11 issues on new car - Tesla SC quotes almost $700 to fix 7 of them?

[devilmountain]

I don't remember any brand sending a quote BEFORE they look at it and asking you to "accept" it.

I worked at a dealer in the early 90s; all dealers do this. The work has to be quoted just in case you caused the damage. I remember people getting angry when they got the estimate. It was always covered. I had some warranty issues with another car three years ago, the same thing. I received a quote.

 

[clydeiii]

Just as another data point here, I had warranty work done recently (glovebox stuck). They sent me the same docs mentioned above, but the cost for the work was all 0 prior to signing.

 

[dchobo]

Just wanted to post a follow-up to my 11 issues...

On Monday morning, I went to Fremont SC at my appointment time. Check-in is quick. Pulled up into the bay and the Service Advisor showed up right away.

The "$700" estimate is just that - estimates. He then went over the car, item by item:

They agreed to fix 7 out of the 11 issues as "DUE BILL" items (whatever that means vs WARRANTY fixes?):

Driver's side rear door, chrome trim not aligned at B pillar. - YES to be fixed
Paint pimple on passenger side rear quarter panel. - YES to be fixed
Creases on fabric of passenger side headliner frame. - YES replace the cover
Passenger side frame cover at headliner loose, not aligned. - YES replace the cover
Dent/scratch on trunk inside plastic cover near latch. - YES, replace
Front Passenger side door handle not flushed with door body. - NO fix. "Normal".
Paint clear coat issue near C pillar near passenger rear door. - YES to be fixed
Front Passenger side triangular chrome piece (for autopilot) (near wheel / A pillar) not fitted fully in. - NO fix. "Normal".
Rattle (intermittent) in front driver side dash. - YES, to add padding inside
Front passenger side speaker (near A pillar) not align to door frame. - NO fix. "Normal".
Rubber seals at all top corners of BOTH rear doors are loose and not sealed properly - NO fix."Normal".

Service Advisor did ask whether I found these issues within 3 days and I said absolutely. I didn't have to sign anything.

Car is now still in the shop. Day #3. They said it needs to go to body shop for the paint work. Expect to come back day #5.

Communications is sparse, just 2 texts so far.

No loaner available, but I did see one dusty Model S on the lot in the loaner return square.

Uber voucher $100/day - I got $300 for the first 3 days, then another $400 when they need to keep it for aother few days.

A word about Uber voucher: the credit cannot be used on tips, UberEats (I thought I was going to get free meals everyday... LOL!).
Make sure it's activated while you're at the service center, and that the voucher is the payment type selected before you call the ride. (I had a ride charged to Visa, so I'm not sure if it's my fault or an app error. Reported to Uber)

In any case, just hoping my karma credits is enough to get me a "clean" no-isssue M3 on Friday....

 

[cwerdna]

I don't remember any brand sending a quote BEFORE they look at it and asking you to "accept" it.

Yep. In my many years of Toyota and Nissan ownership, the estimate for warranty work (if not always) is almost always N/C. They don't up front quote a diagnostic fee. And, in the end, unless it's something my fault or out of warranty, I don't get charged either.

 

[hocr]

Wish you luck. Surprised you need a body shop for the paint issues. Seems minor

 

[tvad]

"Rubber seals at all top corners of BOTH rear doors are loose and not sealed properly - NO fix."Normal".

If the photo below is the issue you're referring to, then it's definitely not normal, but it is common.

We received a mobile service call to fix ours. I watched the technician. It took him 10 minutes.

You can easily correct this yourself. The seals are pressure fit. No adhesive. Simply pull them away from the door frame from top corner to top corner and re-seat them by gently stretching them away from the corners, thus removing the bump. The bumps may not go away completely. In our case, one went away totally, and the other was 90% better.

 

[AdamVIP]

Don’t even need to call Tesla. I can answer. It’s just an estimate. If the warranty covers it and it does, the final bill will reflect $0. I just went through this but this is them improving their processes. They invoice all work now in warranty or not.

That's a dumb way to do it. All it does is get people fired up. Plus some repairs on the invoice are 0 and some aren't leading you to believe that they have made determinations. You don't agree to a price before they have determined it to be warranty or not.

 

[dchobo]

...
You can easily correct this yourself. The seals are pressure fit. No adhesive. Simply pull them away from the door frame from top corner to top corner and re-seat them by gently stretching them away from the corners, thus removing the bump. The bumps may not go away completely. In our case, one went away totally, and the other was 90% better.

Thank you for your suggestion!
Yes I was referring to the rubber seals around the door frames. I'll try the fix myself when I get the car back.

 

[JayNJ]

Here are the 9 pictures for 9 of the issues.
The paint pimple and blemish are hard to see on the pictures.
The door handle alignment is slightly off and hard to tell from the picture.
I don't have picture on the front speaker alignment issue, nor the rattle issue.

The only issue I see is door alignment. The scratch in the trunk, will be beat to hell in a month anyway.

 

[Rothgarr]

Here are the 9 pictures for 9 of the issues.
The paint pimple and blemish are hard to see on the pictures.
The door handle alignment is slightly off and hard to tell from the picture.
I don't have picture on the front speaker alignment issue, nor the rattle issue.

I tried looking at the pictures without comparing them to your punch list. I could only find issues in three of the pictures...

 

[Bill Foster]

That's a dumb way to do it. All it does is get people fired up. Plus some repairs on the invoice are 0 and some aren't leading you to believe that they have made determinations. You don't agree to a price before they have determined it to be warranty or not.

The idea is to protect the shop from a customer messing with something the tech diagnoses it as not warranty and the customer then says they dont want it fixed. the tech has spent about an hour (or more) trying to figure out what is going on, Tesla won't pay for that

 

[dchobo]

Just want to give an update to my issues on the car...

First, thanks all for your feedback - I think this is a great online community!

Fremont Service Center. In: 10/14, Out: 10/22. Cost: FREE

5 out of 7 days were in the body shop. FYI for those using Fremont SC, it was sent to Brooks Body Shop. Another choice they use is Service King. (Service advisor said the car actually came back earlier but he noticed "quality issue" so he sent it back.)

Communications is sparse. 5 out of 6 times I have to call/text him for updates. He thought the system will automatically update me via email/text but I said no, the app status is shown in such small dark font. He said he will improve. Nice guy overall.

Driver's side rear door, chrome trim not aligned at B pillar. - FIXED - Not perfect, but acceptable. See before & after pics attached.
Paint pimple on passenger side rear quarter panel. - FIXED by body shop
Creases on fabric of passenger side headliner frame. - FIXED (replaced)
Passenger side frame cover at headliner loose, not aligned. - FIXED (replaced)
Dent/scratch on trunk inside plastic cover near latch. - FIXED (replaced)
Paint clear coat issue near C pillar near passenger rear door. - FIXED by body shop
Rattle (intermittent) in front driver side dash. - FIXED - padding added under the front-most dash piece (speaker grille) - seems to be good so far

Glad that they took care of the issues & even happier to have the car back!

Now... on to the next issue - WIND NOISE! LOL!

 

[tvad]

^ Good results. Particularly pleased they fixed the front driver dash rattle because selfishly it applies to us, and gives us hope it can be eliminated.

 

[Fernand]

Wind noise? Did you know that driving at 75 you use twice as much energy as driving at 65? Or something like that. Any suggestion in this for the wind noise issue?

 

[dchobo]

Wind noise? Did you know that driving at 75 you use twice as much energy as driving at 65? Or something like that. Any suggestion in this for the wind noise issue?

Yes mostly whooshing wind noise on the outside... there's plenty of threads on this.

 

[dchobo]

...
Rattle (intermittent) in front driver side dash. - FIXED - padding added under the front-most dash piece (speaker grille) - seems to be good so far

The rattle returned on the front passenger side ... I think the SC may have added padding only to the driver side but not the passenger side...

Anyone knows how to remove the speaker grille (the front most part of the dash)?
Is it an easy DIY?

thanks

 

[Ptheven]

My headliner did that and somehow fixed itself ...

Problems that go away by themselves also come back by themselves.

 

[SoManyM3s]

Both my rear door seals have similar issues. I didn't even think to mention it to be fixed because I was so happy to just get the car. In any case, good to know that its within spec (doesn't seem to be an important piece anyways).
Dont try the rubber seal around moonroof to reduce wind noise. Its BS and no humanly noticeable difference

 

[Fernand]

When the quarter panel window trunk break-in was the rage (apparently they nailed a few of the more organized thieves) I would always just keep the back seats down. When I started driving with the seats normal, the cabin noise was cut in half.

Still, the idea of adding more weather stripping on the doors and trunk seems like it might tighten things up. I like the way people say the door closure is more satisfying, more Lexurious. The pre-made kit is significantly marked up, I like cheap, and generic weather stripping by the yard is inexpensive. Anybody experimented with those?