Time for repairs have made Tesla a laughing stock in my family

[DFibRL8R]

In the Tesla world, we have this thing called model-weeks instead of model-years. It shows.

It doesn't help that Model S has been out for 5 years, when those 5 years have been splintered into dozens and dozens of incompatible variations.

This is an interesting theory regarding the delay in parts but do the body panels/parts that typically get damaged in a Model S collision really change that frequently? I would think your basic front and rear bumper covers, door panels etc would be pretty consistent other than the obvious changes (refreshed nose cone, parking sensors, autopilot sensors etc). That said, I see up thread Zextraterrestrial mentioning 380 parts for a collision with a planter!

 

[seclinton]

as a former 3 days shy of 4 months repair sufferer, I am so happy this is resolved. Verical integration is difficult as it is, and the logistics of spare parts is nightmarish when kept internal

 

[weradln]

Just picked up my Model S from Stuttgart Auto Body in Englewood (Denver area). They replaced both the rear bumper and driver's side rear quarter panel, straightened the bottom of the hatchback back to it's original shape, plus replaced a few support members. Took 7 1/2 weeks. Given the complexity of cutting out the original quarter panel and attaching a new panel, plus all the time for the multilayer paint, I can't conceive of it taking less than a month. So 7 1/2 weeks doesn't seem too bad. Am a happy Tesla owner!

 

[neroden]

Being distressed or anxious about Tesla after reading these kinds of posts is rational. The most recent failure was communication. Communication is a low-cost, high-benefit action from any business.

Communication has been Tesla's consistent weak point since before Model S was released. At this point, I see no signs that that will ever change. Make your investment and purchase decisions accordingly.

 

[scole04]

Awesome that you got yours back. Still waiting on mine. For context, side swiped on fathers day. Turned in car for repairs 2nd week of August. Almost there with repairs but still waiting.....

 

[weradln]

Awesome that you got yours back. Still waiting on mine. For context, side swiped on fathers day. Turned in car for repairs 2nd week of August. Almost there with repairs but still waiting.....

Four months! Sounds like Tesla needs to certify more auto body shops in your area. Nothing like competition to improve the customer experience!

 

[RogerHScott]

Four months! Sounds like Tesla needs to certify more auto body shops in your area. Nothing like competition to improve the customer experience!

It is quite an investment in training and specialized equipment for a shop to become Tesla-certified, so there have to be enough Teslas in the vicinity to provide a return on that investment. My car is going to wind up being in the shop very close to three months (fingers crossed!) and as far as I can relatively little of that duration is due to things the shop could do faster, unless they were able to have multiple people work on the car at once. If you want to speed up Tesla repairs I think you need to start with Tesla design engineers and the immense difficulty (not to mention staggering expense) of repairing them.

 

[RogerHScott]

Having you been continuing to pay full insurance premiums on your Tesla all this time? It just occurred to me this morning that there's no reason to be doing so and I contacted my agent. They can't waive all insurance costs entirely, but they're going to refund a large portion of the premiums back to the accident date. I doubt it ever occurred to them that it could take so long to repair someone's insured car that it wouldn't make sense to keep paying for the insurance during those repairs.