Dealing with body damage

[Plugsuvohio]

Well I got this surprise as I came from Sunday am breakfast today. It could not have been a car accident. This was vandalism and probably a statement about the car. 3000 miles. All was factory perfect. Film too. I don't know where to start dealing with this.

 

[ba2002]

Well I got this surprise as I came from Sunday am breakfast today. It could not have been a car accident. This was vandalism and probably a statement about the car. 3000 miles. All was factory perfect. Film too. I don't know where to start dealing with this.View attachment 200687

I don't have any helpful advice for you - but as someone who has had a car vandalized before:

How. Incredibly. Annoying.

 

[Reekdog]

Looks like something a paintless dent removal pro could take care of. I've seen worse damage corrected for a fraction of the cost of body shop prices... Search this forum for threads with examples they may have a link to a good one in your area.

Here's a link that shows what a PDR pro can do. Paintless dent repair

 

[JPP]

...can you say 'dash cam'??

 

[Chopr147]

If that was vandalism I would be out of my mind furious. I know it's just a car but heartbreaking still. Sorry to see. Try a strong suction cup first. I'm not kidding It does work sometimes. Fixed a friends Suburban like that though there will still be some form of evidence behind, stretched plastic etc..

Industrial Suction Cup S-17535 - Uline

 

[Plugsuvohio]

Looks like something a paintless dent removal pro could take care of. I've seen worse damage corrected for a fraction of the cost of body shop prices... Search this forum for threads with examples they may have a link to a good one in your area.

Here's a link that shows what a PDR pro can do. Paintless dent repair

Thanks, I'm hoping that can be done. But I need to make phone calls to insurance, probably drive to the Tesla garage to understand that I need to do from warrantee standpoint, let alone look for places and recommendations who to trust with this. It was all I could do to hold my temper in front of my 7 year old grandaughter in a full parking lot of cars. I've no idea if there may have been a security camera around, anyone noticing, or whether to bother calling police. I was 150 miles from home and needed to get on the road back. When I did get home, I was able to get to a Harbor Freight before it closed for Sunday night, and picked up a couple of their suction cup dent removal devices. No joy on that, they were simply not going to hold tight enough on the uneven surface. But I do think that this area with the dent is plastic vs aluminum. Its very flexible. If I could see a way to get behind it, i thought I could simply push it back out. Again, not sure I should be taking apart my frunk.

 

[Sri Kooturu]

Thanks, I'm hoping that can be done. But I need to make phone calls to insurance, probably drive to the Tesla garage to understand that I need to do from warrantee standpoint, let alone look for places and recommendations who to trust with this. It was all I could do to hold my temper in front of my 7 year old grandaughter in a full parking lot of cars. I've no idea if there may have been a security camera around, anyone noticing, or whether to bother calling police. I was 150 miles from home and needed to get on the road back. When I did get home, I was able to get to a Harbor Freight before it closed for Sunday night, and picked up a couple of their suction cup dent removal devices. No joy on that, they were simply not going to hold tight enough on the uneven surface. But I do think that this area with the dent is plastic vs aluminum. Its very flexible. If I could see a way to get behind it, i thought I could simply push it back out. Again, not sure I should be taking apart my frunk.

I've has such a thingreat on my leaf in a parking lot. it was disappointing .
What I have done might help you.
Try to find if you can access behind the bumper. if yes pour hot water and press it outo from inside. there are YouTube videos on that. Works without loss of paint.
Good luck

 

[FarmerDave]

Well I got this surprise as I came from Sunday am breakfast today. It could not have been a car accident. This was vandalism and probably a statement about the car. 3000 miles. All was factory perfect. Film too. I don't know where to start dealing with this.View attachment 200687

A wild shopping cart can do that, especially if a kid is riding it (previous experience).

 

[nuevodesi]

Well I got this surprise as I came from Sunday am breakfast today. It could not have been a car accident. This was vandalism and probably a statement about the car. 3000 miles. All was factory perfect. Film too. I don't know where to start dealing with this.View attachment 200687

Very sorry to hear that.

I can share the frustration. My MX got rear ended in a school zone by a large ICE Truck driven by a student on the first morning after a late night delivery of my MX. Bodyshop tells me that the wait to get the Tailgate and other parts from Tesla, could be 6 weeks or more.

I cannot offer any advise on how to fix the large dent. You seem to be on the right track with taking with Insurance. I suggest that you also do a police report as well not knowing if it is possible now and also being so far away from home.

 

[ModelX]

Nuevodesi, I can not even imagine how frustrating that must be!

 

[Chopr147]

An addition to morons damaging others hard earned Tesla's. Went into Rite Aid Thursday morning. I usually park away from other cars if possible but the parking lot was full. So i figure I'll be in and out quickly and park next to a Honda Pilot with enough room for the doors (I thought)
Well, I come back out, the Honda is gone and I have a ding in my passenger side door. I was out of my mind furious! My S is 2 months old and has been cleaned a dozen times already I went back to my dashcam and tried to get a plate# but it is fuzzy. What am I going to do anyway? So now every time I walk to my car I see this ding and am angry all over again. I waxed off the scratch but the ding is here to stay

 

[HQHQ]

An addition to morons damaging others hard earned Tesla's. Went into Rite Aid Thursday morning. I usually park away from other cars if possible but the parking lot was full. So i figure I'll be in and out quickly and park next to a Honda Pilot with enough room for the doors (I thought)
Well, I come back out, the Honda is gone and I have a ding in my passenger side door. I was out of my mind furious! My S is 2 months old and has been cleaned a dozen times already I went back to my dashcam and tried to get a plate# but it is fuzzy. What am I going to do anyway? So now every time I walk to my car I see this ding and am angry all over again. I waxed off the scratch but the ding is here to stay

Any good suggestion/recommendation to install a dash cam. I have a Model X. How much? Any pro installation place?

 

[Chopr147]

There is a long thread on it here. Check it out. The Blackvue seems to be the popular choice. I love it. It is small, quality, easy to use and install. The APP. is also reliable. On my video I may be able to get a plate number when I upload it to my computer , jusyt have not had the time yet.

 

[bhzmark]

Thanks, I'm hoping that can be done. But I need to make phone calls to insurance, probably drive to the Tesla garage to understand that I need to do from warrantee standpoint, let alone look for places and recommendations who to trust with this. It was all I could do to hold my temper in front of my 7 year old grandaughter in a full parking lot of cars. I've no idea if there may have been a security camera around, anyone noticing, or whether to bother calling police. I was 150 miles from home and needed to get on the road back. When I did get home, I was able to get to a Harbor Freight before it closed for Sunday night, and picked up a couple of their suction cup dent removal devices. No joy on that, they were simply not going to hold tight enough on the uneven surface. But I do think that this area with the dent is plastic vs aluminum. Its very flexible. If I could see a way to get behind it, i thought I could simply push it back out. Again, not sure I should be taking apart my frunk.

You could do all that running around and calling insuranve and Tesla etc, or just take it to a paintless debt repair place pay a couple hundred to get fixed and get on with your life. Depends on how much you value your time.

 

[Reekdog]

An addition to morons damaging others hard earned Tesla's. Went into Rite Aid Thursday morning. I usually park away from other cars if possible but the parking lot was full. So i figure I'll be in and out quickly and park next to a Honda Pilot with enough room for the doors (I thought)
Well, I come back out, the Honda is gone and I have a ding in my passenger side door. I was out of my mind furious! My S is 2 months old and has been cleaned a dozen times already I went back to my dashcam and tried to get a plate# but it is fuzzy. What am I going to do anyway? So now every time I walk to my car I see this ding and am angry all over again. I waxed off the scratch but the ding is here to stay

Paintless dent removal... Give it a try

 

[Plugsuvohio]

Well here is the result of how I handled this.
Went to Tesla authorized body shop, about 1 hour away. Interesting helpful conversations with the manager who stayed late as I was stuck in rush hour traffic. Estimate after inspecting it was that it might not need paint but they wanted to be conservative, plus Xpel replacement was his plan in that case. $2,337

My insurance agent assured me it would be covered, and as comprehensive damage, $1,000 deductible.

Then a local body and custom shop in business 30 years near me. First warned me, and showed examples, that repainting if needed will never look the same as body due to it being plastic vs metal. I told him not to include replacement of Xpel which I would handle afterwards. $805 If I included the film replacement based on the other shop's sublet $1,621 total He was also willing to try and just pop it out which he felt had a good chance of working but no guarantees. $50

Very frustrated and still worried about warrantee, sensors and the unknown, went to the Tesla service center. They confirmed the first place was where they would send this. But they also helped me understand that there would be no problem with sensors with this facia, if it were simply popped out and warranty is not at all at risk. They showed me where the fasteners were (hard to see) in the forward wheel well, and were pretty certain I could get my hand back behind the damage to work it. I went home.

After gathering suction cups, heat gun, cold water to rapid cool, I got my arm in there. Not easy and my arm got pretty scratched up because I did not totally remove the liner. Here is the before and after. Surprisingly good, but you can still feel the ridges which were at the perimeter of the dent. I'll take it for now.

 

[Galve2000]

Well here is the result of how I handled this.

After gathering suction cups, heat gun, cold water to rapid cool, I got my arm in there. Not easy and my arm got pretty scratched up because I did not totally remove the liner. Here is the before and after. Surprisingly good, but you can still feel the ridges which were at the perimeter of the dent. I'll take it for now.

Looks really good actually!

 

[bushburner]

that looks really good. So would you say the model X paint is very durable? and what was the process in terms of the tools used? heat, suction and then cool water?

 

[K-MTG]

I am curious if the car alarm went off

 

[Solarman004]

After gathering suction cups, heat gun, cold water to rapid cool, I got my arm in there. Not easy and my arm got pretty scratched up because I did not totally remove the liner. Here is the before and after. Surprisingly good, but you can still feel the ridges which were at the perimeter of the dent. I'll take it for now.

That looks excellent! Nice job.