I got into car accident, waiting for the estimate to repair

[icho]

My Model X was towed to the tesla certified body shop *Chilton Autobody San Carlos", for an estimate, 5 days ago.
My insurance and I sent the documents to go ahead with the estimate. But I didn't hear back from the body shop. I called them, they are waiting for the parts estimate from Tesla. Doesn't Tesla publish parts cost book or answer phone!!! Why does any body shop have to wait for over 5 days to get the price from Tesla?

Is there something I can do, to speed up my car repair?
Can anyone share their repair experience?
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

[earlyretirement]

Sorry to hear about that. It's a royal pain to get in an accident with a Tesla. Many areas there is only one certified repair center and it takes FOREVER. I got in a fender bender with my Model S and it was $20,000 and it took 2 months. My insurance would only cover up to 30 days for the rental car in the repair center but the auto body shop had so many Teslas in the shop (over 20+) that they had loaner cars past the 30 day insurance coverage.

I hope yours doesn't take as long to fix.

 

[brucet999]

…the auto body shop had so many Teslas in the shop (over 20+) that they had loaner cars past the 30 day insurance coverage.

20+ Teslas - a car that commands less than 0.2% of the auto market - in one shop? Now I'm getting worried that driving a Tesla may turn me into a bad driver or attract bad drivers to run into me.

 

[Fiddler]

Welcome to the Forum. Tesla does have an issue with their parts. Here's some reading to keep you busy until you get your MX back.

Time waited for parts?

Major delays in obtaining Tesla parts | Tesla Motors

Anyone else having problem getting parts? | Tesla Motors

 

[mikevbf]

I do not know how bad your accident was, but my one piece of advise is if you can drive your car until the pars arrive, do. Parts take a long time as you can see from threads linked to by Fiddler.

 

[xkwizit]

Sorry to hear about that. It's a royal pain to get in an accident with a Tesla. Many areas there is only one certified repair center and it takes FOREVER. I got in a fender bender with my Model S and it was $20,000 and it took 2 months. My insurance would only cover up to 30 days for the rental car in the repair center but the auto body shop had so many Teslas in the shop (over 20+) that they had loaner cars past the 30 day insurance coverage.

I hope yours doesn't take as long to fix.

@earlyretirement That must have been quite a fender bender that required $20,000 worth of repair. I had someone ram into my S at a traffic light because she thought I was going to run the light. The repair cost the insurance $998 (I was quite surprised and also as to why it was just a shade less than $1000). It took the body shop a week to get the new bumper from Tesla and two days to put it in test the sensors at SC etc.

 

[earlyretirement]

I was probably going about 7 MPH when the lady in front of me suddenly braked hard. It was at an intersection where a car ran a stop light so I was distracted watching it. To put things in perspective she had $800 in damage to her SUV. Apparently they said all kinds of sensors needed to be replaced. The hood also had to be replaced as it was dented.

There are lots of posts here in the Facebook San Diego Tesla forum of Tesla owners getting into relatively minor accidents with huge repair bills so I know I'm not the only one. That's one huge downside to owning a Tesla if you get into an accident.

 

[earlyretirement]

20+ Teslas - a car that commands less than 0.2% of the auto market - in one shop? Now I'm getting worried that driving a Tesla may turn me into a bad driver or attract bad drivers to run into me.

Yes! There were tons. I was surprised but I guess Amatos here in San Diego is the only authorized repair center. It was interesting to see the Teslas stripped down to the frame on some of them.

 

[xkwizit]

I was probably going about 7 MPH when the lady in front of me suddenly braked hard. It was at an intersection where a car ran a stop light so I was distracted watching it. To put things in perspective she had $800 in damage to her SUV. Apparently they said all kinds of sensors needed to be replaced. The hood also had to be replaced as it was dented.

There are lots of posts here in the Facebook San Diego Tesla forum of Tesla owners getting into relatively minor accidents with huge repair bills so I know I'm not the only one. That's one huge downside to owning a Tesla if you get into an accident.

I guess the person who hit me should count her blessings. Like you said reading the posts on the forum, I was also expecting her insurance was going to get billed several thousands and it would take minimum a month to get the parts.

I am wondering if the car didn't start beeping and throwing red alerts all over if you were moving and the car in front was stopped.

 

[Spidy]

Is there something I can do, to speed up my car repair?

Elon Musk on Twitter

 

[BryanJ]

You will be waiting months, if not years, for your repair to be ready.

My advice: buy a brand new Tesla. When your old one is finally ready, if you haven't died yet, you can sell it in the after-market.

My Model X was towed to the tesla certified body shop *Chilton Autobody San Carlos", for an estimate, 5 days ago.
My insurance and I sent the documents to go ahead with the estimate. But I didn't hear back from the body shop. I called them, they are waiting for the parts estimate from Tesla. Doesn't Tesla publish parts cost book or answer phone!!! Why does any body shop have to wait for over 5 days to get the price from Tesla?

Is there something I can do, to speed up my car repair?
Can anyone share their repair experience?
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

[3s-a-charm]

I was probably going about 7 MPH when the lady in front of me suddenly braked hard. It was at an intersection where a car ran a stop light so I was distracted watching it. To put things in perspective she had $800 in damage to her SUV. Apparently they said all kinds of sensors needed to be replaced. The hood also had to be replaced as it was dented.

There are lots of posts here in the Facebook San Diego Tesla forum of Tesla owners getting into relatively minor accidents with huge repair bills so I know I'm not the only one. That's one huge downside to owning a Tesla if you get into an accident.

I'm no lawyer but you may want to hold off of using terms like "I was distracted" when you hit the other car. In my area if it's determined you were "distracted driving" the reprocussions are equated to drinking and driving. The veil of forum usernames provides little anonymity at times. A better descriptor would be, "by the time I could react, the impact occurred". Sorry to divert from the original thread and my sympathies for having to go through a repair.

 

[PhatCat]

Three weeks ago i pulled up to the intersection where my local cul de sac ends into the through road. One of my neighbors was apparently distracted and made a left turn into the front of my three month old S75D as i sat there. Front "bumper", hood and right front quarter panel damaged. Also steering wheel and driver's knee airbags deployed. I don't have a detailed report yet from the Tesla-authorized body shop, but this was a low speed impact and as nearly as i could tell there was no structural damage nor damage to battery pack.

I have had many cars over the years and had repair work done on a few of them, most recently a Jag XKL a year ago. Based on what I've read here about the expensive of Tesla parts and labor, I estimated "high" at 15-16K. Actual repair estimate 28,900. I will reserve judgement until i see the details, but it seems likely that a moderately serious accident would result in the car being totaled.

Hope OP fares better.

 

[engle]

Here in the SF Bay Area, I only use and personally can recommend Brooks Motors of Fremont, which is where the factory sends all the new vehicles that got scratched for paint repairs, etc. before they are shipped. Brooks only works on Teslas. Tony is the manager. You have to call him for status -- he seems to get too many calls to respond timely. Ray Nunes @ Tesla Factory Service is a great resource to try to expedite parts from Tesla's "Body Shop Parts Team".

Whenever you get a vehicle back from a body shop, inspect it with a fine tooth comb. I found a missing fastener in a wheel well, and the front underbody plastic piece was not installed correctly. Service Advisor said the service tech who inspected it before they did the wheel alignment should have caught this.

I believe the reason we've all waited months (2 in my case for running over road debris that fell off the back of a pick-up truck on I-880) to get parts -- the rack-and-pinion steering system was the major hold-up in my case -- is very simple:

TSLA prioritizes all its parts to build NEW vehicles, which have the greatest profit margins. As a long-time stockholder, I'm very happy with that. As an owner who waited 2 months to get my P90D back for road debris (no body work) -- I'm very unhappy. They simply aren't taking care of their existing customers like they should. They certainly better not do this to Model 3 customers, who may not have a 2nd vehicle to drive or be in a position to rent a temporary replacement vehicle beyond 30 days paid by their insurance.

That said, Tesla Factory Service is great! Today, Ray Nunes had my right front tire repaired at no charge (goodwill). The funny part was the machine the tech used to do the repair destroyed my tire! Then TSLA had to give me a brand new $400 tire "on the house". LOL! Both Ray and Corey over there are great service advisors, much better than the ones I dealt with over many years buying and leasing Benz vehicles in Silicon Valley. They also both have a good sense of humor. I re-named my "X" "TroubleMaker" when I got it back after 2 months in the body shop. Tesla gave me a Model S loaner during that time -- so it wasn't too bad... Now, I've upgraded it to "eXtasy". When I got it last March, I named it "eXciting!" (Yes, it's one of my obsessions...)

PS. My X seems to find any eXcuse to return to it's birthplace... lol When I reach my 1 year anniversary with my X, I'll publish a look back, including this: