Musk Says Tesla Shooting for Collision Repairs Within an Hour

Tesla plans to bring most collision repairs in-house, according to a series of tweets from Chief Executive Elon Musk.

Musk said “outside firms” take too long – weeks to months – to make repairs, which is driving Tesla owners and the company “crazy.”

https://twitter.com/x/status/1041421552300916736

Musk said the company’s current collision repairs operations are completing jobs within 24 hours, but the goal is to deliver repaired cars back to customers within an hour.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1041421799618052097

Musk said that Tesla-specific shops will be more efficient in that they will deal only in Tesla parts and will more easily navigate insurance approval.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1041425397659795456

Tesla has been dealing with body shop woes for a while. And they’ve often blamed the body shop. You may remember a note from TMC member Jon McNeill, Tesla’s former President of Global Sales and Services, that addressed concerns and complaints over service delays in certified third-party repair shops.

“Even though we reduced part wait times, we continued to dig into the body shop complaints,” McNeill posted to TMC. “What we found was astounding – cars sat at body shops for weeks and sometimes months before the body shops took action and, more often than not, the body shops blaming Tesla for parts delays were the very shops that hadn’t even ordered parts or started the repair.”

But, Musk seemed to accept some blame for being slow to supply parts.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1041436083894943744

Tesla currently operates nine Body Repair Centers in the metropolitan areas of Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Orlando, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. Musk did not comment on plans to open new facilities for body repair.

 

[P85_DA]

...within hours ??? Is he still smoking ??

 

[GreenT]

Tesla plans to bring most collision repairs in-house, according to a series of tweets from Chief Executive Elon Musk. Musk said “outside firms” take too long – weeks to months – to make repairs, which is driving Tesla owners and the company “crazy.” Tesla is bringing most collision repairs in-house, as outside firms take weeks...
[WPURI="https://teslamotorsclub.com/blog/2018/09/17/musk-says-tesla-shooting-for-collision-repairs-within-an-hour/"]READ FULL ARTICLE[/WPURI]

Operative word, Plans. Never heard that before.

 

[trentf]

My 3 has been at a service center since 06Sep for diagnosis of an intermittent speaker problem. Just received a text today saying it is now with a technician being looked at. I'm driving a loaner MS 75 which is nice, but missing my 3!

 

[RaeW]

Maybe too many top priorities is the problem? In addition to deliveries and repairs/parts supply, how about all those SuperChargers on the map for 2018?

 

[arathald]

I'm working on a repair on my MX right now, which will involve replacing the hood, front bumper, drivers' side headlight, and various pieces of trim/accent pieces around the area. I was just on the phone with Tesla's body shop advocate line today (notably, they picked up on the first ring, no hold), and they told me that most of their first-party body shops are only dealing with minor damage at the moment, which they define to be dents and scratches that don't require any panels to be replaced. They did give me the distinct impression that this was a temporary state and they'd be dealing with panel replacements soon.

They also indicated to me that for MS and MX, they tend to have everything needed in stock, so my body shop should end up getting the parts very quickly.

As an investor, this is my biggest concern - if it does turn out to take months to get my car repaired, it'll be clear that their operations and logistics are still not up to where they should be. On the other hand, if they're able to get my parts to the shop quickly, that'll bode very well for Tesla, as I firmly believe that customer satisfaction is ultimately what makes or breaks many companies. If they can keep satisfying customers while ramping up volume, I believe that the profit will come as a natural consequence. I know this will be a single anecdotal data point, but it's understandably an important one to my own confidence in how they respond to customer issues.

 

[cwerdna]

...within hours ??? Is he still smoking ??

Remember, it's Elon time... so I guess we have to translate "under an hour" into whatever that really means in real time.

Sure, I'm confident this will be a lot faster than outside body shops but it seems unlikely it'd be that fast for anything that requires painting.

 

[glide]

What on earth is he talking about? The delays with repairs are not because repair shops are sitting on the cars.

It's because no one can get parts from Tesla. Maybe look into the parts supply chain instead? Do they have an adult in charge over there yet?

 

[johnnyS]

The problem is more complicated than what is explained. After the damaged car arrives at a repair shop, the insurance company has to send out an appraiser/estimator. The insurance company appraiser will only authorize parts and labor on damage that can be seen. So once the shop orders and receives parts they tear down and find additional damage. Then they have to get the insurance company out again to authorize more work. My model S had the initial estimate plus three supplemental estimates. The total process took 4 1/2 months. If all the parts were shipped next day after the order it still would have taken two months. I knew when the shop was ordering parts so I had a body shop/parts "advocate" at Tesla tracking the orders. Tesla should focus on supplying and shipping parts to the shops. The shop I used has become a Tesla specialist--most of their work is Teslas. Before Tesla they worked on Lotus and Jaguars so they picked up Tesla work when the roadster was first on the road. The local service center sends all their delivery problems to this shop.

 

[Tess17]

My Model X falcon wing door was damaged on Friday, August 31 and the car went to body shop the next day. The next business day (Tuesday 9/4) they ordered parts from Tesla (in advance of insurance approvals -- to save me time). All the needed parts except one arrived on or around 9/11. The last part needed arrived on 9/17 -- as promised. I expected a MUCH longer waiting period. I cannot imagine that Mercedes would do much better to replace an entire gullwing door. I was ready to be disappointed. So far, I'm impressed. (Of course it's not fixed yet....)

 

[Barklikeadog]

What on earth is he talking about? The delays with repairs are not because repair shops are sitting on the cars.

It's because no one can get parts from Tesla. Maybe look into the parts supply chain instead? Do they have an adult in charge over there yet?

and Insurance companies are gong to move at insurance company pace. would they really start repairing a car before getting an insurer's go ahead?

 

[jeffro01]

Okay so... Yeah... Um... Perhaps someone should tap Elon on the shoulder to remind him that it's almost always 100% Tesla's fault repairs take so long due to a fundamental lack of spare parts...

Yeah my Model S was repaired and back to me in 3/4 days when it was rear ended but there are countless other stories here at TMC that paint a different picture and in nearly all of them, minus a few seriously incompetent body shops here and there, suffered from an egregious lack of parts...

I tend to look at this through the lens of the service center problem... Tesla wants to fix it, but financial priorities dictate money is spent elsewhere...

Jeff

 

[JayyyDeee]

I waited 1 month for a broken clip, almost 8 weeks for a licence plate bracket and almost 2 months now for a replacement MCU screen... Why is Elon out right lying? The techs themselves have said waiting for parts is the worst part

 

[beachbum77]

It seems like Musk is saying we dragged our feet on parts before but now that we are doing the repairs ourselves it will be faster because we will stock lots of parts. Should be interesting to see how much money this boondoggle loses.

What are they going to do with the techs sitting around waiting for a damaged car to come in? Are they going to be an on-call crew? The reason no one else just does one brand of car is to keep the workflow stabilized. Is Musk giving the guys a sleeping area and TVs like firefighters so they can be on call? I am guessing body panels, doors, hoods and trunks will be pre-painted?

Here's a thought. It might be a better idea to focus on all of the cars getting rejected for delivery first. Most of those problems are paint, dent and scratch related. Tesla could use that extra money coming in from delayed deliveries to outfit their body shops.

 

[beachbum77]

What on earth is he talking about? The delays with repairs are not because repair shops are sitting on the cars.

It's because no one can get parts from Tesla. Maybe look into the parts supply chain instead? Do they have an adult in charge over there yet?

Sorry, all of the adults in management have quit.

 

[beachbum77]

The problem is more complicated than what is explained. After the damaged car arrives at a repair shop, the insurance company has to send out an appraiser/estimator. The insurance company appraiser will only authorize parts and labor on damage that can be seen. So once the shop orders and receives parts they tear down and find additional damage. Then they have to get the insurance company out again to authorize more work. My model S had the initial estimate plus three supplemental estimates. The total process took 4 1/2 months. If all the parts were shipped next day after the order it still would have taken two months. I knew when the shop was ordering parts so I had a body shop/parts "advocate" at Tesla tracking the orders. Tesla should focus on supplying and shipping parts to the shops. The shop I used has become a Tesla specialist--most of their work is Teslas. Before Tesla they worked on Lotus and Jaguars so they picked up Tesla work when the roadster was first on the road. The local service center sends all their delivery problems to this shop.

Which city is home to this shop you talk about?

 

[glide]

and Insurance companies are gong to move at insurance company pace. would they really start repairing a car before getting an insurer's go ahead?

Yes. Have you never had an accident before? They start right away. And a supplement can be written up for damage that is discovered further along in the process.

This is not a body shop or an insurance issue. It is a Tesla issue, plain and simple.

I don’t know why they are even attempting to deflect blame unless they plan to revolutionize the process by cutting insurance co’s and body shops out of the mix and making it a free service. That last bit is sarcasm.

 

[beachbum77]

Yes. Have you never had an accident before? They start right away. And a supplement can be written up for damage that is discovered further along in the process.

This is not a body shop or an insurance issue. It is a Tesla issue, plain and simple.

I don’t know why they are even attempting to deflect blame unless they plan to revolutionize the process by cutting insurance co’s and body shops out of the mix and making it a free service. That last bit is sarcasm.

Why not just use these new body shops to fix the cars that are getting rejected by the delivery center personnel? Most are body shop issues (paint/dents) anyway.

 

[greenjoe]

LOL - I'll believe it when I see it. I love my Model 3, but last month, after 3 weeks of ownership, it was grounded at the San Francisco Tesla dealership for "4 days" (waiting for a small door part from FREMONT - 40 miles away). Just last week, it was back at the same SF Tesla dealership for "4 days" to have the steering column re-calibrated (which didn't even require any parts!).

 

[Electroman]

Why not just use these new body shops to fix the cars that are getting rejected by the delivery center personnel? Most are body shop issues (paint/dents) anyway.

Donn Bailey : Can you repeat this one more time?

Here, try something like this for every one of your note.

If you make poor quality shoddy cars so that 100% of them needs extensive fixes and repairs even before it is delivered to the customers, then this body shop makes perfect sense. Even then for a company that burns cash, and is deeply in the read and has never made profits anytime in its history, can't even get deliveries done on time, all these new instant solutions will only make it go bankrupt sooner than predicted. With competition coming later this year, all of these fixes won't help.

With numerous investor law suits and fraud cases from SEC, I am not sure Musk has the time or money to fix the repair process

You see how I added all of your standard dog whistle phrases that you can use every time all the time.

SpaceX lands man on the moon? no problem you can start and end your narrative with the same phrases.

Landing man on the moon would not help a bit if you make poor quality shoddy cars so that 100% of them needs extensive fixes and repairs even before it is delivered to the customers, . For a company that burns cash, and is deeply in the read and has never made profits anytime in its history, all these moon and mars landing only serve as a distraction