Advice after Being rear ended, ugh

[srharris22]

Any advice appreciated.
Rental car, should I push for a Tesla? Take what I get? I expect minimum of a 6 weeks.

Diminished value? In NC seems to be easier to get
Chances it’s totaled? What about including rental + diminished value. As I write this I’m definitely sore but unsure what pain/suffering will play into it. Thankful car is awesome and so safe!

Not pictured: left quarter panel damage too as well as trunk bed bent and was hard to get items out through back row of car with seats down.

 

[hcdavis3]

Any advice appreciated.
Rental car, should I push for a Tesla? Take what I get? I expect minimum of a 6 weeks.

Diminished value? In NC seems to be easier to get
Chances it’s totaled? What about including rental + diminished value. As I write this I’m definitely sore but unsure what pain/suffering will play into it. Thankful car is awesome and so safe!

Not pictured: left quarter panel damage too as well as trunk bed bent and was hard to get items out through back row of car with seats down.
View attachment 578921 View attachment 578920 View attachment 578920

Sorry about that man. What a total bummer. Let us know how the repair goes, or if it’s totaled.

 

[Diamond Hills]

I'm glad to hear that you're safe. Hopefully the pain doesn't turn out to be anything too serious, but it never hurts to get everything checked out. As for the car, it's difficult to say. A rough visual estimate is a 18-20k hit easy based on our experience. We've had instances where the car totaled out and some rare cases where they didn't. Regardless, it will be quite a hefty repair that will take some time if the shop is doing it properly.

My advice is to definitely make sure you take the vehicle to a TAB shop and check the reviews beforehand. There are still plenty of body shops that do not know how to repair a Tesla and/or aren't certified to do so. Insurance will probably try to push you to a direct repair partner (DRP) shop whose main focus is cycle time and appeasing the insurance company. I'd avoid those if I were you. If you need to, you can always send us a copy of your estimate once you receive it. My writers can take a quick look and make sure the shop is doing things properly. Good luck.

 

[SlimJim]

During mild regen brake light doesn't come on and it seems there are too many threads about getting rear ended on this forum.

 

[iamnid]

I doubt it is the brake light -- cars get rear-ended all the time. It's the most common type of auto accident. Whoever hit OP was going pretty fast relative to OP and slight slowing on the Tesla's part is unlikely to blame.

My advice would be to go to a doctor to get checked out. It's probably nothing that won't go away after about 10 days but, if not, the sooner you're checked out the better. Also, if you wait too long you'll have a bigger fight on your hands from the other insurance when you make a bodily injury claim. "You couldn't have been THAT hurt, you didn't see the doctor until X days later." I hear it every day in my line of work. (Personal injury attorney).

 

[St☰v☰]

Wow, what hit you? That's a lot of damage.

 

[srharris22]

During mild regen brake light doesn't come on and it seems there are too many threads about getting rear ended on this forum.

too bad it had nothing to do with brake lights as this was due to someone driving about 60mph and hitting the car behind me and pushing them into me.
Thus not a result of my brake lights.

 

[Joshan]

During mild regen brake light doesn't come on and it seems there are too many threads about getting rear ended on this forum.

Lets keep the assumptions out and stick to reality. Thanks OP for clearing/cleaning that up.

 

[Krazaak]

I got rear ended in my Model X in Charlotte a couple weeks ago, so while I'm definitely no expert on the matter, I can at least share some of my experience.

If you have rental coverage through your insurance (I did not), you can expect a similar class of vehicle (sedan), but little chance of getting a Tesla. If you don't have coverage, you'll have to submit a loss of use claim against the responsible party's insurance. They're going to push back on anything they feel is unreasonable, which means the more expensive your loss of use claim, the bigger fight you're going to have. If you get a lawyer involved due to personal injury, you'll be in a stronger position than doing it yourself.

Total loss is repairs in excess of 75% of value. If it's close, the repair shop you pick can likely nudge it towards totaled if that's what you want. The insurance appraiser initially called my X totaled, until they realized how much it was actually worth and suddenly that tune changed. Rear end and both rear quarters put repairs just north of $40k, the vast majority of which is labor (~$9k parts). My initial guess from your pictures is that will probably be totaled if it's not a performance model. They're fixing mine, because it's well under the 75% threshold, although the shop asked if I'd prefer it end up totaled. Personally, I wanted mine fixed because I knew I was going to be in for a fight getting its true value paid out, since there are so few 2016 P100D AP2 vehicles that I'd be fighting comps with AP1 P90Ds.

If it's totaled, rental coverage terminates once they declare it a total loss. If it's not totaled, NC minimum liability coverage is $25k and that includes diminished value and loss of use. If they don't have enough coverage, your under-insured motorist coverage picks up the difference for repairs, but your insurance won't pay diminished value or loss of use (although if you have rental coverage you'll be fine there). If you owe more than it's worth, GAP insurance will cover the difference, if you have it.

 

[Krazaak]

too bad it had nothing to do with brake lights as this was due to someone driving about 60mph and hitting the car behind me and pushing them into me.
Thus not a result of my brake lights.

That's exactly what happened to me, car hit the pickup behind me at 50-60mph and pushed the truck into me, twice. I think the rear impact on the truck pushed its front-end up over my bumper, doing more body damage.

 

[silenteski]

I just got mine back last week after a similar accident and repair. It was in the body shop for a month and a half. ~$13k total in repairs. The at-fault’s insurance paid for my rental of course, but it wasn’t a Tesla. I did ask Hertz if they “had anything better than the Corolla” I was lined up for. They put me in a Camry. Meh, whatever.

I just wanted to be minimally involved. Such a pain to deal with this stuff. I hired a lawyer to deal with the medical side (tweaked neck) because I wanted to be as hands-off as possible. For their medical clients, they will also handle diminished value claims, so I’m having them deal with that. Sure they’ll get a cut, but I really just don’t feel like dealing with any of it.

I thought about loss of use. As I understand it, one method that has succeeded is to compare the Turo rate in your area for a Model 3 against the rate for whatever rental they put you in. Turo doesn’t have any Model 3 listings in my area, so I’m not going to worry about it too much.

Stupid drunk drivers.

edit: Based on your photos, you got hit harder than I did. My rear quarter panels were fine. So your repair costs will be higher.

 

[Margaritaboy]

Sorry about the accident, and glad you are OK.

Looking at the picture, it looks like you have rear bumper cover, rear hatch assembly and rear quarter panel damage. The underlying frame for the trunk is bent and the car will also have crash bar/misc mounting parts that will be bent and need replacing. I would be prepared for the insurance company to declare the vehicle a total loss.

 

[dmurphy]

Total loss is repairs in excess of 75% of value.

To be clear, this varies by state.

Here, we're a TLF (Total loss formula) state. If repair cost + salvage cost are greater than the value of the vehicle, it's totaled. Else, it isn't.

I just went through this in October. I pushed hard to total our Enclave, but its $21k in repair cost + $6k in salvage value were still less than the $34k book value.

Of course, *after* repair, the vehicle wasn't even worth $20k, but that's entirely my problem, not the insurance company's. So I took a huge loss, but there's a beautiful Model X in our driveway now instead.

edit: Here are the state-by-state thresholds: Total-loss thresholds by state | CarInsurance.com

 

[Krazaak]

To be clear, this varies by state.

Here, we're a TLF (Total loss formula) state. If repair cost + salvage cost are greater than the value of the vehicle, it's totaled. Else, it isn't.

I just went through this in October. I pushed hard to total our Enclave, but its $21k in repair cost + $6k in salvage value were still less than the $34k book value.

Of course, *after* repair, the vehicle wasn't even worth $20k, but that's entirely my problem, not the insurance company's. So I took a huge loss, but there's a beautiful Model X in our driveway now instead.

edit: Here are the state-by-state thresholds: Total-loss thresholds by state | CarInsurance.com

Yeah, sorry I didn't specify, the OP is also in North Carolina.

 

[Candleflame]

why do people do this?? Like surely they see the car in front getting closer?

And after repair the vehicle will be worth nothing... diminished value is basically only available in a few places in the states i think and even then doesnt cover for the headache.