The process and cost of replacing your damaged Tesla Model 3 windshield

Getting your Tesla Model 3 windshield chipped, cracked or totally damaged can be a heartbreaking situation, getting mentally and financially prepared for coping up with this situation is important.

Marc Benton takes us his entire journey of getting his Model 3 windshield replaced which was chipped on a road trip a few weeks ago, thanks to a flying rock that hit his car’s windshield and the damaged kept spreading through the glass, creating a ‘spider’ effect.

Marc explains how he got his Model 3 windshield damaged (full video below):

On our road trip from Central California to Nashville, a rock flew up and chipped (gashed, very bad) my windshield and it started to “spider” (crack). The crack ended up running from the passenger side all the way almost to the driver side, it was BAD.

Let’s go through the list of processes that need to be taken care in order to get your Tesla Model 3 windshield replaced:

Process

1. Contact your insurance company to check if there’s a deductible on your insurance (Marc Benton was lucky enough to have ‘zero deductible’ on his in this case).
2. Ask your insurance company if they actually prefer a specific Tesla Service Center near you for the repair, if they say you can go to any shop, you now have to find the most convenient location that has better reviews, you can almost always find feedback in local Tesla Facebook groups about other Tesla owners experiences.
3. Find the nearest Tesla Service Center from the list provided on the Tesla website (this list is for the United States if you’re outside the U.S. browse the Tesla website for your country).
4. Talk to customer support at the Tesla Service Center about the availability of the part (in this case a Model 3 windshield), some owners are reporting that their store has the windshield stock readily available to replace, in Marc’s case the Tesla Service Center in Brentwood-Nashville gave two weeks time for the windshield to arrive.
5. Set an appointment date and time with Tesla and drop your Model 3 on the given time to the service center.
6. Tesla Service Center staff will give you an estimated time of repair and when you can pick up your Model 3, for the windshield it should be 1-2 days max.
7. In the meantime you will get an email from Tesla with all the digital paperwork, you will have to digitally sign the papers, so keep an eye on your inbox (no hard copies needed, welcome to the new era).
8. When your car is ready, a notification will appear on your Tesla Mobile App, saying “Your car’s service is complete and is ready to be picked up from Tesla Service during business hours”.
9. Pay your dues, pick up your car and drive away, the Tesla Model 3 windshield is now as good as new.
10. Important: When a new windshield is installed on a Tesla vehicle, the front Autopilot cameras need to be re-calibrated before you can use the Autopilot feature, so after the windshield re-install when you drive the car, the center screen will show a message saying ‘Calibration In Progress’, this would complete in several mins and then you can use the Autopilot.

Cost

Let’s look at the following table for how much it cost Marc Benton to get a new windshield for his Model 3 (costs may vary slightly, contact your local Tesla Service Center for exact pricing).

That’s an expensive windshield of course, but insurance took care for Marc’s car this time and it took him 0 dollars to get his new Model 3 windshield.

Tesla’s service is getting better with time as Marc describes in the following video that the whole process was painless, let us know about how your experience has been with Tesla service and support lately in the comments section below.

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• How not to ruin your Tesla Model 3 center console
• Tesla Model 3 achieves 5-star safety rating in every category, all NHTSA crash test videos
• Compare Tesla Model 3 exterior dimensions to several sedans and EVs
• How Tesla Autopilot Radar Technology Predicts Accidents
• Tesla Model X struck by a flying steel rod, owner thanks Elon Musk for his family’s safety