I was heading to golf early one warm morning in November, doing about 75 in the left lane of Interstate 495 in Mass, when this dog-like thing came rocketing out of the grassy median right in front me. I didn't even have time to twitch. I felt the thud, then began to hear the crackling of carbon fiber particles raining against the windshield, and grinding of metal against pavement. Fortunately the airbags didn't go off, so I was able to pull over to the breakdown lane.
The nose of my Roadster (#201) was destroyed, and several other parts had damage but appeared to be salvageable. I decided I could limp home, grinding the pavement all the way, I managed to avoid all potholes, manholes and uneven pavement. (I later went back to the accident site and found coyote parts in the breakdown lane. Two things weird about that: 1. I've lived in Mass my whole life and I didn't even know coyotes lived around here; and 2. I was in the left lane when I hit it. The coyote had so much velocity that his body parts flew all the way across 3 lanes of traffic!)
Now for the lessons: My insurance company suggested I take it to a local shop, and fortunately they knew they could not touch it. "Tesla won't let us work on Teslas" he said. That rung a bell in my head. I had read on this forum somewhere that Tesla will only provide parts to authorized Tesla repair shops. I went back home and checked the web site. There was only one within 30 miles, so it was an easy decision. I got the insurance company to OK going to them, and I brought them the car.
To be honest, I had zero confidence this shop would be able to get its hands on a new front end. Tesla only made 2450 of these cars, and they threw away the spare parts when they finished the run. Note, this was only a couple weeks after the Gruber fire, where several of these front ends melted away, I gave them Medlock's information, knowing I might need to add some $ to make it worth his while to part with these precious components. I also gave them the direct phone number of the San Raphael service center, where members here have shown pictures of parts cars sitting out back.
In the end, they just asked Tesla for the parts and voila! Everything I needed was on site in about 2 weeks. It turns out none of the Roadsters people have traded in for new Teslas have been resold. They've been taken off the road and cannibalized to keep the rest of us on the road. Those of us who still have one of these awesome cars are the beneficiaries of this initiative. But with one caveat:
In order for Tesla to support your Roadster, it needs to have a clean title. If at some point Tesla or your insurance company has deemed your car "totaled", they won't provide parts for it. Fortunately, my damage was relatively minor, so my title stays clean. Note also that Tesla can consider your Roadster totaled for other reasons, such as bricking the battery, having repairs done outside the Tesla service network, or doing too much DIY. I, like many others who love the Roadster, am an engineer, and have enjoyed reading about those who have modified the charging system for high speed charging, or making it capable of using destination chargers without adapters. While these are impressive accomplishments, it might also make you ineligible to have a Tesla service center fix simple problems, perform PM, or provide other parts you might need down the road.
If you find yourself in this boat, your only hope is to reach out to Medlock or Gruber. Many people like one of these guys and don't like the other. Personally I like them both a lot, because when the day comes that Tesla can't or won't help me, they will be the only hope for keeping this awesome car on the road.
The nose of my Roadster (#201) was destroyed, and several other parts had damage but appeared to be salvageable. I decided I could limp home, grinding the pavement all the way, I managed to avoid all potholes, manholes and uneven pavement. (I later went back to the accident site and found coyote parts in the breakdown lane. Two things weird about that: 1. I've lived in Mass my whole life and I didn't even know coyotes lived around here; and 2. I was in the left lane when I hit it. The coyote had so much velocity that his body parts flew all the way across 3 lanes of traffic!)
Now for the lessons: My insurance company suggested I take it to a local shop, and fortunately they knew they could not touch it. "Tesla won't let us work on Teslas" he said. That rung a bell in my head. I had read on this forum somewhere that Tesla will only provide parts to authorized Tesla repair shops. I went back home and checked the web site. There was only one within 30 miles, so it was an easy decision. I got the insurance company to OK going to them, and I brought them the car.
To be honest, I had zero confidence this shop would be able to get its hands on a new front end. Tesla only made 2450 of these cars, and they threw away the spare parts when they finished the run. Note, this was only a couple weeks after the Gruber fire, where several of these front ends melted away, I gave them Medlock's information, knowing I might need to add some $ to make it worth his while to part with these precious components. I also gave them the direct phone number of the San Raphael service center, where members here have shown pictures of parts cars sitting out back.
In the end, they just asked Tesla for the parts and voila! Everything I needed was on site in about 2 weeks. It turns out none of the Roadsters people have traded in for new Teslas have been resold. They've been taken off the road and cannibalized to keep the rest of us on the road. Those of us who still have one of these awesome cars are the beneficiaries of this initiative. But with one caveat:
In order for Tesla to support your Roadster, it needs to have a clean title. If at some point Tesla or your insurance company has deemed your car "totaled", they won't provide parts for it. Fortunately, my damage was relatively minor, so my title stays clean. Note also that Tesla can consider your Roadster totaled for other reasons, such as bricking the battery, having repairs done outside the Tesla service network, or doing too much DIY. I, like many others who love the Roadster, am an engineer, and have enjoyed reading about those who have modified the charging system for high speed charging, or making it capable of using destination chargers without adapters. While these are impressive accomplishments, it might also make you ineligible to have a Tesla service center fix simple problems, perform PM, or provide other parts you might need down the road.
If you find yourself in this boat, your only hope is to reach out to Medlock or Gruber. Many people like one of these guys and don't like the other. Personally I like them both a lot, because when the day comes that Tesla can't or won't help me, they will be the only hope for keeping this awesome car on the road.