Specialty and Electric Vehicle Repair for Tustin Owners

Nothing is disassembled on an electric or hybrid unit until the high voltage system is disabled and verified at zero. On a Rivian that means the service disconnect is pulled, the pack contactors are commanded open, and the technician waits out the capacitor bleed down before a fastener is touched. Verification happens with a rated meter and rated gloves, not by assumption, and the reading is written on the repair order alongside the time it was taken.

Isolation is a physical procedure as much as an electrical one. Orange cable runs get flagged and taped, the low voltage battery is separated so nothing wakes the vehicle mid repair, and any panel with a harness or a sensor behind it comes off by hand rather than by pry bar. Cutting or drilling blind into a rocker, a quarter or a floor pan is how a shop turns a modest dent into a pack replacement, and it is the single most common reason an EV gets refused by a general body shop and sent to us instead.

On a combustion pickup, scraping the underside on a curb or a piece of road debris is a cosmetic note. On a battery electric vehicle the pack is a stressed structural member bolted into the floor, and the skid plate in front of it is the only thing between a rock and several hundred cells. A strike gets pulled apart, measured and photographed. We look for deformation of the plate, witness marks on the pack case, coolant weeping at the plate fittings, and any change in the mounting bolt torque pattern.

That inspection is not optional and it is not something you eyeball from a creeper. Manufacturer position statements are explicit that a pack impact requires documented evaluation before the vehicle is returned, and insurers accept that line when the photos back it up. Budget $1,500 to $40,000 on an electric van or truck collision and $1,500 to $50,000 on a hybrid fleet unit, with the posted bands and labor hours on the prices page. Structural work that does reach the frame or the subframe runs $750 to $20,000 at 5 to 80 hours.

These bodies are not one metal. An R1T mixes aluminum castings, aluminum stampings, high strength steel in the safety cage, and composite closures. An electric delivery van front end is largely composite. What holds them together is the part that catches shops out: structural adhesive, self piercing rivets, flow drill screws and blind fasteners carry loads that a MIG weld would carry on a steel truck, and heat from a welder destroys the temper of the surrounding aluminum.

• Structural adhesive beads that must be removed and re laid to a specified bead width and open time
• Self piercing rivets set with the correct die and punch combination, never substituted
• Sectioning only at points the procedure allows, never at a point of convenience
• Dedicated aluminum tooling and a separate clean area so steel dust never contaminates an aluminum panel
• Corrosion protection restored at every disturbed joint, because dissimilar metals in contact will act like a battery of their own

We pull the published repair procedure for the specific unit before writing the estimate, not after. That is why our supplements tend to land the first time instead of the third.

The category covers four distinct repair profiles. Rivian R1T pickups come in for rocker, bed and gear tunnel damage, usually with a bumper cover full of radar and camera hardware. Rivian R1S SUVs bring quarter panel and liftgate work plus air suspension height sensors that have to be reset afterwards. Electric Delivery Vehicles, the EDV units running Amazon Logistics routes, arrive with composite front end damage and slider door problems from a punishing daily duty cycle. Hybrid Fleet Vehicles in municipal and utility service need pack aware body repair and upfit equipment that clears the cable runs.

Every one of these vehicles carries a sensor suite: forward radar behind the fascia, a camera cluster at the windshield, corner radar in the bumper beams, ultrasonic sensors through the covers, and on the Rivian platform a driver monitoring camera as well. Remove and install a bumper cover and the aim changes. Replace a windshield and the camera has to be taught its new position. Post repair recalibration is a line item, not a courtesy, and it runs $275 to $1,800 at 1 to 7 hours depending on how many targets the procedure demands and whether it can be done statically or needs a road sequence.

Billing is direct. We bill Tesla, Progressive, GEICO, State Farm, AAA SoCal, Mercury, Allstate, Liberty Mutual, Wawanesa, CSAA and the rest of the major carriers straight, so you are not fronting the repair and chasing reimbursement. There is no charge for insurance walk ins. Tustin owners reach the shop in about twenty minutes up the 55 to the 91, or across on the 5 and the 57, and everything happens here at the Yorba Linda facility where the lifts, the rated equipment and the paint booth are. We stand behind our work. Ready to book? Request a Quote and bring the photos.