Had to reject delivery

[vinnie97]

I echo CuriousM3. OP made a wise decision. I accepted a vehicle with a paint chip, which was a huge mistake. After 2 attempts at the contracted Service King and tons of blemishes in the paint, I'm now having a highly regarded wrapper/detailer team itemize the issues and use a body shop of their preference to get it (closer to) right the third time. I'm at the end of week 5 AND without a loaner or a spare vehicle since I'm having the work done outside of the service center's purview.

I should have waited to sell my previous car until after I was happy with delivery of the new one because this made me feel rushed to accept.

 

[AviP]

I echo CuriousM3. OP made a wise decision.
.......
I should have waited to sell my previous car until after I was happy with delivery of the new one because this made me feel rushed to accept.

Ah yes! The pressure of just saying yes for a M3. Eon Musk has us salivating at the mouth.

 

[Stirfelt]

Cars are not painted by hand. They have been using robots for some time.

Thanks Scott ..... I appreciate your comment. Actually, I didn't make it clear, but I know cars are painted by robot ..... but that is what puzzles me so much. Evan paining by hand can be pristine ..... a robot should be even better each and every time. I've watched how cars are made on the TV, and the robots look pretty efficient to me. I do not understand why/how that has not been resolved. It should have been an easy fix. Even a KIA has beautiful paint.

Now, if the damage is caused after assembly ... that is something else.
I'll stand by my comment, however ... I am not interested in taking delivery of a re-paint, or a SC correction .... not at the price of a paint other than black.

 

[CuriousM3]

Some of the damage is caused my adjustments to align panel gaps for sure , some looks like they are from a contaminated spray booth, I am sure the ramp up leaves little time to clean and maintain the paint spray department , initially I saw 3 defects at delivery , then after washing and taking a close look outside, there was over 50 , so much so that Tesla did not argue on repainting the whole car, still not happy about that

 

[vinnie97]

^^What's your VIN again? I haven't been able to take it home and really give the entire body a thorough viewing.

 

[CuriousM3]

Vin is 116XX

 

[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.

 

[Mxbzz]

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

Those scratches would have haunted you forever if you chose not to get them fixed. Good call.
Your car will inevitably fall to normal wear and tear, but that should happen AFTER delivery, not before.

 

[DR61]

Those scratches would have haunted you forever if you chose not to get them fixed. Good call.
Your car will inevitably fall to normal wear and tear, but that should happen AFTER delivery, not before.

I feel the opposite way. I would not have delayed delivery over minor paint imperfections. I might ask for correction at a later date depending on severity.

 

[Zythryn]

I applaud those refusing delivery for issues such as this.
It is also important to realize some of these issues can happen during transport (while others are obviously a factory issue).
I the last three weeks I have been at three deliveries. Two of the three were as perfect as humanly possible. One had some minor paint issues. The fix is taking place this week, so we shall see.

I’d say sure, it can happen, but is not the norm.

 

[vinnie97]

I'm into week 6 now after a paint chip/panel misalignment plus 2 botched repainting jobs of passenger door, hood, and bumper.

I'm going to lean on the recommendation of not accepting. Body shops in my experience have difficulty replicating factory condition. I believe it absolutely will result in diminished resale values unless the work is impeccable.

 

[H2050]

As long as my car looks spotless 2 feet away I'm cool.

 

[CuriousM3]

I am on week 7 and just check up on the car this weekend and it looks like the hood needs to be redone, I would advise all to refuse delivery till you get one you are happy with. None are perfect but hold out till you get one that is good enough or can be corrected with a good detailer.

One guy on the model S forum got 3 rebuilds because he rejected delivery , so he had a lot of leverage, once you accept delivery , leverage is deminished

Now need to figure out what’s to be done with deminished value , if you take these cars to Carmax and they hit it with a paint meter, they will give you less

 

[Shygar]

I had an issue with a spot about the size of a quarter that was some kind of glue or something. I didn't notice it until after delivery. I showed it to my service center and they had that part repainted no questions asked

 

[HopeToGolf]

I had an issue with a spot about the size of a quarter that was some kind of glue or something. I didn't notice it until after delivery. I showed it to my service center and they had that part repainted no questions asked

Which part of the car? How long was it in service? Did they repaint the entire panel? Did the repainted panel look exactly like the rest of the car? Are you worried about a lower resale value because of the repaint?

 

[t3slajunk]

To provide an update on this, the SC called me to setup another delivery appointment a week later and they had fixed up most of the issues by properly detailing the car. The paint swirls and spots on the trunk still remained as well as the small scratch on the right rear indicators. They promised to fix these in the future appointment and took photos and added annotations into some form of a file on a smartphone. I was satisfied at this point to take delivery of the vehicle. Other than these two issues, the finish of the car is great (no excessive gaps, misaligned panels etc.). I have been enjoying it for a day already. I saw two other successful deliveries at the same time as me (as opposed to another rejection last week). Looks like they are getting more streamlined in the delivery process. I hope that everyone with the finish issues will get their car fixed and delivered soon.

 

[CuriousM3]

Swirls can be corrected and rear indicator can be swapped. Glad your happy with the results.

 

[vinnie97]

I'm fortunate to have an exceptional detailer advocating for me. The door/frunk/bumper are currently getting painted a third time (first time at the new body shop, Tesla-approved), with expected completion by Wednesday of next week. I'm currently without personal transport (aside from a bike) and will be hounding them daily until a loaner becomes available (or the car is done).

 

[CuriousM3]

So still contamination under the clear on those panels?

 

[Shygar]

Which part of the car? How long was it in service? Did they repaint the entire panel? Did the repainted panel look exactly like the rest of the car? Are you worried about a lower resale value because of the repaint?

This was the spot:

It was the passenger side rocker panel near the door hinge. After repair it looks brand new and I can't see anything obvious that they even painted it. I suspect the body shop may have been able to remove it without needing to repaint it, but I really don't know. Tesla service said it would have to be repainted. I'm not worried about resale value, but I tend to keep my cars for awhile. Pretty sure you can get your money out of a Model 3 for awhile but I don't intend to find out.