My Tesla Got Hit — Fix It At A Tesla Certified Repair Or “Regular” Body Shop?

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How is my expertise getting an estimate for a minor restore at each a Tesla Licensed and a “regular” physique store?

I’ve written about Tesla collision repairs earlier than here and hereabout 5 years in the past. This summer season, I bought the possibility to do the same restore once more! My earlier restore was to the rear a part of my 2018 Tesla Mannequin 3, and the brand new restore was to the rear a part of my 2022 Tesla Mannequin Y. Final time, my spouse bought confused backing out of the storage and hit the storage door whereas it was closing. This time, the climate was wet and a automobile slid into my automobile with appreciable drive. I used to be shocked that the injury was so small. My conclusion 5 years in the past was:

“In my articles on Tesla, I’ve persistently targeted on how reasonably priced the vehicles are and the way they price much less to personal than different premium sedans, and might even be as reasonably priced on a Total Cost of Ownership foundation as common vehicles like a Toyota Camry or Honda Accord. I’d say this restore expertise places that assertion in query. If the insurance coverage corporations see that it prices twice as a lot to restore a Mannequin 3 as a Honda, gained’t Tesla insurance coverage charges be double? Possibly, possibly not. Insurance coverage covers much more than simply fixing your automobile. It additionally covers medical payments and the injury your automobile does to others. Possibly the enormously enhanced security of the Mannequin 3 will decrease bodily damage claims sufficient to counter the upper restore prices. Possibly the superior energetic security methods will continue to reduce the number of accidents.

“I do suppose that, as hundreds of thousands of Tesla automobiles are offered over the subsequent decade, extra physique restore outlets will be taught to repair the vehicles and competitors will decrease the prices of repairing the automobiles.

“So, for right now, Tesla insurance rates are very compatible to Honda and Toyota rates in my situation and I hope they continue to improve, but somewhat higher repair costs have the potential to be a problem if these costs don’t continue to go down.”

The remainder of this text will clarify my expertise — how issues have modified and the way I select to take care of it.

Hit By An Underinsured Motorist

With out moving into all the main points, I used to be hit by a motorist who did important injury to a number of vehicles and didn’t have sufficient insurance coverage to cowl the injury. I may have simply gone to my insurance coverage firm and had them repair my automobile, however I made a decision to work with the insurance coverage firm of the individual that brought on the injury to keep away from a declare on my coverage. It’s unclear to me if that’s essential to preserve my charges low, however that’s what I did. This inspired me to get my restore performed at a cheaper price, since I knew the payout could be comparatively low. I may even have sued the individual that hit me and recovered damages that approach, however I didn’t actually wish to try this. Fortunately, the automobile labored fantastic, together with the operation of the rear hatch, so I had loads of time to do the restore after I wished to. So I bought two estimates for the restore, one from a extremely rated Tesla Licensed Restore Store and one from a extremely rated physique restore store.

So, what did I be taught from this estimate? That although the liftgate labored fantastic, they insisted on changing it, and the physique and paint labor was $95 an hour, the identical because it was 5 years in the past. You may name the labor fee a win for customers, since every thing else has gone up in value, or you possibly can say it’s nonetheless larger than the speed we might anticipate for a Honda or Chevy restore, particularly now that Tesla automobiles are MUCH extra reasonably priced than they have been 5 years in the past. I feel the $5,140.50 whole may be very excessive for such minor injury on a automobile in all probability value $20,000. It’s about half labor and half components and paint.

So, from this estimate, I discovered that if the physique store was simply treating the automobile like a “regular” automobile, they’d simply restore the injury. They proposed spending half as many hours of physique labor (6.2 vs. 12.5) as a result of they’d simply restore the dent verses substitute the liftgate. The paint labor was additionally lower than half (4.3 vs. 11.1), since they proposed portray rather a lot much less of the automobile. The price of the paint is a few third, at $154.80 vs. $444, since rather a lot much less of the automobile is to be painted. One other massive distinction is the labor fee is $54 an hour vs. $95 an hour. The entire price of the proposed restore is $827.54 vs. $5,140.50, a distinction of over 6 instances!

What Ought to I Do?

In deciding what to do, I believed concerning the 15 or so different accident repairs my household has been concerned in during the last 40 years and the way issues turned out. A few of these repairs have been performed at high quality outlets for $5,000 or so, and a few have been performed at extra reasonably priced physique outlets for about $750. There has after all been important inflation within the final 40 years, so I’m doubling or tripling the costs of the older repairs. In fact, these older vehicles didn’t have the superior sensors and cameras that exist on a Tesla. Which means if any of these are affected, you’re going to have to get them repaired by somebody who is aware of what they’re doing should you care about Autopilot and FSD working (which I do). Fortunately, the overwhelming majority of accidents my household has been concerned in are these beauty solely ones (knock on wooden). What I discovered from that have is that should you get a high quality restore performed, it can final for a very long time. Possibly 10 years or extra. I’ve discovered the instances I used a decrease priced physique store, it appeared good for about 3 to five years after which it began to fade or peel or another minor drawback popped up.

1. This extremely rated “non certified” store is healthier high quality than a few of the cheaper locations I’ve used for older vehicles, however I’m assuming the paint would possibly peel or discolor in 5 years. So, the related query is, if this occurs on my 9 yr outdated Tesla (the automobile is 4 years outdated now), how a lot will my household care and the way a lot will it have an effect on the resale worth. I can say that after a automobile is 9 years outdated and it isn’t some particular restricted version (like an Indy Tempo Automobile), most individuals don’t care that a lot. The Tesla Mannequin Y as the most effective promoting automobile on the earth is as far-off as attainable from being a restricted version. It’s simply the fashionable day Toyota Camry. Will it have an effect on the resale worth? Definitely, a supplier would in all probability knock $2,000 off the worth of the automobile, whereas I feel a personal social gathering would in all probability knock $1,000 off the worth of the automobile. Now, even when the automobile is mounted on the Tesla Licensed Store, you’re going to get some discount in worth simply because CARFAX will present an accident.
2. One other think about my choice is the affect on the setting. It looks as if it’s wasteful to spend extra time and supplies to switch the liftgate, which is working completely fantastic. The outdated liftgate in all probability wouldn’t be reused, since it’s broken. The additional portray has some environmental affect.

Readers in all probability can inform that I’m justifying the choice to go together with the cheaper restore. I notice it’s a danger and wouldn’t have made this choice if the FSD cameras had been impacted, since retaining that working is necessary to me (each as a author for CleanTechnica and for my private use).

Conclusion

I feel Tesla as an organization has made important progress coaching plenty of folks in repairing their vehicles, so there isn’t an enormous wait anymore to getting your automobile repaired (at the very least in Tampa, Florida). That being stated, my expertise says they could be too cautious in changing components that don’t should be changed. This might considerably increase insurance coverage charges. I’ve seen the insurance coverage charges in states the place Tesla presents insurance coverage are very affordable, however in some states that don’t supply Tesla insurance coverage (like Washington state the place my son moved), the charges are many instances larger for Tesla automobiles versus an everyday Toyota or Nissan. Tesla must proceed to work on all of this to drive down the whole price of possession of its automobiles. In fact, the corporate now appears extra focused on specializing in getting FSD working higher, however I hope they proceed to work on different tasks as a result of my expertise is that FSD is amazingly nice however still several years away from being unsupervised in the areas I drive in.

If you wish to reap the benefits of my Tesla referral hyperlink to get Reward Credit, right here’s the hyperlink: https://ts.la/paul92237 — however as I’ve stated earlier than, if one other proprietor helped you extra, please use their hyperlink as an alternative of mine. If you wish to be taught extra about Tesla’s new referral program (August 2024), Chris Boylan has written an excellent article on it.

Disclosure: I’m a shareholder in Tesla (TSLA), BYD (BYDDY), Nio (NIO), XPeng (XPEV), NextEra Vitality (NEP), and a number of other ARK ETFs. However I supply no funding recommendation of any type right here.