I took my Model 3 in for a minor paint defect where some paint splattered down in the door gap. I only thought they were going to sand it and put some touch up paint on. Well they ended up sending it to the body shop and having the whole front panel repainted. Well that’s good service, however the collision center they had do the work used a flat red paint and not the shimmering paint Tesla uses and now I have a front fender that doesn’t match the rest of the car. Should I have them repaint the entire car? Or fix their mistake? I wish I was someone who could stand by Tesla, but their service centers are the weakest link!
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Another poor visit with Tesla Service.
- Thread starter Wknapp0924
- Start date
Take it back...ask them at a minimum to blend it.
On a side note....
From a customer perspective, I love that they go way beyond to right the various issues that have come up. I have had my share of issues on my MX and M3, each time Tesla has addressed in a prompt manner and completely rectifyied the issue(s). And thereby earning my lifetime loyalty to the car/brand.
Having said that, I am not an investor nor am I short seller—just an business observer that all these fixes do add up in costs. At what point does the business model start dictating a pullback in services. If they get to cash flow positive, I don’t have a worry. But with cash flow burn, each of these services/fixes do add up. And as volume grows exponentially, will these downstream issues reduce or grow?
Anyways, just food for thought as a consumer who has gone completely electric (cars/solar/powerwall) and wholly dependent on Tesla going forward. I keep thinking in a worse case scenario is that Tesla is now too big to fail and should funding dry up, some tech (or auto industry) white knight will come in to scoop it up.
ryanakata
Member
That is absolutely unacceptable, I would definitely take it back. The way it since currently your brand new car looks like a five year old car that had a panel repainted that doesn't match exactly. I'm sorry to hear that you had to do with this.
ryanakata
Member
The picture doesn’t really do it justice. You can tell by the fact the fender doesn’t have the dark specks in the paint like the rest of the car.
yeah it's really hard to capture the metallic aspect of the red paint in a photo. I was pretty amazed with the color when I finally saw it in person. Do not live with this. Take a closer shot across the seam and see if your camera can capture the shimmer of the individual flecks of the metallic paint.
If you can see a paint difference in a picture it will be absolutely horrendous in person. That is beyond ridiculous. What kind of body shop would even give that back to a customer? Much less back to Tesla who then also thinks it's OK and then gives it back to a customer.
That needs a repaint and I would even claim diminished value with all the paint on that fender people will think it was hit .
That needs a repaint and I would even claim diminished value with all the paint on that fender people will think it was hit .
davedavedave
Member
I would insist on a loaner car and have them take care of it - none of this was your fault, only theirs.
C141medic
Active Member
eye.surgeon
Active Member
Lesson learned. Never have a new body panel repainted unless the problem is glaring and horrible. it will never match exactly. You've allowed a minor annoyance that likely didn't even need to be fixed to be turned into a significant problem.
Whoa! Horrific--you must have it repaired. I would speak with the owner of the shop, who will probably be mortified. If he's not, you might report him to Tesla and/or ask tesla to cover the cost of another shop redoing the work. Probably a long shot on that last one, but Tesla body shops have been required to make significant investments in training in order to be certified.
Tam
Well-Known Member
Minor now becomes major!
This should have been caught by Quality Controls and it should repair that before the delivery.
Instead, you have become unpaid Quality Controls who spotted the defect.
I guess, the right thing to do at that time would be to refuse the delivery, pass the buck back to Quality Controls, and get a new replacement.
Now, it's too late so my guess is to have the incompetent body shop to repaint the whole car with a same paint!
Unless, they will be too incompetent and ran out of the same paint the middle of the job.... No. I won't even think about it!
voip-ninja
Give me some sugar baby
Additionally red is the hardest color do blend or do correction matching on.
Body shop guys work very hard to blend the paint with usually decent results but generally they can never match what the factory does when the car is painted new in a multi-coat process that uses robots.
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