I received a quote from a Tesla approved body shop in the Denver area for a door ding, which also includes blending the pearl white paint into the perfectly good rear door. Has anyone experienced this? Car is 3 months old 
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$1500 Door Ding / Blend Pearl White Paint On Other Door?
- Thread starter Nopantz
- Start date
Sorry to see. One of the reasons we bit the bullet and went the PPF route to hopefully avoid the time and aggrevation getting fixed. Did you have Sentry on and catch the person who most likely knew they damaged your car? Maybe at least get it paid for.
groovidad
Living the Dream!
Yes. I had a Lexus, Matador Red, beautiful car. Had the car just over 5 months. Guy backed into me in a parking lot and damaged my left rear wheel well. The shop that repaired blended rear door and bumper stating that is just how it's done to make it look right. He was right. I couldn't tell anything had been repaired. Incidentally, of all the places for you to get a ding! Worst place!
I received a quote from a Tesla approved body shop in the Denver area for a door ding, which also includes blending the pearl white paint into the perfectly good rear door. Has anyone experienced this? Car is 3 months old
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Very similar door ding on my car. 1600 to fix through Tesla approved body shop. I had a low deductible so ran it through insurance.
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PPF would not have protected against that hit. Sure some softer hits but not that one. Probably need new PPF as well.
If you try to sell it, it will likely show a CarFax report that will cost you way more than $1600. Low deductibles are total waste of money because of this. I never put in for such a small claims and set all deductibles to max.
No it doesn't prevent all paint work but each ding takes it toll on the look of your car and I think the more dings you can avoid the better off you are. Sure that won't be his only one.
A good PDR guy could work out most of the dent. Some places can air brush very small areas. Wont be perfect but could become mostly unnoticeable and save you from a car fax report.
srs5694
Active Member
On my previous car (a Chevy Volt), I had a similar door ding on the rear driver-side door, and my body shop said it would cost extra because of the need to blend the color with the front door. In my case, though, the ding was much closer to the front edge of the door than what you've shown -- about 4-6 inches, at a guess. I don't recall how far away from a door edge the body shop said a ding could be and get away without blending. You might take the car to another body shop (even one that's not Tesla-approved) to get another estimate and discuss this issue. Get their rationale for blending vs. not, at a minimum. If the first shop's quote seems high, you could then take the car back to them for further discussion, with the information you glean from the second shop. You'll then have two quotes along with a rationale for why blending is or is not needed from both shops. (For this type of work, which doesn't involve major structural work or getting parts, I personally would be willing to go with a non-Tesla-approved shop, provided I was confident that they're competent; but of course that's a judgment call, and you might reasonably prefer sticking to a Tesla-approved shop even for this. I don't recall if the Model 3's door panels are steel or aluminum; if the latter, be sure the shop you use knows how to work with aluminum.)
SunCharged
Member
Doesn't matter, much. If you trade it, they will look it up for any history before they give you a number, and don't care about your receipts.
Possibly in a private sale, but given two identical cars for the same price, one has a Carfax ding (with receipts) the other does not, which would you choose? Maybe you'd choose the with a Carfax ding because price is more negotiable. A savvy buyer might ask for VIN to lookup Carfax before even coming out to look at it.
Only time it doesn't matter is if you keep it long enough that the impact is minimal or $0.
I think Carfax does differentiate between minor and major body work. But some people just want to see a "Clean Carfax" report.
Even used cars on Tesla Site, at the top level listing view now shows (car had body damage history or not).
DNorris89
Member
Hey body shop manager here I can confirm and vouch for your body shop that they will 100% have to blend into the rear door. This is standard for any adjacent panel within 6-8 inches (unless the color is flat black). Aside from the distance between the two doors, Pearl white is one of, if not the hardest colors to match correctly as there are so many different variants. So unless you want a slightly too white or too yellowish front door, let them blend the rear door. If done correctly, your eyes will never be able to pick up the difference where repairs were done.
I can confirm and vouch for your body shop that they will 100% have to blend into the rear door. This is standard for any adjacent panel within 6-8 inches (unless the color is flat black). Aside from the distance between the two doors, Pearl white is one of, if not the hardest colors to match correctly as there are so many different variants. So unless you want a slightly too white or too yellowish front door, let them blend the rear door. If done correctly, your eyes will never be able to pick up the difference where repairs were done.
DNorris89
Member
The only way the repairs would show up on a carfax is if the insurance company or body shop reports it. Some insurance companies dont report claims to carfax. Reputable body shops won't report to carfax as repairs on your personal vehicle should be private information....
I get the argument it may lower resale if it does show up on a carfax but so would not fixing the dent. I would ask your shop and insurance if they report and make an informed decision then. At the end of the day, you pay for insurance to fix things like this.
You still fix the dent !! You pay for it out of your pocket.
Insurance was intended to protect you from a major financial hit. Not for fixing door dings.
No Guarantee it will show up on Carfax. Odds are higher that it will than it won't.
5_+JqckQttqck
Active Member
I received a quote from a Tesla approved body shop in the Denver area for a door ding, which also includes blending the pearl white paint into the perfectly good rear door. Has anyone experienced this? Car is 3 months old
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I had an incident during the Christmas holidays when a SUV driver backing out of the driveway slammed into my driver side door and left a large impression and almost burnt through the PPF. Friends caught him in the act and he drove away. They got his license, car type, and colour. Filed a police report and claimed with insurance.
Long story short. The total repair quoted by Tesla and the Adjuster was ~3500 CAD. Car rental was another 6000 CAD. Hitting and running ~ 10k CAD. My insurance took care of everything once I dropped the car off at the local approved body shop.
Body shops make money.
DNorris89
Member
It comes down to OP's deductible. If its less then 500 he would be saving at least $1100. Insurance companies typically don't raise insurance rates for non at fault accidents (ie car parked and unoccupied), even if they did raise his rates, in this case, would they raise it $1100 over 6 months? Probably not. Just my .02
Sorry we got a little off topic it appears. Long story short, any reputable body shop will need to blend into the rear door on your car due to the color and distance from the rear door regardless of how OP decides to pay for it. Hope this helps
My reply was not to the OP.
I also said nothing about raising insurance rates. It's getting dinged with a possible Carfax report that can cost you big bucks.
And last I looked low deductibles are not free. Two expensive cars, over the years. I've already saved $1000's.
I'd still be ahead if I had to pay out for a $2000 repair.
Insurance companies make money based on statistics.
Statistically, you are better off insuring yourself. And reserve insurance for major claims and liability, not for door dings.
Oh, and if you change insurance companies, you may also get another hit if you've put in a claim in the last 3 years (doesn't matter how much or who's fault it was).
And if they did raise rates, why would it only apply to 6 months? It could be higher rates for years.
Just my .01 (because in the long term my suggestion is cheaper than yours).
calidreamz808
Member
dang that sucks. I would probably shed an anger tear or two over it. It makes me wonder with all these Sentry videos etc, that by now we would be seeing civil suits of Tesla owners getting recourse in getting those items repaired. Anyone see an instance of these videos actually being useful in hunting down hit and run scenarios? I've not seen any.
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