I sent my Model 3 to Stuttgart Auto Body in Englewood CO for collision repair. It has been two weeks since my insurance did their initial estimate and the body shop has not yet started the teardown of the vehicle for their assessment. Every week they tell me they would start the teardown next week and it looks like they are wasting my time. I have few questions:
1. Does any body in this region knows a better body shop for fixing model 3's? Is it normal to wait this long for the teardown assessment to even start?
2. I tried to push for totaling but my insurance is not convinced the car is totaled. They told me their formula is [The car is totaled if salvage value + repair cost > market value of the car before the collision] which is not the case. The initial estimated repair cost of the car is about 20% of the car value. Is there a Colorado state law that dictates when the car is totaled?
3. Is the 6-12 months wait time for collision repair unique to Tesla among luxury vehicles? I suspect that might be the case since Tesla has fewer body shops with long backlog of Tesla's on their yards waiting for body parts. I love my model 3, but I am seriously considering selling it once it is repaired because I cannot endure the pain of waiting this long again if another accident happened. I am also worried about the collision repair aspect of the company: As there are more and more Tesla's on the road, statistically there will be more Tesla's involved in accidents/collision which means more backlog of Teslas in body shops and thus longer wait time (I would not be surprised if the average repair time takes 2 years in 2020, unless Tesla find a serious solution to this problem). I do not think Tesla doing collision repairs at their service center is a solution because:
a- There are not too many service centers (e.g. only 2 in CO).
b- These service centers don't work on body damage, only minor collisions.
1. Does any body in this region knows a better body shop for fixing model 3's? Is it normal to wait this long for the teardown assessment to even start?
2. I tried to push for totaling but my insurance is not convinced the car is totaled. They told me their formula is [The car is totaled if salvage value + repair cost > market value of the car before the collision] which is not the case. The initial estimated repair cost of the car is about 20% of the car value. Is there a Colorado state law that dictates when the car is totaled?
3. Is the 6-12 months wait time for collision repair unique to Tesla among luxury vehicles? I suspect that might be the case since Tesla has fewer body shops with long backlog of Tesla's on their yards waiting for body parts. I love my model 3, but I am seriously considering selling it once it is repaired because I cannot endure the pain of waiting this long again if another accident happened. I am also worried about the collision repair aspect of the company: As there are more and more Tesla's on the road, statistically there will be more Tesla's involved in accidents/collision which means more backlog of Teslas in body shops and thus longer wait time (I would not be surprised if the average repair time takes 2 years in 2020, unless Tesla find a serious solution to this problem). I do not think Tesla doing collision repairs at their service center is a solution because:
a- There are not too many service centers (e.g. only 2 in CO).
b- These service centers don't work on body damage, only minor collisions.
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