My Tesla was hit on Jan 4. It's still not back from the body shop

[Sousaphil]

A friend's pickup truck backed into my parked Tesla at the gym. Strictly superficial damage to the rear quarter and rear bumper.

As many of you know, there are only 2 certified body shops in Colorado, Stuttgart and Coach. Since I live in Denver, Stuttgart is my option.

I contacted insurance and Stuttgart on January 5. Stuttgart had a backlog and couldn't take my vehicle until March 28.

I checked in with Stuttgart near the end of April, because their initial estimate was 4 weeks. They said that work had not even started on it because Tesla sent a broken part and they had been waiting for replacement parts.

I called the Tesla ownership number and they were no help whatsoever.

The latest estimate from Stuttgart is they'll have the car done by the end of June, but they'll know better once it's in the paint shop.

Meanwhile, I'm driving a rental VW POS and I'm getting more frustrated by the day.

Tesla better get this stuff figured out before the Model 3. This has been a terrible ownership experience and neither the local nor headquarters people have done a thing to help.

Am I crazy that I think it's unreasonable for body damage to take nearly 6 months to get fixed? On a premium sedan?

 

[Twiglett]

having such a tiny number of certified body shops is ridiculous.
Something needs to change before Tesla hits mainstream with the 3.

 

[techmaven]

Does the other shop have less of a wait? Is there an out of town certified body shop you can have your vehicle transported to that you can work with to get it done? My local body shop picks up vehicles from 2-3 hours away.

 

[Sm4llz]

I'm in Colorado and live in fear that my car will be hit. I've had to become much more of a defensive driver since getting the car... I swear it's a magnet for bad drivers .

Good luck and please keep us informed of the process.

 

[Barry]

Same thing happened to me with virtually the same time line, offset by 2 months. Minor fender bender in Nov., into Stuttgart Feb 2, got the car back some time in April. I bitched and moaned to the Service Center about the parts delays (spoke with JA, as the manager was on vacation that week), and also wrote a snail-mail letter to Elon (no reply), but they gave me a loaner, which I had for almost a month.

Yes, it's outrageously poor customer service.

 

[Boourns]

Are the dearth of certified shops because of the aluminum panels?

Meanwhile, I'm driving a rental VW POS and I'm getting more frustrated by the day.

Do you have rental reimbursement, or are you paying out of pocket? I can imagine your frustration.

 

[Vitold]

I would sue Tesla for pain and suffering.

EDIT: It's strange to me that Tesla 'was of no help'. What did Tesla help line say? Also, it appears you've been driving the car until March. Why did you drop off the car before the part arrived?

 

[Sousaphil]

I would sue Tesla for pain and suffering.

EDIT: It's strange to me that Tesla 'was of no help'. What did Tesla help line say? Also, it appears you've been driving the car until March. Why didn't you drop off the car before the part arrived?

Tesla help said that the body shop team was not customer-facing, but they'd ask about my parts and get back to me. They never did. I followed up a few weeks later, they said they'd contact Stuttgart directly to see what was going on. All I know is Stuttgart now has the parts they need.

I drove the car until the date Stuttgart told me to bring it to them. I had wrongly assumed that they'd begin working on it immediately, since that was the date they told me to bring the car.

I am not paying for the rental car. It's covered by the person who hit my car. If the damage were my fault, I'd be SOL at this point.

I'm at the point where I am 95% sure I'll sell the car once it's fixed.
The least Tesla could do at this point is offer a comparable loaner.

 

[MrClown]

I'm in Colorado and live in fear that my car will be hit. I've had to become much more of a defensive driver since getting the car... I swear it's a magnet for bad drivers .

Same here. I also increased my rental reimbursement coverage to the max that my insurance will do but it's still not going to be nearly enough based on these stories. With any luck, more shops will go through the Tesla certification once they realize there are going to be a lot of Model 3 out there. There's clearly plenty of money to be made repairing these cars.

 

[roblab]

Being on my second Tesla, 3 repairs, here's what I've learned.

Never did I take my car to a "certified" shop. The first two times, I went to the body shop who helped me pick out my factory custom paint. This was when Tesla barely had two approved shops anywhere. The shop knew how to work on aluminum, so they just straightened it out and filled it in, sanded, painted, and it looked good as new. The price was about $2K, and the time was about 6 DAYS. These were fairly serious mess ups.

The last time, I used a local shop who had just hired a Tesla trained repair guy. They decided to replace everything, and maybe they had to, but I doubt it. The parts alone were over $10K, and Tesla's parts department is still back in the stone age. My repair shop told me on day one that they would only be held up by Tesla Parts not being able to get parts out to them. When they told me it would be 6 weeks to get pars, I wrote letters and made phone calls and got my parts in a week, and the shop had my car out the door in a month. Long enough, to be sure.

I am fairly convinced that many many of the accidents we have could be fixed by repairing the dents (and tears and holes, even) for FAR less money and FAR less time than going "new" with new parts and Tesla's inexperience in parts management. Any company that fixes high end cars knows how to repair aluminum.

Repairing parts yields the same results as putting on new parts, costs less, and takes less time. If at all possible, this option should be explored whenever you have a repair. The savings in your sanity in not having to drive some gas engine out dated noisy polluting thing that you have to fuel with imported liquid gold bought from countries that hate us is worth a lot.

 

[Vitold]

Tesla help said that the body shop team was not customer-facing, but they'd ask about my parts and get back to me. They never did. I followed up a few weeks later, they said they'd contact Stuttgart directly to see what was going on. All I know is Stuttgart now has the parts they need.

Sounds like you needed to contact someone else at Tesla (one wonders why they would be so inept). One thing to keep in mind is that to Tesla it looks like your car is in repair since April not January since you agreed (with the shop) to wait till end of March. Still, two months is still too long.

 

[taurusking]

Being on my second Tesla, 3 repairs, here's what I've learned.

Never did I take my car to a "certified" shop. The first two times, I went to the body shop who helped me pick out my factory custom paint. This was when Tesla barely had two approved shops anywhere. The shop knew how to work on aluminum, so they just straightened it out and filled it in, sanded, painted, and it looked good as new. The price was about $2K, and the time was about 6 DAYS. These were fairly serious mess ups.

Agree with everything you posted

Question to @roblab : I did not know that you can do this..I thought we lose warranty if they are fixed by non certified body shops. Can you please let me know what your thoughts are? I thought Tesla does not ship the parts to non certified body shops. How were you able to pull this one.

I have had two accidents since I bought my Tesla. Both the accidents/mishaps were not my fault. First time my car was backed into by unknown driver at the parking lot.

Second was a deer hit (T boned).

Both accidents costed a fortune to my insurance company. First one was $4000-5000 and the second one was $13000-14000.

If Tesla wants Model 3 to be a success then definitely needs to work on the parts department and authorize more body shops and also bring down the cost of parts. all this IMHO

 

[Sousaphil]

Well, I finally got the car back on Monday, June 20th. The total bill charged to insurance was $18,000; not including the rental car bill from Enterprise, which was $1,900.

I am selling the vehicle so I got a quote from Echo Park, based on a recommendation from Tesla. Echo Park gave me a ridiculous low-ball price of $35,000, which tells me they have no interest in selling a Tesla; and the people at Tesla Denver are completely unhelpful when it comes to resale advice.

I'm doing a consignment sale through Mile High Car Helper, based on a recommendation from a friend. Based on local comps, we should be able to sell it for $55+, especially since the CO tax credit is available on the car.


Tesla is the best car I've ever driven or owned. But this experience is making me very cautious when it comes to a potential Model III purchase.

Oh, and to add insult to injury, my car insurance premium went up 95% (the vast majority of the damage was not due to my own fault). Thankfully it renews at the end of July and I'm hoping to have the car sold by then.

 

[2krazykats]

I'm sorry this happened to you but appreciate you sharing your experience with the community. It's something I'm sure we all fear and hope never happens to us. Until then <lalalala> and I'm enjoying my car while driving defensively.

Best of luck with your sale.

 

[DiveDeep]

Well, I finally got the car back on Monday, June 20th. The total bill charged to insurance was $18,000; not including the rental car bill from Enterprise, which was $1,900.

I am selling the vehicle so I got a quote from Echo Park, based on a recommendation from Tesla. Echo Park gave me a ridiculous low-ball price of $35,000, which tells me they have no interest in selling a Tesla; and the people at Tesla Denver are completely unhelpful when it comes to resale advice.

I'm doing a consignment sale through Mile High Car Helper, based on a recommendation from a friend. Based on local comps, we should be able to sell it for $55+, especially since the CO tax credit is available on the car.


Tesla is the best car I've ever driven or owned. But this experience is making me very cautious when it comes to a potential Model III purchase.

Oh, and to add insult to injury, my car insurance premium went up 95% (the vast majority of the damage was not due to my own fault). Thankfully it renews at the end of July and I'm hoping to have the car sold by then.

If you love the car, why are you selling it.. You'll take a hit because it's used and another because of the damage, even though it is repaired.
It strikes me that, yes Tesla parts supplies suck, but the damage was CAUSED by somebody else! I'd be as mad at him as Tesla, if not more so!

Now that you've gone through the pain of waiting I'd drive the car!