Advice for damaged Model S in Colorado

[Colorado_Mike]

Long time lurker, first time poster here looking for some advice. I was rear ended in my March 2017 Model S yesterday on the interstate after a 18-wheeler in the lane next to me couldn't stop in his lane, started veering into my lane (a dedicated carpool that you weren't allowed to enter or exit in that area), when I slowed down, the car behind me didn't slow as quickly and hit me. Luckily all in involved were able to walk away (4 minors and 4 adults). I'm looking for any reviews on any of the local body shops. The five Tesla approved body shops in Colorado are:
Colorado Coach Auto Body
Service King - Thornton
Prestige Imports Collision Center
Stuttgart Auto Body
Gerber Collision & Glass - Englewood

I live north of Denver in Erie so I am leaning towards Colorado Coach Auto Body in Boulder. I know Tesla usually sends cars to Stuttgart for delivery issues but when I needed work done on the car due to delivery issues they took it for over 2 weeks to remove the front bumper and paint it. I thought that was slow for the work required. They also had to replace the clear bra I had on there and that work was sub-par.

Any other advice that anyone can think of would be appreciated. Also, any thoughts on whether this is a total lost. I'm hoping not but I have been surprised with the little amount of damage to other cars that I've seen in this forum that was total lost. Thanks in advance

 

[dbldwn02]

Damn man! That sucks sooo much. Sorry for your loss. I just had work done at Stuttgart in Denver for a quarter panel and bumper cover.

If it didn't touch the battery, they'll probably fix it. My guess is somewhere in the $15-20k range. I really hope you don't have to drive a rental for 3-6 months while you get this fixed. But if you do, they'll factor that into the "total vs don't total" cost.


I posted this in another thread but it applies here as well:

Tips from experience:
- Don't let a non-cert shop work on your Tesla even if you have to wait longer
- File a diminished value claim after the work is done. I'm getting $4000 for a damaged quarter panel from the other person's insurance company.
- Call, call, call the body shop. My body shop would sit on parts for weeks at a time because they "were too busy to work on my car"
- Again, call, call, call Tesla. Their body shop number will give you better updates than your own body shop.
- Don't use Stuttgart in Denver...They do good work but they're waaay backed up. They never call when they say they will and they consistently miss dates due to their own negligence.

 

[Colorado_Mike]

Thanks for the advice @dbldwn02. How'd you go about filing the diminished value claim, did you use someone to give you an estimated lost that you used to use as a negotiation point?

The current plan is to use Colorado Coach Auto Body as they are approved by my insurance and is Tesla certified. Though, when talking the the estimator, he didn't sound interested in really taking the car in as he had 12+ Tesla's on their repair list waiting for parts. I had called the other shops when Colorado Coach gave me the feeling they weren't very excited to repair the car but then got the same vibes from the other shops as well. Looks like all the shops here are tired of holding on to our cars due to parts (can't really blame them).

I'll keep this thread updated as I get more info, hopefully I'll have some good experiences/advice I could share for other fellow Coloradoans and others.

Good news is that when I emailed [email protected] to check up on parts order, they got back to me within half a day that the order hasn't been originated yet. Turnaround from their email was quicker than expected so maybe they have their act together.

 

[dbldwn02]

I called a local appraiser here in the springs, paid $350 and he's going to send me an 8 page report that I use to negotiate with the at fault insurance company. Whatever I don't get from the insurance company can be written off as uncompensated loss on next year's taxes.

I know this is hindsight but you probably shouldn't have told your insurance company about the accident. They're not paying for it right? It's usually best to leave your insurance out of not-at-fault accidents.

Is your car driveable? If not, the insurance company is in for a very very expensive claim.

 

[Naekuh]

Whatever I don't get from the insurance company can be written off as uncompensated loss on next year's taxes.

NO...

Do not settle until you get everything.
GET AN ATTORNEY.
He will know exactly what limits he can ask for, and that report is much better in his hands then yours.

Again, if the other party does not have sufficient insurance, then its going to be under uninsured motorist from your policy, so either way, do not settle period until you and your attorney think its a fair settlement.

It amazes me how many people think its actually cheaper not to get an Attorney is is faster when one isn't involved.
If your not at fault, a good Attorney will make a big difference in what you get.

 

[dbldwn02]

NO...

Do not settle until you get everything.
GET AN ATTORNEY.
He will know exactly what limits he can ask for, and that report is much better in his hands then yours.

Again, if the other party does not have sufficient insurance, then its going to be under uninsured motorist from your policy, so either way, do not settle period until you and your attorney think its a fair settlement.

It amazes me how many people think its actually cheaper not to get an Attorney is is faster when one isn't involved.
If your not at fault, a good Attorney will make a big difference in what you get.

I tried getting an attorney. I called dozens. Can't find one in Colorado Springs or Denver that wants to deal with a no-injury lawsuit. The initial DV amount came back around $4000. If I get that, I'll be happy.

 

[Colorado_Mike]

The car is driveable but I had my insurance reached out to the body shop and was told the car is not safe to drive so I will need to get a rental car immediately.

I reached out to the body shop to ask if/when parts would get ordered so I can help push it along. Unexpectedly, the body shop stated they won't be ordering parts any time soon. They need to get other Tesla's that is in the queue in front of me completed before even ordering parts. UGHHHHH!!! so not only do I need to wait for my car parts to show up, first I need many other parts to show up.

Did you have the same problem with Stuttgart?

I got my insurance involved as the other driver had a insurance company I haven't heard of and a quick search had them with an average of 1 out of 5 stars. I am trying to start a rental claim with them now as my insurance has a max of 6weeks. I was given a name and number for the agent in charge, someone else picked up and said the original person has left the company and he is in charge, will call me back immediately on a different number. No call back after 4 hours. Called their main number and given a different number and name, called them and got a message saying she has a family emergency and someone else will call me back. Left a message, no call back. I think I may have made the right choice of using my insurance for the collision portion but need to get in contact with the other insurance for the rental portion.

 

[dbldwn02]

Man, you're in a tough tough spot. If I was you I'd call any attorney that deals with trucking accidents. Frank Azar "the strong arm" loves suing truckers. Not sure if he would do it because there were no injuries but it might be worth a shot.

I'd like to tell you this will be pain-free but this will probably be the most painful body shop experience you'll ever have. Just expect that your car will take 4-6 months to fix. This is due to all the backed up hail claims we've had this year. And I hope your insurance will cover your rental for the duration, not just 6 weeks. Since you already started the claim with them, might as well just finish off with them and not talk to the other company. Since you weren't at fault, the other party's insurance will cover your rental for the entire time it's not driveable. This alone should come close to totalling the car. My rental through Enterprise was $60/day. So you're looking at $15-20k in damages, plus $10k for a rental for 6 months. You won't really know until the initial estimate comes out of the body shop.

Stuttgart was stupid backed up with all the hail claims. It was a Tesla graveyard in their lot. I shed a tear for each car I saw sitting there not being driven. They have no room to store cars at their crappy location. I really hope Tesla gets their act together and starts pushing out parts faster.

 

[Uncle Paul]

You may need to take your Tesla to an area outside the Hail damage zone.

 

[Brando]

Got to love auto repair businesses, insurance companies and of course lawyers.

Interestingly, in Italy the government runs auto insurance - no insurance no drive. Each year they look at what they collected and what they payout in claims. If in the red the rate goes up. You pay the rate you start for that current year. You continue to pay that rate UNTIL you make a claim. Then you must pay the new rate for the year you made the claim. So small *sugar* almost never gets claimed. No one is stressed about it (medical is never denied anyone - that is a seperate system). Never make a claim, rate never goes up. [not sure how the cost of your car is figured in - BMW as cheap for insurance as FIAT??] Perhaps some Italian can update my 1970s memory of how it all works.

 

[Colorado_Mike]

Update:

I ended up getting my car repaired at Stuttgart. Even though there was five body shops listed, Service King only wants to work on minor dings, I didn't want to work with Gerber because they are a volume repair shop and Colorado Coach, which was my original choice, have had such bad experiences with getting parts for Tesla, they all but said that they don't want to work on the car (gave me no time line, after I asked are we talking 6-months or a year, they stated could be or more). So I really only had an option with Prestige and Stuttgart. Since Stuttgart works on a lot of Tesla's and when I called them back, they were a lot more helpful, I went with them.

I got my car returned to me in late-February, 4 months after the accident. Car looks good. Since then I have been dealing with at-fault party's insurance to try to recoup my out-of-pocket, Loss of Use and DV. The other insurance didn't pay for my rental stating that the lost might exceed the at-fault's party's policy so I could pay out-of-pocket and request reimbursement after the fact. I ended up renting standard cars and small SUV during the four months since I didn't want to be stuck with a possible large bill at the end. In hindsight, this was a tactic they used to get me to rent a less expensive car so they only have reimburse the lower cost as since the car was completed, policy max has not been a discussed issue (I had previously asked for the policy max and was not given it).

I got my car back and paid a local appraiser $300 for the DV appraisal which came back at ~$6500. I sent a demand letter to the at-fault party's insurance for my car rental out-of-pocket, my deductible (since I went through my insurance for the repair and they will subrogate), gas cost, cost of appraisal, DV and loss of use (I determined the cost of leasing each of the rentals I had driven and the cost of lease in the Tesla and subtracted the difference). The insurance is accepting the car rental, gas cost, and deductible but not loss of use and cost of appraisal. They then hired and appraiser for DV who returned a value back to me at $3000. After a back and forth with them. They are sticking to the $3000 for DV.

The at-fault insurer told me that to resolve the disagreement, we can go to small claims because they are sticking with their $3000 number. I read through their report and my impression of it was that numbers were made up for the conclusion as they appeared no where else in the report and no numbers from the report made it to the conclusion. My report did a formula based determination of DV which I fully follow so I am inclined to stick my report thought the insurance is claiming formula based determination is not standard. I am starting to research for lawyers to see the correct action. The issue I see is if you add up my full demand, I exceed small claims value which is only $7500.

Any one have to go to small claims over DV? Any advice would be appreciated..

 

[SoCal Buzz]

I'm glad you got the car back, and in good shape! Have you considering just moving on from this? Through persistence and detailed efforts you've managed to get quite a bit back from the at-fault insurance company, including some DV. Perhaps the time and stress of pursuing further is not worth it.

 

[OrbiterTI4]

Congrats on getting the vehicle back. Are you able to share what the overall repair cost ended up at?

Is the DV appraiser you hired willing to testify in small claims? Does the appraiser have any attorney contacts to pass along who have worked non-injury DV cases?

For a cost-effective analysis, I would imagine any attorney taking the case would claim 1/3 of the earnings, and deduct expenses (paralegal, court filing, servicing, appraiser mileage/reimbursement) after that. If you filed near the maximum, you're looking at $2500 in fees, then $500-1000 in expenses...is it worth the process/delays/time in court to get an extra $1000 after the fact vs the current offer? Tough call.

 

[rooter]

Well you could have just buffed that out!

 

[Colorado_Mike]

I'm definitely on the fence to just take the money and call it a day. I reached out to my DV appraiser but he is currently out of town and will respond early next week. I am sure once I file for a court case the at-fault insurer will be open to come off their number as they would have to pay for a lawyer to attend the court case so that will cost them so negotiating with me would be cheaper for them.

 

[Colorado_Mike]

FoxSTL2HOU, the cost of repair was ~$19,000.

 

[OrbiterTI4]

I'm definitely on the fence to just take the money and call it a day. I reached out to my DV appraiser but he is currently out of town and will respond early next week. I am sure once I file for a court case the at-fault insurer will be open to come off their number as they would have to pay for a lawyer to attend the court case so that will cost them so negotiating with me would be cheaper for them.

This may not be the case. If a large enough insurance company with in-house legal teams or agreements with on-site firms, there may not be any additional cost to assign an attorney to the case. If this is a small claims case that lasts one day, the fees may be lower than the delta of your DV and their offer. As anecdotal evidence, when I asked my attorney the question "will they play ball once they know I am calling them on their bluff (i.e. the small 'best and final offer')", he said "No, very rarely will the offer change between filing suit and heading to mediation."

 

[Colorado_Mike]

Thanks for the insight, that does put a wrinkle on it. Sounds like you have gone through this process, willing to share your experience?

 

[OrbiterTI4]

Thanks for the insight, that does put a wrinkle on it. Sounds like you have gone through this process, willing to share your experience?

Still going through. I'll have a hell of a story to post when all is said and done, but a conclusion is likely months away. The best advice I can give for the stage you are at - find out the appraiser's recommendation based on his/her experience, and gauge how deep his/her experience is.

 

[PhilDavid]

I am pretty sure that if you tell them to go to small claims coat, they will likely increase that DV claim by at least $2K because it would likely cost them at least around that much to get an attorney to show up in small claims coat. Their DV claim is not reasonable. If you were looking to buy a Tesla I am pretty sure you'd want at least a $6K discount for a car that has been in an accident.

If you lose, you still get the $3K and if you don't you get more.

Also if you have any back pain from the incident that could be a relevant matter too... Pain sometimes develops after the initial accident. I've unfortunately been rear ended twice and each time I had back pain. Whenever the at fault insurance company dragged their feet, I politely just told them how painful my back pain was and how this discussion was making the pain worse...