Lift Gate Damage

[ArtK]

I would also recommend a device sold on Amazon called "The HitchHammer". Made of rubber, it is designed to compress a bit on minor impact, preventing or minimizing upstream damage.

 

[rxlawdude]

I would also recommend a device sold on Amazon called "The HitchHammer". Made of rubber, it is designed to compress a bit on minor impact, preventing or minimizing upstream damage.

If that company made one that would fully cover the opening in the bumper, they'd have a gold mine!

 

[2101Guy]

artistry at work in that photo.
Im so well known with our local PDR master guy(prior to the Tesla, I had a small hobby of buying/fixing up/selling a car or two a year), whenever he comes over, he actually looks over the car for dents I may have missed..and if they are easy, knocks then out for no additional charge.

 

[mark95476]

Yeah. I don't know why, but it seems like the users here tend to over-react. I mean, it does generate clicks and drives engagement.

- Have a slow-leak in a tire so better sell the entire car.
- Winter rubber is making some noise at 60mph so need a full refund on wheels (rims, tires, TPMS).
- Now have a dent so need to replace the entire lift gate.....

People here know what to do. 1) PDR first. 2) Bring to a body shop for bondo + repaint if it's not "absolutely perfect".

I’d surely try a PDR first and let him do his best and see how it turns out. But for $5K to $6K and potential for a rate increase, I think I’d live with it.

 

[Catbiscuits]

Yeah. I don't know why, but it seems like the users here tend to over-react. I mean, it does generate clicks and drives engagement.

- Have a slow-leak in a tire so better sell the entire car.
- Winter rubber is making some noise at 60mph so need a full refund on wheels (rims, tires, TPMS).
- Now have a dent so need to replace the entire lift gate.....

People here know what to do. 1) PDR first. 2) Bring to a body shop for bondo + repaint if it's not "absolutely perfect".

Yeah yeah yeah. Jeez, what an attitude some people have.

I'm going to call the PDR guy first. If you lived around here, you'd find that body shops don't like working with bondo. I don't get it, but then I don't own a body shop. They're always suggesting body panel replacements.

 

[Catbiscuits]

Things have been slow here, mainly because my wife is handling this and it isn’t a huge priority for her. We had a bid from a local, Tesla-approved shop for around $2750. We also have a bid from Bruno’s, a PDR shop that is highly recommended around here and handles lots of Teslas in northern NJ for $850-950. We will be going that route. Relieved that is so much less money.

 

[imola.zhp]

A good PDR guy can massage that out in an afternoon.

You get what you pay for, so find one that is well known. Asking for the cheapest guy will get you unpredictable results.

 

[Catbiscuits]

We took the Model Y to Bruno the Dent Wizard in Elmwood Park. He came recommended by Felix at Always Clean Cars, who does great work with detailing and ceramic coatings. Bruno leveled with us that he might have to send it Park Auto Body at the same location. They did a great job. You can see the results in the photo below. This mistake cost us $950, but at least we have a good body shop now. Another body shop recommended by Tesla wanted double.

 

[N1L CO2]

We took the Model Y to Bruno the Dent Wizard in Elmwood Park. He came recommended by Felix at Always Clean Cars, who does great work with detailing and ceramic coatings. Bruno leveled with us that he might have to send it Park Auto Body at the same location. They did a great job. You can see the results in the photo below. This mistake cost us $950, but at least we have a good body shop now. Another body shop recommended by Tesla wanted double.

They did a fantastic job with the repair. Matched the color perfectly too. Can't even tell now. Grats!

 

[Altair4]

Well, as a new owner of a Y and a member this has been an interesting discussion. My Y barely kissed our garage door and barely crumpled the lift gate spoiler edge. The gate works perfectly. There is no misalignment with the rest of the car. I am liking the suggestions to see a PDR specialist. I just received estimates from two East Bay Tesla-authorized body shops to the tune of $8,300 and $9,000. I was hoping they'd just fix with the lift gate and paint it to match. The parts for just the lift gate and painting on the estimates both come to $1500 with the labor for the lift gate replacement, parts install and painting around 15 hrs. The estimate for total labor is 77 hrs which is mostly about installing an additional $200 in little trim parts for front doors, and and rear doors, and quarter panels and the roof and cowl and the rear body and floor. Not sure why they are pulling apart all the rest of the car. I am going to ask them. Now I am on the hunt for PDR person. If no help there I am wondering how easy it might be to just live with the ding rather than get my insurance rates jacked up. Thanks all.

 

[Catbiscuits]

That seems absolutely insane. Why don’t you drive the car up here to New Jersey and take it to my body shop, you will have plenty of money left over to stay at the Waldorf Astoria in the city while your car is repaired. Our couldn’t be done by the PDR side but the body shop repair cost $950. Now you can see yours was worse, but come on. My body shop is owned by the brother of a guy who owns Dent Wizard. Why not look for body shops associated with Dent Wizard? That would be what I would do. The only wayl you can tell there was a repair as that the paint on the part they had to repaint flows better than the original Tesla paint