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Extraordinarily Expensive Repair

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My wife side swiped a dumpster and we were amazed at the negotiated repair costs, see attached picture of damage. I spoke to State Farm claims and they told me to take the car to the nearest tesla authorized repair shop for an estimate. A person looked at my car and said that his estimate was $8,000. He said that we will take your credit card and it is up to you to negotiate payment with your insurance company. I declined and called State Farm Claims. State Farm claims then did an estimate over the phone from the picture below that my wife sent to them. SF estimate was $3,000. They sent me back to the same repair shop who agreed to give State Farm a detailed assessment. Their initial detailed estimate as > $18,000! SF spoke with them and got the cost down to $14,979. I attached a redacted final estimate. The repair shop explained each item. Aside from repair of some very minor front door nearly invisible scratch, they explained each charge. Repairing the door and quarter panel required them to do some spot welding, which required them to disconnect the traction battery and that was very costly. I am astounded. Any comments?
2nd M3 accident.jpg
 

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  • 240425 47-61D2-96G01 Final estimate_Redacted.pdf
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lol… was the beige paint transfer from whatever was hit or paint loss down to primer? If it is paint transfer A good buffing job will make it prolly not visible unless you specifically look for it. If it is primer- you are looking at around $3k for repaint and blending. That dent can be popped back from inside since there is access- no need to weld and pull. Tesla has shitty paint jobs/ quality from the factory so this should not be -that- expensive to repaint. Definitely not $13k to fix.
 
No wonder Hertz wanted to reduce their EV fleet. At over $18K, I'd just attempt to patch the problem myself with basic body filler and paint to make sure the car doesn't rust. My wife did similar damage to our old Lexus Rx400h around a concrete pillar in an underground garage. She's since learned how to negotiate the turn by using the B-pillar as a reference point of clearance. Coincidentally, insurance rates have increased 27% over the last 2 years.
 
I think "Tesla authorized" collision shops are taking full advantage.

Sure, some shops don't want to touch them because they're unfamiliar with (and thus afraid to work on) EVs. Some tire shops also won't touch them. 🤷

The shops that *are* willing to work on Teslas see dollar signs. This is a time problem... as in "give it enough time and a Tesla will just be another car".

Some of this outrageous repair pricing *could* be due to manufacturing techniques (gigapress), but I think most of it is Tesla tax.
 
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I understand the need to disconnect the Battery before Welding on the car but unless they are going to remove the pack to repair the car the price seems excessive. What is involved in disconnecting the pack from the car?

Pretty sure disconnecting the pack is done under the back seat. Takes all of 5 minutes.

Removing the pack is a different story. Pretty sure battery replacement on the 3/Y from Tesla includes 11 hours of labor.
 
I understand the need to disconnect the Battery before Welding on the car but unless they are going to remove the pack to repair the car the price seems excessive. What is involved in disconnecting the pack from the car?
Since most types of welding outside of gas welding involve high currents, high voltage, and high frequency electricity running through the part you are welding, you need to disconnect anything connected to chassis ground that's hasn't been hipot (high potential) tested which means most of the electronics. I believe the motors are also disconnected out of caution as well.
 
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