Had an Accident.... (Collision work for Model S)

[roopesh]

Pictures roopesh, please. Can the doors open? At the height of a bumper, I really doubt the battery would have been impacted.

Did the offender fess-up, or is it going to have to go on your insurance?

The offender is a cop... he wasn't a jerk about it at all. It's a PITA process, though, apparently. Since he was on-duty his supervisor and another cop had to come out. The other cop made the official report. Since he backed into me in a parking lot (I was moving behind him, he was parked), I can't imagine this can be my fault in any way shape or form.

I'm real bummed, but glad at least it was low speed and my kid wasn't in the car. It was jarring, for sure.

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BTW, this occurred just across the street from the LA Supercharger. All I wanted was a bite to eat while my car charged up for my drive home

 

[dsm363]

The offender is a cop... he wasn't a jerk about it at all. It's a PITA process, though, apparently. Since he was on-duty his supervisor and another cop had to come out. The other cop made the official report. Since he backed into me in a parking lot (I was moving behind him, he was parked), I can't imagine this can be my fault in any way shape or form.

I'm real bummed, but glad at least it was low speed and my kid wasn't in the car. It was jarring, for sure.


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BTW, this occurred just across the street from the LA Supercharger. All I wanted was a bite to eat while my car charged up for my drive home

That's rough. Sorry to hear about all of this but glad everyone was ok at least.

 

[EdA]

Hi all. I just received my Model S this Wednesday... and Thursday someone backed into me in a parking lot. The whole passenger side of my car is jacked now (yes, that's the technical term for it).

I've reached out to my local service center (San Diego) and they recommend a local body shop. Does anyone know if there are actual Tesla stores anywhere doing collision work vs going to a body shop? I'd prefer to have someone who knows how to inspect the battery for damage and make sure I get all new parts.... after all the car was 1 day old!

Thanks.

Sorry to hear about that. Here in MA, there is one factory trained body shop. I think that is the model they're using.

 

[FlasherZ]

Here in St. Louis there is a body shop that does many of the high-end dealers' work and that's the one Tesla uses if you go through the service center. They mention "aluminum-certified" too.

 

[roopesh]

Yeah, they're recommending Amato Body Shop here in San Diego. They do all the high-end cars, apparently. Got some recommendations for them from co-workers.

 

[PungoteagDave]

RFBROST, You have a claim against the parking lot owner/operator. I had a similar bumper-pull on rebar situation with a BMW and the parking lot/shopping center owner paid up, no question. The story you got about why the rebar was exposed is bogus. I own several shopping centers, and those things come up all the time due to heat and cold, etc. They are a pain, and they should NEVER extend above the curb. When they do, there is liability. Make a claim.

 

[vfx]

...

BTW, this occurred just across the street from the LA Supercharger. All I wanted was a bite to eat while my car charged up for my drive home

The Tesla LA service site also has a preferred body shop, Avio. You would be shocked to find out that they have probably done dozens of Model S repairs by now. Similar for your local shop in SD I'm sure.

Was this across from the Tesla Design center?

 

[EarlyAdopter]

The offender is a cop... he wasn't a jerk about it at all. It's a PITA process, though, apparently. Since he was on-duty his supervisor and another cop had to come out. The other cop made the official report. Since he backed into me in a parking lot (I was moving behind him, he was parked), I can't imagine this can be my fault in any way shape or form.

I'm real bummed, but glad at least it was low speed and my kid wasn't in the car. It was jarring, for sure.

BTW, this occurred just across the street from the LA Supercharger. All I wanted was a bite to eat while my car charged up for my drive home

Ouch. So sorry that happened. At least the offender has good insurance. Really good insurance. You won't have to take a hit for this.

When vetting body shops, check with the local Audi dealerships and ask them where they send repair work for A8's. They have all aluminum bodies as well, have so for decades, so they should have many years of experience vetting local repair shops.

 

[Trnsl8r]

Since we're sharing, I have two minor, but somewhat unique cases...

About a week after delivery, my wife, on her second day of driving the car, scrapes the front bumper a good one. Poor woman was devastated and refused to drive the car for a while after (she's over it now ). Like up-thread, a combination of State Farm and Chilton Autobody did the trick and the damage is invisible now. The cost was just over $1000, which coincidentally is my deductible...

The second one is unique I think. Tesla did it! While at the Fremont service center to have the rear facing seats installed, an employee backed it into something. I feel for poor Jake who had to call me and tell me the story. "Well, we got your seats installed but..." As we were talking they were already busy putting on a brand new bumper. There was also a minor scrape on the lower grey part of the bumper that I opted to ignore, just so I won't have to go through the trouble of ordering new HOV lane stickers... for now. But I told him with an evil grin that "he owes me a grey bumper"... sometime. Still, I have to appreciate their candor and not trying to pull a fast one on me. Everyone makes mistakes, it's how you respond to them that matters.

(And funny... I was sitting in their waiting room that morning, mesmerized over how they can move all those cars around with incidents. Doh!)

 

[goaliemanshark]

Anyone have a an estimate for a new rear bumper?

I don't want to talk about how it happened...

 

[goaliemanshark]

1900 bucks is the total...

 

[roopesh]

The Tesla LA service site also has a preferred body shop, Avio. You would be shocked to find out that they have probably done dozens of Model S repairs by now. Similar for your local shop in SD I'm sure.

Was this across from the Tesla Design center?

Is that what they have in Hawthorne? Then yes.

Does anyone have an idea if I should be looking into a diminished value claim? The car was brand spanking new and still rare. I see listings for people trying to sell their Model Ses for $10-$20K profits right now.

 

[spatterso911]

Is that what they have in Hawthorne? Then yes.

Does anyone have an idea if I should be looking into a diminished value claim? The car was brand spanking new and still rare. I see listings for people trying to sell their Model Ses for $10-$20K profits right now.

I'm not an attorney, so please consult yours before taking any legal action, but diminished value claims do poorly in general, because you cannot establish known damages for an unknown future event. Only medical malpractice juries can routinely do that. If you sell your car tomorrow, and after earnest efforts can establish that your selling price was diminished by x amount as a direct result of the accident, subsequent damages, and purchaser acknowledging that they would have paid more but for the damages, you may have a claim.

 

[HoneyBug]

I've always believed that, when driven prudently, cars with exemplary handling and acceleration are actually safer than ordinary cars and are less likely to get into an accident.

Actually I see it differently. A saying I saw once on the under beam of a flat bed auto wrecker, "High performance cars + low performance drivers = <insert photo of a crushed cube of a car>"!

 

[DrTaras]

Does anyone have an idea if I should be looking into a diminished value claim? The car was brand spanking new and still rare. I see listings for people trying to sell their Model Ses for $10-$20K profits right now.

With respect to the Roadster which I totaled (yes, different scenario) a few years ago, this is what I wrote:
"Both of those added value to what AAA was going to give me for the totaled car. In fact dollar for dollar,
I got about 25% MORE than I paid for the car, ...
My Dad later said, "there are easier ways to make money & I hope you pursue them in the future!""I think that this 1st picture in this post was taken at Avio's:
http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/show...s-Roadster-Owner?p=37630&viewfull=1#post37630

 

[RFBrost]

RFBROST, You have a claim against the parking lot owner/operator. I had a similar bumper-pull on rebar situation with a BMW and the parking lot/shopping center owner paid up, no question. The story you got about why the rebar was exposed is bogus. I own several shopping centers, and those things come up all the time due to heat and cold, etc. They are a pain, and they should NEVER extend above the curb. When they do, there is liability. Make a claim.

I have made a claim with the property owner’s insurance company which also happens to be my insurance company. They are collecting all the data but have NOT YET decided whether they are going to pay the claim. Seems this “hazard” has existed for a couple of years and others (including me in a different vehicle) have parked here w/o damage. I would think that IF my car was damaged THEN it is a hazard Q.E.D.

 

[DrTaras]

Seems this “hazard” has existed for a couple of years and others (including me in a different vehicle) have parked here w/o damage.

If I check your blood pressure and it is high, but it was normal many other times, doesn't mean that you ignore the high blood pressure and blame the cuff! :wink:

 

[neroden]

An update for anyone interested. My insurance carrier provided an estimate of $2,700 to fix the car. Thankfully the autobody shop Tesla referred us to is an approved vendor with our insurance, and they have already worked on some Teslas.

This is actually a bit reassuring. I have kind of been assuming that aluminum bodywork would be extremely expensive. Even minor bodywork on high-end steel cars can be in this range, however.

 

[raptorweb]

I had someone hit and run my car when it was parked at my work within the last few days. The shop in the area that will soon be Tesla preferred is also an approved shop for my insurance. I will let everyone know what the damage($) ends up being when I find out.

 

[mrcool1122]

Thanks for the tips but my car is blue, I'm not using insurance, and I am using a body shop recommended by Tesla. Still waiting for the hood from Tesla, though!