Crazy Collision Repair Rules

[RickMachE]

OP, you have been on the forum for nearly 3 years. Ever read any post like this? Nope. Never do business with that body shop.

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[Murse-In-Airy]

I was under the impression that the doors are steel? They appear to have got that wrong for a start. I have no magnet to test unfortunately.

I have tried to use magnets to hold vinyl sheets while applying vinyl. Does not stick to the door skins.

 

[Auto Motive]

So my daughter put a small dent in my perfect MME. Rear passenger door while backing low speed. Hard to notice if you are not looking. Took it to my favorite collision place. They have the following rules for EV repair which they say they must follow.
- Car must be completely de-energized, then towed to dealer to verify.
- Towed back to collision place and put on skates so the wheels to not turn and charge the battery
- Car cannot be kept inside overnight at all.
- All other cars must be 50 feet away during all repairs.
- Car towed back to dealer for charging and some other thing.
- Cannot repair aluminum panels so must replace entire rear door.
- Estimate cost was $5500 and they said they would not do it because of all the rules.

Has anyone heard of this? Is this a California thing?

No but I live in PA. Small dent removal on tube using hair dryer and canned air. Amazing. Check it out.

 

[Monke]

Looked on Ford Pass. Caliber Collision is approved by them.

They have many locations. Call around and find one who has fixed a Mach E before. Most body shops give life time warranty. One thing to keep in mind, the works of a touch up company and body shop really come down to the technician who fixes your car.

Take many pictures and videos of the whole car before and after. Be ready to file complaints with attorney general office and take the body shop (whoever you decide to go with) to a small claim court if they don't honor warranty.

 

[snowy_91]

Doors are steel, these are magnetic signs.

 

[IMDIDOC]

So my daughter put a small dent in my perfect MME. Rear passenger door while backing low speed. Hard to notice if you are not looking. Took it to my favorite collision place. They have the following rules for EV repair which they say they must follow.
- Car must be completely de-energized, then towed to dealer to verify.
- Towed back to collision place and put on skates so the wheels to not turn and charge the battery
- Car cannot be kept inside overnight at all.
- All other cars must be 50 feet away during all repairs.
- Car towed back to dealer for charging and some other thing.
- Cannot repair aluminum panels so must replace entire rear door.
- Estimate cost was $5500 and they said they would not do it because of all the rules.

Has anyone heard of this? Is this a California thing?

I had the same damage and the same cost, but from your post, mine was more extensive. Cut a corner too close with a decorative rock. The dealer's shop had no issues such as you described. They replaced the rear door and the plastic piece along the bottom edge. Find a Ford dealer with a collision shop. Your insurance cannot dictate which shop you choose.

 

[Shayne]

take the body shop (whoever you decide to go with) to a small claim court if they don't honor warranty.

That is where some retired Judge say they owe you something and then you still have to try to get it? Sounds like a waste of time and better spent elsewhere. Best to just pick right and Ford has body shops. That is where I would start.

 

[Glen Boise]

A lot of those "rules" suggest something left over from Chevy Bolt battery fire days. Did we not hear the same advice back then for them. Park the car outside, away for everything else, etc.

 

[RickMachE]

They have many locations. Call around and find one who has fixed a Mach E before. Most body shops give life time warranty. One thing to keep in mind, the works of a touch up company and body shop really come down to the technician who fixes your car.

Take many pictures and videos of the whole car before and after. Be ready to file complaints with attorney general office and take the body shop (whoever you decide to go with) to a small claim court if they don't honor warranty.

Warranty? There is no warranty on fixing dents.

 

[Mach1E]

Warranty? There is no warranty on fixing dents.

Probably talking about a paint warranty, but still……. Terrible advice.

No clue why you would go in for a repair with plans already to sue. What a horrible way to do business and live life.

 

[MurphyDog]

So my daughter put a small dent in my perfect MME. Rear passenger door while backing low speed. Hard to notice if you are not looking. Took it to my favorite collision place. They have the following rules for EV repair which they say they must follow.
- Car must be completely de-energized, then towed to dealer to verify.
- Towed back to collision place and put on skates so the wheels to not turn and charge the battery
- Car cannot be kept inside overnight at all.
- All other cars must be 50 feet away during all repairs.
- Car towed back to dealer for charging and some other thing.
- Cannot repair aluminum panels so must replace entire rear door.
- Estimate cost was $5500 and they said they would not do it because of all the rules.

Has anyone heard of this? Is this a California thing?

Look for a Caliber Collision in your area. If there are multiple, call around to see if any are Ford EV certified. One near me just did a wonderful job putting my FE back together after an accident.

 

[Fixbear]

What temp is full temp and at what temp does it become a problem? From what I have read here the ones in Arizona have tested the vehicle in high temps sitting in their driveway


They siphon the gas out and then tow it to the dealers to make sure there is no gas left in the tank. Then they tow it back. Would make sense to start at the dealers but that is just not how they do it.

And an empty tank with fumes is more dangerous that a full one.

 

[LF-X]

Had a small (1") dent in the hood from a cyclist handlebar crashing in the standing vehicle.

Repair shop wanted to repsint the hood and front fender. For around 2,000 Euro.

As cyclist wasn't insured I checked smart repair shops. They repaired it for 50 bucks without repaint. Nothing visible left of that dent. And that is in the Aluminium hood.

If body shops hear/smell insurrance job the quotes automatically seem to be higher. But 40 times is really ridiculous.

 

[Monke]

Warranty? There is no warranty on fixing dents.

The warranty usually covers paint job and whatever parts were removed and installed. If the installations were not done properly, water intrusions could happen. A friend has an MB fixed by a third party body shop, water leaks damaged taillights and control module. The work was done through USAA, so the body shop had to pay for the repair. Apparently, collision centers had to provide a warranty when working with USAA.

 

[Hammered]

Their policy is complete horse poo (made up horse poo at that). You can't magically deplete the battery and then charge it back up. They should pull their head out of their rear and learn about the HV kill switch on EVs. Each EV's HVB kill procedure is on the internet for first responders and the general public to access. It's stupidly simple.

There is a procedure to fully deplete the battery down to 0 volts for EOL disposal (to be clear, there is no coming back from this procedure). This likely falls on their insurance company with procedures written by someone who was given the task by first making sure they knew absolutely nothing at all about EVs, and then read some things on a couple news sites. To power down the HVB on EVs, there's a little disconnect next to the 12v battery located near the driver front tire. You open up the connector and then can place a lockout tagout on it. This will still keep the 12v alive for a couple days so that the doors can be opened as they're 100% electronically actuated from the outside.

All HV components have bleed resistors in them to discharge their capacitors over the course of several minutes to an hour. FDRS has a monitoring app in it to verify all components read zero voltage for safe removal of HV plugs.

As to how this works -- the BECM which turns on its "relays" to provide HV to each component gets shutdown by opening this switch. In specific I believe it disconnects the grounds so that the contactors and pre-charge relays have no possibility of closing (turning on). As such, outside of puncturing or otherwise entering the HVB case, there's no way to come into contact with the primary battery voltage. The reason ford requires verification for servicing is if a contactor is welded closed ala HVBJB failure, or the bleed resistor hasn't yet discharged the massive capacitors in the drive inverters.

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