COLLISION REPAIR CENTRES GEAR UP FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLE REPAIRS AMID SURGING DEMAND
BY MICHAEL VAVAROUTSOS
Plenty of collision repairs centres are beginning to get certified to be able to repair electric vehicles (EVs). Over the past few years, EV sales have taken off, causing significant growth both on the roads and in shops.
It is important for collision repair centres to truly understand how to repair an EV safely and successfully. To do this, shops must be properly trained and become a certified shop. EVs are quickly becoming the car of the future, and it seems like it isn’t going to be slowing down anytime soon.
Collision Repair magazine spoke with four collision repair centres to gather information on their experience repairing EVs.
PFAFF AUTOWORKS | MARKHAM, ONTARIO
Pfaff Autoworks started taking in EV repairs as soon as they started hitting Canadian roads—as early as 2012. The repair centre focuses on Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, BMW, McLaren and Tesla. The facility only repairs what they are certified to repair. The total percentage for EV repair at Pfaff Autoworks is 25 to 30 percent, with two to three percent of vehicles being off brand. “If it’s a bumper job on a Mercedes or Toyota, we’ll do it. But if they need a frame rail or have frame damage, we don’t touch it,” said Jeff Pabst, general manager of Canadian Collision at Pfaff Autoworks.
To be properly trained, Pfaff employees had to do specific manufacturer training for each of their certified brands. At first, Pabst says that there were minor struggles when they started taking in EVs, saying that it was unknown territory for them. However, once employees became familiar and comfortable with it, it began to become clear as to what needs to happen. “Focus on what you want to do. When you become certified, you must know the brands,” Pabst said.
“It’s not feasible to know 20 brands or different models or different manufacturers. You need to home in and focus on the brands that you want to specialize in. Being a jack-of-all-trades is a thing of the past in this industry.”
CSN ELITE BODY SHOP, CSN ELITE XPRESS AND OK TIRE NORTH SHORE | NORTH VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA
CSN Elite Body Shop became certified with Teslas just over two years ago in July 2022, but their experience handling EV repairs didn’t start then.
The collision repair shop also started on EV repairs as soon as zero-emissions cars came on the market. Right now, 30 percent of their repairs are just Tesla, with a small percentage of other EVs. “We’re allowed to get parts for other cars, but the ones with restrictions are the ones you have to be certified for,” said Wade Bartok, president and CEO of CSN Elite Body Shop. Bartok also says that they are still waiting to get certified by other EV companies.
“We’re on the sideline with VinFast and Rivian. They’re just waiting until there’s a bit more market. So, we’ve got the equipment and training ready to go.”
To work on the vehicles that you are certified with, Bartok agreed there is some robust training to complete beforehand. “It’s all online, so it’s up to you to do the training. There was probably over 10 hours of training, it’s mostly about safety and how to repair the cars properly,” he said.
When first taking in EVs, Bartok says that the main struggle was around change management but becoming certified really helped to tackle this. During that time, even the office administrative side had their struggles, but that also dissipated quickly.
“My advice is to embrace the change and embrace the future. EVs aren’t pulling away, it’s better to be in the game than out of the game. Make the investment, purchase the equipment, but I would say just go for it,” Bartok said.
R&S AUTO | NORTH YORK, ONTARIO
Even though R&S Auto isn’t certified with any EV automakers, they have been taking on hybrids since 2011, and have completed training for EVs as they started coming out. Employees at R&S Auto have trained themselves through a WorldPac STX training session conducted by Mark Lemay, which he holds on EVs and hybrids. Dilraj Sekhon, service advisor at R&S Auto, says that this has helped them understand how to repair these vehicles.
“Once we understood the technology, and once we did a couple of training sessions, we kind of understood that they’re exactly like hybrid vehicles. If you understand how to service a hybrid vehicle, you can understand how to service an EV,” he said. When first taking on EV repairs, Sekhon says that their shops didn’t have many struggles due to their strong understanding with hybrid vehicles. However, there were some challenges on the business side.
“We had challenges educating customers and bridging that gap and that understanding between a traditional car and an EV. Sometimes certain things are different on an EV than they traditionally would be on a regular gas car, so if we’re talking to a customer and we must explain why we have to replace a certain part or what diagnostics are involved for us to understand how we can fix this repair car and get it going again,” Sekhon said. Sekhon highly recommends taking on EV repairs. To be successful, he says that shops should get educated and embrace it with an open mind.
DON-MOR AUTOMOTIVE GROUP | LONDON, ONTARIO
Funny enough, Jeff Brown, the general manager at Don-Mor Automotive Group says that the biggest struggle faced when they first took in EVs was their staff getting used to driving them. Don-Mor Automotive Group first started taking in EV repairs in December of last year when they were first certified by Tesla, followed by VinFast. Today, around 10 percent of their total repairs are EVs, with around 20 percent having some sort of electrification.
Don-Mor Automotive Group is also certified by GM and Ford, which gives them vehicles like the Chevrolet Bolt and Ford Fusion. However, Brown says that they are more than happy to take just about anything.
“We’ll take on just about anything. Our folks went through a whole bunch of EV certification, the safety procedures and things like that. We’ve got a lot of generic equipment that’s good for it. We pursued CCC’s generic EV certification, so we’re happy to touch up pretty much anything.”
To take on EV repairs, the team at Don-Mor Automotive Group completed training programs from Tesla, CCC and I-CAR. Brown believes that the best advice he would give to collision centres taking on EV repairs is to make sure they have an EV charger.
“When we first started taking on EVS, we only had one EV charger. Now we have 10, they’re a hot commodity,” Brown said. Brown says that the maintenance of EV batteries is very important. Unlike a gas car, EVs consume battery while they sit, to keep the battery at target temperature.
