Model Y Rear Bumper Repair or replacement

[J-a-x]

Somebody hit my model Y and damaged my rear bumper paint while parking. They said their insurance will cover it. No structural damage that I can see.

From what I read on this forum the repair should be simple as Tesla can just pop in a pre-painted bumper and call it a day for around $1,000. Only problem is when I tried to scheduled service it got cancelled on me (Tesla Service said I had to go to a 3rd party body shop or Tesla collision center).

The 3rd party body shops here in Boston all say they want to keep my car for 3-4 weeks and expect it to cost $3k to $4k and they all say that they can't get a factory painted bumper but will paint one themselves for me. I am very skeptical of them doing a proper paint job to match the red multi-coat and the cost seems outrageous. I won't be paying it but it seems like they wanna claim all kinds of unnecessary things to make more money off the insurance policy. They kept talking about structural damage even though I told them it’s a paint issue.

There is a Tesla Collision Center run by Tesla here in Boston but the wait time to go to the collision center is 2 months. Not sure if they do the same job as the 3rd party body shops (3-4 week long process including painting everything in-house) or if they just do the simple pre-painted bumper install.

Any advice on what I should do? Take it to a 3rd party shop and let them try to talk insurance into doing potentially more work than necessary and keeping my car for weeks, or waiting a few months and going to Tesla Collision.

Does anyone have experience with Tesla Collision for paint repair? Even if Tesla Collision is a longer wait for an appointment, is there a chance it's a faster/smoother process in the shop to get the work done? I really don't want to leave my car in the shop for 3 weeks for something so small...

 

[Pianewman]

Interesting. I would prefer to have an actual paint match done by a competent body shop than trust that a Tesla factory paint job will match. I understand that the multi-coat paint is a bit more complex, but a good shop should have experience doing it.

3-4 weeks? Absurd. I'll never understand why ANY shop would want the liability of keeping any car on their lot for weeks and weeks when the repair itself should take 1-2 days.

 

[Watts_Up]

The rear bumper should fit in the trunk after folding the seats.
So I would remove the bumper, bring it to a body shop for painting.
And when ready, I will make an appointment and bring the car for a day to get installed back.

Otherwise, can you find a body shop to order a bumper, maybe already painted.
I don't think you need to go to a certified Tesla shop, for that.

And I would fix the small scratch on the door with some wet sandpaper and touch paint pen.

I think you could propose the other party to paid you directly instead of going to their insurance.
Otherwise a 2 or 3 week rental car will be quite expensive.


BTW, were you inside your car or did the other driver left a note?
Do you know what part of their car touched your car and made this bif scratch?

 

[J-a-x]

Leaving tge bumper at the shop and drive around without a bumper is an option I guess. Sure beats having it in shop for weeks.

Agreed that the trunk door scratch can be done as a simple touch up pen.

Not sure about settling outside of insurance. Depends what they pay me I guess. Local shops are quoting me $3k to $4k and not sure they’ll pay that much out of pocket. Not sure what Tesla charges.

Anyone have experience with the official Tesla collision shop vs a 3rd party shop?

 

[Ratm68]

I would check for tesla certified shops. Other than that, let the shop deal with the insurance and their insurance will also cover rental so just drive that around. Why contemplate work around and/or shortcuts, to save them money unless you're planning to do a cheap repair to pocket the difference? That's what insurance is for

 

[J-a-x]

I would check for tesla certified shops. Other than that, let the shop deal with the insurance and their insurance will also cover rental so just drive that around. Why contemplate work around and/or shortcuts, to save them money unless you're planning to do a cheap repair to pocket the difference? That's what insurance is for

I agree with you about not putting up with shortcuts or workarounds, but when the local shop wants to keep my car for 2-3 weeks it starts to get really annoying and inconvenient. Even if I could get a Tesla rental to replace my car without paying a dime, I find a rental to be inconvenient (no app access, likely less range if its a Hertz rental, all my configurations and favorites and presets and accessories lost). So I prefer the option that requires me to leave my car for the least time overall if possible, and the option with a result the most similar to how it was before the accident.