Attempting to Repair Front Collision Salvaged Tesla

[RogerHScott]

I think the issue has a few parts:

• DV: Diminished value pushes up the cost.
• Long repair times: long rental for higher end vehicles push up the cost.
• Some insurance companies got burned by the extra costs once they actually got the car totaled taken apart and they find a lot more that needs to be done. So rather than deal with ballooning costs they just set the percentage to total to a lower value.

All that together raises their cost above the repair cost itself and it got too close to the threshold so rather than take a risk they just cut their losses. (Which they reduce through selling the totaled car.)

• DV matters not at all to the insurance company, right?
• Neither does length of repair matter to them, beyond the limited duration of their rental car coverage (if any) for the insured. Beyond that, again, its the owner's headache, not the insurer.
• If my personal experience is any guide, the insurer doesn't just sign a blank check to the shop -- it is a painful, protracted iterative process of finding all of the things that need to be repaired/replaced. At any point along the way they're free to say "whoa, now this is totaled", but there's no reason for them to jump to that conclusion at the beginning.

I just don't see anything close to $30k's worth of risk being mitigated here.

 

[RogerHScott]

the insured (owner) can also put pressure on the insurance company to total the car as a personal preference

What form would such pressure take? I don't see how the insured has any leverage over the insurer whatsoever as long as the insurer is acting within the law and within the confines of the policy.

 

[albatore]

how did you move the car in your garage? Were you able to move it?
Also does the uship carrier pick it up easily or it was a nightmare from them?

 

[MP3Mike]

• DV matters not at all to the insurance company, right?

• Neither does length of repair matter to them, beyond the limited duration of their rental car coverage (if any) for the insured. Beyond that, again, its the owner's headache, not the insurer.

Of course both of those things matter to the insurance company, it is money that they have to pay out. Let's say that the car was valued at $100k and was in an accident. Repair estimate came in at $60k. It took 4 months to repair, and final repair costs totaled $80k.

So now the at-fault insurance company needs to pay:

• $80k for repairs.
• 120 days of a rental, say $60/day = $7,500 (This could easily be $200/day, or more, if the person forces the option of a like electric vehicle.)
• DV: Car is now only worth $75k, so DV payment is $25k
• Body shop vehicle storage fees: $20/day = $2,400

So the grand total is $105k. They could have totaled the car and saved themselves $5k of payments, as well as all of the staff time involved in supporting the claim.

Now if the person owning the Tesla is at-fault, they likely can't get a DV payment, and have limited rental coverage so that would be different.

 

[demundus]

What form would such pressure take? I don't see how the insured has any leverage over the insurer whatsoever as long as the insurer is acting within the law and within the confines of the policy.

If the insured wants to be an absolute nightmare about fit, finish, make-good, as well as being provided a like-kind rental for the duration, they could basically nitpick the insurer into totaling the car to save the hassle. My body panels don't 100% perfectly line up, I could have rejected it, for another 2+ months in the shop and an MBZ rental + another rear quarter panel which woulda cost the insurer another 15k at least (as @MP3Mike demonstrated). In addition, if I am not at fault but the counter party is under-insured... now I'm coming after MY insurance company to make me whole with these things, and there is very little recourse. It's all a big game of expensive chicken... how much will the insured bend for the sake of convenience and being made whole versus the insurance company funding the repair. Remember, GIECO doesn't fix the car, the body shop does... even if there is a lapse in body shop quality and GIECO sues them, thats still TIME and COST. Total it, jack up the overall Tesla premium and move on.

Another example I forgot to mention:

In the adjustment industry there are quite a few "predictive" applications cropping up as well, this car could be victim to one. For instance, the insurance company could have automated/machine learned how to total things based off "deep analytics".

For example
is it a Tesla? Was the OE > 25K in damage? Did the airbags deploy? Has there been at least 1 Supplement? Has it been towed to the body shop yet?

Then total the car. Boom, painless computer decision approved by a supervisor who does hundreds a day.

 

[RogerHScott]

Of course both of those things matter to the insurance company, it is money that they have to pay out. Let's say that the car was valued at $100k and was in an accident. Repair estimate came in at $60k. It took 4 months to repair, and final repair costs totaled $80k.

So now the at-fault insurance company needs to pay:

• $80k for repairs.
• 120 days of a rental, say $60/day = $7,500 (This could easily be $200/day, or more, if the person forces the option of a like electric vehicle.)
• DV: Car is now only worth $75k, so DV payment is $25k
• Body shop vehicle storage fees: $20/day = $2,400

So the grand total is $105k. They could have totaled the car and saved themselves $5k of payments, as well as all of the staff time involved in supporting the claim.

Now if the person owning the Tesla is at-fault, they likely can't get a DV payment, and have limited rental coverage so that would be different.

At what point are you suggesting the repair cost could jump from $60k to $80k? It seems like worse-case is when the tear-down is complete, which can't cost more than a small fraction of even the $60k figure, let alone the $80k figure, so where's the risk there? If, at that point, that turns out to be the actual repair cost then they can bail and say "totaled", but there's no incentive to jump to that conclusion earlier.

We don't know that the previous owner wasn't at fault in the accident, so expensive rental coverage, DV, etc., is all speculative. I can tell you that my insurance's rental coverage has a dollar cap that I'm extending as long as possible by renting for $22/day, not $60, and certainly not $200 (not that it would matter -- I'd just have a rental for that much less time in those cases).

Btw, have you ever heard of anyone actually getting anything close to $25k in DV?

 

[RogerHScott]

f the insured wants to be an absolute nightmare about fit, finish, make-good, as well as being provided a like-kind rental for the duration, they could basically nitpick the insurer into totaling the car to save the hassle. My body panels don't 100% perfectly line up, I could have rejected it, for another 2+ months in the shop and an MBZ rental + another rear quarter panel which woulda cost the insurer another 15k at least (as @MP3Mike demonstrated).

This all assumes the insured is not at fault. If they are, all of this is (at best) going to be much more of an uphill battle.

 

[albatore]

also , once you repaired your salvage car, where do you go for services or mechanical repairs as Telsa won't service it and If I am not mistaken there is no independent shop to work on them?

 

[Yaro]

also , once you repaired your salvage car, where do you go for services or mechanical repairs as Telsa won't service it and If I am not mistaken there is no independent shop to work on them?

Considering he'll be fixing it himself, I'm sure he can figure out how to service the car on his own...

 

[demundus]

also , once you repaired your salvage car, where do you go for services or mechanical repairs as Telsa won't service it and If I am not mistaken there is no independent shop to work on them?

What needs servicing? Battery coolant, new 12v occasionally, gear oil at 100k. Tire sensors might go bad. Maybe a door handle depending on revision. Eventually an MCU (this will become his biggest challenge). Overall, not much to go wrong if you're fixing it from scratch anwyay.

 

[albatore]

What do you thing is better / cheaper to repair for a salvage Tesla. Front or rear collision ?

 

[scaesare]

If you can't coax a 12V battery out of Tesla you can try this route.

Tesla Lithium 12V Battery, Model S or X

But for $395 they aren't cheap. They are however Lithium and supposed to last 3X longer than the standard battery.

Tesla has a 3rd revision of the 12V battery that is now what the service centers install. This requires a car configuration change to tell the car what charging profile to use. Two implications:

1) Tesla Service wouldn't sell me a battery as I don't have the toolbox to tweak the configuration

2) If you install a Li-ion in place of a lead-acid 12V battery, I don't know how it will be affected by the car not having a "proper" charge profile for that chemistry

 

[scaesare]

Well well well... would ya look at that.

My impression when @Btr_ftw chimed in on this thread:

 

[demundus]

What do you thing is better / cheaper to repair for a salvage Tesla. Front or rear collision ?

Not really that, more ... a list of things you want undamaged regardless of impact:

MCU/IC (unless you work with one of the forum guys like ingineer or WK)
Drive unit
Battery Pack
rear quarter panels (welded, extremely expensive and unpurchasable unless you're a body shop)
I'm sure there's some other things I'm missing, most of the front of the car's electronics are a pain (sensors etc) but not un-doable.

 

[albatore]

rear quarter panels (welded, extremely expensive and unpurchasable unless you're a body shop)

based upon this comment, it would be better to buy a front damage like in this post.

 

[Yaro]

tesla model s passenger side quarter panel | eBay

And they are riveted not welded when replaced.

 

[demundus]

tesla model s passenger side quarter panel | eBay

And they are riveted not welded when replaced.

"perfect condition"... no way. I asked my body shop to please preserve all parts they took off.... the weld spots/rivet areas are as thin as tinfoil and almost un-salvagable. i guess YMMV but thats my experience and what the body shop told me as well

 

[desoukya]

I performed a continuity test and I'm hearing a sound. I also performed a resistance test and I'm seeing a value near 0, which indicates the fuse is good.

I'm a little skeptical b/c I thought the fuse would blow given the air bags deployed.

Thoughts??

 

[demundus]

Maybe you got lucky.

Are you contactors opening on their own under a 12v charged battery?

 

[albatore]

2016 TESLA MODEL S, 20496011 | IAA-Insurance Auto Auctions

this one is located in Miami so I can go and check it in person. However I think it is still expensive (asking price) $38,500 for the needed repairs...