The sad part of owning a Tesla... accidents

[skboston]

FWIW, I had a positive experience with Hollis.

But as a capitalist of sorts, I really wish there were competition in the Tesla auto body repair business here in MA. And also the Tesla repair-the-innards business. I love the Watertown SC and have had nothing but over-the-top, awesome experiences there. But people should be able to get auto service more generally than just from the dealer. Even though I have no plans to ever get non-dealer service on my Model S, I suspect *many* people would prefer cheaper third-party service.

Alan

Alan, yeah I wish there were more authorized body shops and repair centers other than Tesla. I'll give them a call tomorrow and might pay them a visit as well, that usually works better and see what happens.
I've also have experienced an amazing service from Watertown, so that is a little weird.

@MsElectric

It's not an option, the car was already transported from South Dakota to MA just for that convenience to be close to home and what I thought would be much better service/experience rather than having it towed to MN or Nebraska.
From Hollis initially said 4-5 weeks for the parts to arrive, which is ridiculous and that they are busy on top of that and the battery is no longer actively cooled or charged. I don't know what the status of the car is or level of charge as they have disabled the remote access.

 

[skboston]

Ok, another update on the current situation:

After 2 weeks of calling Hollis Auto Body several times without any success, today finally I was able to get through the customer assistant who answers the phones and promises that someone will call me back shortly (the usual story when they try to ditch you) and spoke with someone who said that today the parts from Tesla have finally arrived.
The car is supposedly going to be ready around Wednesday next week, which is great. I will miss the Mt. Washington climb for the EV event this weekend, but it's ok, will just have to do it in a ICE car.

I asked about how they kept the battery from going dead during this time without active cooling, they said that the first thing they did after the car arrived is to replace the radiator and charge it normally and then disconnect and shut the car down. I was frankly stunned as this is the thing I've been asking this entire time, fix the damn radiator and give me the car until all other parts arrive and have time to fix it, so I can drive it around, it's cosmetic damage.
They said this was their standard procedure in radiator damage and more serious car damage in order to prevent battery damage.

 

[mitch672]

perhaps with the Dedham service center now open, they'll find/authorize another body shop, there are too many Model S's already in the area for Hollis Auto body to handle. I'm sure there is something on Route 1 in the Dedham/Norwood area they can get to do body work. BTW, the Mount Washington Auto Road climb isn't until August 9th (Sunday) at 9AM, you'll probably have your car back by then.

 

[yoyo]

Mine has been in the shop for 5 weeks now and counting. Still waiting on some parts. Really not cool

 

[skboston]

@yoyo

Call your local Tesla Service Center and ask them to expedite the parts delivery as it's not really normal to be waiting for over a month for parts. I called Tesla a few times here in Watertown and they said they would try to expedite parts shipped, as I explained it's not really cool to have 4-5 weeks waiting on parts and then some more to get it fixed. I've been w/o my car for exactly a month now as well.

@mitch672

There is an EV event this weekend at it's quite cool to participate (I was there last September for it), check out the site for it: ALT Energy Summit presented by NH Electric Cooperative

 

[Peteruwo]

I can't comment on the rest of the parts or price although I would agree that the total is ridiculous. However $1200 for a xenon headlight is similar to other manufactures, such as BMW.

Perhaps we have to source and purchase our own parts ?

 

[jaguar36]

Those are used parts, which undoubtedly came off of wrecked cars that were parted out.

 

[yoyo]

I called SC today unfortunately I was told SC can not do anything or give me any number to call and it is entirely between body shop and Fremont. When I asked to get expedited AfTER body shop get car to SC, well, was told they will not know until they get the car.

I am beginning to lose patience especially when Fremont said body shop will get the parts this Tuesday, now it becomes maybe Friday. Of cause I am getting all this second hand from body shop. But it is their best interest to get it done assp.

One of the parts is the airbag control module, do not understand how come this is not even in stock after more than 4 weeks from parts ordering.

Body shop told me they have 8 tesla now all waiting for various parts!

a big sigh!

 

[skboston]

I completely understand your frustration, at first when my car arrived, the body shop told me don't expect your car this month, maybe next one... Parts they said would take 4-5 weeks and then they need time to fix it and on top of that 10+ Tesla's sitting in their lot.

I called Tesla and explained that this is simply unbelievable and very unprofessional to have to wait more than a month for parts, they said they would speak with the body shop and figure if they have some of the parts in stock and if they could speed up the process.
It wasn't an easy thing to do, took me several phone calls, and I just heard yesterday from the body shop for the first time in almost 3 weeks, despite me calling every other day.

Tesla is great car until you get into an accident, then it becomes the worst car to own and frankly I would not buy another Tesla in the foreseeable future because of that. Nobody can predict accidents and even minor one can disable your car for months, something that's not possible to happen with almost any other vehicle. I've seen enough accidents in my time behind the wheel and unless Tesla do something about the quality and speed of the repair process, they'll be in huge trouble.

New England for example is 10+ million people area with only 1 authorized body shop and on top of that you can't order parts for your car from the manufacturer of your car, I don't know how you call that...

 

[Neon089]

Yeah even I agree that this way Tesla won’t make any progress in terms of sales or numbers. One of my friends who is working with a DUI attorney Los Angeles wanted to buy Tesla but considering how long wait is there for body parts and repair, he is thinking to wait till BMW launches their electric cars.

 

[yoyo]

6 weeks and counting. Do not even want to mention today's disappointment when came down there to pick the car up, supposedly.
Double sigh!

 

[yoyo]

just want to provide an update (and closure). I finally got the car back (total six and half weeks). SC service manager helped to expedite the last piece. The repair was done nicely (with all new OEM parts) and I can not tell any difference in paint finish/coloring. SC re-checked everything also.
The repair bill was really steep though, and I saw more model S queued up in the body shop. Is it a magnet for accident or what, most are frontal damage.

Well, one day driving the car and I am back to a happy camper, and kind of forgot all about the wait and frustration.

 

[EdA]

just want to provide an update (and closure). I finally got the car back (total six and half weeks). SC service manager helped to expedite the last piece. The repair was done nicely (with all new OEM parts) and I can not tell any difference in paint finish/coloring. SC re-checked everything also.
The repair bill was really steep though, and I saw more model S queued up in the body shop. Is it a magnet for accident or what, most are frontal damage.

Well, one day driving the car and I am back to a happy camper, and kind of forgot all about the wait and frustration.

Good news!

 

[FlasherZ]

*sigh*

Le smoosh:

A fawn apparently thought my car was its mother or something and decided to take a sharp turn right in front of me...

Besides the obvious damage, it appears to have pushed something structural back, as the left wheel now rubs slightly in reverse and the fog lights are pushed back from the bumper cover. It popped the bumper cover loose, which won't go back into place. It appears I will be driving my pickup for a while.

 

[Andyw2100]

*sigh*

Le smoosh:

A fawn apparently thought my car was its mother or something and decided to take a sharp turn right in front of me...

Really sorry to see that. I hope you can get it repaired relatively quickly.

Were you pretty much stopped, and the fawn just ran into your car, or were you actually moving?

 

[FlasherZ]

Really sorry to see that. I hope you can get it repaired relatively quickly.

Were you pretty much stopped, and the fawn just ran into your car, or were you actually moving?

I was moving, but braking aggressively. We were driving ~55 mph, wife pointed out "deer! deer! deer!", I slammed on the brakes, and probably hit him/her at about 20-30 mph. The deer bounced off the front and slid off the road ahead and to the left of me into the ditch, as I stopped in the middle of the highway.

 

[Andyw2100]

I was moving, but braking aggressively. We were driving ~55 mph, wife pointed out "deer! deer! deer!", I slammed on the brakes, and probably hit him/her at about 20-30 mph. The deer bounced off the front and slid off the road ahead and to the left of me into the ditch, as I stopped in the middle of the highway.

Deer can be so erratic. I asked if you were basically stopped because of that, and because of the way you described the incident, and because of the relatively small amount of damage. It wouldn't have surprised me if the deer --HAD-- run into your stationary or almost stationary car. They are not the rocket scientists of the animal world. We deal with them all the time where I live, and when we see them on the side of the road, even if they appear to just be standing on the side of the road, we slow way, way down because we never know when one may choose to basically just charge the car.

People around where we live say it's not a question of whether or not you're going to hit a deer as a driver, but when. I hit one with my Acura a couple of years ago, so perhaps that'll cover both me and my wife and the Tesla for a while. (Knock wood.)

Again, sorry to hear about your accident, and I hope your car gets fixed quickly.

 

[FlasherZ]

They're pretty frequent around here as well (this is deer hunting country, after all). I had been lucky to this point (although I've hit everything else - rabbits, squirrels, coyotes, raccoon, opossums, you name it).

 

[SPXMike]

I hit a coyote three weeks ago in Central California. Made it to the Pleasanton SC where I noted damage to the front left and bleeding coolant. The car has been at the body shop for three weeks. Still waiting on parts. I figured it would maybe help to have the car fixed not far from where it was built. Apparently not. The body shop said Tesla is really bad at getting parts to the body shops. Estimate to fix is $7900 and don't know when I'll see the car again. Any tips? I had the body shop send me a list of parts they are waiting on.

 

[hybridbear]

These stories are rather worrisome. Has anyone had a positive experience with Tesla repair after an accident? I know that forums are usually biased toward negative experiences, so I'm curious if the experiences in this case are 100% negative, because that would be uncommon & indicative of a serious issue. Usually there are always some positive stories to balance out the negative ones.