Had to reject delivery

[HopeToGolf]

Unfortunately, today I rejected the delivery of my MSM, LR, PUP, EAP, 19’ wheels. 19XXX VIN

First off, this car is beautiful in person and up close.

Most of the vehicle looked good. They had to clean up a number of areas with excess wax(?) and areas that looked smudged. However, the hood had a number of light scratches and the front had what I call a paint drip. I’m pretty annoyed at waiting so long for this car and then at delivery they either missed these items, hoped I wouldn’t notice it or hoped I would take the car. The sad part is I almost handed them the check in exchange for a promise to fix it later. You can’t see the scratches unless you are looking closely but I would have looked at that paint drip every time I saw the front of the car. That said, instead of rejecting the car outright, I agreed to paint correction. I hope I made the right call. I keep cars for the long haul so I’m hoping this decision does not result in a diminished value.

Pretty weak for almost $60K.

They said the car will be ready in a week.

I have a 2018 Model S 75D as a loaner. The funny thing is I get the car home and the charging door won’t open. I had to use my thumbnail to open it. I think somehow it got misaligned. Clearly issues are not unique to the Model 3.

View attachment 308171

Update:

I took delivery tonight.

Apparently it took 10 minutes to remove what I call a paint drip (but they had some name for it). A "skilled" body shop person handled it and I did not see any evidence of a repair but I will take a closer look tomorrow. They did not have to repaint the car. The scratches were gone. The drive home was great.

On a different note, dare I say it, I think I prefer the 3 to the S loaner. The 75D S felt much faster but it felt like driving a boat. The 3 was more comfortable to drive.

 

[CuriousM3]

Fix without repaint is good news , enjoy your model 3

 

[Gargantuar]

I tend to worry a bit when a car is new, for dents or scratches, but my wife said she will key our 3 (very lightly, using a key from a Honda) so that I stop agonizing about it
On a serious note, it would be nice if the car is close to perfect on delivery, I intend to be a relentless ambassador

 

[CuriousM3]

Car should be perfect, my theory is Model S owners tend to not care as much bc a lot lease them now since that option is available to them. Model 3 having no lease option , all of us are purchasing them, so any defect hits us more on depreciation.

Update for me , car still had some non painted parts damage from dissemble at the body shop that needs to be replaced, so they told me to come back when it’s ready. Paint looks fine at first pass , but will closely check it again. They missed one spot in the door sill, which isn’t too important but annoying since it was called out from day one at the Delivery center. Service people said was one of the more detailed owners. Picky or not , that should not be an excuse for putting out less than perfect cars

 

[towndrunk]

I have a 240 mile drive to pick up my M3, possibly this December, usually not a fun drive in ND/MN.

If I noticed something like you guys described, I'm not sure what i would have done.

 

[CuriousM3]

Yeah, that would be tough to travel so far, but luckily some are defect free, seems to be a range, some paint finish good, others are correctable with a good detailer, and some are beyond that, and some owners dont mind the defect

 

[DvPerron]

Help

We received a vin and the day came to pick up our model 3. On the way to pick it up they called and said there was a smell issue. Ok they changed a door gasket but parking the car they damaged the rear quarter panel. We do not want a repaired car. We feel we paid for a new car. Getting very spotty communication. We cannot get a replacement vin and don't get calls bad. I love this car and get sadder by the day. I only have a short time left and with no communication I have to cancel.

Any.managers seeing this please help. I'm such a huge Tesla fan

Dan in Hawaii

 

[Sonny Daze]

I surprisingly happened past a body shop with numerous Teslas in the lot. I noticed a Model 3 so I pulled in. There turned out to be 7 Model 3s in the lot. Only 2 of the cars had tags so I assumed the rest were getting pre-delivery repairs. The ones without tags appeared to have either bumper cover damage or, even more troubling, repairs to the rear right fender. Looks like cars are being damaged in transport.

 

[Trevor B]

Help

We received a vin and the day came to pick up our model 3. On the way to pick it up they called and said there was a smell issue. Ok they changed a door gasket but parking the car they damaged the rear quarter panel. We do not want a repaired car. We feel we paid for a new car. Getting very spotty communication. We cannot get a replacement vin and don't get calls bad. I love this car and get sadder by the day. I only have a short time left and with no communication I have to cancel.

Any.managers seeing this please help. I'm such a huge Tesla fan

Dan in Hawaii

Not sure if this forum is the best way to reach Tesla.

You might try tweeting Elon, but he's having a giant meltdown (again)

 

[Pied]

I surprisingly happened past a body shop with numerous Teslas in the lot. I noticed a Model 3 so I pulled in. There turned out to be 7 Model 3s in the lot. Only 2 of the cars had tags so I assumed the rest were getting pre-delivery repairs. The ones without tags appeared to have either bumper cover damage or, even more troubling, repairs to the rear right fender. Looks like cars are being damaged in transport.

This is pretty common. Dealers will repair the car before putting them on the lot, so you will actually never know what kind of damage there was.

 

[Uncle Paul]

Just for the heck of it I took a ride up to my local Chrysler/Jeep dealership and also the Ford Dealership.

I took a careful look at the paint finishes and panel gaps of a bunch of the cars in the showroom and on the lot.

I saw lots of scratches, tons of orange peal, significant panel gaps and truly feel that the finishes on most of the Tesla I have looked at are superior in many ways to those competitive vehicles.

Some of the higher end, extra cost finishes were indeed better than the base price paint, but they mostly all had issues if you looked close enough.

Had to remember that these are production vehicles, not show car finishes.

Biggest issues I saw was panel to panel differences, with rampant orange peel on the Fords. Many of the bumpers looked slightly different than the metal panels.

 

[Marks23]

I surprisingly happened past a body shop with numerous Teslas in the lot. I noticed a Model 3 so I pulled in. There turned out to be 7 Model 3s in the lot. Only 2 of the cars had tags so I assumed the rest were getting pre-delivery repairs. The ones without tags appeared to have either bumper cover damage or, even more troubling, repairs to the rear right fender. Looks like cars are being damaged in transport.

I found out less than 24 hours before I was to pick up car that my fully paid up car was damaged in transport. Service center informs me that dented hood needs to go to body shop but I don’t think I want to accept a damaged vehicle. Will be contacting service center tomorrow to reject and see where it goes from there.

 

[derkan]

Hey - I am planning on getting my M3 ceramic coated right after delivery. Should I be MORE concerned about paint imperfections or LESS during delivery?

 

[Jtse818]

I took delivery yesterday despite the car having quite scratches (some on the rear mirrors are quite bad). I thought about r4jecting delivery but I really need the car and not sure what the delay will be like. They took photos of all the scratches and said some one will contact me for service appt. Anyone else has their car detailed after delivery? Do they do a good job? For a car that is over $50k I am really disappointed they didn’t do a better job at protecting it.