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Salvage or repair my Tesla

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Its been a very sad month. I rear ended someone who was taking a right turn and stopped suddenly to wait for a pedestrian. It didn't help that I was busy trying to find out what the light looked like as the sun was right into my eyes (i wish the sun visor was not this thin on our Teslas)
The fix needs a lot of parts but mostly cosmetic (no structural damage, frunk is intact). The battery is perfectly intact and so are all electricals. The airbag deployed but the tesla approved shop says that is all fixable. The tesla approved shop quotes 49K to repair! Insurance just came in and says the salvage value is 44K since the rest of the car is intact. Market value was quoted by insurance (rear seats, tech package, tan leather, blue exterior, 9K miles) is about 85K. That means i will have to pay extra to get it repaired. Since its my fault, i don't think diminished value comes into play.

I am so bummed by the whole thing. The tesla approved body shop is so backlogged (there were 10 already when i got my car there), it took them about 4weeks to get an estimate as they had to take things apart. Plus the labor rates are very high ($115/hr labor).

Tesla service did mention to me that if I buy back a salvaged car and repair it, the warranty is void and they may not service it. So the only options i have is convince the repair folks to get the repair cost down OR get a new car.

I do plan on writing to Tesla to reconsider the sun visor design. I drove back on the same route at the same time using my ICE and noticed that the visor did protect my eyes.
Can anyone advise on what i should do? Just take the money and get a new car?
thanks
 
Worst first post ever!

More seriously though, welcome to the forum and my sympathies on your car troubles. 49K+44K = 95K... so 95K for "continued stress, no warranty, and an imperfect vehicle" vs. 85K for a new vehicle? Even with tax the new vehicle seems like the better path to go.

Some would call this a PRO, some would call it a CON... with the new vehicle you "get to" revisit all the configuration decisions (and have some new ones perhaps...) for the vehicle you'll be receiving.
 
It might be possible to have the repairs done at a non approved body shop at a more reasonable price. If the battery and charging are intact and not a problem, a different body shop may be able to handle the job for a price that insurance will pay.
 
It might be possible to have the repairs done at a non approved body shop at a more reasonable price. If the battery and charging are intact and not a problem, a different body shop may be able to handle the job for a price that insurance will pay.

Would the warranty still be good, if repaired at a non-approved body shop? Agree with Brianman though, seems like the better of two fairly crappy options.
 
It might be possible to have the repairs done at a non approved body shop at a more reasonable price. If the battery and charging are intact and not a problem, a different body shop may be able to handle the job for a price that insurance will pay.

Tesla does not sell parts to non approved body shops. Going with a new car is a better option. I'm sure that its in the Tesla records somewhere that your car is going to be a salvage. Especially since you've already taken it to an approved body shop and have communicated your concerns with Tesla.
 
this seems to be common practice at the Tesla certified shops to cost as high as possible despite the actual cost amount and make sure it falls just under the salvage price. there are many instances of 40-49k estimated repair costs for what should probably be only 4-10k repair costs. they are ripping off everyone because they know there are no other shops that can get the parts to repair the damage. that way if they quote $5 under salvage, they can get the job and laugh all the way to the bank. it's really F***ed up. the model S is by far the most expensive car to repair and maintain than any other car on the market. they tell you the exact opposite when they are demoing or promoting the car or when your thinking about buying it. go figure.

regarding the visor, we were just talking about this in a different thread a couple days ago about the visors and said that it probably would take a major accident due to being blinded by the sun bc the visors are such crap. well here we go and you're the first due to the crap visor. I would definitely pass this along to Tesla and make sure to stress that if the visor was actually halfway decent this accident would never have occurred.
 
I would take the car to another certified shop and get a second estimate. I was involved in a front end collision a few months ago and my car did have structural damage on top of needing a new front right fender, hood, headlights, front bumper, frunk, frunk liner, both radiator/fan units, etc and my total was also ridiculously high but LESS than your estimate. Hmmm....
 
Yes I would get another estimate as well.

My accident repair consisted of 3 new doors, 1 new quarter panel, everything associated with blown side airbags (new seat, etc), painting it and everything for $23k (final cost on the invoice). Note I am in a different market then you but the shop I went to is Tesla authorized and some technicians from California flew in to help them too. Took Just shy of 2 months to complete too with delays mainly waiting for parts, so expect to be away from the car for quite a while.

Heck, if you really were set on repairing it, you could ship it here to get it fixed and be way ahead.

Best of luck!

-m
 
Thanks all for your responses. Tesla has been great at shipping parts...gone are the days when it takes weeks to get (common) Tesla parts. Tesla received an order for parts for my car on a Monday and almost all the parts reached by Friday of that week (shipped overnight)!! Unfortunately, there is only 1 certified body shop in the state, so i have to ship this elsewhere for another estimate. I have sent the estimate to the Tesla service center for them to cross check with the factory collision department for any unneeded repair.
 
Honestly for a repair with no structural damage the bill should be more like $4900. Not $49000. Are you sure they didn't screw up a decimal place? $49k doesn't make any sense. That's more than the cost of a brand new S40 itself (well, if Tesla still made them that is). My point is that the rest of the car is inexpensive compared to the battery pack. A repair like yours should run $5-10k max. There is something really wrong here. I think there needs to be a criminal investigation of some sort into these shops because I smell something fraudulent about these activities. It's the insurance companies that are eating the costs as tesla and these shops seem to be engaging in some sort of price fixing scheme for the parts and exhibiting anti-competitive behavior.
 
Keep in mind that Tesla has an incentive to support the authorized body shop. If they think it is fair, even if it is on the high-end, they will stand behind it. Tesla believes that body shops should be paid a much higher hourly rate than what insurance companies are used to. There are more electronics involved, etc. they will argue that the body shop rate of $115 an hour is cheaper than the service center hourly rate. I would recommend sending the estimate you have to another out-of-state certified body shop and ask them to perhaps anonymously give you their opinion.
 
My repair was for minor scratches on the roof and the thin panel that goes above the doors. The shop I used did the job for $1600. The "tesla-approved" shop bid $4500, including disconnecting the battery and having to reload all the software. My shop had no problem getting parts and matching paint. I did use a high end shop that gets a lot of Porsche and Ferrari business.
 
A hint to get parts on your own: As Model S are now sold abroad, they are markets where they are required by law to provide any parts to anyone for a minimum specified amount of time (at least 10 years). I can tell you that in France at least, if they refuse to sell/quote you anything, they'll get in trouble.

Of course, they can still quote you a ridiculous amount...
 
My shop was able to get parts through the local service center that is located about a half mile away in San Diego. They had no problem getting parts and my repair was done in five days.
 
Honestly for a repair with no structural damage the bill should be more like $4900. Not $49000. Are you sure they didn't screw up a decimal place? $49k doesn't make any sense. That's more than the cost of a brand new S40 itself (well, if Tesla still made them that is). My point is that the rest of the car is inexpensive compared to the battery pack. A repair like yours should run $5-10k max. There is something really wrong here. I think there needs to be a criminal investigation of some sort into these shops because I smell something fraudulent about these activities. It's the insurance companies that are eating the costs as tesla and these shops seem to be engaging in some sort of price fixing scheme for the parts and exhibiting anti-competitive behavior.

Yep, couldn't agree more. Something doesn't smell right to me either. Shame on Tesla if they are in fact supporting body shops that charge a factor of 10 times more than what any reasonable shop would do the job for. It's just not what the company is about.