Backed up into a truck and damaged bumper and rear quarter panel. Wondering if anyone can provide a guesstimate on how bad the damage here is and the body work/cost that could be required. Am mostly concerned about the quarter panel- I imagine bumper will be a pre-painted replacement or just a repaint. Thanks!
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Rear Quarter Panel Damage Assessment
- Thread starter edwardsalexk
- Start date
Looks superficial. Multiple threads on and off here showing far worse rear quarter panel and rear structural damage, deep into the trunk tub and beyond.
I would say get Tesla to replace the bumper skin with an OE pre-painted part and have a good body shop (but in this particular case NOT a Tesla certified body shop) address the quarter panel with some targeted metal work and blend respray. Might even venture PDR route once the bumper skin is off and access made easy by removal of the trunk liner and sub (if present).
If you have Tesla or a certified Tesla body shop fix it, they will go by the book and cut and replace the entire quarter panel, including new c pillar window, and portion of the rocker panel. Not worth it in this case.
Looks like about $1-2K in parts/labor if done smart.
I would say get Tesla to replace the bumper skin with an OE pre-painted part and have a good body shop (but in this particular case NOT a Tesla certified body shop) address the quarter panel with some targeted metal work and blend respray. Might even venture PDR route once the bumper skin is off and access made easy by removal of the trunk liner and sub (if present).
If you have Tesla or a certified Tesla body shop fix it, they will go by the book and cut and replace the entire quarter panel, including new c pillar window, and portion of the rocker panel. Not worth it in this case.
Looks like about $1-2K in parts/labor if done smart.
Thanks. I've been told by two body shops now that PDR will not be possible, as the panel itself has been "bent". The picture I posted may not have highlighted that well enough, although it is possible both these shops could be trying to take my insurance for a ride. Would PDR be able to fix a "bent in" panel? (Not just the dent that is mostly visible)
A body shop will be able to pull the dent out. Not paintless, they weld things onto them and use a machine to pull it out. The whole quarter panel will need to be painted. If you go to a tesla body shop they will replace the quarter panel instead which means taking apart a large portion of your car and significantly higher costs.
Indeed.. thankfully the shops intend to "repair" instead of "replace". Should be keeping costs to my insurance around the $4-$6k range.
Hi everyone,
Just got rear-ended on the highway earlier today when avoiding a Prius that lost control in front of me, and was wondering what your best guess would be on repair costs for the damage seen in the photo below for my Tesla. I will let you all know what the cost turns out to be once it gets assessed. Thank you.
Just got rear-ended on the highway earlier today when avoiding a Prius that lost control in front of me, and was wondering what your best guess would be on repair costs for the damage seen in the photo below for my Tesla. I will let you all know what the cost turns out to be once it gets assessed. Thank you.
Attachments
Sorry to read and see. Hopefully everyone in your car and the Prius was ok.
If going through Tesla or a certified body shop - this looks like about $10-15K in repair costs (mostly labor of disassembly, reassembly, cutting, welding etc, some in parts, repaint).
The side that the charge port is on is a bigger PITA for the shops to deal with, as there is much more that can get damaged under the skin (from the high voltage cabling, to a few dial-home related devices etc).
So long as they dont discover any structural and/or aluminium panel damage once they remove the skin, this is an all-too-common Model 3/Y/X/S repair.
I got hit in the parking lot last month. It was a small dent just under the charging port (left rear quarter panel). It is currently being repaired by a tesla authorized dealership. To my surprise, that little dent costs $16k to repair. My insurance should be paying for it -- awaiting authorization and payment from them.
Well I just backed into a tree and crumpled the driver side rear panel and lights. Entire panel is riveted and glued and all had to be undone to rivet and glue new panel. Entire rear end had to be taken apart to do this and then put back together. I looked while they were doing it and it’s true. Final cost $18,000. Ridiculous design and cost and this will need to be changed at some point by Tesla.
Playing devils advocate... Why would tesla want to change it though?
If it made it cheaper to build/manufacture or improve the quality of the car and a by product was cheaper repair, I am assume they would. But, if it doesnt bring cost down of the initial product I cannot imagine them caring.
