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Anyone Smash Yet?

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Z

ZTrekus

Member
Feb 8, 2015
878
137
Sydney, NSW
#1
Today my i3 was smashed :-(

I was turning right off Barker St into McDonalds. The other guy was turning right out of McDonalds into Barker St and collected my driver's side rear wheel and panel above it.

Not terribly serious but a small plastic bit popped off with some scratching on the panel and wheel as well...
IMG_0107.JPG


I am a little concerned that the plastic clip on the rear bumper which clicks inside that panel is also broken, because the rear bumper is quite a big piece of the pie and connected to the rear camera etc...

Anyway, came home and made an insurance claim. Took it around to an NRMA approved smash repairer. He took photos and said he'd order the part from BMW. When it arrives, he will pop the wheel off and send it to Wollongong of all places. If it is bent, then I get a new one. Otherwise it gets machined and made to look new I guess.

Anyway - the point of this thread...
-------

Anyone smashed the Tesla yet? (Any pics to send?)

Anyone needed to order new parts?

Anyone trusted a panel beater to look after their baby?

If this was the Tesla - would that mean that a rear panel just comes from the States? Would it come pre-painted?

Is the car numbered and cataloged so Tesla can say, "Oh yes you need a Dark Blue 349 and 527. See you in 8 weeks."

No one ever really considers the ugly side of owning a luxury car - and I guess we rely a lot on insurance. But in the end, insurance only foots part of the bill of the repair job - and how good is a repair job on a brand spanking new Tesla anyway...
 
#3
My Tesla was delivered slightly predamaged in Melbourne. Tesla have arrangements with a high-end body shop in Melbourne that sorted it out beautifully. In fact the first demo car in Melbourne was dinged in transit and needed body work before it could be demonstrated. Apparently colour-matching the multicoat red is very challenging and you really don't want just anyone doing it. I would imagine that Tesla have similar arrangements with a body shop in Sydney for similar work. I believe Matta on this forum had his car dinged up pretty nicely in the first few days of ownership and it was dealt with pretty easily.

I don't know what would happen in the event of major panel damage. Aluminium is apparently very expensive to repair. I don't know if you'd have to just wait for new panels to come from the US or if they will keep a stock of panels here and paint as required.

One thing I'm terrified of is hail damage. I can imagine the cost of getting hail pockmarks out of every panel on the vehicle would be very very high. I won't take the car out if there's hail forecast!
 
#5
brewster said:
Feel for you ZTrekus. Hope it all works out well in the end. We all dread the first bingle especially.
Interesting questions you pose which I hadn't given thought to.
Click to expand...


Thank you brewster.... It really ruined my day actually...

Because the car is all plastic, I guess panel beating doesn't really work, I mean plastic breaks....

But ditto aluminium, that stuff is not readily available. You would have to get the part pre-pressed from Tesla US and hope it just clips in place...

I would hate to think what you would do if something more serious goes wrong, eg, air bags go off, broken axle, broken motor or inverter, cracked titanium shield, cracked sun roof, broken side mirror and motor for it, broken motor for seat movement etc... Possibilities are endless and very frightening.... Either way there is a tremendous delay in getting parts... Not stocked by your local 2nd hand car dealer...
 
Last edited:
#6
ZTrekus said:
Thank you brewster.... It really ruined my day actually...

Because the car is all plastic, I guess panel beating doesn't really work, I mean plastic breaks....

But ditto aluminium, that stuff is not readily available. You would have to get the part pre-pressed from Tesla US and hope it just clips in place...

I would hate to think what you would do if something more serious goes wrong, eg, air bags go off, broken axle, broken motor or inverter, cracked titanium shield, cracked sun roof, broken side mirror and motor for it, broken motor for seat movement etc... Possibilities are endless and very frightening.... Either way there is a tremendous delay in getting parts... Not stocked by your local 2nd hand car dealer...
Click to expand...

A good reason to tick the hire car option on your insurance, at least this will have you still mobile if the car is off the road for accident damage.
 
#7
gizmonty said:
One thing I'm terrified of is hail damage. I can imagine the cost of getting hail pockmarks out of every panel on the vehicle would be very very high. I won't take the car out if there's hail forecast!
Click to expand...

While I'm not prepared to test it out, I've been told over the years that aluminium really isn't more susceptible to hail than good old steel. My 928 has one ding on it (& is 25 years old) and that is on the steel roof, with the alloy doors, bonnet and guards free of them.
 
#8
My (green) Model S came slightly damaged on the rear passenger door - Tesla wouldn't let me pick it up until they sorted it out with a body shop. I can't tell where the damage was, although when I picked it up there was still a bit of wax in the area.
 
#9
My smart roadster has plastic body panels like he i3. It was run into in a similar fashion by a turning rubbish truck (of all things). Surprisingly the rear quarter panel mostly bent and then sprung back into shape with only a small crack in the panel. It still needed replacing but surprisingly little damage compared to a steel or Al panel.
 
#10
Mark E said:
While I'm not prepared to test it out, I've been told over the years that aluminium really isn't more susceptible to hail than good old steel. My 928 has one ding on it (& is 25 years old) and that is on the steel roof, with the alloy doors, bonnet and guards free of them.
Click to expand...

Maybe no more susceptible, but repairing it? Shudder! My old car sat outside in a hailstorm a few years ago and every single panel was damaged. With steel they can pop all the dents out (for ~$4000 in my case). I'm not sure how - some kind of panelbeating magic. I'm pretty sure aluminium just wouldn't be repairable in the same way. I suppose I could actually google it rather than wallowing in supposition and ignorance, but it's late and I'm tired.
 
#11
AL does require specialist welding techniques, but it can be done. Many tinnies ( boats) are all al sheet and welded. Cracks can be repaired. As to bending it, it is more brittle than steel, but I have bent aluminium pieces in my workshop with a vice and hammer without incident. I think the repair shops are seriously overstating the difficulty and inflating repair prices artificially for gain and because they can. They are used to working in sheet steel, and are too darn lazy to acquire new skills.
The carbon fibre panels can be repaired as they are not " plastic" as such but either carbon fibre reinforced resin or fibreglass reinforced. Standard boat repairers are quite capable of achieving a good result. Even our bumpers are repairable within reason, and can be plastic welded. Mine was.
 
#12
ZTrekus said:
Today my i3 was smashed :-(

I was turning right off Barker St into McDonalds. The other guy was turning right out of McDonalds into Barker St and collected my driver's side rear wheel and panel above it.

Not terribly serious but a small plastic bit popped off with some scratching on the panel and wheel as well...
View attachment 80147

I am a little concerned that the plastic clip on the rear bumper which clicks inside that panel is also broken, because the rear bumper is quite a big piece of the pie and connected to the rear camera etc...

Anyway, came home and made an insurance claim. Took it around to an NRMA approved smash repairer. He took photos and said he'd order the part from BMW. When it arrives, he will pop the wheel off and send it to Wollongong of all places. If it is bent, then I get a new one. Otherwise it gets machined and made to look new I guess.

Anyway - the point of this thread...
-------

Anyone smashed the Tesla yet? (Any pics to send?)

Anyone needed to order new parts?

Anyone trusted a panel beater to look after their baby?

If this was the Tesla - would that mean that a rear panel just comes from the States? Would it come pre-painted?

Is the car numbered and cataloged so Tesla can say, "Oh yes you need a Dark Blue 349 and 527. See you in 8 weeks."

No one ever really considers the ugly side of owning a luxury car - and I guess we rely a lot on insurance. But in the end, insurance only foots part of the bill of the repair job - and how good is a repair job on a brand spanking new Tesla anyway...
Click to expand...


They do say that fast food is not good for you (or your car it would seem...)
 
#13
I do believe I have the dubious honour of being the first smashed privately owned tesla in Australia. Beware of people who can't reverse.

It's still in the shop, fixing them is not a fast process. I hope to have it out next week. It's in good hands - the repairer is also the authorised rep for Jag, Aston, Range Rover, Rolls Royce and McLaren.
 
#14
Matta said:
I do believe I have the dubious honour of being the first smashed privately owned tesla in Australia. Beware of people who can't reverse.

It's still in the shop, fixing them is not a fast process. I hope to have it out next week. It's in good hands - the repairer is also the authorised rep for Jag, Aston, Range Rover, Rolls Royce and McLaren.
Click to expand...


Very sorry to hear that Matta.

Sounds like only bodywork being done. I presume panel beating and spraying?

With all of these prangs, they could always be much much worse...

Would love to see some photos... Perhaps even before n after if possible...
 
#16
lonewolf313 said:
I found an interesting YouTube video presentation for rescue personnel to safely disconnect power to electric vehicles in a roadside accident situation and they use a Model S as an example including safely cutting into the Tesla to free any trapped passengers if they are required to do so.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCoUhy2Ypb8
Click to expand...


That is a a great video. Got halfway through it last night before falling asleep and will watch the other half tonight before bed. I was enjoying it greatly.
 
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