Tesla rebuilder, owner of Rich Rebuild's YouTube channel, opening store
Rich Benoit has been enchanted with Tesla electric vehicles since the company first rolled out its flagship sedan, the Model S. The IT manager transformed his curiosity into YouTube fame in 2016, and exclaimed videos about the cars, including how to buy, fix and destroy Teslas for spare parts.
"The reason I started my YouTube channel was to demystify Tesla in general. So I bought a Tesla Model S a few years ago, and I started taking it apart to see if I could put it back together "Today, his channel" Rich Rebuilds "is approaching 500,000 subscribers. The most popular episode," Can you drown a Tesla engine? "has received 2.3 million views in less than a year.
Dubbing him "Dr. Frankenstein of Teslas ", often sends his successors payments to support his video blogging habit, as well as random items for his cars, home and garage. 1[ads1]9659003] He has received custom car parts such as lug nuts, door handles, mats, as well as air fresheners, cleaners and more "Someone sent him a lifestyle poster by Elon Musk. Someone had pizza delivered to his house, which Benoit liked. On the other side of the virus video star, a fan sent Benoit a puppy preserved in formaldehyde in a jar.
Over the years, Benoit said successors still came to ask where to get a good deal on a replacement part or offer to pay him to repair their cars when Tesla service centers could not or would not do so.
In the winter of 2018, Benoit co-ordinated with a former party manager for Tesla, Chris Salvo, to open up his own workshop Salvo is also the founder of EV Tuning, an online store that sells parts and accessories to owners of electrics
While they both had day jobs, they broke in the spring at their electrified garage in Seabrook, New Hampshire.
"I never thought about opening my own store," Benoit said. "But I had been denied so many times by Tesla that I really started thinking there must be a bigger picture here, another player who can help others and get parts too. Now it's a place where people can go to third party EV repair. "
The typical customers have their own model S cars out of warranty or model 3 with aftermarket parts that have invalidated their warranties so they can't get Tesla to work for them, according to Benoit and Salvo. 19659010] Chris Salvo and Rich Benoit are the founders of the electrified garage.
Magdalena Petrova | CNBC
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has long promised to throw up the company's service in North America.
In July 2018, he spoke: "Tesla body stores are rushing up. The purpose of going from 30 days of external body repair shops to the same day's body repair with cold parts at Tesla service centers."
But Tesla is currently in a belt tensioning phase, which recovers from mass layoffs and remains under pressure to reduce costs. So it's not clear when the company can do good on Musk's promises. This week, CEO Tesla told service skeptics on Twitter, "we are ripping up service centers and Tesla mobile service worldwide."
Until several service centers are open, or Tesla adds capacity and technicians, including "Rangers" – who drive to their customers' door to fix their cars – startup as the electrified garage is ready to repair, modify or rebuild.
