Body Shop Can’t Fix Door Scratch Because It’s Electric

[squirtbrnr]

Curious how many of you have run into this. I have a small scratch on my door from a rock I wanted fixed. My insurance has already quoted it. I called a body shop, gave them my vehicle type, and they scheduled my appointment and everything. Today I get a call back: “Oh, the computer says we can't work on it because it's electric". And I say, "It's just a door scratch, you don't have to take apart anything dangerous". “Sorry, but we're not certified and we don't have the safety equipment in case something would happen". I gave up at that point.

This is a national chain (Gerber), and apparently they have to certify each location for any EV work, no matter how small ('tis but a scratch). He said it affects Tesla, Ford, and Toyota vehicles (but not other brands?). Wonder if their ban applies to hybrid vehicles or not, because there are a lot of those these days. Which begs the question—if they work on hybrids, why not EVs?

I can see the concern if they have to drop the pack or something, but this excessive EV danger paranoia gets annoying at times. It's just another Ford SUV. The only thing they need to be careful about is not heating the crap out of the car during paint curing (less than 140ºF or something), but that's really easy, just turn down the temp a little bit.

I found another body shop affiliated with a Ford dealer, the first question I asked on the phone was "Do you work on ELECTRIC cars?", she had to check but then remembered they've worked on other Mach-E's. So I will start over again there.

Make sure you ask the EV question first with any body shop. I'm also disappointed a huge body shop would refuse to work on even minor body repairs.

I called a shop and they said over the phone “we work on all makes and models”. Then at the appointment they said “oh it’s an electric, we can’t work on them, we don’t have the safety equipment and we’re technically supposed to disconnect the HV battery first”.

I went to a second shop and they said “yep no problem, we work on hybrids and bevs all the time for dealerships”. $400 to fix a couple deep gouges on the tailgate from a mishap with the garage door.

Sponsored

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

Wow! Trouble in paradise.

Brazen too. It happened at the local grocery store. I park just to the side of the only entrance in a Handicap Stall. A possible violent subset would have the “Mustangs have V-8s!” person. I used to run into a few of those types when the car was a lot more rare.

.

 

[ChasingCoral]

Curious how many of you have run into this. I have a small scratch on my door from a rock I wanted fixed. My insurance has already quoted it. I called a body shop, gave them my vehicle type, and they scheduled my appointment and everything. Today I get a call back: “Oh, the computer says we can't work on it because it's electric". And I say, "It's just a door scratch, you don't have to take apart anything dangerous". “Sorry, but we're not certified and we don't have the safety equipment in case something would happen". I gave up at that point.

This is a national chain (Gerber), and apparently they have to certify each location for any EV work, no matter how small ('tis but a scratch). He said it affects Tesla, Ford, and Toyota vehicles (but not other brands?). Wonder if their ban applies to hybrid vehicles or not, because there are a lot of those these days. Which begs the question—if they work on hybrids, why not EVs?

I can see the concern if they have to drop the pack or something, but this excessive EV danger paranoia gets annoying at times. It's just another Ford SUV. The only thing they need to be careful about is not heating the crap out of the car during paint curing (less than 140ºF or something), but that's really easy, just turn down the temp a little bit.

I found another body shop affiliated with a Ford dealer, the first question I asked on the phone was "Do you work on ELECTRIC cars?", she had to check but then remembered they've worked on other Mach-E's. So I will start over again there.

Make sure you ask the EV question first with any body shop. I'm also disappointed a huge body shop would refuse to work on even minor body repairs.

What idiots!

 

[mccdeuce]

Curious how many of you have run into this. I have a small scratch on my door from a rock I wanted fixed. My insurance has already quoted it. I called a body shop, gave them my vehicle type, and they scheduled my appointment and everything. Today I get a call back: “Oh, the computer says we can't work on it because it's electric". And I say, "It's just a door scratch, you don't have to take apart anything dangerous". “Sorry, but we're not certified and we don't have the safety equipment in case something would happen". I gave up at that point.

This is a national chain (Gerber), and apparently they have to certify each location for any EV work, no matter how small ('tis but a scratch). He said it affects Tesla, Ford, and Toyota vehicles (but not other brands?). Wonder if their ban applies to hybrid vehicles or not, because there are a lot of those these days. Which begs the question—if they work on hybrids, why not EVs?

I can see the concern if they have to drop the pack or something, but this excessive EV danger paranoia gets annoying at times. It's just another Ford SUV. The only thing they need to be careful about is not heating the crap out of the car during paint curing (less than 140ºF or something), but that's really easy, just turn down the temp a little bit.

I found another body shop affiliated with a Ford dealer, the first question I asked on the phone was "Do you work on ELECTRIC cars?", she had to check but then remembered they've worked on other Mach-E's. So I will start over again there.

Make sure you ask the EV question first with any body shop. I'm also disappointed a huge body shop would refuse to work on even minor body repairs.

My experience is the same as others.
small mom and pop shop had no issue. They actually asked if they could use my car in Ad to say “we work on Electric too”

 

[Womps]

I farted in the Mach E the other day. Wife told me that was not allowed in an electric vehicle. I might have to trade her in. And when I say her I mean the wife, not the Mach E.

 

[Trick.Mach-E]

PM sent.

I would be interested with knowing the mobile repair company myself

 

[dtbaker61]

Curious how many of you have run into this. I have a small scratch on my door from a rock I wanted fixed. My insurance has already quoted it. I called a body shop, gave them my vehicle type, and they scheduled my appointment and everything. Today I get a call back: “Oh, the computer says we can't work on it because it's electric". And I say, "It's just a door scratch, you don't have to take apart anything dangerous". “Sorry, but we're not certified and we don't have the safety equipment in case something would happen". I gave up at that point.

This is a national chain (Gerber), and apparently they have to certify each location for any EV work, no matter how small ('tis but a scratch). He said it affects Tesla, Ford, and Toyota vehicles (but not other brands?). Wonder if their ban applies to hybrid vehicles or not, because there are a lot of those these days. Which begs the question—if they work on hybrids, why not EVs?

I can see the concern if they have to drop the pack or something, but this excessive EV danger paranoia gets annoying at times. It's just another Ford SUV. The only thing they need to be careful about is not heating the crap out of the car during paint curing (less than 140ºF or something), but that's really easy, just turn down the temp a little bit.

I found another body shop affiliated with a Ford dealer, the first question I asked on the phone was "Do you work on ELECTRIC cars?", she had to check but then remembered they've worked on other Mach-E's. So I will start over again there.

Make sure you ask the EV question first with any body shop. I'm also disappointed a huge body shop would refuse to work on even minor body repairs.

I guess they don't want your business....

The only real concern I can think of would be that a body shop should not put an electric car in a whole car heatbox over 120F (which they sometimes do to dry paint)

just go to a different shop

 

[HuntingPudel]

I would be interested with knowing the mobile repair company myself

PM sent

 

[Anvil Jr.]

Curious how many of you have run into this. I have a small scratch on my door from a rock I wanted fixed. My insurance has already quoted it. I called a body shop, gave them my vehicle type, and they scheduled my appointment and everything. Today I get a call back: “Oh, the computer says we can't work on it because it's electric". And I say, "It's just a door scratch, you don't have to take apart anything dangerous". “Sorry, but we're not certified and we don't have the safety equipment in case something would happen". I gave up at that point.

This is a national chain (Gerber), and apparently they have to certify each location for any EV work, no matter how small ('tis but a scratch). He said it affects Tesla, Ford, and Toyota vehicles (but not other brands?). Wonder if their ban applies to hybrid vehicles or not, because there are a lot of those these days. Which begs the question—if they work on hybrids, why not EVs?

I can see the concern if they have to drop the pack or something, but this excessive EV danger paranoia gets annoying at times. It's just another Ford SUV. The only thing they need to be careful about is not heating the crap out of the car during paint curing (less than 140ºF or something), but that's really easy, just turn down the temp a little bit.

I found another body shop affiliated with a Ford dealer, the first question I asked on the phone was "Do you work on ELECTRIC cars?", she had to check but then remembered they've worked on other Mach-E's. So I will start over again there.

Make sure you ask the EV question first with any body shop. I'm also disappointed a huge body shop would refuse to work on even minor body repairs.

When did Gerber expand their baby food operations into auto body?

 

[SolarAB]

I've had body work done and it's never been a issue. Sounds like someone's been listening to EV conspiracy theories.

 

[TD1273]

I've had body work done and it's never been a issue. Sounds like someone's been listening to EV conspiracy theories.

Company’s policy

 

[phil]

Curious how many of you have run into this.

I had the same problem at Caliber Collision. I got the appointment and took the Mustang in to them before they figured out it was electric, and said no, they can't work on it.

They did refer me to a different Caliber location that specializes in electric cars. I had to take it there, and they gave me a quote, but it was ridiculously high. It was $4,000 for a scratch with a nearly invisible dent - I ended up just touching it up myself and I have not noticed it since.

 

[Ford_orr]

I had a variation of this issue last year. I customized my '23 Premium w/a parking garage post by smacking the front driver-side panel into it backing out of a parking spot. Because if I didn't have bad luck, I'd have no luck at all, I hit it precisely where the charge port is and damaged that and some of the internal components. The shop I took it to said they could fix all the body damage no problem, but they'd have to take the vehicle to the Ford dealership to fix all the electrical parts. Luckily all three were close by - my house, the bodyshop and the dealership - so everything got taken care of within a week. Was even able to use my Ford bucks for the dealership part of the repair

 

[spgordon57]

Curious how many of you have run into this. I have a small scratch on my door from a rock I wanted fixed. My insurance has already quoted it. I called a body shop, gave them my vehicle type, and they scheduled my appointment and everything. Today I get a call back: “Oh, the computer says we can't work on it because it's electric". And I say, "It's just a door scratch, you don't have to take apart anything dangerous". “Sorry, but we're not certified and we don't have the safety equipment in case something would happen". I gave up at that point.

This is a national chain (Gerber), and apparently they have to certify each location for any EV work, no matter how small ('tis but a scratch). He said it affects Tesla, Ford, and Toyota vehicles (but not other brands?). Wonder if their ban applies to hybrid vehicles or not, because there are a lot of those these days. Which begs the question—if they work on hybrids, why not EVs?

I can see the concern if they have to drop the pack or something, but this excessive EV danger paranoia gets annoying at times. It's just another Ford SUV. The only thing they need to be careful about is not heating the crap out of the car during paint curing (less than 140ºF or something), but that's really easy, just turn down the temp a little bit.

I found another body shop affiliated with a Ford dealer, the first question I asked on the phone was "Do you work on ELECTRIC cars?", she had to check but then remembered they've worked on other Mach-E's. So I will start over again there.

Make sure you ask the EV question first with any body shop. I'm also disappointed a huge body shop would refuse to work on even minor body repairs.

My sense is that is an unusual barrier for an MME. I have an MME and a Tesla Model Y. I scratched the door of the Y in a parking mishap. You think fixing an MME is tough? Doesn't compare to a Tesla. If you lease one as I did, you are required to use a Tesla-certified body shop and guess what? They will not repair a dent, since the panels are aluminum. So I had to replace the entire door and repaint the entire side at a cost of $6,800 and had to use my insurance. Now I understand why Hertz is dumping its Tesla fleet and I won't be buying another one.

Sponsored