To those who have had exterior fit/finish issues, what would you in my situation?

[special_agent]

Hello everyone! I am new here and did a search on this before posting, but I wasn't able to find my exact problem.
I picked up a P3D yesterday with an 11/2018 build. The fit and finish looked good at delivery, but I am in LA and unfortunately we are dealing with a really bad fire in the hills nearby, so it was raining ash across much of the city making it hard to check out the details.

When I got the car home, I cleaned the car and looked it over. I found what appear to be two indentations in the hood on the passenger side, both with "impact" marks about the size of a Q-tip, and maybe half-dollar size indentations surrounding those marks. You can feel it on the metal so I don't think it's specifically a paint issue, though at least one of the dents results in a split in the paint.

It looks like they could be weld points for the honeycomb crumple zone on the underside, or perhaps an impression left by whatever machines handle the hood as it's moved around on the assembly line.

It doesn't appear that Tesla will ship a replacement painted hood from the factory so it'll need to be fixed by a body shop.

Given the contaminants in the air from the smoke and the fact that a respray will not be "from the factory" I still have the ability to just return the car to them and order another one. I know it'll always be a roll of the dice, but I also know the future potential headaches that await trying to deal with body shops - especially those with long queues of cars to repair.

For those that know now what they had to go through to get a satisfactory outcome, would you have just returned the car if you had the option?

I appreciate your wisdom!

 

[P85_DA]

would you have just returned the car if you had the option?

Rather than doubt outcomes since u are in Return period just do that ....those look small to pull out and fixing probably is some kind of filler

 

[Bet TSLA]

Tesla has its own body shops now with fairly fast turn-around. See how soon they can schedule you, then go back to the showroom and ask then whether it is better to refuse delivery or if they can get this fixed quickly. It doesn't prevent you from driving the car, so if it gets fixed properly in a reasonable amount of time that's probably best for you, isn't it?

I just got my Model S fixed at one of their newly opened shops. I got rear ended and had minor damage. Looks good as new now. Under two week turn-around. Not lightning fast, but not bad.

 

[hashraf]

Return return return. I made the mistake and suffering. 3 body shop visits and car still has issues. Been 2 months

 

[special_agent]

Ugh I'm so torn. Obviously from a logistics standpoint it's a PITA to ship a painted hood especially if theres limited precedent, but I'm "down the road" in LA and ostensibly it's a better solution to do that instead of tossing my car into the paint shop queue. The rest of the car is damn near flawless.

 

[Bet TSLA]

Ugh I'm so torn. Obviously from a logistics standpoint it's a PITA to ship a painted hood especially if theres limited precedent, but I'm "down the road" in LA and ostensibly it's a better solution to do that instead of tossing my car into the paint shop queue. The rest of the car is damn near flawless.

The Tesla Repair Center in San Jose did its own painting of parts. I assume that the other Tesla Repair Centers do the same, but I think you ought to go find out. According to this Tesla web page, there are Repair Centers in Van Nuys and Pomona. You seem to be making lots of assumptions.

 

[TampaRich]

Yeah it’s disappointing. You’ll never be able to unsee it, but others won’t likely ever notice it. I got a chip in my windshield after my first year. Got it filled but can still see it. No one else can. We would all like our cars to be perfect when new. How much will this bother you personally if you leave it as is? My guess is that dimples that small will have little impact on the resale value of the car. By the time you’re ready to sell it, much worse stuff will have happened just from road crud. You’ve got a great car. Be sure to enjoy it.

 

[special_agent]

The Tesla Repair Center in San Jose did its own painting of parts. I assume that the other Tesla Repair Centers do the same, but I think you ought to go find out. According to this Tesla web page, there are Repair Centers in Van Nuys and Pomona. You seem to be making lots of assumptions.

Totally fair point. Assumptions are being made based on the limited amount of available information, and a limited amount of time to act on them before certain solutions go away. Just how it goes sometimes.

 

[super20g]

I would ask for service credit if you can live with them... body shop work is hit or miss. better to not put your car through it unless it is a major issue, imo. That issue is really minor compared to a lot of them I have looked over. If that was all that was wrong with my car, I'd be over the moon, but I know how you feel getting a new car that has some imperfections... I think we all do, or those of us that look them over closely.

 

[wycolo]

Anyone asks just say "its factory original".
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