How do you buy spare parts for Model S P85D

[y2ninternational]

Hello everyone,

This is my first time posting anything on this Forum so here it goes:

I have a friend who just took delivery of his P85D in Kazakhstan and after two weeks of driving it, he gets involved in an accident. There is some extensive front end damage. He has asked me to get parts for him because currently there isn't a "certified body shop" nor a service center in that part of the world.

After talking to Tesla and the certified body shop here in Portland, I quickly realized they cannot sell parts directly to owners.

Where/how can I buy spare parts for this vehicle??? Are there any loop holes?

What happens if a private body shop buys a tesla from an insurance auction, how do they get parts for it when the dealer only sells to "certified" shops??

Please help.

 

[Gizmotoy]

You can often just walk into a service center and buy what you need, but certain parts are locked out as repair-center only. I suspect a sizeable chunk of what you need falls into that category, given the damage involved. Tesla has taken a pretty hard line so far on repairs, so the chance of you succeeding in getting the parts that vehicle needs are incredibly small. Worse, the nearest service center is 4700km away off a Supercharger path (if the car is drivable, might not be from the looks of it) in Vienna, Austria.

I hate to say it, but you're going to need to get someone high up at Tesla to assist with this unless your friend wants to ship their car off to Austria.

Best of luck.

 

[JPP]

Maybe you can find a salvage Model S with extensive rear end damage, buy it, deinstall the front end parts needed, and ship them to him. Unlikely that TM is going to sell the parts direct, and used parts might be more cost effective.

 

[y2ninternational]

JPP - This was one of my options that i explored. Currently this vehicle is shut off. Nothing on it works, all the electronics are dead. After doing some reading online I came across this guy who bought a tesla from auction and after doing all the repairs himself he was unable to "awaken" the car. It requires a special computer to input a code from tesla and do a reset for the car to turn on.

 

[fluxemag]

For a car that expensive it's worth the $2k to ship it to a service center. That doesn't look like a quick fix either.

 

[robby]

For a car that expensive it's worth the $2k to ship it to a service center. That doesn't look like a quick fix either.

Agree with this, except I would try to have it go straight to an authorized body shop. Service centers can't do the body work but body shops can do the service work. Please don't ask me how I know this as a one-week Tesla owner.

 

[sorka]

All that aside, I think what Tesla is doing is or should be illegal. I can walk into any dealership for any brand of car sold in the US and buy any part I want no questions asked. Tesla should not be allowed to limit parts availability to a small number of so called certified shops.

 

[robby]

All that aside, I think what Tesla is doing is or should be illegal. I can walk into any dealership for any brand of car sold in the US and buy any part I want no questions asked. Tesla should not be allowed to limit parts availability to a small number of so called certified shops.

Just remember that "certified" is a lot more than a business relationship. These shops get expensive, extensive training directly from Tesla. It's true you can get parts for any ICE car at the dealership, but you can also find a qualified mechanic to install those parts anywhere you go. Finding someone who is trained to work on a Tesla is much, much more difficult right now, and surely Tesla does not want people electrocuting themselves when they mishandle a battery, nor do they want to have to smooth things over with owners every time an ICE mechanic breaks something. Hopefully this becomes moot and Tesla's policy becomes unnecessary in the long term as EVs grow to be ubiquitous.

 

[Lerxt]

Its an incredibly risky proposition buying Model S and shipping it to a country that is likely never going to have a Tesla presence. My suggestion is to ship it to wherever it was shipped from, fix it and sell it.

 

[green1]

All that aside, I think what Tesla is doing is or should be illegal. I can walk into any dealership for any brand of car sold in the US and buy any part I want no questions asked. Tesla should not be allowed to limit parts availability to a small number of so called certified shops.

Long term this will bite them. this is how right to repair laws came to exist, and if tesla stops being a bit player and becomes mainstream they won't be able to keep this stranglehold on the repair business for ever. This especially won't fly with the model 3 crowd.

 

[stopcrazypp]

All that aside, I think what Tesla is doing is or should be illegal. I can walk into any dealership for any brand of car sold in the US and buy any part I want no questions asked. Tesla should not be allowed to limit parts availability to a small number of so called certified shops.

Here's a long article about a similar situation with Kodak and the servicing of their copiers and micrographics equipment. Basically the right to refuse business is a general right, although it is a qualified one. It all comes down to whether there's a legitimate business reason to refuse selling to a rival and whether such refusal will lead to better innovation in the future.
http://www.justice.gov/atr/public/reports/236681_chapter7.htm

Right now the Tesla (and EV servicing market in general) is distorted since there are few shops qualified to service them and very few generic parts made for them (unlike ICE vehicles where even if you don't buy an OEM part, there are plenty of other third party aftermarket parts). By forcing Tesla to sell parts right now, there may be a short term increase in competition, but over the long term it reduces the incentive for third parties to come up with non-oem replacement parts (as exists for ICE vehicles). And also, unlike the Kodak case, Tesla doesn't refuse to sell to independent shops. They only require that they be certified. So I'm not sure if a court would necessarily side with forcing Tesla to give up their right to refuse selling to un-certified independent shops.

 

[Matias]

I would take that car to a country which has certified service.

 

[ToddRLockwood]

Tesla will supply parts to a non-certified body shop, as long as the damage is not structural. Sheet metal and bolt-on parts like bumper covers no problem. But it seems pretty obvious that this car has front-end frame damage that should be handled by an authorized body shop.

 

[Tourman]

Total it, get a new Tesla.

 

[sorka]

Just remember that "certified" is a lot more than a business relationship. These shops get expensive, extensive training directly from Tesla. It's true you can get parts for any ICE car at the dealership, but you can also find a qualified mechanic to install those parts anywhere you go. Finding someone who is trained to work on a Tesla is much, much more difficult right now, and surely Tesla does not want people electrocuting themselves when they mishandle a battery, nor do they want to have to smooth things over with owners every time an ICE mechanic breaks something. Hopefully this becomes moot and Tesla's policy becomes unnecessary in the long term as EVs grow to be ubiquitous.

Yet they'll sell you a replacement 12 volt battery directly. In fact, there are lots of parts they will sell you and lots they won't yet there is no rhyme or reason. You can even by the $5 door handle pivot gear which requires dissembling the door handle module to replace which even Tesla itself won't do but they won't sell you any suspension component.