Just scraped my baby against the garage door.

I know it won't help. But these type of things will happen eventually. You can't help it.

Sorry it happened. I am dreading the day when my car gets dinged/scratched.

ouch! sorry to hear. that's why i have my car wrapped, so that if/when this happens to me..I am hoping to only have to replace the wrap.

Apoclyps said:

ouch! sorry to hear. that's why i have my car wrapped, so that if/when this happens to me..I am hoping to only have to replace the wrap.

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A wrap is not going to protect against something that scratches off the paint that badly and deforms the bumper. Chips and light scratches, sure, but that's a serious gouge in the paint.

Sorry this happened, OP. It's not that bad, and while sucky it's only the bumper. The aluminum is all intact, and that's the important part. They'll get her fixed up good as new.

Get out the wallet!! This repair will cost you. I cannot believe how costly these things are to repair. It's an easy enough repair from looking at it, but speaking from experience - get ready to "deal with it" or fork out the $$ to fix it. (For the record, I cannot attribute the cost to being Tesla's fault - they are pretty reasonable with their parts costs. It's the shops that take advantage of the "exotic" factor. And the insurance companies for believing the repair shops when it comes to their stratospheric quotes.)

If it makes you feel any better, it's white, and it doesn't look so bad. Good luck! I mean that in all sincerity.

Mhotep said:

Do I need to call Tesla and see if they have an approved repair facility or can I take it any where.

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Highly advisable to talk to your local service center.

Sorry to hear this. It will have a happy ending and will be over.

You will be shocked by the repair cost. I did something almost identical to my car, and it cost $1,910 to sand and repaint the bumper (Multicoat Red) and replace the damaged (Tesla) Paint Armor pieces at the authorized Tesla repair shop.

I paid the $500 deductible and let my insurance pay the rest, and then my insurance premium increased by $122 per six months on my next renewal.

kirkp said:

You will be shocked by the repair cost. I did something almost identical to my car, and it cost $1,910 to sand and repaint the bumper (Multicoat Red) and replace the damaged (Tesla) Paint Armor pieces at the authorized Tesla repair shop.

I paid the $500 deductible and let my insurance pay the rest, and then my insurance premium increased by $122 per six months on my next renewal.

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It was so high because of the Milticoat Red. The metal flake is not cheap. The plain White should be fairly cheap. I'd do that one at my shop for under $1k as it shouldn't need much blending if any at all. The multicoat red would require blending into the quarter panels, which is what bumps the price up to insane levels.

Ah, nice to know; thanks for the additional insight. "Add for Clearcoat" and "Blending and Feathering Paint" were indeed listed as separate line items on my estimate.

I scraped my car against my garage door and just happened to take it to tesla the next day for an unrelated issue. They buffed out the large scrape (thankfully it was superficial) and didn't charge me anything. I imagine if I had a body shop do it it would have cost at least $400. Though this type of attention to service is not written in their service contract, it is a nice gesture to customers and something a dealership would never do.

That's so easy to repair. Don't sweat the small stuff. If you need assistance, PM me.

garage door

jebzter said:

That's so easy to repair. Don't sweat the small stuff. If you need assistance, PM me.

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I didn't scrape my garage door - I'm such an idiot I backed into it while it was closed. A grown man crying is a pathetic sight. I caught a bolt head just right and punched a quarter-inch hole in the MC Red bumper cover. I'm trying to effect a decent repair myself by filling the hole with caulk and applying several coats of touchup paint, then compounding it smooth. We'll see.

Oh yes -- all door protrusions are now removed or covered with thick rubber.

dbower said:

I didn't scrape my garage door - I'm such an idiot I backed into it while it was closed.

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The car automatically unlocks when I get close, and automatically turns on when I touch the brake... so why does the garage door not automatically open when I put it in reverse?!?

I had a bumper scrape 10x worse than that (6-7 2"x0.5" scraps down to the bare black plastic bumper) and cost $375 to get it to perfect. Instead of looking for body shops, look for guys that do these type of small body paint scrap repairs. They probably also do curbed alloy wheel repairs.

I wasn't even aware of this type of places until a buddy told me a quarter sized paint scrape got repaired on a Mercedes hood for $75. Can't find the repair location under the light! Below is the link to the place I took mine to for reference. This guy is located near premium auto dealers and do a ton of lease return body blemish work for them. Find a guy near you that do this.

Steve's Custom Cars and The Wheel Wizard

Can't tell if the smaller picture shows a dent on the fender just above the headlight lens or its just shadows. If its a dent, you might contact paintless dent repair place to see if they can do it. If they can get their tool (PDR paintless dent removal tool, search on youtube for info) to it, it may have a good chance of coming out without any trace. I had a door ding, a baseball sized door dent, and multiple 3inch long shopping cart scrapes taken out for $700. Get guys that have worked on Tesla's Aluminum body (Al is harder than sheet metal due to lack of memory and more brittle when bent). These type of repair guys also typically service premium car dealer's lease return and trade-ins quite a bit.

Hope this helps. Won't cost that much if you find the folks that service the premium car dealers. Dealers don't pay an arm and a leg to get those used premium cars looking perfect The 2 guys I went to had back log of of multiple weeks of work. Dealer's used vehicles is probably 50% of their business. Not well advertised because they don't really need to advertise to get business. Usually the owner is the repair tech with many years of experience. Ask your local BMW, Porsche, and Mercedes dealer where they take their trade-ins and lease returns to get small body blemishes fixed.

Don't worry about it! You can't even see it! a little touch up paint and you will be fine!

dbower said:

I didn't scrape my garage door - I'm such an idiot I backed into it while it was closed. A grown man crying is a pathetic sight. I caught a bolt head just right and punched a quarter-inch hole in the MC Red bumper cover. I'm trying to effect a decent repair myself by filling the hole with caulk and applying several coats of touchup paint, then compounding it smooth. We'll see.

Oh yes -- all door protrusions are now removed or covered with thick rubber.

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Don't use caulk...it contains silicone and it'll prevent the paint from adhering to it. Not so mention, it'll be a semi-soft job, so as the bumper flexes, so will that area and loosen the paint.

You can however get special filler from a paint supply shop, color matched paint, clear, and attempt to do it yourself. It's a roll of the dice what the outcome will be.

To repair semi-permanent, have a mobile guy do a spot blend...should be around $300-400....the proper remedy is to repair/replace and repaint...around $2000, maybe less.

Sorry to see what happened. As mentioned, clear bra wouldn't have helped...it's too deep of a impact.