Unfortunately, I damaged the rear quarter panel and possibly the back passenger door of my 10-days old Tesla Model 3. The car scraped against a pillar while I was parking into the garage. I feel terrible. It was late at night and was the first time I was doing the parking maneuver while not being on chill mode. I don't know what happened, whether the acceleration was too quick or I just wasn't paying as much attention; the car scraped against the adjoining concrete pillar. I have collision/comprehensive insurance with a $1000 deductible, but I am very scared if the already high insurance will further go up if I make an at-fault claim. I have attached the photos. Any idea as to how much the repair will cost? Do the quarter panel and/or the door need to be replaced. Currently, I see a visible gap between the quarter panel and the door. I feel sad and miserable. Please help.
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Damaged by 10 days old Tesla Model 3
- Thread starter curiouscow123
- Start date
If it's not too late, you should consider not using your insurance. Doing so might cost you more in the end.
My wild guess is that assuming none of the pieces (door, fender and bumper cover) need replacement, if it was only to repaint, refinish and try to get any distortions out of the metal pieces, maybe $4.5K? They can probably just repaint a small portion of the bumper cover.
It'll be considerably more if anything needs replacement.
What he said, you should just contact a reputable local body shop to fix it, it should not set you back more than $500 at a family owned business here in Appalachia, but wait, you live in a big city and the middlemen need to eat too, sorry for your wallet!
$4.5K for just that? Wouldn't it make sense to go with insurance if it is as high as $4.5K?. I haven't contacted the insurance just yet. Praying that it would be less than $2K. If so, I can pay it out of pocket and forget all this as a bad dream.
Geez... more than 10 years ago, I had the front bumper cover repainted and a plastic lip under it replaced on my former 350Z that was damaged by a moving company. I was cut a check for about $970 and a local body shop agreed to do it for that much.
Sometime between 2006 and 2008, someone knocked the rear bumper cover off my Prius. So, they had to replace the cover, paint it, I recall replacing some components inside and it came out to over $1300. It was the other driver's fault so it was nothing out of my pocket.
The concern is that in the end, going w/insurance might make your rates higher (over time) than if you ate the cost yourself.
It's just my wild guess based on seeing three items need repainting. It'll be a bunch of labor to try to fix the door and that rear quarter panel. I'm guessing the latter will take more work to remove and re-install than the door.
Bumper cover should be easy to remove and replace for a body shop. I've done this before on my former Prius.
If you didn't care about fixing any distortions/deformation, then maybe you can get the cost down.
This isn't apples to apples, but I was Googling for stuff like site:teslamotorsclub.com "model 3" scrape cost. I found this on an S:
Guess how much the damage cost to fix...
verdict: Guess how much the damage cost to fix...
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Would this be treated as an at-fault accident that would be on the record? Would other insurance companies be privy to such information?
Don't know how much the insurance rates will go up by if I actually go ahead and make the claim. I have scheduled a Tesla Service appointment for Wednesday (earliest available). Should I also visit Tesla authorized body shops to get repair quotes?
Sorry, can't help w/an answer on that.
Wouldn't want to give bad/wrong info.Just got hit... What's rear quarter panel repair look like in a 3? has a $6K job.
Fair enough. I am just a bit too anxious and desperate. Thanks for all the information. I am guessing it will easily be above $4K. In such a case, I will mostly go ahead with insurance.Sorry, can't help w/an answer on that.
Just got hit... What's rear quarter panel repair look like in a 3? has a $6K job.
This was the thing I dreaded the most about buying a Tesla. It's so sad that I have to live through it within the first few weeks of owning the car. Well, I guess, that's just my luck. Thanks again for your responses.
Dang. That's a shame. If it makes you feel any better, years ago I was backing out of our curved driveway one night with my X5 and didn't realize that my son (who had borrowed my Audi) parked in the driveway behind another car. So I sideswiped one car that I owned, with another car that I owned. This was before there were review-view cameras. It depends on your insurance company. My rates didn't go up. Get it fixed and it will all be a distant memory.
Yes, that is an at-fault accident. And yes, other insurance companies will find out. Insurance companies all report to an agency, the main one is a CLUE Report, a service run by LexisNexis. There are other ones, but when we tested the others, they weren’t quite as good as CLUE. (Good in this sense is coming from someone that works for an insurance company, as in it is good for our business)
As far as your rates going up there are MANY variables. Is this your first at-fault, how old are you, who is your insurance with, how long have you been their customer and a bunch of others. In other words, you are not going to find the answer to that question on this forum, probably not on the internet at all.
your best bet is to get an estimate from a reputable shop. Once you know the cost of the repair you can decide what to do next.
Dolemite
is my name
Let me make sure I understand: You’re suggesting that repair would cost $500 in some podunk town in Appalachia, start-to-finish?
Serious question: how picky are you? Is your car an appliance or is it something that you want to be perfect? If you’re ok without it being perfect, I’d look at having someone do PDR on the rear quarter and door. Couple that with some paint correction and it’ll be a good 20/20 job... maybe even 10/10.
Am I supposed to report the incident to the insurance company immediately or can I wait till I receive a quote from the bodyshop? Can the insurance deny the claim because of delay in reporting?
I am not very picky. I am okay if it is reasonably fixed with no visible gap between the door and the panel. I just went back and took a closer look. I would like to believe the door is not damaged but can't be fully sure. The quarter panel is definitely damaged with multiple dents. Not sure how easily that can be fixed with PDR.
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Thanks for the uplifting message. That definitely made me feel a bit better. I have reported the incident to the insurance company. What will happen will happen. It was my mistake and I should pay for it.
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We purchase insurance to protect us from incidents like these. Don’t be afraid to report this to your insurance. That is what it is there for.
If the repair could be handled for under $2K, and you have a $1K deductible, it might be justified to just pay out of pocket. But I think the estimate of $4K-$5K is more realistic, in which case let your insurance handle it. Even if rates go up they won’t go up by thousands of dollars.
If the repair could be handled for under $2K, and you have a $1K deductible, it might be justified to just pay out of pocket. But I think the estimate of $4K-$5K is more realistic, in which case let your insurance handle it. Even if rates go up they won’t go up by thousands of dollars.
