The love of my life had a minor incident with a pole. The wheel well is scraped, and two dents on that small panel that surrounds the wheel. No door damage. To my eye, it seems pretty minor league.
I call Tesla: Who do you recommend for a body shop? I am in North Los Angeles area. I take it to their Body Shop for an estimate:
$11,000!
To my eye, the estimate is extremely padded. It includes line items like "Ensuring Battery Remains Charged" (one hour labor @ $155/hour). $2000 in parts.
So I took it to some non-Tesla recommended shops (highly recommended by local owners of Mercedes and Audis). One said they wouldn't dare work on an electric car, the other gave an estimate of: $1850. They would pound out the minor dents, and repaint like any other luxury car. But they are not approved or authorized.
My deductible is $1000.
I am considering not involving insurance to avoid the inevitable rate hike, and paying the extra $850 myself. Or I can involve insurance, take it to the recommended place, and watch my rates skyrocket. If it were anything other than very minor damage I would of course go the insurance route, that's what it's for. But it's such a stupidly small scrape and dent.
Any advice? Anyone know how much rates go up if you make a collision claim?
I call Tesla: Who do you recommend for a body shop? I am in North Los Angeles area. I take it to their Body Shop for an estimate:
$11,000!
To my eye, the estimate is extremely padded. It includes line items like "Ensuring Battery Remains Charged" (one hour labor @ $155/hour). $2000 in parts.
So I took it to some non-Tesla recommended shops (highly recommended by local owners of Mercedes and Audis). One said they wouldn't dare work on an electric car, the other gave an estimate of: $1850. They would pound out the minor dents, and repaint like any other luxury car. But they are not approved or authorized.
My deductible is $1000.
I am considering not involving insurance to avoid the inevitable rate hike, and paying the extra $850 myself. Or I can involve insurance, take it to the recommended place, and watch my rates skyrocket. If it were anything other than very minor damage I would of course go the insurance route, that's what it's for. But it's such a stupidly small scrape and dent.
Any advice? Anyone know how much rates go up if you make a collision claim?
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