Woman buys Tesla. Then she notices a ‘massive, deep scratch’: ‘I haven’t done anything’

There's nothing quite as satisfying as buying a brand-new car. It's shiny, it's loaded up with all the latest bells and whistles, and it's got that new car smell. What could be better, right?

As it turns out, buying new doesn't always guarantee a flawless finish. And one Tesla owner allegedly found that out the hard way.

‘The scratch was present at time of pickup'

Content creator Brittany (@presyncope.princess) shared a saga involving her brand-new 2026 Tesla Model 3 and a string of service center visits. Her video has since accumulated more than 300 views.

Brittany said she and her husband bought the car in June. Beyond simply liking it, she said it helped her medically by giving her more independence for long-distance appointments, so her husband doesn't have to take time off work to drive her.

The couple photographed the Tesla from multiple angles during pickup.

“We've been scorned many a times,” Brittany said. “Not by Tesla, but by just other places in general.”

Brittany's instinct was apparently a wise one. About three days after picking up the car, her husband was washing it in the driveway. That was when he spotted a “massive deep scratch” on the rear bumper, even though Brittany hadn't touched it.

“And so he proceeds to pull up the pictures that we took that day, like in the Tesla lot,” Brittany said. “And lo and behold, the scratch was present at time of pickup. So we contact them and they're like, ‘Okay yeah. Go ahead, schedule the appointment, we're gonna order a new bumper and we'll have it replaced for you.”

But when Brittany's husband went to pick the car up after the swap, the replacement bumper looked worse than the one they'd brought in. It had more scratches and more visible damage. Tesla said it would send the car to its own body shop to repaint and match the new bumper.

‘The paint did not match up'

Unfortunately, Brittany said the paint did not match the new bumper.

“It didn't matter which way the lighting was, didn't matter if it was clean or dirty,” Brittany said. “The paint did not match up.”

As if that wasn't enough, Brittany said a “nail or a screw or something” put a leak in one of the vehicle's tires. This coincidentally happened immediately after the couple had signed up for Tesla's roughly $12-a-month tire subscription. Brittany's husband brought the car in again to repair the tire and fix the paint.

‘I'm not playing this game'

Checking the online service notes afterward, Brittany's husband noticed a line about the driver's side door not closing properly. To their knowledge, they only came in to fix the paint and the tire. Brittany said the door had been fine the entire time they'd owned the car. 

“I guess when they were fixing the tire—that, mind you, is on the passenger back wheel—they somehow messed up my driver's side front door,” she said. “It looks like it probably was on the lift or something, and it got stuck. I don't know why the door was open on the lift, but whatever.”

When her husband arrived to pick up the car, he found a dent in the driver's side door, which now closed with a “jarred” motion it hadn't had before. A staffer told him Tesla had planned to call about it the next day. He declined to take the car back in that condition.

“I'm not taking possession of a vehicle that you just [expletive] up more than what I brought in for you to then try to claim that I messed it up later,” he told them. “I'm not playing this game.”

Brittany said that as of her video, the car's bumper reportedly “looks good and the tire's been replaced.” However, the damaged door hasn't been repaired.

“I've had this car for two months,” Brittany said. “Every time I take it to the service center, it comes out more damaged than the day I took it in.”

@presyncope.princess It's like a series of unfortunate events. But it's my new car, consistently coming out of the shop worse off than when we left it. #tesla ♬ original sound – Brittany

Has this happened to other Tesla owners?

Brittany is not the only Tesla owner to undergo this experience.

A 2022 Vox investigation found that Tesla owners filed more than 120 customer complaints with the Federal Trade Commission that discussed specific problems with “service, delays, and parts.”

In addition, Vox found more than 9,000 reports from Tesla owners on the Better Business Bureau's page, which included concerns regarding “an inadequate number of service centers, limited stock of replacement parts, bad communication, poor manufacturing quality, and long wait times for repair appointments.”

On the aforementioned Better Business Bureau's complaint page for Tesla, one owner described a situation similar to Brittany's. After a service visit damaged their windshield tint, Tesla acknowledged the damage and approved a $350 reimbursement check. The check never actually arrived, despite repeated follow-up calls and emails.

A thread on owner forum Tesla Motors Club described Tesla's service process as “rushed and customer-unfriendly.” One owner criticized that “the responsibility of inspecting the car for issues is placed entirely on the customer at the time of delivery.”

“This expectation is unreasonable—how can the average customer, with no expertise in automotive inspection, be expected to identify issues?” the owner wrote. “Most traditional dealerships ensure vehicles are thoroughly checked before delivery. Tesla seems to shift that burden onto its customers.”

Buzz News has reached out to Tesla via email, as well as Brittany via TikTok comment.