Use Tesla owned or Tesla approved body shop

[kl118]

I got rear ended in a minor fender bender in my pearl white M3 the other day, and I'm looking into finding the best place to get it fixed. The thing I'm most worried about is the matching of the pearl white paint on the repaired rear bumper. I have an option to go to a Tesla owned body shop in San Jose, which is about an hour from home or to go to a Tesla approved body shop with excellent Yelp reviews just down the street from my house. Do you think there is an advantage of going to one versus the other? Would the Tesla owned shop be more capable of matching the paint than the approved body shop? The Tesla owned shop told me that the pearl white is the only M3 that has some variance in the coloring. What are your thoughts?

Also, does anyone have experience getting their pearl white repairs to match at either a Tesla approved or owned body shop?

 

[Pkmmte]

I've been in a similar situation twice now. I opted to make an appointment at a Tesla owned body shop even though it's more than an hour away from where I live. They supposed get parts quicker and their service there has been excellent thus far.

I don't have any experience with other body shops with my Tesla, but my overall experience has been atrocious with my previous vehicles by comparison.

 

[Dana1]

I got rear ended in a minor fender bender in my pearl white M3 the other day, and I'm looking into finding the best place to get it fixed. The thing I'm most worried about is the matching of the pearl white paint on the repaired rear bumper. I have an option to go to a Tesla owned body shop in San Jose, which is about an hour from home or to go to a Tesla approved body shop with excellent Yelp reviews just down the street from my house. Do you think there is an advantage of going to one versus the other? Would the Tesla owned shop be more capable of matching the paint than the approved body shop? The Tesla owned shop told me that the pearl white is the only M3 that has some variance in the coloring. What are your thoughts?

Also, does anyone have experience getting their pearl white repairs to match at either a Tesla approved or owned body shop?

Ask your local club members for recommendations. Doesn’t need to be Tesla approved shop, just a good body shop.

 

[OCR1]

I would be concerned that a third party shop might not get Tesla parts as quickly, depending on whether they have the right contacts at Tesla to make things happen. If you are thinking about using them I would ask them what their turnaround time on other Teslas has been and how well connected they are with Tesla personnel if they need assistance or find that parts are not shipping in a timely fashion.

 

[Subhuman]

I have mine going in next month to a Tesla owned shop about an hour and half from my house.

They have been great to deal with and have had no issues with insurance. My main reason I went with company owned shop was because of part availability and familiarity with the car. I guarantee no body shop in my area has ever worked on a Tesla.

When chatting with the manager he said red and pearl white are the most challenging to match. Usually requires a lot more blending than other colors. He said that they only work with the 9 Tesla colors so they really are able to hone there skills with them.

 

[afadeev]

Ask your local club members for recommendations. Doesn’t need to be Tesla approved shop, just a good body shop.

Good advise for any car, other than a Tesla.
Tesla only sells its parts to Tesla-approved body shops. And even then they arrive with significant delays.

For Tesla repairs, your choices are: Tesla body shop, or Tesla-approved body shop. Then wait.
It is what it is.

a

 

[kl118]

Thanks for your input. I ended up deciding to go with Tesla's body shop. The main concern, other than parts availability, was the ability to match the pearl white paint. The 3rd party Tesla approved shop, which has worked on many Tesla cars, was going to repair the bumper and paint over the repaired area. I was not sure how well their paint would match the factory paint, especially since this color is one of the hardest ones to match. Tesla's shop is going to replace with a pre-painted bumper. Tesla apparently has 3-4 different formulas for their pearl white, so I had to take it in so they could determine which variation mine had and have the bumper painted with the correct one. You could really see the difference in their variations as one of the paint swatches was more yellow than mine.

 

[Dana1]

Good advise for any car, other than a Tesla.
Tesla only sells its parts to Tesla-approved body shops. And even then they arrive with significant delays.

For Tesla repairs, your choices are: Tesla body shop, or Tesla-approved body shop. Then wait.
It is what it is.

a

Nope. A co worker hit my bumper, taking base material out of it so it had to be replaced and painted. Took it to a body shop Tesla has never heard of but local club members have had great service with. Perfection. It took a total of 8 days. Nice guys, fair price. Body work is body work. Anything dealing with electronics, battery, etc., absolutely Tesla. Body stuff take it to a reputable shop.

 

[DC Autocraft]

Matching paint is pretty easy; a decent shop can take care of that without issue. However, we recommend being more selective when it comes to structural repairs. We're biased, of course

 

[Spalding]

I had a minor rear-end collision fixed in December using Tesla-approved body shop. By reputation, it is a good body shop regardless of the Tesla affiliation, and they did a perfectly good job with the fix - although it took two weeks longer than promised, supposedly because they couldn't get the bumper in time over Christmas. Perhaps that supply-chain problem is fixed by now. Paint match was perfect. A Tesla-approved shop will probably be more familiar with, and have an ample supply of, Tesla paint, so that mitigates in favor of using an approved shop.

BIgger issue was that it was the only body shop I could find that would touch a Tesla. Even though swapping out a bumper skin is about as easy as it gets, the other shops I spoke with were nervous about working on Teslas and wouldn't do it.

 

[Hypeman123]

I got rear ended in a minor fender bender in my pearl white M3 the other day, and I'm looking into finding the best place to get it fixed. The thing I'm most worried about is the matching of the pearl white paint on the repaired rear bumper. I have an option to go to a Tesla owned body shop in San Jose, which is about an hour from home or to go to a Tesla approved body shop with excellent Yelp reviews just down the street from my house. Do you think there is an advantage of going to one versus the other? Would the Tesla owned shop be more capable of matching the paint than the approved body shop? The Tesla owned shop told me that the pearl white is the only M3 that has some variance in the coloring. What are your thoughts?

Also, does anyone have experience getting their pearl white repairs to match at either a Tesla approved or owned body shop?

I was also rear-ended 2 weeks ago in San Jose. I ended up taking my Multicoat Red M3 to A Superior Collision Shop in Campbell as it is an approved Tesla body shop and was also on the other party's insurance company's (Statefarm) list of approved body shops.

I considered going to go to the Tesla Body Repair Center but they informed me that I would have to get a damage estimate from another body shop and send that along with pictures of the damage before they would even schedule me for an appointment. So it made no sense to me to go through all the back and forth when I can get it all handled by the approved Tesla body shop.

 

[kl118]

I was also rear-ended 2 weeks ago in San Jose. I ended up taking my Multicoat Red M3 to A Superior Collision Shop in Campbell as it is an approved Tesla body shop and was also on the other party's insurance company's (Statefarm) list of approved body shops.

I considered going to go to the Tesla Body Repair Center but they informed me that I would have to get a damage estimate from another body shop and send that along with pictures of the damage before they would even schedule me for an appointment. So it made no sense to me to go through all the back and forth when I can get it all handled by the approved Tesla body shop.

They made that request for me as well. I went ahead and went to my local approved shop, and they said they would repair instead of replace the bumper. I gave the Tesla Body Repair Center the quote, and they asked me to come in the next day to do a paint match (since they have 3 different white formulations). After the paint match, I made an appointment with them to come in June 6 so they can swap out the damaged bumper with a factory painted one. They could have had me in this week, but I did not have time, but I was actually surprised at how quickly they are able to get the new part in.

 

[SMAlset]

My Pearl White Model 3 had a few due bill paint issues at delivery (very minor dust spots) to take care of and all I can say is that I couldn't tell where the work was done. There was a realignment at the bumper/fender/hood area at the headlight and I have no idea how cleanly the realignment was but that area looked fine afterwards as well. The work was done at the Tesla Body Shop that had opened up last October. My husband's MS with Midnight Metallic Silver was at the Tesla Body Shop on Mabury in SJ after a commercial vehicle scratched the back end of his car along with the bumper. Needed paint work and the bumper was replaced too. Again happy with the work. His car was in the shop for just under a week and that was at the end of January.

No experience with Tesla approved body shops although I have read on TMC of people having a long wait for an appointment. My husband's car was damaged mid-November and January was their first appointment. Have no idea how long the wait is now but an important question for sure.

What Hyperman123 said about Tesla Body shop needing a quote and photos first before scheduling an appointment was true in my husband's case as well although the insurance company for the other party sent an appraiser out to our house to inspect and they forwarded their quote along with photos of the damage to the Tesla Body Shop. Actually it was a quick estimate process and pretty painless. Originally they were going to repair the bumper but the gouges in it were bad enough the decision was made to replace it so part of our week wait was to get the part over there. They also discovered they needed to address the sensor near there that had been scraped and all claim adjustments were made without really involving us at all. The company truck involved was insured by Allstate.

 

[afadeev]

Nope. A co worker hit my bumper, taking base material out of it so it had to be replaced and painted. Took it to a body shop Tesla has never heard of but local club members have had great service with. Perfection. It took a total of 8 days. Nice guys, fair price. Body work is body work. Anything dealing with electronics, battery, etc., absolutely Tesla. Body stuff take it to a reputable shop.

If you are just re-painting and bondo-ing an existing panel or bumper cover - you can do that anywhere, including DIY.
However, if you need to replace any Tesla of the Tesla body panels or structural elements - you will have a hard time procuring them outside of the Tesla approved body shop network.

YMMV,
a

 

[Dana1]

If you are just re-painting and bondo-ing an existing panel or bumper cover - you can do that anywhere, including DIY.
However, if you need to replace any Tesla of the Tesla body panels or structural elements - you will have a hard time procuring them outside of the Tesla approved body shop network.

YMMV,
a

*sigh* New bumper, perfectly matched paint, This is what quality body shops do Day in and day out. They can order a bumper as easily as the Tesla approved shops.

 

[hcdavis3]

*sigh* New bumper, perfectly matched paint, This is what quality body shops do Day in and day out. They can order a bumper as easily as the Tesla approved shops.

Hi Dana, I backed into a car, a Big Ford, yesterday and dinged my rear bumper. I’m curious, does Tesla ship pre painted bumpers these days?
No damage to the Big Ford.
Thanks in advance.

 

[kl118]

Hi Dana, I backed into a car, a Big Ford, yesterday and dinged my rear bumper. I’m curious, does Tesla ship pre painted bumpers these days?
No damage to the Big Ford.
Thanks in advance.

I took my M3 to a Tesla owned body shop in San Jose, CA. They ended up replacing it with a pre-painted bumper. Whether or not the same is done at other body shops is another question.

 

[hcdavis3]

I took my M3 to a Tesla owned body shop in San Jose, CA. They ended up replacing it with a pre-painted bumper. Whether or not the same is done at other body shops is another question.

I’m hoping for a painted bumper too. I should know by the end of the week.