Accidents do happen and everyone knows that and it's never a pleasant experience, I get that. However, I'm finding that it's not going to be simply unpleasant experience, but more likely very frustrated one.
My car was involved in what I believe is a minor collision with a coyote (it didn't survive) back on June 20th far far away from Boston. I spoke with Tesla, they arranged a tow immediately and and they recommended I bring the car to the nearest authorized body shop 400+ miles away in Minnesota or Nebraska. After weighing my options I decided to not wait for the insurance company to get the ball rolling and move the car back to Boston figuring it will be much easier to fix where I live and called in a friend that arranged an Auto transporter for about $1400, which I paid out of pocket so I don't have to wait until insurance underwriter approves it.
I figured they will cover it, otherwise next best option is to have a tow truck drive 400 miles at a rate of $5 per mile to bring the car to MN. This was it's cheaper and since it's a local insurance company it will be easier for them to appraise the car.
What I didn't know is that there is 1 body shop for the entire MA area and they are clogged with Tesla's and other cars and simply the process is so slow, they are unwilling to order parts ahead of the appraiser, despite the fact I offered to pay out of pocket and deal with insurance down the road.
I was told that my car will possibly be ready sometimes in August and there is a possibility of the car being ready in September, parts alone are 4-5 weeks to arrive and then there is a backlog of cars waiting to be fixed, so that's going to take time before my car gets in line.
I find the whole experience pretty frustrating as simply there are 1000's of Tesla's around Boston and only 1 body shop that's allowed to work on our cars.
My damage is mostly cosmetic and you can see it from the pictures, except for a ruptured radiator, which can be replaced by any respectable repair shop and since I can't order the parts myself and Tesla takes its time with shipping them from the factory, I'm out of luck and car for what could be close to 3 months for a minor accident.
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Here is a photo from the tow truck, I'm going to save you the more graphic images, but if you insist I can upload a couple of them. As you can see most of the damage is cosmetic, few pieces broke off, the plastic cover is in tact, just needs to be re-attached. The hidden damage is the radiator that cools the battery, it was damaged from the animal I hit and turns the car into a statue and now will take more than 2 months to fix.
I've always liked how Tesla treats me and other others and is number 1 is service, but these sort of situation makes owning a Tesla a very unpleasant experience. I can't grasp my head around the idea that I might not be able to drive my car until August/September for something like this. Radiators are common parts and shouldn't take Tesla 4-5 weeks to ship them and it the monopoly of 1 body shop authorized to work on cars in the entire MA region is simply unacceptable.
If I can get the parts from Tesla, my repair shop can easily replace the radiator, fill the fluid, fix the alignment if needed and if I have to bring it to Tesla to inspect it just in case. I didn't wreck the car to a point that makes unrecognizable...
If this issue isn't addressed soon by Tesla, it will come and bite them very hard.