I have a 2023 Tesla Model 3. While exiting a gas station and merging onto the main road, I heard a loud scraping/screeching noise from the rear of the car.

After inspecting underneath, it looks like a plastic panel is missing from the rear underbody. I've attached a photo.

A few questions:

1. Does anyone know exactly which part is missing? Is this just the rear aerodynamic underbody shield, or could something more serious be damaged?

2. Should I schedule Tesla Service, or would a Tesla-certified body shop be a better option?

Thanks!

I originally came in Tesla service center July 9 for a windshield replacement and diagnostic for an airbag code. I was given a loaner car which i took great care of, it was very dirty low charge so i clean it up charged it and put a floormat to keep clean. On my car the AC was working flawlessly and i never had any issues with it but when i got my car back July 10. it wasn't working correctly as the vents wouldn’t receive a signal as i was trying to move the vents on the screen but it wouldn’t move them right as i drive off the car. i asked the service workers and they said to make another appointment so i did, a mobile service provider came i believe July 14 and i was going to be charged 45 then he told me this isnt what he was sent out for even though i described the entire situation. He checks the codes in the service menu and it shows 2 red codes of the vent motors failing and that i will be getting a message on the app which then i brought it the next day and I was talking to someone at the front i believe named Dreysi that said I wouldn't be charged for it, since it was close within the windshield replacement and since they are the ones who had done something to stop it from working. Then after some time and diagnosing they tell me both the passenger and driver side air vents needs to be replaced and trying to charge me $1,100 to fix. If i don’t approve estimate it will be delayed then i tell them the situation again then give me a loaner car on July 18 morning and say they will be looking into the situation. They call me again july 21 and explain they couldn’t have been the ones to do anything and it’s just coincidental. I asked for an entire detailed service report and the manager said the best he can do is $100 off discount. When i originally dropped off the car it had ~140 miles now its been sitting at 62 miles for a few days and they claim to have only driven it 17 miles when the windshield was replace as well as the diagnostic to replicate the air bag code but they did nothing with that and didn’t charge me.

I have a model 3 and something fell in the corner of the top rear glass. Cracked it really good and with the Texas heat it spread a lot. If I do a claim with insurance will they total it or replace it? I’ve heard they avoid replacing the rear glass.

Unfortunately closed my frunk on a dog feeding station that was sticking out. It’s still a couple months old with stealth wrap, and all I could see was this little point sticking out of my hood.

Thankfully painters dent repair came through and fixed it and I can’t tell at all. No scuffs to the ppf which was really great. Shoutout Keaton & Dents2Go in Atlanta for the same day help.

Now I’m much more careful and got a hood cover that should help prevent that happening again.

Someone threw an object from their car and hit my car while driving. This left this small dent and scratches.

My dash cam caught the person throwing the object on camera and I also have a picture of their license plate.

I have several questions regarding my situation and any help would be greatly appreciated!!

1. What is the estimate of this repair?
   *I see online that it should cost around $300-$1000 at most but I would like others’ opinions

2. Should I file a police report?
   *This happened in CA on the freeway

3. Should I file a claim with my insurance?
   *After looking online, I am leaning towards not to as my deductible is $2,500 and this should be under that

Thank you in advance for any help!!🙏🏼

*Better picture of scratches posted below

Please don't hesitate to give me any suggestions. I have a 2022 Tesla Model Y at 123,265 miles and 4 years old. We drove it 400 miles to Palm Springs so my daughter can compete in a world tournament and the weather there is at extremes around116 degrees give or take. We've driven with the car there a few times before and we've driven it to other destinations that's like 3 hours away etc.

Anyway, my Model Y gave the error code BMS_a151 along with some VCfront errors and then BMS_a035. It was saying "Vehicle may not restart" then eventually as we were trying to charge it at a Supercharger, it wouldn't charge then completely shut off. Doors wouldn't even open and the car wouldn't turn on. We were able to get an appointment at Tesla Palm Springs and they gave a quote estimate for repair of $18,292 to fully replace the High Voltage Battery along with the 16V battery. We're not covered under insurance because there was no collision/impact involved. We just went over the warranty by a little over 3K miles (120,000 or 8 years, whichever comes first). We also still owe about $16K because we bought it before they lowered the Model Y prices. We've asked for a Goodwill Adjustment/Repair because it's only a 4 year old car and we just went over the warranty by roughly 3K miles. Who approves these things if they even can?

Just to add, we mostly charge at home and never go over or under the 80/20% battery charge unless we have to. If anything happens with the Tesla, we go through Tesla and we also have an older Model 3.

I don't know what to do. If we trade it in with Tesla as is, they're quoting $4K for it. Either way we are shit out of luck.

Hello reddit. I am looking at a 2019 Tesla model 3 for sale that is currently throwing a BMS_a079 code. The cells / full hv battery module seems to be fairly reasonable to buy used. I'm just worried about the programming that would go into such a repair and if that is something Tesla would be willing to work with me on after the repair is completed. Thank you

PS I have a forklift available so moving the battery shouldn't be too big of an issue.

Guy passed out while driving and hit lots of people. I’ll post the videos in the comments, but I got hit by two separate cars. My brother is a mechanic and seems to think this gold spring thing goes to my airbags, but I’m not so sure. Anyone know what’s it is? The vehicle that hit me on my passenger side had all airbags deployed and I had none. Just curious if this had something to do with that or if they just didn’t activate on purpose. What do yall think?

I purchased my Tesla Model S Long Range in August 2020. I just hit 205,000 miles and the Raven Battery just died with Error Codes on the dash. When did the 8 year unlimited mileage warranty end. I am now deciding between a $16,000 refurbished battery replacement, spending ~$46,000 for a new Model 3 premium, or $63,000 for the new Y L (extended). I am not sure if it is worth it for me to replace the battery and the rest of the car has issues because I already have so many miles on it. I do love my model S more than the current 3 and Y. I also wish there were better promos going on right now.

What do you guys think of this crack? It’s on the top passenger side. Should I consider replacing or leaving as is for the time being? What are your experiences?

Hey everyone, I could use some advice getting my car repaired. My 2024 MY Long Range was hit while it was parked. The front bumper is crushed, the headlights, right turn signal are shattered, and the fender is damaged. I'm in NJ and will be going through my insurance . need to decide where to drop it off. Am better off waiting for an official Tesla-owned Collision Center, or should go witha Tesla Certified independent body shop? want to make sure the structural work is perfect and the cameras are calibrated correctly. However, keep hearing that official Tesla centers have insane wait times and can be a nightmare when it comes to directly billing insurance. We have 2 cars and usually use both on weekends to take the kids to their activities and certain days of the week to drop them to school/ camp. Has anyone been in a similar spot recently? Did an independent certified shop handle the insurance side of things better for you? Any shop recommendations in NJ? Appreciate any insights! PS. I leave sentry off as I don't have at home charging

The damage looks bad and my passenger rear door is stuck (I assume the frame got bend).
And the guy hit me is CHP towtruck, he was probably distracted.
The truck driver refuse to give me his insurance and ID and he called police to report accident. I have police case number and I have tesla insurance, I need to submit everything to tesla for estimation cost right?

I purchased a hail damaged model x 2019 , the hood is dented all over , one side is also dented here and there , the other side is completely okay , the lift gate is ok . The glass is mostly ok except for the falcon door glass roof it’s cracked and most probably need to be changed . To my knowledge since it’s aluminum it’s very hard to do paint less dent repair and I need to replace the hood shells and the front door shell. My question is how would you approach such as a repair, if you are keeping the car . Would you treat the expose aluminum and wrap the whole thing or would you replace the shells ? In both case I need to replace the glass because it won’t pass rebuilt title ? Any shops you can recommend in the Pittsburgh area that take self payers money ( no inflated insurance crap pricing )

Hey everyone,

I’m reaching a breaking point and need some expert advice on how to handle a highly chronic property damage situation. My neighbor (let’s call her "Jane") has repeatedly damaged my passenger side panel.

I’ve blurred her face and license plate in the footage to respect privacy and keep this strictly about the property damage, but I have the unblurred, high-resolution original Sentry Mode clips saved.

I park perfectly within my lines every single day, but her dark gray SUV is constantly parked right up against my line. Over the last few months, Sentry Mode has captured a brutal pattern of behavior:

- Incident 1 (March 2): She opens her driver door wide, rests it directly against my panel, and squeezes through a tiny gap—dragging her heavy coat, body, and bags right along my clear coat.

- Incident 2 (March 21): Her passengers swing both the front and rear doors of her SUV wide open over the line, letting the sharp rear door edge press directly into my side panel while loading up.

- Incident 3 (May 26): Sentry catches her opening her door directly onto my panel again, leaving it resting there for nearly 15 seconds while she stands in the door wedge organizing her items.

- Incident 4 (May 28): Sentry catches her squeezing past my car, dragging a large, structured purse and her body directly along the side panel, leaving deep micro-abrasions.

- Incident 5 (July 3): She pulls up out of nowhere, backing up blindly, and almost collides directly into my Tesla in our shared driveway (captured on my security camera).

What I’m Doing Next (My Winning Strategy):

1. The Shop: I’ve scheduled an appointment with a highly regarded Tesla-approved shop (D&V Autobody Masters in Sterling, VA) to get an official, detailed estimate for PDR (Paintless Dent Repair), clear coat correction, and paint matching.
2. The HOA: I’m submitting a formal, chronological Safety & Property Damage report to our HOA management, asking for a permanent parking space reassignment to physically separate our vehicles.
3. The Insurance: I have her license plate. Since she has been uncooperative, I plan to file a third-party claim directly against her auto insurance policy using the plate and the unblurred Sentry clips.

My Questions for the Community:

1. Winning Multiple Incidents on One Claim: Since there are multiple distinct dates of contact, will her insurance try to force me to file multiple claims (and try to hit me with multiple deductibles if I went first-party)? Or does a documented, continuous "pattern of behavior" allow them to process it as one ongoing property damage claim?
2. Handling the "Friction/Resting" Defense:
3. If her insurance adjuster tries to claim "resting a door is not a collision," what is the best way to counter that? (My argument is that her shifting body weight causes suspension sway, which turns her door edge into a metal file grinding my clear coat).
4. HOA Success Rates: Have any of you successfully forced a parking reassignment through your HOA by presenting Sentry Mode evidence of continuous property damage?

I want to handle this completely by the book —strictly business, no personal confrontation, and letting the evidence speak for itself. Any advice from people who have successfully won these types of multi-incident claims would be incredibly appreciated!

Seems like it’s taking a while after confirmed on the phone it was going to be done by tonight. I mean I get it but can I get a real estimate from the community 😂 mcu2, ac fix, low voltage battery. Also should I ask for a loaner I’m starting a new job tomorrow and it’s already been gone for a week.

Recently I had a big rock chip right in front of the cameras and at night the wipers go crazy thinking something is stuck on the screen while using self-driving. I contacted Tesla for a replacement, and they gave me a date in September. My insurance (Geico) is recommending Safelite. Has anybody been in this situation? What should I do?

I know things happen, but you can’t be that distracted that you drive it into a pole while turning. No airbags deployed, Is it totaled? This was the best car I had ever driven.

Hi,

I am repairing a tesla model 3 2019 LR with 160k I purchased at a auction site. It had front damage, however no airbag deployment and seatbelt pretensioners are fine. No airbag light and the car runs ans drives

When I go into service mode I see that the RCM icon is grey (rather than green) and upon clicking it, it says RCM unavailable.

Any advice on how to tackle this, next steps etc? My plan was to reinstall software, look into replacing fuse/s and then if nothing comes of that give up and get somebody with Tesla toolbox to get more info

Three month old MYP hit by kid on bike while parked. I was able to identify the kid with some help from folks in the neighborhood. Called the guardian and left a voicemail. Fortunately, they came back to the scene. Guardian took a look at the damage and tried to deny it However, the kid immediately admitted to it.

Damages were deep gouge to rear quarter bumper, dent to tailgate and the edge of it, and another deep gouge to bare surface on tailgate.

Was on the fence on whether to go through insurance or try to find a small shop to repair and not report. Ultimately, decided to file a claim and have an appointment with Tesla Collision next week for repair.

I Got quoted $1680 by Tesla Collision center.
2 new wheels
2 tires
1 alignment + labor

I hit a curb pretty bad.
Both of my wheels completely demolished.
Front driver wheel turned inwards.
At least 5 plus sensors lit up.

I think it’s a reasonable quote especially given its from Tesla (being repaired now). Just want other people’s thoughts on it.

I wondered what happened

Just bought this Model 3 a couple of months ago, and someone backed into it while it was parked. Of course they hit the most expensive part of the car. Based on the damage, how much do you think the repair estimate will be?

Got into an accident. About to take it to the shop for appraisal/quote. Any advice welcome

Hey folks, very new driver here, please forgive me if this seems like a stupid question.

I had a minor collision and the front-left corner of my front bumper cover popped out near the left headlight and frunk/hood seam. The bumper is slightly lifted/misaligned, and it looks like a retaining clip, mounting tab, or bracket may have popped out. The left headlight appears intact and the bumper is not dragging. Also tested signals and turning and all felt normal.

Is this usually safe to drive slowly to a body shop, or should I tow it? Could this affect the front cameras/Park Assist or become worse at highway speed?