I'd agree with you for slightly over 50% of things ive seen come across this board in need of repair, however... For those repairs I'd go certified. thats a door skin, a rear QP (rivet and replace, you cant buy them new unless you're certified anyway, so he'd be getting a used QP), and depending on the door skin, a new door handle revision as well as anything i cant see under the panels thats damaged.
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Accident in Tesla S....any advice??
- Thread starter Mark2018s
- Start date
airborne spoon
Active Member
The only time you should contact the other persons insurance is if your insurance is doing a shitty job of dealing with them.
If you have some shitty company then this is entirely possible you could need to do it.
But i have USAA and those motherfuckers will fight tooth and nail to **** up the other company for every penny. Hell I don't have rental coverage on my insurance but when i was in a not at fault accident they made the other persons insurance pay for me to get a rental.
When you're in an accident that's not your fault you tell your insurance and give them the other persons insurance info and they will go start saying "where's my money bitch?".
The biggest hurtle you will encounter is the whole tesla certified body shop crap. The other company will say "we did a cost estimate and several shops said it will cost $X. Well you being the savvy tesla owner you are going to say i need an estimate done by a tesla certified shop and then you need to get your insurance company to force that other company to pay up and get it fixed right.
PWlakewood
Active Member
my advice would be to NOT file a claim thru your insurance unless you dont have the other persons info. You can notify your insurance, but Filing a claim on your insurance will negatively impact your rates.
PWlakewood
Active Member
@gaswalla
I noticed a thumbs down. Want to add some context to help why you think this is not a good idea. Ive been in the collision industry for 20 + years with insight into how insurance works.
I noticed a thumbs down. Want to add some context to help why you think this is not a good idea. Ive been in the collision industry for 20 + years with insight into how insurance works.
“You don’t need the stress” - that’s fine and ok with some people. But just remember that will cost you as avoiding stress and work usually isn’t free.
You can always go through your insurance company if the 3rd party claim is unsatisfactory. But it is never advised to go through your insurance company if you don’t have to because it will cost you.
Thankfully the OP has the wheels moving which is a good thing, regardless of method.
This varies by state. In Delaware, you are required to file through your insurance company who handles the claim and will go after the other party's company as needed.
OrbiterTI4
Member
One reason is your statement "filing a claim negatively impacts your rates" is a blanket statement not applicable for all states. Some, like California, have statutes that specifically prohibit increasing premiums on customers that file a Not-At-Fault claim. Michigan, a no-fault state, requires that ALL collision claims on your vehicle go through first-party insurance (except for when a parked vehicle is hit I believe). YMMV.
Another reason (not premium related) against a third party claim - absent a judgment against the other driver, the third-party insurance is not beholden to you in any way. An issue is insurance being unable to contact the other driver and get their statement; until they do so, they will not make a determination on liability, not offer you a rental, not pay storage lot fees or tow fees, etc. Depending on how long that timeframe is, you could run afoul of your own insurance. If the other insurance ultimately denies liability completely because they never get a hold of the other driver (or its an excluded driver, there was non-permissive use, etc.), and you go to use your first party collision coverage, YOUR insurance may deny paying some of the storage lot fees, claiming you didn't reasonably attempt to mitigate the damages.
On the flip side, a negative to filing first party is limits on rental car reimbursements during repairs or total loss settlement. I'm commonly offered coverage for only 30 days max as a policy option, whereas Teslas take a while to get repaired (I waited 4 months in 2018).
My Wife dented the right passenger door and rocker panel when pulling into our carport.
I took it to five independent shops for an estimate and none of them would work on the car. They all referred me to the authorized Tesla body shop in the area.
$2400 dollars later the car looks perfect. The first line item on the invoice was "put car into service mode." The last item was "take car out of service mode and check all systems." BTW there were hourly charges on both lines.
Non Tesla shops don't have the equipment to put the car into and take the car out of service mode. They probably don't want to take responsibility if something happens to be Electronics while the car is in their shop. Would you weld on a Tesla without being sure the Electronics were isolated from the body?
If I were twenty years younger I would have done the repair by myself, no parts or welding required to do my repair.
I took it to five independent shops for an estimate and none of them would work on the car. They all referred me to the authorized Tesla body shop in the area.
$2400 dollars later the car looks perfect. The first line item on the invoice was "put car into service mode." The last item was "take car out of service mode and check all systems." BTW there were hourly charges on both lines.
Non Tesla shops don't have the equipment to put the car into and take the car out of service mode. They probably don't want to take responsibility if something happens to be Electronics while the car is in their shop. Would you weld on a Tesla without being sure the Electronics were isolated from the body?
If I were twenty years younger I would have done the repair by myself, no parts or welding required to do my repair.
aFTER SENDING THE VIDEOS TO MY INSURANCE CO...SORRY CAPS...he said they love insuring Teslas because theres no dispute over fault. Said my car will look like new, and the other ins. co. will be made to pay for it...will not affect my rates at all.
PWlakewood
Active Member
There is alot of context missing from the OP. We are all assuming we know the entire situation. He needs to do his research for the state he lives in.
