New Delivery - Bad Paint Job - Opinions

[medx]

So, I'm a Day 1 online reservation holder and I finally picked up my Black - AWD - White Interior last Friday (09/21)...unfortunately it has a terrible paint job. It looks like the machine was running out of paint as my car was being sprayed. You can see a bronze color under the black in many areas.

After taking my time inspecting the vehicle, I finally noticed the color difference. It's harder to see in the shade, but in the sun it stands out a lot more. I asked to speak to a manager, since I knew this was no small fix and, given the amount of areas affected, would probably require a full repaint.

The manager, or higher up delivery specialist, wanted to take it the service guys to see if there was anything they could do...10-15 minutes later he comes back and acknowledges it will need to be repainted.

He offered me a Tesla loaner for the time it's being painted and then after a bit of haggling he offers $200 in Tesla store credit, which was too low for me to accept. Finally, after chatting with his boss, they gave me Wall Charger if I took delivery.

What do you think? Have you seen a paint job like this? Would you have accepted delivery or rejected delivery?

I'd imagine it's going to cost Tesla a lot to repaint the car at a body shop, I wonder if I can talk to someone in service or higher up, if they'll let me wrap it instead.

Check out the pics below. None of the pictures have been edited.

 

[Gavyne]

Most people would reject that, it's one of the worse ones I've seen. If you are ok with a free wall charger and repaint, that's up to you, only you can make that decision.

 

[SoCalGuy]

Wow that is bad - if you’re fine with repaint then do it. I think I’d ask for another car tbh.

 

[Shizzrock]

OMG it's getting worse. You have to reject that

 

[boiler81]

Yeah, that's going to require a significant repainting. Although it probably won't be recorded in a vehicle report, it would be detectable via a paint thickness checks, if anyone was to look that close. Make sure Tesla warrantees the re-painting for more than the standard (5-years?)

P.S. Less the paint issues, which probably aren't visible from 25 feet, it's a beautiful car.

 

[SJC3]

Reject. I wouldn’t take a powerwall as comp. resprats are never the same as a factory fresh coat.

 

[dusdev]

Seriously?? How did this car make it out of the factory? So much about quality. I guess the numbers are more important than customer satisfaction. REJECT!! Get a new car. You deserve better than this crap.

 

[Eno Deb]

Wow. Crazy that this got through QC. That's a hard reject IMO.

 

[Skione65]

Where in GODS name is Tesla’s QC? I’m really starting to lose respect for this company...and I’ve been quite the fan. There is no reason for this other than the hellbent Q3 profitability at any cost. I’m ashamed at this point for Elon.

Ski

 

[woodisgood]

Ack. I'm a more forgiving customer than many but no way I take that car.

 

[medx]

F*ck. I knew I should've rejected it. I had arranged to sell my other car the following day and I honestly got too excited to finally pick up. I knew it would be a big deal to repaint, but for some reason I thought they'd be able to do a better job than OEM...which doesn't really make sense.

This has bothered me all weekend thinking about it, in fact I didn't even drive it. It's only got 30 miles on it. Probably, time to call Tesla and see what we can do...smh

 

[Shizzrock]

call them RIGHT NOW

 

[boiler81]

medx; If you can get a new VIN, that's great and probably the best for you.
However,if you can't reject the car after accepting it, you'll likely end up OK with the repaint.
At every classic car show I've attended, the best cars are custom painted in body shops and not factories.
We can all speculate that the repaint will be far worse than a factory paint job, but from what I hear of the "standard black" factory paint, it could benefit from a second coat.
Good luck with whatever path you pursue. It's an amazing car, an hopefully this ends up just being a bump in the road, to years of Model 3 enjoyment.

 

[bnsfengineer]

First off they should had bent over backwards offered you a loaner and asked if you could wait another week or so for a new car!! There is no way I would take delivery of a BRAND NEW car they obviously screwed up! I realize you waited and all the excitement but Please Please think sensibly .... its not a 15k car. Back out of the deal do whatever you have to... talk to the chain of command and give Elon a tweet on your unenjoyable Tesla experience !!!

 

[dethman]

ok ive read about some bad tesla deliveries but this one is BAD. What is going on.

 

[drawfour]

Oh man, the purchase agreement says that you have 48 hours to return the car if you're not satisfied. But if you've had it all weekend... Let's hope they waive that clause and let you properly reject it. That's a really bad paint job.

 

[medx]

Yeah, that's going to require a significant repainting. Although it probably won't be recorded in a vehicle report, it would be detectable via a paint thickness checks, if anyone was to look that close. Make sure Tesla warrantees the re-painting for more than the standard (5-years?)

P.S. Less the paint issues, which probably aren't visible from 25 feet, it's a beautiful car.

medx; If you can get a new VIN, that's great and probably the best for you.
However,if you can't reject the car after accepting it, you'll likely end up OK with the repaint.
At every classic car show I've attended, the best cars are custom painted in body shops and not factories.
We can all speculate that the repaint will be far worse than a factory paint job, but from what I hear of the "standard black" factory paint, it could benefit from a second coat.
Good luck with whatever path you pursue. It's an amazing car, an hopefully this ends up just being a bump in the road, to years of Model 3 enjoyment.

Thanks boiler81. I emailed & spoke to the delivery specialist that assisted me and he said I can't reject the car, since three days would have been yesterday (I picked up Friday afternoon), but they will do whatever it takes to make sure the paint is OEM or better. I asked about the the paint warranty & if it would show up on any vehicle report like Carfax or AutoCheck and he said they will honor the paint fully like Tesla would and that it wouldn't show up on any vehicle reports, since the fix is considered in house. You can't really tell the paint is bad outside of direct light on it. But yeah...no bueno.

First off they should had bent over backwards offered you a loaner and asked if you could wait another week or so for a new car!! There is no way I would take delivery of a BRAND NEW car they obviously screwed up! I realize you waited and all the excitement but Please Please think sensibly .... its not a 15k car. Back out of the deal do whatever you have to... talk to the chain of command and give Elon a tweet on your unenjoyable Tesla experience !!!

I agree with you and I honestly was surprised. I feel like a fool. I went in with low expectations, because of all the problems I've read, so it was like let's just take one for the team...bs stupid mentality. I did tweet Elon & Tesla if they could have someone contact me, so I could send them the pics. Obviously, posting them on twitter could end up going viral fast. Even though, they "the shorts", could do it now if they found this thread.

 

[Gavyne]

Sounds like they're trying to make it right at least. Enjoy your free wallcharger and repaint, which will probably look better than most new Model 3's out there.

 

[alloverx]

Hindsight is easy.
With luck the respray will be perfect and all is well. Hopefully the rest of the car is perfect.
I would consider having a high-end detailer go over the paint once they are done for piece-of-mind.

 

[outie]

Reject. I wouldn’t take a powerwall as comp. resprats are never the same as a factory fresh coat.

This is the result of the factory fresh coat... in case you missed it.