Communicating With A Shop

As a previous shop owner, let me give you some advice on communicating with a shop. Generally, shops are very busy and worked extremely hard. For that reason, shops and shop owners really value their time. It is in your best interest to show respect and appreciation for their time, while at the same time stating your expectations. The way you can show an appreciation for their time is by doing some research on your own and knowing specifically what work you’re looking to have completed. Excessive back and forth emails are a great way to have a shop lose interest in working with you, or to have them forget or make mistakes down the road. Here is a rough template:

Hello XXXX Shop,

I have a Tesla Model 3 and am looking to install the following parts in the next 6 weeks or sooner (generally don’t bother contacting any earlier than 6 weeks in advance unless the shop is extremely busy):

XXXX

and

XXXX.

If you could please give me a quote that would be great.

I know your time is valuable but I’d like to drop by and have a quick visit to see your location and setup an appointment for installation. I’m looking for a competent, trustworthy shop to bring my business for these upgrades as well as future ones. My car is very dear to me and I want to make sure it is well taken care of. I also understand you’re all busy so I will not take much of your time.

From that point on, if the shop doesn’t respond or doesn’t seem interested in showing you their location, you most likely have your answer on whether you want to deal with them or not.

If they do respond and you end up setting up an appointment, it’s best to not send a ton of back and forth emails but rather to collect all of your questions for one email to send shortly before your appointment. Many emails, especially ones sent well before your appointment, will likely not be remembered or sent to the technician when installation time rolls around. However, one organized and coherent list of questions or requests (it is even better is to print out and leave it on your dash if there are specific concerns or requests – I.E. to use jack pucks) will almost always get through.

Hopefully this helps!