The expectation of a new car after 5,000 miles seems to be a bit egregious. Assuming that the Tesla service tech didn't go all Ferris Bueller on the car and purposely wreck it, you'd be limited to recovering the costs of restoring the car back to the way that it was before the accident happened. There are mounds of case law precedent which would prevent the car from being replaced, short of a severe structural integrity breach which would be on the owner to prove. If the technician simply scraped the side against a barrier, or even slightly damaged a body panel, he isn't getting a new car and no court case will give it to him, either. The owner will have a hard time proving depreciated value of a Tesla Model S as a result of the accident, and the degree to which he would be entitled to this is likely going to be inversely proportional to the degree by which Tesla demonstrates interest in making it right (aside from a new car).
My car had an "oopsie" at the Chicago service center in January, when a service tech scuffed up my front bumper rather significantly. Their body shop repaired most of the damage and repainted the bumper; however, there was a paint chip on the corner of the frunk that looked like it had been repaired with fingernail polish. When I pointed this out after they delivered the car back to me, Tesla had me take it to my own body shop; it was repaired to my satisfaction and Tesla paid the bill.
Will CarFax show this? It depends. Just taking your car to a body shop doesn't trigger a CarFax record. Police accident reports do; vehicle structural damage reports do; insurance claims (hail damage, etc.) do (in most states -- your mileage may vary).
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It depends upon the degree of damage. Minor bodywork can be completed by body shops who have training and expertise in aluminum car bodies. Major work (primarily structural) must be handled by the specialty shops you mention. (Just for reference, I wouldn't use the word "authorized" but rather "certified" - as any time a Tesla service center takes a Model S to a body shop, Tesla is deeming them an authorized shop to do the work.)
My car had an "oopsie" at the Chicago service center in January, when a service tech scuffed up my front bumper rather significantly. Their body shop repaired most of the damage and repainted the bumper; however, there was a paint chip on the corner of the frunk that looked like it had been repaired with fingernail polish. When I pointed this out after they delivered the car back to me, Tesla had me take it to my own body shop; it was repaired to my satisfaction and Tesla paid the bill.
Will CarFax show this? It depends. Just taking your car to a body shop doesn't trigger a CarFax record. Police accident reports do; vehicle structural damage reports do; insurance claims (hail damage, etc.) do (in most states -- your mileage may vary).
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It depends upon the degree of damage. Minor bodywork can be completed by body shops who have training and expertise in aluminum car bodies. Major work (primarily structural) must be handled by the specialty shops you mention. (Just for reference, I wouldn't use the word "authorized" but rather "certified" - as any time a Tesla service center takes a Model S to a body shop, Tesla is deeming them an authorized shop to do the work.)
