Fender Damage

[CoOlxtOny]

While cleaning my car today I've noticed a damage to my 2-month old MY passenger side fender. I've babied the car since I've had it so I"m very bummed about this. Not exactly sure when or what happened. I do not remember anything hitting my car while driving for the past few days, but it seems like something sharp pierced through the PPF I had installed and deeply scraped the fender metal.

I've scheduled an appointment with Tesla service center but the earliest appt is not until two weeks out. Anyone have an idea how much this might cost me to repair or replace? Wondering if it's better to pay out of pocket or to go though car insurance?

 

[N1L CO2]

Check your Sentry dash cam videos to see if it caught anyone standing about your vehicle recently. This looks to be, what I call, a "hater" gouge. Someone deliberately took a sharp object to the surface and gave it a good poke. There are those out there who feel entitled to cause such damage to other peoples' private property. Crap like this gets me so pissssssed off! I have a very similar scar on my p-car driver door (2 weeks into ownership). It sickens me whenever it catches my eye.

Your damage seems pretty deep and well into the primer (much like mine). You will have to decide whether or not you want to have it repaired (repaint the fender) and risk mismatch in the paint. Maybe a good painter can blend the paint well since it's pretty close to the front edge.

With that said, I didn't have the balls to repaint the door on mine because it too is a very complex metallic paint. I didn't want the look of a repainted door compared to the other panels so I touched it up as best as I can (the only way to make it look right is to repaint the whole side). Ugh! It makes me so mad again just taking about it.

In any case, I sincerely hope you find a great body shop to do the repair. Good luck with everything!

 

[Mike_TV]

Check your Sentry dash cam videos

I know a few owners that just ignore these. It's SOP for me to look for that message and review footage anytime I get into the car.

 

[CoOlxtOny]

Check your Sentry dash cam videos to see if it caught anyone standing about your vehicle recently. This looks to be, what I call, a "hater" gouge. Someone deliberately took a sharp object to the surface and gave it a good poke. There are those out there who feel entitled to cause such damage to other peoples' private property. Crap like this gets me so pissssssed off! I have a very similar scar on my p-car driver door (2 weeks into ownership). It sickens me whenever it catches my eye.

Your damage seems pretty deep and well into the primer (much like mine). You will have to decide whether or not you want to have it repaired (repaint the fender) and risk mismatch in the paint. Maybe a good painter can blend the paint well since it's pretty close to the front edge.

With that said, I didn't have the balls to repaint the door on mine because it too is a very complex metallic paint. I didn't want the look of a repainted door compared to the other panels so I touched it up as best as I can (the only way to make it look right is to repaint the whole side). Ugh! It makes me so mad again just taking about it.

In any case, I sincerely hope you find a great body shop to do the repair. Good luck with everything!

Thanks for your response. I did went through all my Sentry clips but didn't see anything. Unfortunately I did exclude Sentry mode while the car is parked in my apartment garage and at work to improve battery life (don't have home charging). Knowing that now I won't ever turn it off!

I decided to go to a body shop and have it repainted and rewrapped. Arghh I wasn't aware that color mismatch could be an issue with repainting since the body shop told me that it would look perfect like nothing has happened. I was told they worked on many Teslas though, so I hope there's no issue.

 

[N1L CO2]

Thanks for your response. I did went through all my Sentry clips but didn't see anything. Unfortunately I did exclude Sentry mode while the car is parked in my apartment garage and at work to improve battery life (don't have home charging). Knowing that now I won't ever turn it off!

I decided to go to a body shop and have it repainted and rewrapped. Arghh I wasn't aware that color mismatch could be an issue with repainting since the body shop told me that it would look perfect like nothing has happened. I was told they worked on many Teslas though, so I hope there's no issue.

Cool. As long as the body shop is confident in matching the paint, you should be ok. Make sure you let the fresh paint cure for a little while before you re-wrap though. It would be hard to do during the cold winter months. Hopefully, the body shop has a UV light/heat fixture that would accelerate the curing time.