Tesla founder Elon Musk has announced that the company plans to conduct most collision-related repairs “in-house” rather than relying on third-party body shops. Tesla operates a small network of branded repair centers, but many collision repairs have been performed by its network of Tesla-certified shops. Many of those shops are Service King locations around the country, although there are other independent shops in the network as well.
The announcement comes roughly a year after Tesla announced plans to expand its service center footprint around the world.
Automotive Body Repair News reached out to a number of Tesla-certified body shops for comment, but they all declined, citing the terms of Tesla’s non-disclosure agreement. Messages to Tesla’s press office were also not returned.
However, some shop owners have noted privately and on Musk’s Twitter feed that Tesla has experienced complaints about wait times to complete repair to damaged vehicles, although those delays are not always the fault of the shop.
In some cases, vehicle owners have to wait weeks or months for repairs.
Musk claimed in his Twitter announcement that Tesla will be able to offer some same-day and even one-hour repairs. Tesla will also offer glass repair services. However, the collision services will only be expanded after the company clears the backlog of new vehicle deliveries this fall.
According to Musk: “Outside repair shops are jack of all trades, which means supporting 1000’s of makes & models. Tesla collision repair specializes in three. Having all parts in stock & not waiting for insurance approval also make a world of difference.”
However, as noted by shops that were contacted for this story and by the comments in Musk’s Twitter feed, the majority of delays have been generated by the shop’s inability to get parts from Tesla in a timely fashion. It’s not clear how the Tesla-branded shops will be able to solve this problem, although they would conceivably be able to keep more Tesla parts in on-hand inventory since they won’t be servicing other types of vehicles.
Joining Tesla’s certified body shop network is both costly and time consuming for third-party shops, and it’s not clear what the automaker’s plans are for continuing to support those shops. It’s also not clear what Musk meant by “not waiting for insurance approval,” although Tesla has previously considered launching its own insurance line.
Last year Tesla announced it would open 100 new service centers and hire as many as 1,400 technicians in order to expand its service footprint in support of the Model 3 launch.
