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Front bumper damaged-insurance question

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G

Gynob001

Closed
Aug 1, 2013
171
14
Orlando
#1
Recently a gentleman at the Orlando Airport curbside pickup location , cut across in front of me to pickup his passengers (there are 4 lanes and the right most two lanes are the passenger pickup lanes-I was on the 3rd and he was on the 4th, farthest lane). His right rear bumper ( F-10 pickup) tangled with my front left bumper and dragged my car for a few feet before he realized what happened! (to make a long story, no speed or injury or air bag incidence). There was damage to my front bumper and his rear bumper. We exchanged info after police came. Police never filed a report.
Question:
1. Should I insist on Tesla fixing.
2. Since this is a simple bumper damage (both vehicles were going between 5 and 10 miles speed or even less), could any shop fix this (Pictures attached).
3. Have anyone been in a situation where the other party refuses responsibility and you end up fixing (deductibles, insurance hike) facing the consequences?
4. Should I sue in small claims court? Sadly, the policeman never filed a report.
IMG_5447.JPG
IMG_5448.JPG
 
#2
Have a Tesla body shop fix it. It will make a difference if you ever want to trade your Tesla in on another Tesla.

Why the talk of suing? Has his insurance refused coverage?

After the repairs are completed to your satisfaction, remember to follow up with a diminished value claim. Don't mention it beforehand, however, as it might taint the repair discussions.
 
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#3
Have a Tesla body shop fix it. It will make a difference if you ever want to trade your Tesla in on another Tesla.

Why the talk of suing? Has his insurance refused coverage?

After the repairs are completed to your satisfaction, remember to follow up with a diminished value claim. Don't mention it beforehand, however, as it might taint the repair discussions.
 
#4
If you're worried about it to this extent, you should get your insurance company involved. They keep hundreds of lawyers on retainer for what this little issue will devolve into, given enough time.

The truck guy will file a claim since it appears you "rear ended" him even though he clipped you, and itll just go downhill from there. No police report, no dashcam. You might be able to retrieve the airport camera footage if you sued and it went to court, from exactly when it happened, but because its a security concern (unlike a gas station or movie theater) I wouldn't hold your breath.
 
#5
Thank you both.
My insurance is involved and is happy to get my car fixed. However, due to the nature and the way the accident happened I feel that the other party/insurance must get the car fixed.
Interestingly, the police officer who came was more interested in the Tesla than the accident!
 
#6
Gynob001 said:
Thank you both.
My insurance is involved and is happy to get my car fixed. However, due to the nature and the way the accident happened I feel that the other party/insurance must get the car fixed.
Interestingly, the police officer who came was more interested in the Tesla than the accident!
Click to expand...
Did you contact him since to ask if he would be willing to go on record for you? I'm going way out on a limb here assuming that this is costing you money or something? If the insurance company sides with you less than 50% fault and still pays the damage your premiums cant go up (in florida). If they found you at fault and now its going to cost you some how, then probably try to track the officer down and explain the situation. OOOORRRRR buy a dashcam and call it a day until next time :)
 
#7
So sorry this happened :(

Buy a dash cam and if you witness an accident due to someone's negligence, help them out, and please be a witness.

I literally watched this lady back into the car in front of me at a traffic light. I promptly gave my information to the car in front of me as a witness in case she makes up a story. Sure enough, she claimed the guy in front of me hit her and she promptly withdrew that statement when she found out there was a witness. I received a call from the insurance company to confirm what I saw and she ended up paying for everything.

Get a dash cam. It seems there is a higher probably that people who drive recklessly and cause accidents are also exactly the people who would not be truthful in such a scenario.
 
#8
So I JUST got my car back from a bumper mishap (wife snagged the bumper backing out). The service center said they would fix it IF no other body damage was done and it could just be resnapped into place (i.e. if it was just the clips, etc). That doesn't look like the case here.

My total cost of repair (through insurance) was ~$2000. Bumper had to be replaced since it broke in one small area - yours will most likely require that. Just the bumper alone is ~500 for the part. There was some small minor bending of the aluminum behind, but they bent it back, but that cost a couple hundred. Minor parts (clips, etc.) cost a few hundred. Paint was also a decent cost (and usually good tesla shops do a good multi paint job - but there are labor hours into that). Unfortunately one of my lights was damaged (it worked and I didn't see any damage - but it was discovered after the bumper was pulled off). That added another 500+200 in labor.

Take it to a tesla body shop. Look to spend around 1500-2000 depending on extra damage done. It took me 1.5 months to get my car back
 
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#13
Gynob001 said:
What is body shop escalation? Apparently there are many Tesla approved body shops in Orlando.
Click to expand...

See the details here: Body Shop Support

You should open a correspondence with them as soon as you receive the slightest hint that the body shop work is being delayed or they have a hard time getting parts. Someone from Tesla HQ will then advocate for you and liaise with the body shop on your behalf and the best part is that the body shop can't claim Tesla delayed parts because Tesla would be involved early on.

If the repair takes a crazy period of time, you will then also have all the correspondences with Tesla.
 
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#17
Gynob001 said:
His right rear bumper ( F-10 pickup) tangled with my front left bumper and dragged my car for a few feet before he realized what happened!
Click to expand...

Gynob001 said:
2. Since this is a simple bumper damage (both vehicles were going between 5 and 10 miles speed or even less), could any shop fix this (Pictures attached).
Click to expand...

I would say if he actually dragged your, very heavy, car a few feet there is likely more damage than just the bumper, so don't try to cheap out on the repair.
 
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#20
Couple of things jump out at me:

1.) Tesla charged them for a diag/MCU reset fix
2.) They felt the need to replace your headlight, must have snapped the screw points
3.) They replaced your radiator bracket but not your radiator?
4.) Half the estimate is parts, the other half is labor
5.) The estimate is not using Tesla's chosen estimation software provider, in this case they used Mitchell, where Tesla had partnered exclusively with Audatex (unless the partnership expired). So these "values" aren't actually sanctioned by Tesla (most specifically, the repair/replace/refinish operations, as parts are parts)

Very interesting it came to 10k though, as expected they didn't actually replace many parts, but somehow it took 5K worth of labor to make it right. Made more interesting by the fact that your labor rates are lower than I expected, $55 for refinish for example. I expected to see paint, feather prime block, and finish to be much higher...

Anyway, not your money, as long as you like how you got the car back who cares. This was more from an industry standpoint.
 
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