First week of ownership quality issues

[Margc921]

Just picked up my Model 3 last Monday in Palm Springs. The only issue I noticed at that point was some bunching/creasing of the seat fabric. The rep there took photos of it and said I could get it repaired. After about 5 days I noticed some more issues.

-The black plastic skirt is loose on both the passenger and driver side.
-The center pillar hardware cover plates on the driver and passenger side are both loose/damaged (the back of the clip is bent). -What I thought was just dirt in the edge of the wheel housing turned out to be poorly applied paint.
-The frunk is flush on one side but there is a lip on the other side. Not a major deal but I don’t want it to cause issues down the road.

I’ve also noticed a driver side rattling. It’s seem to subsided but worried it will come back.

I’ve set up a service appointment for Thursday but I have a bunch of questions.

-Will I be charged for these repairs? There is about 300 miles on car.
-What can be done about the seats, skirt, and paint issue? Just replace?
-I live an hour away from the service center and this is my only car, will these things take hours or days to resolve? I’ve heard that Tesla no longer provides loaner cars. So uber credits for an hour long drive round trip??

 

[Perscitus]

Welcome and good luck getting any or all of these resolved. Try not to worry about these minor issues too much, there will be many more in the months and years to come. Scratches, dings, chips, nicks all over the windshield, various rattles, clicks from the suspension and wheel areas, etc.

Perfect is the enemy of good and any SC visit has a high probability of introducing x issues while solving none. So tread carefully.

To answer some of your questions:

You get about $100 in uber credits a day, how far will that take you?

You will most likey not be charged (warranty and good-will repairs) for either parts or labor for these, at least on initial visits, unless something is deemed not covered by warranty.

Nowadays, Tesla sends an estimate and you have to accept it prior to the visit... typically its a CYA padded cost estimate and once all is done, your out of pocket will amount to $0.

Seats they will likely ignore as 'within spec' and you can either push for replacement and risk issues related to that and the downtime waiting on a seat/s or take care of on your own at an automotive upholstery shop or just let it be.

Skirt they will likely pop bacl into place maybe replace some clips, etc. If they end up ordering a new one, might take weeks to come in.

Paint... I wouldnt trust an SC to any of it. Good detailer and whatever they can come up with will be the best you can hope for, short or a full respray or new part (plus respray)... which will never be quite right.

All of these take anywhere between minutes to hours to complete but only if the stars align and a. parts are in stock b. your car is actively being worked on by a competent tech c. nothing else comes up or is caused by the fix.

Many on here have had a mix of same day quick issue resolution to full satisfaction and endless visits that do not resolve the issue or introduce others in the process. All down to luck. Might be hours, weeks, months or never that these get resolved.

 

[jjrandorin]

If I was you (which I am not but), I would get the issue with the skirt fixed and I would NOT do anything at all about the other things. That seat crease is very minor, and I can hardly see the paint issues on the wheel well with your arrows pointing it out. No one else will ever notice anything in that area, and if you force them to do something about it, what exactly are you expecting them to do beside slap some touch up paint on there which likely wont match 100% anyway?

I agree with @Perscitus with each of his statements. You will run down a rabbit hole on this stuff and likely end up more frustrated. Get the skirt fixed, and move on. Otherwise, you are very likely whatever "fix" the apply to it will be worse than what you have now. Even if you pushed for a replacement seat (as an example), its possible that the dye lot does not match 100% the dye lot of the seats currently in the car.

If you only have 300 miles on the car and live an hour from the SC, a 3rd of the current miles are driving home from the SC. I would see if a mobile ranger could fix the skirt issue and leave the rest alone and save a trip to the SC if I was you.

 

[needp3d-]

Seat crease is normal

 

[Margc921]

Thank’s for the advice Perscitus and Jjrandorin! I revised my appointment to only service the center pillar and the skirt. Tesla is trying to charge me $56 to replace the center pillar hardware covers. I’m going to call and ask about that. At this point I’m still within the 7 day 1K miles return period, how on earth would I need to pay for this.

 

[Perscitus]

Its likely the estimate they are now legally required to send out, check if that is the case and if they believe the cost will be covered by warranty and/or waived.
They should say yes, but still want you to accept the 'estimate' before the appointment. The same applies to any 'diagnostics' and 'verifications of customer complaints'. They will quote the labor cost but if the issue and part/s involved are covered by warranty, your cost will be $0 at pickup. Very odd way to do this but thats how it seems to work.

 

[jjrandorin]

Thank’s for the advice Perscitus and Jjrandorin! I revised my appointment to only service the center pillar and the skirt. Tesla is trying to charge me $56 to replace the center pillar hardware covers. I’m going to call and ask about that. At this point I’m still within the 7 day 1K miles return period, how on earth would I need to pay for this.

Yeah its likely just an estimate they have to send out. Simply ignore it in the app, and when you arrive to the appointment, instead of doing the full contactless drop off, grab your mask, and go talk to them (from 6+ feet away of course). I think you will find that they will be covering the center pillar item under warranty.

If they send me an estimate that has a cost attached before an appointment I have, I simply dont e-sgin it, and talk to them when I show up.

 

[Graems]

I picked up my vehicle 2 weeks ago and also had a loose plastic skirt on one side. I just pushed it back in and it hasnt come loose.

You might want to look under the lower trunk liner. On my car there were 7 strips of aluminum backed butyl damper that had not been properly pressed into place. Half of them were curled up and ready to fall off. I properly pressed them into place.