I'm concerned I'll be losing money if they total this out. I owe about $25,000 on this. I put $14,000 down. I don't know if I'll get that back, plus if I buy a new car I won't be able to claim the EV rebate again.
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Accident in Model 3
- Thread starter yeahhtrue
- Start date
I'm concerned I'll be losing money if they total this out. I owe about $25,000 on this. I put $14,000 down. I don't know if I'll get that back, plus if I buy a new car I won't be able to claim the EV rebate again.
Ah, the loss of the rebate makes it less attractive. Hopefully they get it worked out and fixed. As someone else said, the damage you have is easy to fix compared to the rear quarter panel I had replaced. Mine looks great as I’m sure yours will when fixed.
Repairs are still moving forward...they did not decide to total it even with a repair cost of over $23,000.
I initiated the diminished value claim with the other guy's insurance. They said that they can't do anything until after I get the car back from being repaired. Then they will appraise it and decide what they'll pay out, if anything.
The initial estimate of 3 weeks was obviously a joke because it's been about that long already and repairs have not even started yet. Repair shop is waiting for parts to ship from Tesla which I gather can take a very long time. So I don't expect my car back any time soon.
I initiated the diminished value claim with the other guy's insurance. They said that they can't do anything until after I get the car back from being repaired. Then they will appraise it and decide what they'll pay out, if anything.
The initial estimate of 3 weeks was obviously a joke because it's been about that long already and repairs have not even started yet. Repair shop is waiting for parts to ship from Tesla which I gather can take a very long time. So I don't expect my car back any time soon.
Isn't that a joke with insurance?? You have a near new car that needs more than half its original value in repairs, and they pretend like it might not depreciate extra from the accident. Gotta love insurance companies!
Yeah, for real. The KBB value range for my car with a clean record was between $34k and $37k, and the trade in quote from Tesla for my car after having the accident was about $27k. Obviously I don't expect them to hand over that whole difference, but don't pretend that there may not be any depreciation.
I only know what I read about depreciated value, but you may want to look closely at the option of selling the car right away to get paid out on the depreciating value. If you plan to keep it, they might argue that they can't really determine the diminished value since they don't know when you will sell it and what it will be at that time.
I know if I had a major accident like that with an easy-to-replace car, I would immediately sell the car if they didn't total it since you can't tell right away if the work they did is really good. The high end body shop that repaired my previous Jag and charged a fortune to repair what was really minor damage did such a horrible job, I couldn't sell it fast enough after the accident. It was gone within a couple weeks.
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RedWhite19
Member
Do you contact your lawyer? If you have a good lawyer, they’ll pull money out for you, so the rebate isn’t a total wash.
RedWhite19
Member
I haven't looked into finding a laywer. The thought never occurred to me honestly. They decided to repair the car anyway, so I don't know if there's a point in lawyering up now.
Mk30
Member
Yeah, I got hit in the rear drivers side corner (about $6,500) and the body shop has had it since the 18th of December. I doubt I will see my car until the end of February.
XAEAXII
XÆAXii
Mk30
Member
Get independent quotes from dealerships. Do not rely solely on the insurance company. I am going to be taking the same course of action. I have a contact that does this in Maryland. You can PM me and I will provide you his contact info and details. I don't know if he does work outside of Maryland. It is worth a call though.
Does the insurance company have to go by quotes that I provide? I figured whatever they determined themselves was all they were obligated to pay out. At least without a drawn out legal battle...
RedWhite19
Member
Depends on how much they give you for a totaled car, they should be using the before rebate price.
RedWhite19
Member
And that’s a good thing. There are however lawyers who specialize in such things as car accidents. And this wonderful thing called the internet will help you find one.