Significant damage to passenger side under door

[matthewhaworth]

In short, I'm an idiot, and forgot that there were rocks at the side of the drive at this holiday home, and did a sharp left turn right into them.

I'm worried about the high cost of repairing this, I can't speak to anyone until tomorrow, as it's late - has anyone has a similar incident?

Images below.

I'm fairly confident there's been no damage to the underside (i.e. the battery)

 

[Baytomax]

It looks like the majority of the damage is on the rocker panel. I don't imagine that part being too expensive.

I've swapped out the rocker panels on my ICE vehicle before for an aftermarket kit, the process is fairly easy and I was able to do it myself. The cost for a new rocker panel for my ICE vehicle was around $100 unpainted.

I hope you're both okay and make sure to shop around for multiple quotes. It shouldn't be difficult to swap in a new rocker panel.

 

[daveinfla]

YouTuber Ben Sullins curbed his rocker pretty bad a couple of years ago. He has a video posted about the repair. Hope your battery is OK.

 

[matthewhaworth]

Thanks both.

Looks like Ben Sullins paid a fair amount! I'll have to see what they say when I take it in tomorrow. Will update on this post so people searching similar in the future can find out.

 

[KenC]

I paid $1300 to repair similar damage, but not to the plastic rocker panel. An alternative is to buy a rocker panel cover for about $1000.

 

[matthewhaworth]

I have a Tesla approved bodyshop asking for approximately £7000 to fix it - this does feel quite high. Does that sound right?

 

[Baytomax]

I have a Tesla approved bodyshop asking for approximately £7000 to fix it - this does feel quite high. Does that sound right?

That sounds absolutely ridiculous. Are they doing frame work?

Have them send you a detailed invoice and see where they're charging you.

 

[matthewhaworth]

This is the breakdown:

Details :-
To Strip Vehicle And Renew
L/Upp Inn Hinge Pillar (Comp Work)
L/A-Pillar
Left Door Sill Panel
Partial Left Centre Sill Panel
Left B-Pillar
Carry Out Scan "Toolbox"
Bleed Radiator System
Remove And Refit/Renew (Check New Parts List)
Front Bumper
Lower Engine Protection
Left Front Wing
Windscreen
Glass Sunroof
Headlining
L/F Door Trim
L/F Inner Channel Seal
L/F Outer Window Channel Moulding
Left Front Door Window
Left Mirror
L/F Door Foil

Left Front Outer Door Handle
Left Front Door Speaker
L/Door Sill Protector
Mount L/LWR Hinge Pillar Parts
L/Lower B-Pillar Trim
Left Upper B-Pillar Trim
L/R Sill Trim
R/Door Sill Protector
R/Lower A-Pillar Trim
R/Lower B-Pillar Trim
Right Upper B-Pillar Tri
R/R Sill Trim
Rear Screen
L/Upp A-Pillar L/B-Pillar Detach + Refit
L/Upp A-Pillar L/Sill Detach + Refit
Rear Engine Guard
Instrument Panel Attached Parts
Instrument Panel
R/F Seat
Left Rear Outer Seat Armrest
Right Rear Outer Seat Armrest
Rear Seat Cushion
Floor Bracket Detach + Refit
High-Voltage Battery
Left Front Wheel Full Bodyside LH 1073673-S0-B
Rivet, 4.8 MM X20 Rivet 4.8Mmshort X10
Flowformrivets08 X10 Renew Flowformrivets18 X20
Bolt X2 Renew Rivnut,M6X1,4.0MM X1 Renew
Plug Round 25MM 1077461-00-A.
Seam Sealer Renew
Check Decommision Vehicle
Check And Quality Control
Check And Road Test
Check Water Test
Repair
Left Front Door
Prepare And Paint
Preparation For Pre-Painting
Left B-Pillar New Part Painting
Left A-Pillar New Part Painting
Left Front Door Repair Painting <50%
Rebuild Vehicle Fitting New Parts Listed

Labour Value £4043.00
Paint and Materials £375.61
Specialist/Other Charges £232.65

Pre Diag Check Specialist 75.00

Estimate 37005, Page 2

Post Diag Check Specialist 75.00
E.P.A. Charge Specialist 15.00
Cutting Discs Specialist 49.65
Sound Pad Specialist 8.00
Covid19 Clean Specialist 10.00

New Parts :- £1138.17

Windscreen Bond Kit 11.67
Windscreen Primer 9.17
L/F Upper Door Hinge 41.67
L/F Lower Door Hinge 41.67
Left B-Pillar 0.00
Left A-Pillar 0.00
L/Sill Protection 191.67
Full Bodyside LH 725.00
Rivet, 4.8 MM X20 20.00
Rivet 4.8Mmshort X10 10.00
Flowformrivets08 X10 10.00
Flowformrivets18 X20 20.00
Bolt X2 10.00
Rivnut,M6X1,4.0MM X1 5.00
Plug Round 25MM 10.00
Seam Sealer 10.00
Sundries 22.32
End of New Parts

_______
Sub-Total £5789.43
VAT £1157.86
_______
Estimate Total £6947.29

 

[matthewhaworth]

I'm also told this:

TESLA have a Estimating Format and approved system which to be used when compiling the estimate, Audatex Estimating System uses ONLY Manufacturer repair times and methods which include ONLY Original Parts, Paint and Materials , this is important to TESLA customers to ensure their Vehicle remains under the Manufacturer warranty, your TESLA M3 should NOT be repaired by an unauthorised repair centre or Bodyshop , they will not have access to genuine TESLA Parts or tooling including repair methods, this will invalidate your vehicles warranty .

 

[Baytomax]

This is the breakdown:

Yikes that is an extensive breakdown. 70% of the entire invoice is labor alone.

If this was my car, I would just purchase an aftermarket rocker panel, swap it out on a weekend, and save myself $6,000+

I would 1000% percent shop around.

 

[zhu-]

I have a Tesla approved bodyshop asking for approximately £7000 to fix it - this does feel quite high. Does that sound right?

That sounds about right for the typical shop trying to milk your insurance company. If you're paying out of pocket shop around and it'll be much cheaper - if not, getting it done right by an authorized shop is probably better.

I'm also told this:

If you get an unauthorized door replacement, for example, they might not do any warranty repair on that door again but I don't think it would void warranty for the battery or any other unrelated part.

 

[Gasaraki]

Yikes that is an extensive breakdown. 70% of the entire invoice is labor alone.

If this was my car, I would just purchase an aftermarket rocker panel, swap it out on a weekend, and save myself $6,000+

I would 1000% percent shop around.

That's not for a rocker panel, that's for a whole body and interior work. It's lists A-pillar and B-pillar work, bleeding cooling system and armrests, etc, etc. That's work on the whole car.

It's obvious that £6947.29 is not just rocker panel.

 

[Frank99]

Uh, yeah. That’s certainly the “premium” job. I think a second or third opinion might be in order.

 

[matthewhaworth]

Yeah, I'm going to get a second quote at the weekend from another "Tesla approved" bodyshop. I do want to get it done 'properly' to be honest, it's too new to not to, and I will claim on the insurance if I have to, but in all honesty, I was hoping to just suck up the cost. Not sure if it's worth making it clear to this second company that I intend to pay myself, so they don't assume it's a blank insurance cheque. The first bodyshop did point out though that there is a risk they could discover more damage when actually working on the car and that could get quite hefty, I noted that happened to Ben Sullins.

 

[matthewhaworth]

So I've just got another quote from another approved bodyshop. They haven't seen the car in the person but the guy on the phone is adament they can fix the sill - cost is 1800, so much much cheaper, unsurprisingly. Not sure which way to go with it.

 

[Sam1]

Luckily Tesla got smart and changed the design of the rockers on the new cars so they can be replaced. Unfortunately, all of us have the old design which costs ridiculous amounts to repair them.

 

[KenR]

I did the same thing, same general area. No damage to doors... not as deep as yours. But longer scratch/dent...but it was $14,000 that was not a typo either...

 

[Candleflame]

It looks like the majority of the damage is on the rocker panel. I don't imagine that part being too expensive.

I've swapped out the rocker panels on my ICE vehicle before for an aftermarket kit, the process is fairly easy and I was able to do it myself. The cost for a new rocker panel for my ICE vehicle was around $100 unpainted.

I hope you're both okay and make sure to shop around for multiple quotes. It shouldn't be difficult to swap in a new rocker panel.

the rocker panel is part of the rear quarter panel so essentially unreplaceable.

I have a Tesla approved bodyshop asking for approximately £7000 to fix it - this does feel quite high. Does that sound right?

yes, for the above reason. its imho a designflaw of the car.

 

[Candleflame]

Luckily Tesla got smart and changed the design of the rockers on the new cars so they can be replaced. Unfortunately, all of us have the old design which costs ridiculous amounts to repair them.

interesting. what are they like now and since when?

 

[Stanwood Steve]

I have a Tesla approved bodyshop asking for approximately £7000 to fix it - this does feel quite high. Does that sound right?

I had similar damage to mine and the estimates for a Tesla approved body shop were much higher than for the Tesla Body Shop. It was explained to me that the Tesla shop can "pull" dents, whereas the Tesla approved shops have to replace dented panels. Has to do with knowledge of what's behind the panels, they said. My estimate from a Tesla "Approved" shop were over $13k, and about $2,250 from the Tesla shop. I used the Tesla Body Shop and work was beautiful. It's like it never happened.