Purchased my Mavic Air in February of 2018. Flew it a good bit right off, but as with all new things, lost interest and put it away. Just recently regained interest, so charged batteries and checked to see if it would connect to the DJI Go app...
I would send it to DJI IF you had it repaired you could miss something that may appear to be fine at first. when you send it to DJI they will send you a new refurb so no worries about crash problems later.
There's no point in trying to fabricate a story to get a free replacement. DJI can review the flight log and will know exactly what happened. Do the right thing and pay for the repair.
If you were driving down the street minding your own business and you stopped for a red light only to be inundated by government officials knocking on your car window demanding your I.D, then you would have an idea of what the new immigration...