Ouch! MS 90D repair saga begins...

[MSAGRO]

Is it too late not to get the 2016+ refresh bumper put on?

 

[RogerHScott]

Is it too late not to get the 2016+ refresh bumper put on?

Do you mean a replacement for the original, or are you concerned they'll replace the original with something different? I was quite happy with my pre-refresh car as-was, so I'm hoping they don't change anything.

 

[MSAGRO]

Thanks for the fast and honest reply. I have the pre-refresh front end too and I think it looks good. However some people actually pay up to $2000 to upgrade the front end.

 

[RogerHScott]

Insanity continues, right up 'til the last moment: the shop just filed Supplement #4 (yes, that's the fourth supplement, making five total parts to the estimate) for a whopping additional $25k, bringing the total up to pocket-change-less-than $60k. Is it just me, or is that completely insane for this degree of damage? I was just reading on another thread the other day about someone whose repair cost crept (or leapt?) up during the process from initially well below "totaled" to ultimately well above what-would-otherwise-have-been-considered totaled. If I were an insurer I'd be livid -- unpredictability is their worst enemy. It just seems like something is really, really wrong here...

 

[jelloslug]

Insanity continues, right up 'til the last moment: the shop just filed Supplement #4 (yes, that's the fourth supplement, making five total parts to the estimate) for a whopping additional $25k, bringing the total up to pocket-change-less-than $60k. Is it just me, or is that completely insane for this degree of damage? I was just reading on another thread the other day about someone whose repair cost crept (or leapt?) up during the process from initially well below "totaled" to ultimately well above what-would-otherwise-have-been-considered totaled. If I were an insurer I'd be livid -- unpredictability is their worst enemy. It just seems like something is really, really wrong here...

My opinion is that these body shop know they have a captive audience. My experience with the selling prices for parts from Tesla has been that they are surprisingly low so it's not the parts that are driving pricing. Aluminium bodied cars to take some special techniques but the rates that the certified shops are charging are almost an order of magnitude over what other shops charge.

 

[MP3Mike]

That and the last thing body shops want is the vehicle totaled right of the bat. They make almost no money on that. They at least want to start repairing it.

 

[RogerHScott]

Three months and a handful of days later, it is done:

Gotta say, looks pretty amazing. Performed great driving home -- even got to try out the Christmas-theme Easter egg

I will reserve judgment on the cost and how long it took, but I've gotta give Connan's due credit for the final result.

 

[RogerHScott]

State Farm says about $10.8k. We'll see what the shop says after they've done their tear-down.

What kind of performance review does the estimator get for being off by a factor of more than five?!

the shop estimates about $30k.

And, well, even the shop was off by nearly a full 2x. Insurers must hate this!

 

[pedriscoll]

Three months and a handful of days later, it is done:
View attachment 271026 View attachment 271027

Gotta say, looks pretty amazing. Performed great driving home -- even got to try out the Christmas-theme Easter egg

I will reserve judgment on the cost and how long it took, but I've gotta give Connan's due credit for the final result.

Roger, I am glad you finally got your baby back! Connan’s did an awesome job on my car last fall as well.

 

[davidc18]

Glad the car is back home. Have fun, drive safe.

 

[CUBldr97]

I suppose, but insurance companies have been pushing back on auto manufactures for decades to make cars easier/cheaper to repair and it's pretty clear that process has not happened with Tesla. If repair costs for 3s are anything remotely like the cost for Ss we'll see 3s being totaled left and right, which will drive insurance premiums through the roof, which will make the TCO higher, putting them out of reach of some of those masses they're meant for. Bottom line: Tesla's gotta figure out how to build a car that can take a punch.

I don't think this is a tesla only issue... cars are often far more expensive to fix than to just junk and start with a new car. not a new thing.

 

[RogerHScott]

cars are often far more expensive to fix than to just junk and start with a new car

Yes, but the question is: how hard is it to make this determination in advance, before $10ks have been sunk into it? Are you saying it is commonplace for other makes of cars to actually have well past the break-even point sunk into them?

 

[mongo]

Yes, but the question is: how hard is it to make this determination in advance, before $10ks have been sunk into it? Are you saying it is commonplace for other makes of cars to actually have well past the break-even point sunk into them?

A thought I've had:
Since Tesla has separate BIW lines for X and S, they likely have more capacity on that side of things.
Old Elon quote said the incremental cost of an S was 30k (I think).
So what would be the cost of a complete body? And what is the time needed to swap all the parts?
Car gets crumpled, pull off all the pieces, put them on a new body.

 

[CUBldr97]

Yes, but the question is: how hard is it to make this determination in advance, before $10ks have been sunk into it? Are you saying it is commonplace for other makes of cars to actually have well past the break-even point sunk into them?

No I think it has more to do with TESLA is still a new car, and true cost of repairs is still be figured out... your repair bill seems rather outrageous for right front end damage. $60k for that is amazingly absurd... even $30-35k seemed excessive... I think as time goes on, there will be more TESLA's getting "totaled" if repair bills stay this high. As an insurance company i would be digging into the "labor" billed on this. glad you have your car back, looks perfect!