One of the most dreaded parts of owning a car is getting into an accident. For Tesla owners, this becomes exacerbated by requiring repairs be performed by excruciating wait times for spare parts, as well as the requirement that bodywork must be performed by authorized Tesla partners. On Twitter, CEO Elon Musk confirmed that the automaker is seeking to bring the majority of its bodywork repairs back in-house in order to reduce logistical concerns over part availability.
Tesla has a history with third-party body shops being the focus of delays behind vehicle repairs. Last spring, Tesla released new standards for its body shops in order to ease customer complaints and make repairs more cost effective for owners. The standards came in place after Jon McNeill, Tesla’s former president of Sales and Service, identified the model in which service operates to be unsustainable. The communications indicate that Tesla still believes that third-party shops are still the primary root cause of these delays, indicating that by bringing the repairs back in-house, Tesla could mitigate the delays by having all parts in stock.
Though Musk’s Tweets may have legitimacy regarding the length of repair at some shops, it might not always be due to the shop’s actions. As noted above, a major root cause of delay appears to be the lack of part availability from Tesla. Musk also chimed in on this noting that Tesla’s logistics could be improved upon, insinuating that production hell could be behind the delay and that it would be the “top Tesla priority” in the next few weeks.
Tesla choosing to move its body repairs back in-house rather than rely on third-party repair shops is a move which will hopefully increase customer satisfaction with repair times, especially with the Model 3 becoming one of the newest best-selling vehicles on the market today. With parts being on site, Musk seems confident that in-house Tesla shops will be able to speed up repairs and meet potentially increasing demands for repair.