Not much has changed, Chris, based on reports from two brick and mortar dealers near me. Since the Lens ding makes no difference at all in terms of the photographic value of the picture, there is no sense whatever in sending it in for repair to the Kentucky facility. I thank you very much for your confirmation response to my inquiry. Take good care, Anthony

Hi Anthony, 

I cannot give you a comprehensive answer but only my own experience with Zeiss repair services, based on one single event a few years ago.

The aperture stepper motor of my 100 mm Makro-Planar broke. I contacted a few local repair shops but they all told me that Zeiss does not sell spare parts to independent repair shops, so they don't touch Zeiss lenses.

I ended up mailig the lens to the official Zeiss service center that is listed on their website. The repair estimate was about 2/3 of the price that a used lens costs, with no guarantee that this would fix the the problem. The labor rate they charged was significantly more expensive than other premium optic brands. They technician also told me that he might have to replace the entire lens barrel. This would be significantly more expensive than the estimate.

Based on this one-time experience I tend to think that if a Zeiss consumer lens breaks the only thing that makes economic sense is to sell it for parts.