Why Rich Rebuilds Is Opening A Tesla Repair Shop

Rich Benoit runs the popular YouTube channel, Rich Rebuilds, where he takes broken-down Teslas and brings them back to life. Now he and his business partner, a former parts manager at Tesla, are opening up a repair shop to help stem some of the demand for Tesla service. Tesla customers have often complained about having to wait weeks to get their cars serviced.

Benoit has been enchanted with Tesla since it introduced the Model S. He turned his curiosity into YouTube fame in 2016, cranking out videos about the cars, including how to buy, fix and mine wrecked Teslas for spare parts.

Today, his YouTube channel "Rich Rebuilds" is approaching half-a-million subscribers. The most popular episode—"Can you drown a Tesla motor?" -- has garnered 2.3 million views and counting in less than a year.

His followers frequently send payments to support his video blogging habit, and random items for his cars, home and garage. Someone sent him a life-sized poster of Elon Musk. Someone had pizza delivered to his house, which Benoit liked. On the weirder side of viral video stardom, a fan sent Benoit a puppy preserved in formaldehyde in a jar.

Eventually, he partnered with a former Tesla parts manager, Chris Salvo, who is also the owner of EV Tuning to open up their own repair shop. While they both hold down day jobs, this spring they broke ground on their "Electrified Garage" in Seabrook, New Hampshire.

"I was never thinking of opening my own shop," Benoit said. "But I'd been denied so many times by Tesla that I really started thinking there's got to be a bigger picture here, another player who can help others and get parts as well. Now that there's a place where people can go for third-party EV repair."

The Electrified Garage is getting customers who are out of warranty with their Model S's, and people who own Model 3's but can't get Tesla service centers to do work for them because they have after-market parts that negated their warranty Benoit said.

While CEO Elon Musk has long promised to ramp up the company's service in North America, Tesla is currently in a belt-tightening phase, recovering from mass layoffs and still under pressure to cut costs. Until they're ready to invest in opening more service centers, hiring more technicians and mobile service "Rangers" – who drive to the customers' door to fix their cars – there are upstarts like the Electrified Garage ready to repair, modify or rebuild.

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Why Rich Rebuilds Is Opening A Tesla Repair Shop

[sevenstargoal]

Uncle Rich is big time now. Hopefully continued success.

[darealphantom]

Good to see Rich making his hobby into something profitable

[StaticImage]

Dude, Rich... I've been following you since you were in the single thousands of subscribers. To see where you've come in such an incredibly short time, and all in the face of nothing but adversity and trouble, it's just incredible.



You're one hell of an inspiration.

[eddieberrll]

Cnbc didnt even put a link to go to his youtube page how convenient.

[xcistens]

Haha loved how Rich snuck in the "full time job" line :)

[diegosilang]

Rich Rebuild and Louis Rossman, two different guys with the same mission.

[antoniomartin]

Unk Rich making moves!! Good job, keep pushing.

[phetogokgathi]

Tesla opening up a niche market for uncle Rich. im so happy for him

[edwardprice]

They not only repair the cars, they repair the company, at the same time. Win Win !

[julienriegel]

Genius. These guys should get into some kind of franchise, train a ton of people willing to start their garage and charge them training + royalties.. they could be the Tesla Maintenance kings!

[Samcrac]

Next Rich Rebuild's Video: I Left my Full Time Job for THIS!

[sandsrealestatewest]

Rich is the MAN!!! Elon Musk needs to have a poster of Rich in HIS office...

[AgentSmith]

I hope he succeeds and expands. There's a huge lack of Tesla service/repair shops. Keep up the great work! 🤘🏻

[ndombe]

This video made my day!! Seeing a black and white dude just sharing their passion for electric cars and building something together. This is how it should be! Great example for all Americans to complement each other instead of wasting energy on what makes them different. God bless you guys! Much Love from an African living in Europe.

[lukecage]

Doing what he loves to do, proud of this brother, stay encouraged soldier

[reallrosemae]

all car manufacturers ultimate goals: to design cars that customers cannot fix themselves.

[rocnnrollbus]

I'm a diesel mechanic who has been a mechanic in some capacity for 26 years (aircraft, locomotive, tractor trailer, etc). I would love to learn how to turn wrenches on these. Keep up the good work guys.

[impalapapi]

Keep going Rich, this is only the beginning of something major, watching you for a while now and have nothing but love for what you're doing

[clarencewilliams]

Uncle Rich, young man I'm so glad to see the love and respect you're getting for your vision, hard work and the passion you show.very proud of you and your friends support.3 thumbs up!

[NHSSHINOBI]

Customer service is everything, they show so much respect for the brand