Got rear ended. Looking for suggestions on how to proceed!

[oinkitsthao]

Ugh. Thats terrible my Tesla is 3 weeks old and I'm always a bit paranoid at lights.

 

[iamnid]

Get the information re: the other car for your insurance. Go through your insurance to get it repaired -- it will be faster and they will then take up the mantle of fighting with the other insurance company (if any) for reimbursement. If it's totaled, it's totaled -- if they can fix it, then they'll fix it. It isn't worth speaking to an attorney unless you're injured - you won't likely find an attorney to take a "property damage only" case. I know this from experience as I have been a personal injury attorney in SoCal for almost 20 years now. You'll likely have to pay your own deductible but that may be reimbursed to you if your insurance company can get the other driver's insurance to pay them back. If it's a rental car, your insurance will have to track down the person who rented it to see if they have insurance -- there's no guarantee that they do. If they don't, it will be an uninsured motorist claim on your own insurance (which hopefully you have and didn't waive). You can't sue the rental company simply because they owned the vehicle -- something called the "Graves Amendment" from 2005 removes any liability on their part simply as the owner of the vehicle. Again, all of that is complex and isn't really a fight you should, or want to, take on -- let that be your insurance's headache.

 

[focher]

Agree with those who say leave it with your own insurance company and let them handle it. If it's no fault of yours (which seems obvious unless there really missing information) and therefore you don't have to pay any deductible. If there's no other party that ultimately will pay, then you're still fine. If there is another party, your insurance company will deal with it.

One thing that sucks is that you won't be successful with a diminished value claim against your own insurance company. And there's 0% chance that they declare the car totaled.