Body Work

[STPM3]

Long story short, my son side swiped my M3 backing up out of the driveway. I need to replace the drivers side rear door and quarter panel.

There is only one Tesla certified body shop in Salt Lake City (that is trusted). I took the car in earlier this week and was a bit surprised with the estimate.

12,462.45 Does this seem normal for Parts, labor, and paint for a door and quarter panel?

 

[M3BlueGeorgia]

Reasonable: No

Normal and expected: Yes

The big expense is the quarter panel as they have to cut out the one that's damaged, weld in a new one and then paint it. That's probably 80% of the cost total.
If paying for this yourself, you might consider the option of just fixing the door and not involving the insurance company.

 

[camalaio]

...cut out the one that's damaged, weld in a new one and then paint it...

That's wild. Simply replacing it must cheaper at that point, you'd think. I only noticed now that it's the piece that runs along the bottom of the car as well, but still. That's insane.

Anyhow, get another opinion or two if you can (Tesla certified or not). If the door can be replaced and the quarter panel just made visually better without welding a new section on, that might be your best option. It certainly doesn't look like there could be secondary or structural damage from my view.

I had very similar damage to my Honda Crosstour which was substantially cheaper (replace door, repair quarter panel, probably 15% of your current quote price), hope to never experience this with the Tesla.

 

[bpobill]

That's wild. Simply replacing it must cheaper at that point, you'd think. I only noticed now that it's the piece that runs along the bottom of the car as well, but still. That's insane.

Anyhow, get another opinion or two if you can (Tesla certified or not). If the door can be replaced and the quarter panel just made visually better without welding a new section on, that might be your best option. It certainly doesn't look like there could be secondary or structural damage from my view.

I had very similar damage to my Honda Crosstour which was substantially cheaper (replace door, repair quarter panel, probably 15% of your current quote price), hope to never experience this with the Tesla.

Rear quarter is welded on like most cars. You have to disassemble a lot of the car to get it out.

Take it to a normal shop and have them replace the door and pull/fill the quarter. Its steel, not aluminum like the s/x. It will be way cheaper. Tesla certified will only replace parts and not do traditional body work. They can pull the quarter good enough so very little fill will be used.

 

[camalaio]

Rear quarter is welded on like most cars. You have to disassemble a lot of the car to get it out.

Take it to a normal shop and have them replace the door and pull/fill the quarter. Its steel, not aluminum like the s/x. It will be way cheaper. Tesla certified will only replace parts and not do traditional body work. They can pull the quarter good enough so very little fill will be used.

Tesla certified does do rework in some cases. They're fixing and repainting my bumper cover instead of replacing. Mostly because the bumpers arrive folded or broken in shipping.

 

[STPM3]

Thanks for the opinions. This is a screwball sandwich either way. Didn’t want to involve the insurance at all being that my son would have the hit on his insurance which I still pay and the car would have it on its record.

I will look into another Non certified shop but obviously want it done right.

I caught the incident on camera. When I have a second I will post it.

 

[Wennfred]

Take it to a few shops, but definitely not 12k, seems they don’t want the work.

That’s what they call the Tesla Tax.


Fred

 

[nsainfreek]

$12k seems like too much unless the door costs more than I think. I just got side swiped on my car and it damaged the rear quarter panel and the bumper. The parts were so damaged they require replacement. My total quote from a certified Tesla shop came to $3,650. Most of the cost was labor than it was parts.

They did tell me that replacing the quarter panel required removing both doors on that side, the trunk, and a lot of the interior. Seems like a lot of work but I can't imagine the cost jumping to $12k because they are replacing the door rather than the bumper. Also, I'm in Hawaii so things here are also generally more expensive.

 

[Shewillbemine]

I can tell from your wheels that you care more for your car than the average Tesla owner does.

What was your reaction like to this accident?

 

[nsainfreek]

Well, just so my post isn't misleading, after geico estimated my bill at $3700, the shop added a supplemental amount which now comes out to a whopping $14k. So I dunno what to think

 

[Shewillbemine]

Well, just so my post isn't misleading, after geico estimated my bill at $3700, the shop added a supplemental amount which now comes out to a whopping $14k. So I dunno what to think

If you're only responsible for the deductible, then why sweat it? That's why you paid for insurance. However, your premiums might go up.

 

[nsainfreek]

If you're only responsible for the deductible, then why sweat it? That's why you paid for insurance. However, your premiums might go up.

I'm not really sweating, just giving the op more info regarding the quotes I got to fix my damage. I was surprised that insurance would estimate it at one price, and the shop is quoting over 4x that price. Also, I don't really want to support a shop thats high balling people, so I probably will still get an estimate elsewhere to see if that is the going rate.

I also noticed that my insurance quote had labor hours at about $54/hr while the shops quote was around $135-145/hr. Asked my autobody friend about it and he said the insurance companies pay a lower rate. So if op is not going through insurance that may be another reason for the higher rate.

Also, people here mentioned that the rear fender is welded on. Shop informed me that it is "welded" on with an adhesive that can be stronger than actually welding. So the welding isn't actually done with the fusing of metals.

 

[toolman335]

With that price I would definitely get a few quotes from "untrusted" body shops. If a trusted one quotes this high, I might remove them from the circle of trust.

 

[ilyak]

Well, just so my post isn't misleading, after geico estimated my bill at $3700, the shop added a supplemental amount which now comes out to a whopping $14k. So I dunno what to think

My initial quote for the body work (given after a full teardown, see this post for details on the damage: Parts on back order - timeline/recent experiences?) was $7600, but it also went up to $14000 after a few days. Added items are mostly labor for remove/reinstall items and coordinating with Tesla to have the car towed to them for camera calibration and back. Waiting to see if my insurance swallows the supplement...

 

[Shewillbemine]

For what it's worth, my insurance company specifically told me to contact Tesla directly and ask for which Tesla approved shops they recommend in the area. For obvious reasons, that made me feel good.