My Tesla Obtained Hit — Repair It At A Tesla Licensed Restore Or “Common” Physique Store?

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

I’ve written about Tesla collision repairs earlier than right here and right here, about 5 years in the past. This summer time, I received 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 received 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 automobiles are and the way they price much less to personal than different premium sedans, and might even be as reasonably priced on a Whole Price of Possession foundation as common automobiles 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, perhaps 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 programs will proceed to scale back the variety of accidents.

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

“So, for proper now, Tesla insurance coverage charges are very suitable to Honda and Toyota charges in my scenario and I hope they proceed to enhance, however considerably greater restore prices have the potential to be an issue if these prices don’t proceed 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 small print, I used to be hit by a motorist who did vital injury to a number of automobiles and didn’t have sufficient insurance coverage to cowl the injury. I might 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 about 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 achieved at a cheaper price, since I knew the payout can be comparatively low. I might even have sued the individual that hit me and recovered damages that means, however I didn’t actually need to do this. Fortunately, the automobile labored wonderful, together with the operation of the rear hatch, so I had loads of time to do the restore once I wished to. So I received 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 though the liftgate labored wonderful, 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 could possibly name the labor price a win for shoppers, since the whole lot else has gone up in worth, or you would say it’s nonetheless greater than the speed we might count on for a Honda or Chevy restore, particularly now that Tesla automobiles are MUCH extra reasonably priced than they had been 5 years in the past. I believe 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 “common” 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 so much much less of the automobile. The price of the paint is a few third, at $154.80 vs. $444, since so much much less of the automobile is to be painted. One other huge distinction is the labor price 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 had been achieved at high quality retailers for $5,000 or so, and a few had been achieved at extra reasonably priced physique retailers for about $750. There has in fact been vital inflation within the final 40 years, so I’m doubling or tripling the costs of the older repairs. In fact, these older automobiles didn’t have the superior sensors and cameras that exist on a Tesla. Which means if any of these are affected, you will must get them repaired by somebody who is aware of what they’re doing if you happen to 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 if you happen to get a high quality restore achieved, it’ll 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 downside popped up.

1. This extremely rated “non licensed” store is healthier high quality than a number of the cheaper locations I’ve used for older automobiles, 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 previous Tesla (the automobile is 4 years previous 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 previous 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 one of the best promoting automobile on the earth is as distant as attainable from being a restricted version. It’s simply the fashionable day Toyota Camry. Will it have an effect on the resale worth? Actually, a supplier would in all probability knock $2,000 off the worth of the automobile, whereas I believe a non-public occasion 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 consider my choice is the influence on the atmosphere. It looks like it’s wasteful to spend extra time and supplies to exchange the liftgate, which is working completely wonderful. The previous liftgate in all probability wouldn’t be reused, since it’s broken. The additional portray has some environmental influence.

Readers in all probability can inform that I’m justifying the choice to go along 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 protecting that working is vital to me (each as a author for CleanTechnica and for my private use).

Conclusion

I believe Tesla as an organization has made vital progress coaching numerous folks in repairing their automobiles, so there isn’t an enormous wait anymore to getting your automobile repaired (no less than in Tampa, Florida). That being mentioned, 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 observed the insurance coverage charges in states the place Tesla affords insurance coverage are very cheap, however in some states that don’t supply Tesla insurance coverage (like Washington state the place my son moved), the charges are many instances greater for Tesla automobiles versus an everyday Toyota or Nissan. Tesla must proceed to work on all of this to drive down the entire price of possession of its automobiles. In fact, the corporate now appears extra thinking about specializing in getting FSD working higher, however I hope they proceed to work on different initiatives as a result of my expertise is that FSD is amazingly nice however nonetheless a number of years away from being unsupervised within the areas I drive in.

If you wish to make the most of my Tesla referral hyperlink to get Reward Credit, right here’s the hyperlink: https://ts.la/paul92237 — however as I’ve mentioned 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 wonderful 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 kind right here.