Tesla-Owned Collision Repair Shops: Coming Later this Year

 

Tesla plans to open its own collision repair facilities, the automaker announced.

“To significantly improve the customer experience with out-of-warranty body repairs, we intend to open the first Tesla-owned body repair shops later this year and expand the existing network of third-party Tesla-certified body shops,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk and CFO Deepak Ahuja wrote in a May 3 letter to shareholders.

The executives didn’t offer any additional details in the letter.

As Tesla gears up for the launch of its Model 3, the automaker said it plans to tack on nearly 100 retail, delivery and service locations globally, noting that its new service centers boast more service bays than in the past.

Tesla said it has leveraged remote diagnostics to help reduce mechanical repair times by 35 percent, and aims to improve on that metric even further.

“Using remote diagnostics, our service technicians are increasingly able to identify repair needs in advance of meeting with customers and even before customers notice issues,” the Tesla executives wrote.

Also on the mechanical side, Tesla noted that it had plans to add more than 100 mobile repair trucks in the second quarter.

“Tesla’s mobile strategy is unique given the direct relationship we have with our customers and because our cars are designed so that most repairs can be done without raising the car on a vehicle lift,” Musk and Ahuja wrote. “Our mobile strategy scales quickly, is capital-efficient and lowers cost because proactive service and scheduling more than offset technician drive time to the customer. Best of all, mobile service saves Tesla customers the time traveling to and from a service center.”

Earlier in the year, Tesla told shops that it is simplifying the tooling and training requirements for the Tesla Approved Body Shop program, as the automaker ramps up for Model 3 production. Tesla said it no longer will require onsite, instructor-led training for certification, and has approved eight of the most popular aluminum welders as part of an effort to explore “promising alternatives” to equipment “for which we previously offered limited options.”