Advice Needed: Return or Wait for Potential Fixes

[grrracious]

I picked up my new Model Y last weekend and noticed several cosmetic (paint, chips, others) and a couple alignment issues. The person on the lot recommended that I take the car and schedule a service appointment to have these issues fixed. Problem is the next available appointment is not until end of the month, way past the 7 day / 100 mile period for returns. I've attached photos of the main defects. Anyone with similar experience and would you recommend returning the vehicle for a new build or waiting for the appointment to let them fix it at service center?

 

[CaliX]

All of it is fixable but the rear hatch that is a mess. If you keep it plan on it being at the SC for at least 4-6 weeks. If it was me I would return it.

 

[mnsweeps]

Return. Just curious what is the VIN sequence no?

 

[XY2B]

Return. You buy a new car to drive without worry or waste of your time in the SC.

 

[patrick40363]

return it. Tesla needs to have better quality control.

 

[P3dStealth]

If you keep it they will tell you all of that is within spec and refuse to fix it.

Tesla will do everything they can to not fix anything. This has been my experience and you will see a lot of posts about it on here. You need to return it.

 

[Hoowzer]

Return it, but may impact you if you want to reorder the same vehicle. You were probably better off if you had straight rejected it.

 

[LNL_HUTZ]

Depending on your SC, they may be able to get you in for a pre-repair inspection during your return window (I would do that through the delivery manager, making it clear that you're evaluating whether to keep the car or return it). In my case, I had a laundry list of concerns and they scheduled me for this inspection on very short notice. The tech went over them with me and confirmed, in writing, everything that would be addressed when I came back for my drop-off, which was long after the return deadline. They had a loaner MS waiting for me on the day of the appointment and, three days later, I got my car back with all the major issues remedied (new trunk hatch, new headliner, new visor, new trim clips, realigned doors).

Interestingly enough, I was told that the local SC has a few end-of-assembly-line workers on loan from Fremont right now, which is how they are able to turn cars around quickly (they seemed quite busy). Also, my trunk hatch wasn't nearly as misaligned as yours seems to be, but it actually turned out to have a stamping defect, which resulted in two noticeable creases above the driver-side taillight. The new one is smooth and much more symmetrical.

 

[NJEV-Don]

My two cents is that you should wait for another car. Unless you really need one and as much as you might be tempted to take it because you want your awesome Tesla, I think you car has far too many issues for my comfort. I wasn’t supposed to get my MY until the end of October. 5 days after I ordered mine I get a VIN and an email. Luckily I could not take it on such short the notice as I had a current vehicle to sell and Tesla offered a crappy trade in price. So I asked to be delayed until 11/01 due to the car selling problem and the fact that we were going to be away for a few weeks in October. I sold my car within a few days through Carvana (awesome experience) and got a really awesome price. It was a 2017 Toyota Prius Prime plug-in. For shits and giggles I sent my SA an email telling her I now had about a 10 day window to get the car before my trip (which is a long road trip that I wanted to use the Tesla for) and a few days later I got matched to another VIN in the high 47XXXX range. Not as high as some but not as low as the first one that was offered and I never saw. The VIN’s are assigned in wacky ways that don’t always make sense. It might be based on color and spec that they run in batches but who knows. This one was built on 9/12 which was 10 days earlier. I decided I would go for it but was prepared to reject it if it was a bad build with too many or significant issues. I even asked my detailer to come (awesome guy) to give me his eye on paint and alignment issues as a professional and who owns and PPF’s loads of Tesla’s. He said mine was in very good shape paint and fit wise. He said the small paint swirls etc were from bad dealer prep but nothing that wouldn’t be taken care of with the paint correction he does as part of PPF and Ceramic coating. The panel gaps were good. The door alignments were good. The glass and trim were good fir the most part (See below).

The only real issues I honestly had at delivery were
A bad scratch on the passenger side wood front dash. (They will replace that as noted by the service advisor)
The rear seats don’t go down most times with the buttons in the rear trunk. (A simple fix it would seem and they promised to address)
The Frunk makes what to me sound like a weird sound when it unlocks. I don’t knowing if others make this sound but it sounds “off” and I think it’s a simple adjustment. The gaps are near perfect to my eyes.
The back trim around the bottom of the rear bumper on both sides of the car isn’t very flush. (Not a huge deal and they might end up telling me it’s “within spec” but I probably wouldn’t have even noticed it if not for this forum which is both a blessing and a curse. Lol.

I was so nervous about getting one and waiting to get a car (that frankly might end up looking like yours) and be faced with having to reject it outright or accept it in my excitement and spend loads of time and energy arguing with Tesla to get everything fixed). I’m very happy with mine and have had it 11 days now and haven’t noticed anything additional. I was annoyed that the first service appointment I could get was 10/29 from 9/30 pickup. I had to change that to 11/03 because we were still going to be away. But they are minor issues. My car looks amazing with the paint correction and PPF and Ceramic Coating.

The bottom line is we all deserve to have a near perfect car from a luxury car company (the richest one) and I would be afraid your car (based on the pics) has too many issues to overcome to be anything near perfect and would take too much time and effort to get there. This is something Tesla seems to be awful at and needs to get better at especially with new competition coming up quick. Just wait if you can and you might end up getting a 2021 model or some other new upgrade etc that will make us all jealous. Good luck.

 

[raggedy]

Return.

In addition to what you note, it looks to me like the doors are a different shade of white, looking at your 5th picture.

just return it and wait for the next one. When Sandy Munroe says Tesla needs to bulldoze the Fremont paint shop and start over, he's not kidding.