Ugh, this sounds like a terrible situation. Did you eventually get a trade-in value from Tesla? What was the final result for you?
That’s the thing I disciplined myself not to fall victim to: I slept well at night knowing the righteous process of taking a winning hand wins out, and all I had to do was play the game (with me as the moral and financial winner). The only two reasons I wouldn’t have slept well at night is if I wasn’t prepared or was in the wrong (bad morals). Please see every post in this thread for what “prepared” meant, especially OP’s, mine in my case, and the best practices posters.
So after your experience, would you change your insurance carrier or coverage? I'm a Tesla newbie and now I'm wondering if my coverage is good enough. I'm in California. Where are you located?
I just want to say thank you to the OP for sharing their story and how they ultimately were successful. It's very practical information for those of us going through it right now.
I need some advice.. First, I want to thank OP again. And again. My model 3 was hit by a careless driver 2 months ago. Link here. I unfortunately had issues proving the other driver was at fault, and no attorneys wanted to take my case. This was just before the dashcam feature rolled out. It basically took 2 months arguing fault, and lots of research to win this case. My own insurance company was useless, always telling me they'll subrogate, even admitting they would likely get to 50% fault at best. After they accepted fault, I was able to get them to declare the car a constructive total loss in pretty much a week, and this is all thanks to OP and the other folks who shared their experience. My M3 LR had <500 miles on it, and damages were $16k. I'm now awaiting their settlement offer, which they promised me will only account for the actual cash value of the car. What are the things to negotiate for in a settlement, and how. I read this thread several times, and a few others, but am still unclear what sorts of damages to claim, and how to calculate. Obviously I want to buy a new M3 LR, which now costs $4.5k more than it did in June, and the paint has gotten pricier too..
With the settlement they should provide you a report that includes the comparables they are using to determine the value. Make sure they have all your options listed correctly and the comparable cars are reasonable. Make sure the condition is listed as excellent - with only 500 miles, the car was essentially new. If you did any add ons to the car prior to the accident like tinted windows, PPF, etc, you can provide receipts for those items as well. With less than 500 miles, I am not sure how the comparables will play out. That is probably going to be your best argument - that the comparables should be new cars since yours had less than 500 miles. Oh, and they should be including your taxes and registration fees as part of the settlement.
I'm just beginning to go through this fun now. I don't think I'll have a problem with convincing the third-party insurance company to total the vehicle (they've said that just seeing the pictures, they pretty much know it's a total loss but have to wait for the formality of the inspector's report) - but I get to start the game of their lowballs of its value and the replacement. My car is going to be a bit difficult for them to value properly, I think. It's a 2016 model, but was delivered Dec 29, 2016. It has AP2 hardware, while most cars from 2016 have AP1 hardware. I found them a used specimen offered by Tesla that comes close to my car - only differences being that a) VIN is 24k later - 6 months given Tesla's reports; b) glass roof instead of my pano; c) standard 19" slipstream vs. my arachnid wheels. The two cars have less than 1,000 miles difference. I've given that to them and offered that the 6 months newer is a wash with pano & arachnid. We will see what they say - I don't really have many other options, only because it seems difficult to find 2016 year AP2 cars that are comparable.
Here's a suggestion: Record all your calls with them. Start each conversation with "This is so-and-so on a recorded line..". I got an iphone app to do this (nonotes.com). After each call I emailed them notes of what was discussed. Because they lied many times about what was said before, and this dissuaded them eventually. Second suggestion (from someone else on the thread): Read this: https://www.mhc.ie/uploads/use-of-the-term-without-prejudice-jason-harte.pdf
So, an update. I have settled with the other party's insurance company, and was pleasantly surprised with the information they had available. They used an appraiser who was dedicated to handling Tesla cars, and their initial settlement offer was pretty much right at the comparable that I had found (actually a bit more than I expected). They listed 6 different comparable cars from several sources (private & dealer sales). I was pleasantly surprised.
For me, the insurance eventually settled for the full amount of a new car, plus ceramic coating, plus 1 month of LOU equivalent to a Tesla rental. My old car is now on auction at https://www.copart.com/lot/51929128/ Thank you OP. Very much.