Who Repairs Your Tesla After an Accident? Drive Accident Solutions Clues Us In
Who would you trust to repair your Tesla? In Brisbane, it is Drive Accident Solutions. When an elderly tradie (tradesperson) backed his overloaded ute into my red Tesla, it was Drive Accident Solutions who fixed her up good as new. On Saturday 26th March, the family owned business opened its workshop to a group of interested owners and generously shared their time and expertise with us.
Owners Anthony and Chris walked us around the spotless workshop and answered our many questions. I even got a one on one with mum Patricia and found we had not just a mutual interest in Teslas, but also some mutual friends.
The business is repairing 30–40 Teslas a week, mainly Model 3s. Teslas are about 50% of their business. The business was started by “Dad” many years back and has worked extensively on mild hybrids. It is a tribute to their reputation that Tesla approached them. Then they had to undertake specific training and purchase bespoke tooling. “Quite a capital investment, but worth it,” Chris tells me. Training is ongoing, mainly online.
There were other electric vehicles in the workshop and the business is constantly expanding its repertoire. Chris tells me they are expecting an e-tron later in the week and are negotiating with Chinese companies that are stepping up imports of electric vehicles in quarter 3 of this year. Safety is a major feature of workshop protocol. “No one has been zapped yet,” Anthony says.
We discussed some of the tricky aspects of repairing modern cars, such as the door handle that wouldn’t work. After all the mechanical suspects were ruled, it was finally discovered that it was a software glitch. Now it works just fine.
What about apprentices? Drive Accident Solutions employs 5 people who need to do not only EV training but also work on fossil fuel vehicles to gain their qualifications. In the workshop was a tool board full of bright shiny tools. I did not recognize any of them from my time in workshops. I was told they were specific for Volkswagens.
Drive Accident Solutions is not just about repairing big boys’ toys. They have a concern for the environment and promote the circular economy. Chris expressed his concern about the need to recycle more — particularly with vehicles.
The exciting news is: they have already received the tools to repair the Model Y. This provides concrete evidence that the Tesla SUV will be available in Australia sometime this year. The explosion of new Teslas on Brisbane roads is just beginning!
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