Disaster - on my first day of ownership

So I picked up my Nissan Leaf from Fontana Nissan, drove it 65+ miles home to Northridge in the valley and I park it in my mother's garage trickle charging.

I have not owned the car 10 hours yet and ...
There is a huge BANG noise coming from the garage.
The garage wall with a cabinet that had been poorly mounted on it, came crashing down on the front end of my brand new car.

So, it has damaged the hood, the latch (to powerport). How hard do you think it will be to get it repaired?

Just riffing, ranting because I can't cry right now.

Oh man, that sux. Hopefully you have full coverage. The hood is aluminum. I suspect they'll replace it rather than try to repair it.

Sorry to hear. I had a water heater busrt and the Leaf was parked right in front of it a couple of feet away. Fortunately there was no damage and it just go a little wet.

Oh my! So sorry to hear that. I hope you can get it repaired soon and it looks as good as before.

Damn! That would be my worst nightmare. :shock: Feel for you!

That is the worst possible first day I can imagine... short of having your car hit on the freeway, of course. I bet the Fontana guys will feel your pain too. Hope it gets fixed soon, and well.

Is it just dented a little, or is there major paint and metal damage?

You might remember that Nissan says repainting of THE CAR (baking in very hot curing "oven") "requires" removing the CAR's battery, electronics, and HV wiring.

However, if the paint shop can paint the "restored" parts (like the hood and hatch cover) while they are NOT on the car, the "gutting" of the car might be avoided.

What color is your LEAF?

home insurance claim will be some out of pocket, but guessing not too much.

that does suck and waiting on parts could be a long one.

alternatively, find a good body shop that is will to pound it out. might not be perfect (rarely is with aluminum) but i have seen some pretty good results.

some i have seen use a computer to determine how far to pull or push. it calibrates temp, composition of materials, etc. pretty cool. usually to get a shape, you must pull beyond the target and allow it to "spring back".

If there is no paint damage I would first look for a good paintless dent repair shop (PDR). I had a nice door ding my first week of ownership that I had taken out this way....looks 100%. A lot of these outfits are mobile and can come to your home or work to do the repair. Good Luck!

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VikeKen said:

So I picked up my Nissan Leaf from Fontana Nissan, drove it 65+ miles home to Northridge in the valley and I park it in my mother's garage trickle charging...The garage wall with a cabinet that had been poorly mounted on it, came crashing down on the front end of my brand new car...

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There's only one thing to do...sue Mom!

Depends on what the part is apparently. I needed a new right side black plastic windshield panel that was slightly scuffed on the pointy end when I took delivery of the car. Nissan took about three months to get that one...

rawhog said:

Body parts might be easier to come by than you think. I had the license plate bracket mounted on the front bumper even though I told them not to snafu. That was on a Tuesday. By Friday they had a new front bumper painted and ready to install.

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Years ago I bought a new car, and on the way home from the dealer someone rear-ended it. It sure eliminated a lot of the stress that went with trying to keep it pristine for as long as possible.

+1 on the paintless dent removal. I've had great luck with them. Keep us posted on the paint booth / battery removal issue - interested to hear what that runs in labor cost.

As I got to the BANG part I thought for a second that your car exploded, but as I read the rest of it I guess it's not that serious. I would just keep it as is. You'll get more dents/dings anyway, so I personally don't see any point of fixing minor things like that.

IBELEAF said:

As I got to the BANG part I thought for a second that your car exploded, but as I read the rest of it I guess it's not that serious. I would just keep it as is. You'll get more dents/dings anyway, so I personally don't see any point of fixing minor things like that.

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If you're forced to pay for full coverage insurance because of financing, you might as well use it...and if it's a lease you might want to return, you definitely need to fix it.

davewill said:

IBELEAF said:

As I got to the BANG part I thought for a second that your car exploded, but as I read the rest of it I guess it's not that serious. I would just keep it as is. You'll get more dents/dings anyway, so I personally don't see any point of fixing minor things like that.

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If you're forced to pay for full coverage insurance because of financing, you might as well use it...and if it's a lease you might want to return, you definitely need to fix it.

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It's not like it's "free" because you'll have a deductible. I learned that it's pointless to fix something would get damaged eventually like a bumper for instance. I had bumper fixed 3 times for scrapes and scratches and on the 4th time I left it as is and not worry about it. Not sure about lease, do they really care about something like door dings? It would be interesting to see the picture of this damage.

Forget the full coverage.... shouldn't the homeowner's insurance pay?
It was a defective house issue after all.

Sorry about the trouble. I would just take it back to Fontana and just cry.

IBELEAF said:

It's not like it's "free" because you'll have a deductible. I learned that it's pointless to fix something would get damaged eventually like a bumper for instance. I had bumper fixed 3 times for scrapes and scratches and on the 4th time I left it as is and not worry about it. Not sure about lease, do they really care about something like door dings? It would be interesting to see the picture of this damage.

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I was thinking it was more than a ding. He said he bashed the hood, and damaged the charging door latch. I was thinking that the charge port might not be closing fully, or was at least crooked. No, I wouldn't get a door ding repaired, either. I've never had to use my homeowner's insurance, so I didn't even think of trying that.