on Jan 19, 2016 I slid on ice in a parking lot in my new P90D. I hit a patch of ice in a slight downhill slope resulting in me hitting a curb. After hitting the curb, I check out the car, no visible damage. Parked the car, went into my office. All seemed fine.
When backing out of the parking stall, heard a crack and the drivers side front wheel tilted, I knew I was screwed. The Tesla was kaput.
Looking under the wheel, here's what I see:
The bolt securing the steering tie to the wheel chassis is broken.
I call the tow, they take it to the only certified Tesla shop in the area. The insurance company estimates the repair to be $2,000. The body shop estimates it at $13,500.
Knowing I'm getting fleeced,I call tesla, the replacement part runs about $375. But Tesla doesn't repair collision damage. They refer me to the only authorized body shop within 500 miles.
The body shows me a service bulletin put out by Tesla. It says in the event ANY damage to ANY steering or suspsenion component is encountered, one must replace XXX. This involves basically a new front end. Dropping the batteries, new AC compressor, new engine radiator, new beanies, all new suspension, new steering components,etc. a TON of work for fixing impact to one wheel at less than 5 mph.
This is so painful. It's been 4 weeks waiting for parts. Still waiting for more to come in.
The insurance approved &12,800 of the repairs, I'll just come out of pocket on the other repairs just to get it done. The shop says 85 hours of labor, so about 2 weeks once all the parts are in.
Holy cow, everyone needs to be prepared for enormous spikes in insurance rates for Teslas. This is a $1000 problem turned into a $13,000 problem. I just don't see how carriers are going to be ok with the repair costs of these vehicles.
I anticipate at least another month for this repair to take place. The service manager had over 30 other Teslas in his queue. He said my repair was one of the more simple repairs. Others are in the $50-$80k range.
Here's another pic.
Crazy things these Teslas.
I'm more worried about it getting put back together properly than the other parts actually being bad. I'm sure if I were to take the 100 parts being replaced, 98 of them would show no damage or wear.
I'll post the memo and estimate tomorrow after I can redact personal and shop info. For some reason my phone won't let me add more files to this post.
Yikes. What a nightmare.
When backing out of the parking stall, heard a crack and the drivers side front wheel tilted, I knew I was screwed. The Tesla was kaput.
Looking under the wheel, here's what I see:
The bolt securing the steering tie to the wheel chassis is broken.
I call the tow, they take it to the only certified Tesla shop in the area. The insurance company estimates the repair to be $2,000. The body shop estimates it at $13,500.
Knowing I'm getting fleeced,I call tesla, the replacement part runs about $375. But Tesla doesn't repair collision damage. They refer me to the only authorized body shop within 500 miles.
The body shows me a service bulletin put out by Tesla. It says in the event ANY damage to ANY steering or suspsenion component is encountered, one must replace XXX. This involves basically a new front end. Dropping the batteries, new AC compressor, new engine radiator, new beanies, all new suspension, new steering components,etc. a TON of work for fixing impact to one wheel at less than 5 mph.
This is so painful. It's been 4 weeks waiting for parts. Still waiting for more to come in.
The insurance approved &12,800 of the repairs, I'll just come out of pocket on the other repairs just to get it done. The shop says 85 hours of labor, so about 2 weeks once all the parts are in.
Holy cow, everyone needs to be prepared for enormous spikes in insurance rates for Teslas. This is a $1000 problem turned into a $13,000 problem. I just don't see how carriers are going to be ok with the repair costs of these vehicles.
I anticipate at least another month for this repair to take place. The service manager had over 30 other Teslas in his queue. He said my repair was one of the more simple repairs. Others are in the $50-$80k range.
Here's another pic.
Crazy things these Teslas.
I'm more worried about it getting put back together properly than the other parts actually being bad. I'm sure if I were to take the 100 parts being replaced, 98 of them would show no damage or wear.
I'll post the memo and estimate tomorrow after I can redact personal and shop info. For some reason my phone won't let me add more files to this post.
Yikes. What a nightmare.
