Tesla: Mechanics of a Body Repair

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Just to give you some context, I've been studying Tesla for a while, focusing on the repair process. I've been questioning why Tesla would own its own body shops instead of working with third-party shops and large chains, certifying them instead. Then I realized there's feedback between the body shop and the manufacturing plant. I was eager to speak with someone who runs Tesla-certified body shops to understand better. Your profile is perfect for this. Could you give me a brief background about yourself? How many body shops do you run? How many are for EVs but don't repair Teslas? How many are Tesla-certified? And how many are just for ICE vehicles? From what I understand, you operate several body shops.

Certifications are crucial because they build trust with vehicle owners, regardless of the manufacturer. It assures them that we know how to repair their vehicles, and we do.

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In what sense?

You can't do a structural pull on a Tesla, which is one of the smartest things I've seen. I wish other manufacturers would adopt that logic. If you do a pull on a vehicle, you can't test the integrity of that spot weld. It's genius. If you can't test what has been done by the manufacturer, how can you trust that the repair will hold? It's a good mentality to have.

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In the Tesla-certified body shop, don't you perform repairs there?

However, most of our repairs are insurance-driven. Insurance companies dictate which estimating platform we use, not the manufacturer. We follow the manufacturer's procedures, but we must adhere to the insurance company's platform and their rules on what they will cover.

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