EV Repairs?

[Anonymous]

This may be a stupid question, but where do you get EVs (not Tesla) repaired? I will be in the market for a new care in 12 months or less and would love to get an EV. But where do you get them repaired? The dealer?

[Anonymous]

I have a mustang mach e. Bought the ford warranty online for a big discount so I will be going there if I need a repair. Haven’t needed one yet. I get maintenance done at the dealership which is basically $25 a year for a tire rotation.

[Anonymous]

Most independent shops don’t even want a EV inside their bays, with the fire risk being what it is. Their insurance might not even allow it. When I did renewal last fall, my underwriter specifically asked me how many EV’s I worked on per month, what type of service, and if the work involved crash damage or battery replacement. I don’t do any work on them, so for me nothing changed. But I can foresee shops that do EV work adding surcharges or raising prices.

In the future I think mostly you’re going to be stuck with dealership service departments, because they’ll be the only ones willing to take the risk of having EV’s in their bays.

Doesn’t affect me. I’ll always have ICE cars to work on until I retire.

[Anonymous]

Right now the dealer is your best bet but I wouldn't expect any repairs or maintenance on an EV for at least the first 15 years of its life.

[Anonymous]

Have a Tesla for the past two years. If you have any issues they will either do it by computer, come to you to repair it, or do it at the dealer. I had one minor issue with my navigation and they fixed it at the dealer for no charge. I did pay to have my tires rotated. Got that done at the dealer but could have gotten it done elsewhere. Had to get a window replaced (broken by rock on interstate) and got it done at a regular glass place. PP who says places won't take EVs is wrong, at least for those kinds of repairs. In my experience there are really almost no repairs to be done in the normal course of the first few years of use.

[Anonymous]

Have Nissan leaf. Tire stuff at a local tire shop, inspection at a small local repair place, recall stuff at dealer.

[Anonymous]

Took our EV to a non-dealer body shop after someone hit us a few years ago; the problem at the time was finding a shop that didn't have a months-long wait, not EV-specific.

I had the tires replaced at a local garage where I take my ICE car (after having several flats fixed there/punctures plugged from nails that the lousy stock tires were constantly picking up).

Haven't needed other repairs except for (a) specific recalls that only the dealer can do or (b) regularly scheduled maintenance that I had done during the recall appointments. Next time I need to change the air filter, I'll probably do it myself, since the dealership charged $250 for it. It doesn't have a huge amount of mechanical parts, compared to an ICE car, so I don't anticipate much, either.