ensuring battery integrity. I have only had my S for about 14 months now, but I had assumed (maybe wrongly) that Tesla requires all body work done by an approved shop. I have seen many people writing about it on the forum and I think the one shop people use in Toronto gets pretty good reviews about their work and customer service.

I do not disagree with what you are saying.

The process that is safe is the best. My issue is the process. The more these cars will be around the better the process should become. Until then, there is a serious lack of information flow and very slow reaction time with all the players.

The great level of customer service that I used to receive has become a thing of the past. I look forward to better days ahead as Service catches up to production.

Having these cases discussed in an open forum will hopefully improve the customer service experience for others in the future.
 
I do not disagree with what you are saying.

The process that is safe is the best. My issue is the process. The more these cars will be around the better the process should become. Until then, there is a serious lack of information flow and very slow reaction time with all the players.

The great level of customer service that I used to receive has become a thing of the past. I look forward to better days ahead as Service catches up to production.

Having these cases discussed in an open forum will hopefully improve the customer service experience for others in the future.
I think you're right and is a sign that the growth of the company in Ontario is probably faster than they expected.

My father (years ago) was a civil engineer in Toronto and he said that their planning department had it all backwards... they would build massive subdivisions and then after the homes and people were in, they'd build the infrastructure (like roads, sewers, catch basins etc...). It seems to me, it should be the opposite.

Same with Tesla... I am not sure how many "approved" shops they have in Toronto (but the last I heard there was only 1). That would be totally inadequate.

I will leave you with this... change insurance companies. You haven't seen the worst of Aviva yet (trust me). I deal with them every single day. Avoid the 3 I mentioned. If you are willing to pay more, give the co-operators a shot.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong OP, but your insurance company directed you to the body shop you took it to the first time?

It's not up to the customer to determine which is a Tesla approved body shop. Most customers would not know there is such a thing. Many of us as enthusiasts know this is a thing but I can guarantee you the general populous does not know. Insurance companies have to go through a lot of checks before adding a car to their systems and the special repair needs should be documented on their end.
 
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Reactions: SmartElectric
I think you're right and is a sign that the growth of the company in Ontario is probably faster than they expected.

My father (years ago) was a civil engineer in Toronto and he said that their planning department had it all backwards... they would build massive subdivisions and then after the homes and people were in, they'd build the infrastructure (like roads, sewers, catch basins etc...). It seems to me, it should be the opposite.

Same with Tesla... I am not sure how many "approved" shops they have in Toronto (but the last I heard there was only 1). That would be totally inadequate.

I will leave you with this... change insurance companies. You haven't seen the worst of Aviva yet (trust me). I deal with them every single day. Avoid the 3 I mentioned. If you are willing to pay more, give the co-operators a shot.

There's at least two approved shops in Toronto, Excellence and Leon's are the ones i'm aware of.
 
- From Ottawa
- Currently own Model S P85 and Model 3
- Needed body repair work done to back bumper and quarter panel on drivers side of my Model S
When I called for the claim, RBC Insurance approved it to be fixed at Assured in Bells Corners (Ottawa)
They offered Valet service since my policy pays for this.
Body shop was busy and had to wait a complete month.
Car went in to the body shop 30 days later and I received a call after a few days saying that Tesla would not support the car to be fixed because they were not an “Authorized Tesla Repair shop”
The reason given was that they needed to do some body work near the tail light that houses the charge port and the car needed to be disconnected from the battery.
Made sense.
I was told this could take a while. While = 1 day to never
I called Tesla and asked if their local repair service ranger could stop by the body shop to do the disconnect. They said NO! Must be approved shop.
I called my Insurance adjuster and asked for an alternate solution. I was upset that Aviva Canada did not know that Tesla’s require this process and allowed a 30 day wait for me to find out. I let him know and he said it was not their fault.
These cars have been around in Ottawa for FIVE years!
Montreal ( 2 hours away) was the closest with a six week wait.
Next closest was another shop in Montreal that needed to see the car before submitting the paperwork to Aviva and then I had a 4 week wait.
I asked Aviva to transport the car to have this estimate done and they refused my request. I was told that Valet service was provided for local short distance service.
I asked my adjuster to email me a copy of the part of my policy that said this. No response. I emailed again and again… no response.
I called RBC Insurance (my broker) and asked them to escalate my claim to a higher and more responsive authority.
I was contacted by a “Customer Experience Specialist” at Aviva (Love these job titles) who said they escalated my concern and were looking at my claim.
I received an email from my adjuster who suddenly did a 180 turn and said that my car was scheduled to be picked up the next day by a flatbed tow truck and it would be sent to Toronto (four hours away) to be repaired immediately. Upon the completed repair, it would be towed back to my home fully paid by the insurance. Three days later it was in the shop being repaired. It took three days because Aviva sent the paperwork to the wrong body repair shop. Ughhhhhh!!!!!!

It is my opinion that regardless of everything else Tesla is doing and how hard working Tesla employees are, management has dropped the ball on this one. In the face of totally inadequate service they need to improvise and do what needs to be done. If a disconnect needs to be done then the Tesla ranger could have done this on day one. If it is parts then just ship the bloody part Fed Ex. There is no excuse.

Failing grade.

Hope no one else ever has to waste their time dealing with this type of thing.
 
Hello - I've just had prob similar to yours. Posted it a few days ago. Parking mishap. Small smooth dent just under the charge port. Very little paint damage. Car drives & charges w/o probs. I took it to an approved Tesla Shop. They initially said $3000 but final quote was for ~ $5000. They said it was because it was aluminum & they also had to disconnect battery. I appreciate that and also the fact they the shops have to be trained by Tesla etc. However with only 2 shops in Toronto - they have a virtual monopoly and I don't know if this is fair deal. Damage was very minor - hate to see how much with a real collision would cost.
 
Hello - I've just had prob similar to yours. Posted it a few days ago. Parking mishap. Small smooth dent just under the charge port. Very little paint damage. Car drives & charges w/o probs. I took it to an approved Tesla Shop. They initially said $3000 but final quote was for ~ $5000. They said it was because it was aluminum & they also had to disconnect battery. I appreciate that and also the fact they the shops have to be trained by Tesla etc. However with only 2 shops in Toronto - they have a virtual monopoly and I don't know if this is fair deal. Damage was very minor - hate to see how much with a real collision would cost.

I can't comment on your situation, not having seen the damage but often a small collision can have as much work as a bigger one depending on the location.

I once had a small scratch on a driver door (of my Lexus) and was quoted with prices for a repaint of the entire driver side for "blending" purposes.
 
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Reactions: Bitjockey
I had some object fallen on the hood. Thankfully, I took the car to SC who told me that any part/paint for my car would only be supplied to Tesla authorized body shop by Tesla. So regardless what my insurance company recommendation, I took the car to Leons. After 3 months still waiting for the replacement hood. My insurance company had approved all the charges and gave me the cheque for leons.
 
In reading this thread, it is interesting to see where people feel the responsibility lies for knowing where they can get their Tesla fixed. When someone put their truck through the nose of my S and the insurance company directed me to a body shop, the first question I asked was "are they an approved Tesla body shop?". They immediately looked it up, said "no, they aren't, hang on" then found Excellence and had it towed there. Perhaps my experience is different, having leased most of my vehicles, but I would never take ANY car I owned to a body shop that wasn't approved by the manufacturer and I feel the responsibility lies with the consumer to protect their asset. After all, the insurance company is going to want to settle as cheaply as possible.

I do agree that Tesla needs more trained and approved body shops; the wait times on parts and repairs are not conducive to a positive customer service experience. My repairs amounted to 10 days, but Excellence waited over 2 months for the parts to arrive. Maybe it's a hood thing? ;)
 
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Reactions: Struja
"Having these cases discussed in an open forum will hopefully improve the customer service experience for others in the future."

You been some of that "$420" stuff?

I've seen NO improvements at all by anything posted here, anywhere or suggesting to Tesla themselves - since I took delivery in late 2012.

I need service now for non-essential stuff - sooner not, knowing the headaches that ARE service.
 
I had some object fallen on the hood. Thankfully, I took the car to SC who told me that any part/paint for my car would only be supplied to Tesla authorized body shop by Tesla. So regardless what my insurance company recommendation, I took the car to Leons. After 3 months still waiting for the replacement hood. My insurance company had approved all the charges and gave me the cheque for leons.

Curious how much a new hood is.