Good body shop in Cincinnati?

[rtanov]

I am looking for recommendations for a good body shop in Cincinnati. Someone put a big dent on my driver's door on my brand new Model 3! Tesla recommends Blue Ash Auto Body - anyone worked with them? I've had Dave Orr's work on my bimmers, and I like his work - I just had him look at the dent and he said the whole door would need to be repainted. Bummer! Anyone used any of those dent paintless shops? Would greatly appreciate any advice.

 

[Derek Kessler]

I've had work done with Blue Ash Auto Body before. They're Tesla certified, though add about 25% to the estimated time.

The work that Dave Orr's did on your BMW can't transfer easily to an aluminum-bodied Tesla. The work they they and paintless dent repair shops do is for steel-bodied cars, which have a "memory" that you can pop back into shape. Aluminum doesn't have such a memory, it needs to be reformed, which is a tremendous pain in the butt.

 

[Darren S]

I unfortunately had to get some work done after someone put a bit more than a dent in my car. Included is a photo of the full disassembly required for the repair. The Tesla-approved shop Blue Ash Auto did an amazing job with this process. I would definitely recommend them.

The other driver's Insurance paid for the repairs and it only took ~1 month for the repair process. Waiting for parts to arrive took ~1 month as well (though this wasn't Blue Ash Auto's fault). Another 1 month of each Insurance bickering to determine what to do so the total downtime was 3 months but only 1 month of that was it at Blue Ash.

 

[rtanov]

Thanks guys! Looks like Blue Ash would be my first choice. Dave Orr does have the equipment to work on aluminum panels, and is BMW, MB certified but he told me he could not justify sending a technician to CA to get the Tesla certification. However, it seems like it would be a bigger hassle for him to get parts and repair procedures (if there are such for the Tm3) from Tesla.

BTW the magnet test shows that the doors & frunk on the TM3 are aluminum, fenders & trunk hatch are steel.

 

[rtanov]

Here is a picture of the dent - nothing one could live with. The person who did it was decent enough to live contact info and offer to pay for the first. By

 

[Darren S]

That dent is going to most likely require an entire outside door skin to repair it. From what I've been told, steel has a 'memory' and a dent can be popped out to the steel's original 'memory' for that shape such as a door or hood or roof. Aluminum does not have a 'memory' like steel so a dent doesn't just pop back to the original shape.

I've seen some examples of small dents being hammered back into the original shape of the hood / frunk or door but they were much smaller like the size of a small dent from a baseball.

Here is a portion of my invoice that shows the door panel and here is a breakdown of the door items:

$723.00 = Right Rear Door Shell part #6006566E0F
$367.50 = 4.2 hrs Labor @ $87.50/hr
$193.80 = 3.4 hrs Paint @ $57.00/hr
---------------------------------------------------------------------
$1,284.30
$89.90 = 7.00% tax
========================================
$1,374.20 total​

The other driver might be better off paying their insurance deductible if they don't mind the accident going on their record. I can't imagine they would have higher than a $1,375 deductible -- assuming they have insurance. They were probably unaware that a dent like that can probably not be simply 'pulled' out of the door for $300.

 

[Rifleman]

Blue Ash Auto body did a good job on my Model S after a minor fender bender.

 

[Brian-MS90D]

Have not needed to have my Tesla repaired yet, but I've had previous cars repaired at Blue Ash Auto Body. While there, I noticed other Tesla's being worked on. I would echo what others have said that, even for ICE vehicles, Blue Ash Auto Body does good work but they will be late. Probably nature of the business...

 

[rtanov]

Thanks guys! I scheduled with Blue Ash - the estimate is ~$850 and 3 days - the whole door would have to be repainted. I'm not thrilled about that but have no other options - I send the picture to a good paintless dent shop who claims to work with aluminum just to see what he thinks and he would not even attempt it.

 

[Atari2600]

Thanks guys! I scheduled with Blue Ash - the estimate is ~$850 and 3 days - the whole door would have to be repainted. I'm not thrilled about that but have no other options - I send the picture to a good paintless dent shop who claims to work with aluminum just to see what he thinks and he would not even attempt it.

Sorry to dig up an old thread but I'm wondering how did this end? Were you satisfied?
Given the horror stories I'm seeing on the forums I'm trying to prepare myself for when I need a good body shop.

I had a body shop that I used for 20 years but the owner retired and shut the shop down.. they were never a Tesla shop though.

 

[rtanov]

Sorry to dig up an old thread but I'm wondering how did this end? Were you satisfied?
Given the horror stories I'm seeing on the forums I'm trying to prepare myself for when I need a good body shop.

I had a body shop that I used for 20 years but the owner retired and shut the shop down.. they were never a Tesla shop though.

Was not satisfied at all - it ended up a $1300 repair, and when I looked at the car my heart sank - the paint was a horrible case of orange peel. I rejected it and they agreed and fixed it but am still puzzled how could they consider the job they did as finished. AFAIK they are still the only Tesla certified shop in Cincy.
If I had to fix a door ding again I would desperately try to find a paintless dent repair shop that works on aluminum before going back to the body shop.

 

[YellowSpringer]

My insurance (Progressive) set me up with Blue Ash in Cincinnati after some severe hail damage and I had mixed results. The good: paint-less dent removal worked amazingly well on rear deck. The bad: it took a month to get the the windshield and new hood and the 4 roof accessory panels DO NOT match the original 2013's and will never be usable w/o major modifications. Also, while the pearl-white hood paint matched well, several areas near the pano-roof don't look too good.