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Service Tech Dented My Fender, What should I do?

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hello TMC,

I just got a base model 3 in late February, and this month with the rains picking up in central Florida I began having the driver's side fender camera disconnect or fail intermittently. I scheduled a service and Tesla sent out a mobile tech to replace the camera module under warranty. At the time I was detailing the car in the driveway and when I was on the other side of the vehicle I heard a loud bang, like the tech broke a bolt loose and hit the tool on the car. The tech didn't say anything until he was just wrapping up then brought me over and showed me that he had dented the fender from the inside out while prying the old camera out. He took a photo, said he would put it in his paperwork then told me to reach out to Tesla to get it fixed. (see below)

dent.png


The fender has PPF and ceramic coating, which I've heard Tesla won't replace when performing service (even if they are at fault??). I've asked for a collision appt. through the app, with the explanation of what happened hoping they take care of this, but having searched online I'm concerned they will remove my PPF and not pay to have it replaced after they fix the dent.

At this point I'm almost willing to live with the dent if they were to compensate me just from the service horror stories I've read online.

Any thoughts about how to handle this?

- J, Twiskck.
 
Tesla sent out a mobile tech to replace the camera module under warranty. [...] he was just wrapping up then brought me over and showed me that he had dented the fender from the inside [...] then told me to reach out to Tesla to get it fixed.
Any thoughts about how to handle this?
The only way Tesla knows how to handle body panel damage repairs is to send you to a body shop. That's assuming they accept the responsibility (whatever tech had said, sadly, means nothing to Elon).

Body shop will be happy to replace the fender and repaint the car. That creates two problems for you: months of delays with body shop appointment, and the depreciation from accident on the vehicle history.

Alternative - find a local PDR (Paintless Dent Repair) artisan, and have him repair the ding. This will be a 100% easy and perfect repair that preserves your original panel and paint, with no accident ding on your vehicle history. The complicating factor is the wrap, which will need to come off the panel and get replaced later.

If Tesla steps up and is willing to compensate you for the Alternative approach - great. But I doubt this. Local SC manager have very limited expense budget for things like this, and much rather prefer to punt customers to body shops.
If Tesla doesn't step up, you still have an option of making them pay through small courts claims. If you are willing to go that rout.

HTH,
a
 
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I bet a good PDR place could pop that back out and make it almost invisible.

Tesla is not going to compensate you for the PPF or ceramic coat. They usually make you sign a waiver before they’ll even work on cars with PPF.
Agreed. Very simple and accessible area. They will likely fix this in short order without hurting the PPF. Minor issue that they even admitted the mistake. Sounds pretty simple to not over think.
 
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UPDATE

Tesla through the service app is saying

"Unfortunately Tesla cannot cover any third party accessory to your vehicle that we may have accidently damaged"

This is unfortunate but expected based on the replies above...

Tesla is saying they will attempt PDR at their expense to fix the issue with the hope of not having to even remove the PPF during the process, which solves that problem.

My next issue is that this repair would show up on a car-fax etc. and any diminished value due to this "collision" with a Tesla service tech. I've reached out to them about this but do not expect them to offer any compensation on this front. ( would likely have to file a claim through my insurance is my guess? )

Unrelated to the dent, I also noticed that the camera cutout in the fender appears to be a bit damaged as well... I'm not sure it matters, and I'm trying not to make too big of a deal about this but it is very frustrating when you finally buy a new car for the first time after years of waiting and then this kind of stuff happens.

dent2.jpg


Any way thanks for the advice so far, I'll likely go ahead with the Tesla service and update when things get done. looking like May 1st before they can get to it.
 
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I'm trying not to make too big of a deal about this but it is very frustrating when you finally buy a new car for the first time after years of waiting and then this kind of stuff happens.

I think this is the right approach. No one likes it when the s stuff happens, but letting it roll off is much healthier than stressing about it.

If it helps to know (it probably won't), my last car got 2 different dings on the passenger door at the same height - I think it was a careless coworker throwing their driver door open hard. I also have a small ding on the trunk arm of my Model 3. One of these days I may have it PDR'd... but maybe not. It's just a car. In the end, they all end up in a rusty pile. Oh - and paint chips on the rocker panels from flooring it... I've got lots of those.
 
Upvote 0
UPDATE

Tesla through the service app is saying

"Unfortunately Tesla cannot cover any third party accessory to your vehicle that we may have accidently damaged"

This is unfortunate but expected based on the replies above...

Tesla is saying they will attempt PDR at their expense to fix the issue with the hope of not having to even remove the PPF during the process, which solves that problem.

My next issue is that this repair would show up on a car-fax etc. and any diminished value due to this "collision" with a Tesla service tech. I've reached out to them about this but do not expect them to offer any compensation on this front. ( would likely have to file a claim through my insurance is my guess? )

Unrelated to the dent, I also noticed that the camera cutout in the fender appears to be a bit damaged as well... I'm not sure it matters, and I'm trying not to make too big of a deal about this but it is very frustrating when you finally buy a new car for the first time after years of waiting and then this kind of stuff happens.

View attachment 931541

Any way thanks for the advice so far, I'll likely go ahead with the Tesla service and update when things get done. looking like May 1st before they can get to it.
Highly doubt a repair the size of a dot is going to show up as an accident on any report.
 
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