I have a 2018 S60 Polestar.
I had initially myself slightly damaged my front splitter earlier this year (post here –
).
That time the damage was minor enough that I left it alone given the hassle and lack of skillset / experience to smooth it out.
Current Background:
However, I noticed this weekend, to my surprise, that the splitter has now sustained far more noticeable scuff damage across most of the length of the front section of top of the front CF “lip” splitter and the small part where the carbon fiber (CF) had separated slightly earlier this year is now noticeably worse:
I assume this additional damage happened 8 days earlier when I recently had one tire repaired at a tire shop for a slight leak.
I did not notice the damage when I picked up my car – It was parked against a wall at the tire shop and one of the workers came running up to chat when I was checking it out before going inside to pay and pick it up; this worker coming up to us distracted me too but I did not think anything of it at the time.
When I went inside one the two managers was even wondering out loud to my wife and me why the worker was over there when he was supposed to be working on other cars in the shop.
I did not notice the damage earlier since I only drove the car once those 8 days for a medical appointment. I did not see the front of the car till this weekend when I pulled it out of the garage to level out the air in my 4 tires with a air pump.
Next Steps:
I was considering going over to the tire shop to ask / see if they had cameras and see if they would accept any responsibility for the damage, but I ultimately decided not to since a) it had been 8 days since the car had left the shop before I noticed the damage * and b) I did not want to accuse them without having proof and was not 100% sure it was them (I feel 80%+ sure though since I have not had anyone else drive the car in a long time and the front was always fine).
I also figured it would be futile to complain since many years ago I had someone column scraping damage to the passenger side of a prior car in an indoor parking garage with attendants parking the car:
That time, the had parked the car for me to get in with the passenger side fully up against a door and it was night and I had picked up a friend who was visiting from far away.
I noticed the damage the next AM and went back – the garage staff / manager gave me their insurance co. contact details (phone calls /letter(s))) and I got nowhere – “once you left the premises, we can’t be liable for nay damage”.
My driveway has a steeply raked apron at the bottom, but been living there for years without an issue (perhaps the occasional minor scraping to the underside of the splitter, if anything, when backing down the driveway which has never impacted it cosmetically from the front or top at all).
Repair / replace?
1. I assume my auto insurance (GEICO) would cover only repairs and not consider replacement of the carbon fiber front lip splitter (~$2.6K)?
If so, given my policy’s $500 deductible, I may as well get a repair estimate myself first (before filing a claim with my insurance) since I suspect a buffing and clearcoat would be less than my deductible.
2. Any good but fair carbon fiber repair (body) shops in NJ?
Thanks for suggestions!
Photos below:
The left of the middle photo (right side of car) shows the cracked / separated area and how it is now a lot worse than the minor prior damage from 6 months ago
Note – The car really needs a wash, so some of the spots further back in the middle of the CF lip splitter (other than the obvious front scraped area) is dirt / grime / water spots.