Significant damage to passenger side under door

[Frank99]

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.

No high-quality body shop in the world would quote repairing that damage without seeing the car. Your quote from the first shop has a lot of line items about the door, including (apparently) replacing the door hinges, which would indicate that there was a lot of force applied to the door and resulting damage, that isn't obvious even from the pictures.

I'm guessing that for 1800, you'll get a repair that's 90% as good as the full repair. Things like the door will get repaired and possibly repainted in-place; It'll look fine but the panel gaps around it may not be as good as they were before. I'm not sure how they'll repair the rocker panel but it probably won't be using a Tesla-approved method. It'll probably look good, and won't be noticeable as a repair at a glance.

I actually like body shops like that; I had one do a repair on my 2012 Mazda MX-5 Miata. I didn't need a perfect repair on a 10 year old car, but I did need one that looked good - and they did an amazing 95% job that was vastly cheaper than the 100% job.

 

[Sam1]

interesting. what are they like now and since when?

The entire rocker will be replaceable, I believe the new design is a bolt in solution but can't remember the schematic exactly. On our cars it's a structural part, Tesla figured out it did not need to be and changed the design.

 

[Candleflame]

The entire rocker will be replaceable, I believe the new design is a bolt in solution but can't remember the schematic exactly. On our cars it's a structural part, Tesla figured out it did not need to be and changed the design.

its a stupid design and even more stupid that no engineer objected to this. That said, I have seen this design on ?Mazdas too.

 

[matthewhaworth]

No high-quality body shop in the world would quote repairing that damage without seeing the car. Your quote from the first shop has a lot of line items about the door, including (apparently) replacing the door hinges, which would indicate that there was a lot of force applied to the door and resulting damage, that isn't obvious even from the pictures.

I'm guessing that for 1800, you'll get a repair that's 90% as good as the full repair. Things like the door will get repaired and possibly repainted in-place; It'll look fine but the panel gaps around it may not be as good as they were before. I'm not sure how they'll repair the rocker panel but it probably won't be using a Tesla-approved method. It'll probably look good, and won't be noticeable as a repair at a glance.

I actually like body shops like that; I had one do a repair on my 2012 Mazda MX-5 Miata. I didn't need a perfect repair on a 10 year old car, but I did need one that looked good - and they did an amazing 95% job that was vastly cheaper than the 100% job.

To be fair to them, it's actually a 'quote estimate', not a quote. Maybe it will all change when they see it. There is definitely not damage to the door, the estimator even said that himself, so I am a little confused as to why the first quote (£7000) includes all that, including refitting the sunroof, but they did say there's a 'tesla approved process', whatever that means.

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.

So with this "£1800" quote, the Tesla approved body shop said they were particularly good at 'pulling' dents, whereas other shops aren't as keen. He said he's done it loads for Teslas, of course I only have his word for that, but this body shop was recommended and used by Youtuber Jack Massey Welsh, so I'm somewhat inclined to trust them from that recommendation.

 

[matthewhaworth]

So, I've had the £1,800 quote validated in person and they're going ahead with the work. I did get another quote for a similar cost, around £1,700 from another Tesla approved bodyshop, but I'm going with the higher one because I know someone's who's had work done there before and I trust them.

Will let you know how it comes out.

 

[matthewhaworth]

An update! The work is complete, see the images attached.

I'm very happy with it, you cannot tell it's happened at all really. If you go very very close, you can feel a bit of a rough surface, but I'd have never have spotted it if I didn't know. So glad I went for the cheaper quote. For what it's worth, this was Alton Cars in Leeds and they charged around 1800 pounds.

 

[rrolsbe]

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.

My wife smacked the passenger side rocker panel on our 2018 Model 3 today. Did they say what was behind the rocker panel. I think there is low voltage wiring and battery coolant lines back there, hope not.

 

[Stanwood Steve]

My wife smacked the passenger side rocker panel on our 2018 Model 3 today. Did they say what was behind the rocker panel. I think there is low voltage wiring and battery coolant lines back there, hope not.

Nol, the Tesla Body Shop did not state what was behind the panel but they gave me the impression that it was easy to "pull" dents out of it, so I got the impression that the risk was low.

 

[ODWms]

Man, congrats on having that repair taken care of without the raking the first shop we’re trying to give you. Car looks great. Like it never happened!