Dallas Service Center damage while in-service >$30k, Tesla won't cover diminished value!

[vrykolas]

This situation is beyond exasperating, and I've been holding this story for >6 months, hoping Tesla would make it right.
But due to Tesla service's lack of responsibility & service-quality I'm forced to make this public.
I'm hoping SOMEONE at Tesla sees this and can help fix the situation asap.

Background:

• Brought our X90D in for service for several items at end of September 2017, received loaner.
• Dallas SC manager called later that day to say our X was in accident (no one injured); someone ran a red-light while Techs were on test-drive to reproduce problems.
• Assessment found >$30k USD in damage, *including* frame damage on front-right corner

My concerns with damage:

• High amount of damage estimate has invevitable diminished-value (3rd party estimated $11,000 in diminished-value)
• Frame-damage could compromise the safety (which was one of the biggest selling points for us)
• I was REALLY concerned with the frame-damage

My Initial goal/hope for outcome of the situation:

• Get our car completely repaired (Tesla ensured us that frame safety was not compromised and would be repaired to "full" specs)
• Get full dimished-value reimbursement from Tesla
• Get extended-warranty to cover any reliability/efficiency problems that could result from repair

Tesla's offer varied several times over many months of negotiations with their Head of Service for Southwest USA. My MAIN complaint was that our Tesla was damaged to NO fault of our own and Tesla said they accepted FULL responsibility for the situation and we should be reimbursed for that.

In the end they would not go above $5000 cash reimbursement. Full disclosure, they (eventually) included 4yr extended warranty and 4yr service plan. But my complaint with this is that if we sold the car now, we would be at a LOSS! (for something that was completely under Tesla's responsibility!)

On top of the above, our contact (*Head* of Service) refused to give me updates or even a call-back to say he was busy for >2 MONTHS with multiple attempts/voicemails to reach him! ...even after many escalations to Tesla (central) support and the local Dallas SC.

My biggest disappointment is that I expected more from Tesla from this whole situation. I am (or *was*) a Tesla fanboy.
For years, I've seen Tesla "do the right thing" with Customers in the news and on forums, and I don't understand why this whole ordeal has needed to be so contentious.
I can't express the amount of disappointment, frustration, and sleepless nights (due to worry and unknowns caused by Tesla service).

All I wanted was my car, the full diminished-value, and extended warranty (due to concerns with the frame)...
It could have been solved SO easily and quickly.....

Help

 

[cbdream99]

Sorry to hear your ordeals. How old is your X ? Have they offer to buy yours at fair market value or new one with differences and may be service contracts/extended warranty at good will ?

 

[vrykolas]

Sorry to hear your ordeals. How old is your X ? Have they offer to buy yours at fair market value or new one with differences and may be service contracts/extended warranty at good will ?

Although it was a difficult decision to post, someone on this forum offered to escalate this issue. So hopefully things go well.

-----------

@cbdream99 Unfortunately no offer to buy ours. It's December 2016 AP2.
It took ~5 months of negotiating/arguing just to get to 45% of diminished-value.

Buying at fair market value and then us needing to buy a new one would put us in the net-negative.
We barely reached a budget to afford our current one. There's no way the wife would go for (another) new one with the price difference.
When I first heard about the accident, I mentioned to the Dallas SC manager (separate guy from above) that I just didn't want to be "out" [of pocket] on anything and I wanted it to still be the same level of safety/reliability.

 

[Electricious]

Sorry to hear about that and I'm sure Tesla will take care of you.

If this were me though, I would not want that car back even if they pay the full diminished value because of the frame damage.

Why not have them put the 11K in diminished value and basically let you trade in your car for an X100D. Tesla can then sell your 90D for whatever they want and the Diminished value which was caused under the car was under their car becomes their responsibility.

And you end up with a different vehicle with no frame damage. Even if you end up paying about 5-10K out of pocket for the difference, that's what I would push for.

 

[vrykolas]

Sorry to hear about that and I'm sure Tesla will take care of you.

If this were me though, I would not want that car back even if they pay the full diminished value because of the frame damage.

Why not have them put the 11K in diminished value and basically let you trade in your car for an X100D. Tesla can then sell your 90D for whatever they want and the Diminished value which was caused under the car was under their car becomes their responsibility.

And you end up with a different vehicle with no frame damage. Even if you end up paying about 5-10K out of pocket for the difference, that's what I would push for.

Good idea. I had thought of that.
My wife was pushing for replacement, I tried initially because of my concerns with frame damage.

But I really can't (out of principal) pay anything out of pocket for this situation.

We did have one loaner X100D that was *very* close to our configuration. I would have been fine if they just swapped out ours for that X. I have no idea how our Auto loan or insurance would adjust for that, but that would have been good. And I really don't think Tesla would be "out" that much because it was already in their loaner fleet and not new.

As for the frame, yes I agree that frame safety is still a big concern even if we get our original X back (which is why I wanted the extended warranty).

--Crossing fingers

 

[Canuck]

someone ran a red-light while Techs were on test-drive to reproduce problems.

Who ran the red light -- the driver of your Tesla or the driver of another vehicle that hit your Tesla?

 

[vrykolas]

Who ran the red light -- the driver of your Tesla or the driver of another vehicle that hit your Tesla?

They told me it was a 3rd party that ran the light. However, when Tesla called they were very apologetic and said they were going to take care of everything and "make it right".

 

[TexasEV]

Why not go after the at-fault driver’s insurance for the diminished value claim?

 

[Electricious]

Why not go after the at-fault driver’s insurance for the diminished value claim?

This is what Tesla should do, not the OP.

I still think OP should push for switching to a different car. If this happened to me, I would not want that car back with frame damage and such a huge repair bill. I'm honestly surprised the car was not totaled as it seems like the damage is about half the value of the car before even considering diminished value.

 

[ps004ynos]

+1 I wouldn’t take back a vehicle with frame damage. I’d ask for an equivalent 90 or pay extra for 100.

Tesla could use it for test drives or as a loaner.

 

[K-MTG]

I am sure @JonMc would have taken care of it...but now that he is gone... Not sure who you should reach out to for help. I have had great experience with Tesla service recently...hopefully someone from the executive team can help you out.

 

[MP3Mike]

This is what Tesla should do, not the OP.

I still think OP should push for switching to a different car. If this happened to me, I would not want that car back with frame damage and such a huge repair bill. I'm honestly surprised the car was not totaled as it seems like the damage is about half the value of the car before even considering diminished value.

Really? So if your friend was driving your car and someone else ran a red light and ran into your car you expect your friend to deal with it?

It sounds like Tesla did nothing wrong, and I don't see this as really their problem to deal with. Their responsibility should have been the exchange of information with the at-fault driver and getting that information to the owner of the car to deal with.

As far as the not totaling, if Tesla is footing the repair bills I can see that they wouldn't total it. This is why the OP should have been dealing with the at-fault insurance company directly. (Or their own insurance company.)

 

[arcus]

Really? So if your friend was driving your car and someone else ran a red light and ran into your car you expect your friend to deal with it?

It sounds like Tesla did nothing wrong, and I don't see this as really their problem to deal with. Their responsibility should have been the exchange of information with the at-fault driver and getting that information to the owner of the car to deal with.

As far as the not totaling, if Tesla is footing the repair bills I can see that they wouldn't total it. This is why the OP should have been dealing with the at-fault insurance company directly. (Or their own insurance company.)

When I had my car at the SC and signed off on the loaner it was explained to me that just in case of a mishap my insurance covers the damage to the loaner and Tesla will deal with any accidental damage to my car while it is in service. Just my $0.02.

 

[brkaus]

I find 3rd party DV estimates incredibly high. I'm not sure how much weight I would put on that. I know 3 people that were in accidents, had DV estimates by a "specialist" and received roughly 1/2 of that estimate from the at fault party. One even made money off the deal when he traded in his car after the DV payment (a 3 year old Range Rover).

You are getting $5k + 4 years service plus 4 year extended warranty. Those have a pretty significant cash value. Of course, it's wasted cash if you never intended to purchase.

Do you have additional datapoints to backup the DV claim? That might help.

Of course, no excuse for not returning calls, etc.

 

[MP3Mike]

When I had my car at the SC and signed off on the loaner it was explained to me that just in case of a mishap my insurance covers the damage to the loaner and Tesla will deal with any accidental damage to my car while it is in service. Just my $0.02.

It said they will cover any accidental damage, or any accidental damage that is their fault?

 

[Electricious]

Really? So if your friend was driving your car and someone else ran a red light and ran into your car you expect your friend to deal with it?

It sounds like Tesla did nothing wrong, and I don't see this as really their problem to deal with. Their responsibility should have been the exchange of information with the at-fault driver and getting that information to the owner of the car to deal with.

As far as the not totaling, if Tesla is footing the repair bills I can see that they wouldn't total it. This is why the OP should have been dealing with the at-fault insurance company directly. (Or their own insurance company.)

The difference is that when your friend drives the car, it goes under your insurance.

When you leave the car with Tesla, they are legally responsible for it during the time it is under their care. OP does not need to waste his time dealing with the third party insurance company at this time when he can have Tesla do that for him.

Like others have said also, I would not want a car back with frame damage.

 

[Electricious]

I find 3rd party DV estimates incredibly high. I'm not sure how much weight I would put on that. I know 3 people that were in accidents, had DV estimates by a "specialist" and received roughly 1/2 of that estimate from the at fault party. One even made money off the deal when he traded in his car after the DV payment (a 3 year old Range Rover).

You are getting $5k + 4 years service plus 4 year extended warranty. Those have a pretty significant cash value. Of course, it's wasted cash if you never intended to purchase.

Do you have additional datapoints to backup the DV claim? That might help.

Of course, no excuse for not returning calls, etc.

Depends on if the OP will sell this car within a couple of years or hold on to the car for a long. If he sells in in a year or two, that 11K DV estimate is actually about right because a bunch of people would not touch this car knowing it has frame damage and the OP will find a hard time selling it.

 

[bakerboy]

Sorry to hear about this, but after reading a couple of posts.......say Tesla does buy back your car, would they then run your "old" car through the CPO refurbishment process even after frame damage? Would they "certify" a frame damaged Tesla even after the frame was repaired or replaced even? I would think this would go on the CARFAX and would possibly disqualify the vehicle for the CPO program, so what I'm saying is, I would not buy a Tesla that did not qualify for the CPO process.

 

[MP3Mike]

The difference is that when your friend drives the car, it goes under your insurance.

When you leave the car with Tesla, they are legally responsible for it during the time it is under their care. OP does not need to waste his time dealing with the third party insurance company at this time when he can have Tesla do that for him.

No, in both cases it goes under the at-fault person's insurance. He would have likely spent less time dealing directly with the at-fault insurance than he has with Tesla.

Like others have said also, I would not want a car back with frame damage.

That isn't an option you get. That at-fault insurance company gets to determine if they will total the car or pay to repair it to "pre-loss" condition.

You especially lose any control over this by letting Tesla control the interaction/repair process. If you control it before you authorize any repairs you could say look with >$30k damage, plus rental fees, plus DV in the end you are likely going to pay more than the car is worth, why not just total it.

In the end if it is that important to you, why would you hand control over to someone who really has no skin in the game?

 

[Zaxxon]

I can totally respect OP's frustration, especially with the poor communication and extended time frame involved. I do think Tesla's offer sounds pretty reasonable to me, though. If I'm understanding correctly, it's a full repair, plus $5k cash, plus 4-year maintenance plan ($2,750), plus 4-year extended warranty ($4,800) = $12,550 in cash/cash equivalent. Versus OP's estimated $11k DV amount. I realize that the maintenance/extended warranty are not 'as good as cash,' but IMO that's a pretty fair trade for something that Tesla is certainly responsible for, but not something I'd qualify as Tesla's fault.

I'd also likely have pushed for a replacement due to the frame damage, but since OP is set on zero out of pocket, I'm not sure how feasible that would have been. Were it me, I'd have tried to push for a replacement vehicle for net out of pocket < expected tax credit.