Have Tesla insurance, just got DMV letter "Intent to Suspend" for lack of insurance

[Vines]

To each their own.
If my contractor started work, then I got a red tag notice from the city because he didn't pull a permit, I would be justifiably upset. I wouldn't think to myself: "Oh, he is new to construction, I am sure it was worth saving a few bucks and letting him figure it out"

If they cant figure out something like paperwork to my bank and DMV, what surety do I have that they can do the rest of the task correctly?

I am a Tesla fanboy too but they literally had 2 jobs so far: Do the paperwork for DMV, and do the paperwork for my bank.

They failed both, so rightfully I wonder what will they do if I suddenly have a large claim when I need them to be there, to know their business and take care of me!

 

[Skotty]

How often do you make insurance claims? Personally, I don't know why people care about good service for insurance claims, due to how infrequent it should be. I've personally never in my life filed an insurance claim (been driving about 30 years). Not a bid deal if I have shoddy service if/when the time comes, especially if it means my premiums are lower and/or coverage is better. If cutting corners on auto/home insurance, claims service is one of the best places to cut. Just an opinion to consider. If you are filing car claims regularly, you need to improve your driving.

 

[alextheukrainian]

DMV site will accept policy number if you remove the dashes. NAIC number works now also. However, Tesla does it all for you, just call their insurance number (844-34-TESLA, option 1, then option 3 for general questions I believe). Tesla is also taking care of the $14 suspension fee for me (because I procrastinated). FYI.

 

[FalconFour]

Screw it- here is the email of the nice lady that took care of it for me. She might not work on the weekends but shoot her an email from the address linked to your Tesla account (with a copy of the DMV letter) and she will take care of it!!

[email protected]

I emailed there (w/ letter & from my account email), and she kindly responded that I'd need some sort of verification by calling in. So, likely just emailing isn't the answer. (the number she gave me was just the standard support entry point, so I get a new person and had to start over)

They seem to be getting a better handle on this now (probably after more and more people are getting these letters) and it seems to be handled now. Probably isn't going to be an issue for anyone getting Tesla insurance today.

Also hate the severe, unbelievable oversimplification of "you only had two jobs, take my money and send proof to DMV", but hey, people are gonna live in their own little worlds

 

[Regent]

Without a traditional agent, wonder if the savings is worth it buying it from Tesla. Curious to know how they will handle claims if it’s as difficult as it sounds to just rectify the DMV debacle. Any claims yet?

 

[cwerdna]

To each their own.
They failed both, so rightfully I wonder what will they do if I suddenly have a large claim when I need them to be there, to know their business and take care of me!

That's a very legitimate concern. If they're this bad at this part, I can't wait to hear some claim horror stories.

In my entire life of having auto insurance, I've never ever had this issue or heard of anyone else having this issue w/their auto insurance company and their state DMV/equivalent body (e.g. in WA, there's not a DMV but here is WA State Licensing (DOL) Official Site: Home).

 

[FalconFour]

Without a traditional agent, wonder if the savings is worth it buying it from Tesla. Curious to know how they will handle claims if it’s as difficult as it sounds to just rectify the DMV debacle. Any claims yet?

My whole life I've never bought auto insurance through an agent. Always online. An agent seems like just an unnecessary middle-man that has to get paid. Very 1980.

Claims is easy - you call up the number that's prominently listed all over your documentation, you press the number that corresponds to "report or check a claim", and you talk to the claims department. Claims is always a nightmare no matter what you do - because you have to weigh whether you're likely to actually get anything from insurance, versus the rate hike, just doing it yourself. So far I've had one major accident with the other guy 100% at-fault, and one where my driver (amusingly, not me, thus no rate hike) was 100% at fault as well. Both cases, no agents were involved, just claims departments.

My other experience with insurance was involving a Summon incident (tl;dr: jerked the wheel to the side for literally nothing, faster than the app/car would react/apply the brakes after lifting my finger off the button, scraped against my gate), and that was an absolute nightmare - insurance had no problem covering it after deductible, but the body shop wanted to rob everyone, it doubled my premium, I canceled everything (work was never performed), had a multi-month process to get it off my insurance record.

Auto insurance sucks no matter what, so the least it can do is cost less.

 

[follow.johnny]

DMV site will accept policy number if you remove the dashes. NAIC number works now also. However, Tesla does it all for you, just call their insurance number (844-34-TESLA, option 1, then option 3 for general questions I believe). Tesla is also taking care of the $14 suspension fee for me (because I procrastinated). FYI.

Just got in the mail yesterday my notice of intent to suspend. Going to call Tesla Insurance to get this all sorted out. Thanks for the tip!

 

[Waverider]

DMV site will accept policy number if you remove the dashes. NAIC number works now also. However, Tesla does it all for you, just call their insurance number (844-34-TESLA, option 1, then option 3 for general questions I believe). Tesla is also taking care of the $14 suspension fee for me (because I procrastinated). FYI.

Just tried it with and without dashes, didn't work for me. Sent a pdf of the verification letter I had to send the credit union to that [email protected] email address. Fingers crossed that works. I'll probably mail a copy of the verification letter to the DMV as well. Definitely regretting switching from GEICO...

 

[Az_Rael]

Personally, I don't know why people care about good service for insurance claims, due to how infrequent it should be.

Even though it happens infrequently, it can also be the absolute worst time in your life. If you are unlucky enough to end up in the hospital after a car wreck the absolute last thing you want to deal with is crappy insurance customer service. It is even more critical in an not-at-fault situation when the other company is crappy - your company will chase them down for you and get your claim taken care of quickly.

Even for minor fender benders it is a PITA. When I got rear ended then pushed into the car in front of me, the guy in front had some crappy insurance company. He was on hold for 1.5 hours at the scene of the accident trying to get help. I was able to get AAA on the phone in less than a minute and had all my stuff taken care of very quickly, rental car set up, etc. The guy in the car in front had to call me a few weeks later because he was having trouble getting his insurance to help him get the info of the car behind me who was at fault for the whole thing (and was uninsured). By that point my car was already done with the body shop and my claim was closed.

 

[yzjJosh]

I called Tesla 3 weeks ago for the same issue and they promised it will be taken care of. They also told me to double check with DMV 10 workdays later. Today, I called DMV and was told that my insurance is still missing. Called Tesla again, and they don't know why either. They said they will follow up with me after contacting DMV, but can't say how long it will take. What a disappointment! I'm going to try the mail and email approach. Apparently, calling Tesla does mean it's done. You still need to keep an eye in case anything is wrong.

 

[bmcbeen]

Well, after calling Tesla repeatedly about this over the past 6 weeks, and being told it was taken care of, my registration is now suspended. DMV still cannot not verify my insurance through the site, and Telsa does not have 24/7 support. Awesome.

 

[bmcbeen]

Well, after calling Tesla repeatedly about this over the past 6 weeks, and being told it was taken care of, my registration is now suspended. DMV still cannot not verify my insurance through the site, and Telsa does not have 24/7 support. Awesome.

Got a hold of DMV over the phone this morning, and was told they still could not confirm coverage. Was also told it would take 3-5 days to process through the state insurance validation services. But at least they were friendly, and did understand my issue and escalated as far as they could on their end.
After that, I got back on the phone with Tesla. The routine was similar to last time, but this time they seemed to take it more seriously. I emailed them the suspension letter, and they promised to have it resolved today. They just followed up to confirm the matter has been resolved. A check in with DMV has confirmed it. So at least we know they can fix it if things get bad enough.

 

[MichaelP90DL]

Got a hold of DMV over the phone this morning, and was told they still could not confirm coverage. Was also told it would take 3-5 days to process through the state insurance validation services. But at least they were friendly, and did understand my issue and escalated as far as they could on their end.
After that, I got back on the phone with Tesla. The routine was similar to last time, but this time they seemed to take it more seriously. I emailed them the suspension letter, and they promised to have it resolved today. They just followed up to confirm the matter has been resolved. A check in with DMV has confirmed it. So at least we know they can fix it if things get bad enough.

But only if they get bad enough, evidently. LOL ...That really needs to improve.

 

[apacheguy]

DMV site will accept policy number if you remove the dashes. NAIC number works now also. However, Tesla does it all for you, just call their insurance number (844-34-TESLA, option 1, then option 3 for general questions I believe). Tesla is also taking care of the $14 suspension fee for me (because I procrastinated). FYI.

I just tried to enter the info online and DMV said they were unable to verify my insurance (yes, I removed the dashes). So it still isn't fixed.

 

[SO16]

That's a very legitimate concern. If they're this bad at this part, I can't wait to hear some claim horror stories.

In my entire life of having auto insurance, I've never ever had this issue or heard of anyone else having this issue w/their auto insurance company and their state DMV/equivalent body (e.g. in WA, there's not a DMV but here is WA State Licensing (DOL) Official Site: Home).

In your entire life, have you ever joined an insurance company that was only months old? For people to expect a very smooth running operation may be better off waiting a while to join. Some people like to be “bleeding edge”. And some do not.

 

[MichaelP90DL]

In your entire life, have you ever joined an insurance company that was only months old? For people to expect a very smooth running operation may be better off waiting a while to join. Some people like to be “bleeding edge”. And some do not.

Speaking of screw-ups, I cannot access TeslaInsuranceServices.com from my part of Southern California, with various browsers, on my desktop or my phone, by wifi or cell, either entering the URL manually or following Tesla's links to the insurance operation. I notified Tesla. No response, still no access. I mean, WTF?

 

[Bet TSLA]

Well, after calling Tesla repeatedly about this over the past 6 weeks, and being told it was taken care of, my registration is now suspended. DMV still cannot not verify my insurance through the site, and Telsa does not have 24/7 support. Awesome.

I got two letters today, one for each car: "YOUR VEHICLE REGISTRATION IS SUSPENDED EFFECTIVE: 12/12/2019". Further down it says "Since your vehicle registration is suspended, you may not operate the vehicle until this matter is resolved." So apparently I (and my wife) have been driving our cars illegally for the past few days. Or maybe not, since we weren't informed, but it doesn't say that is any excuse.

Anyway, I called Tesla insurance and they were apologetic and promised to take care of the matter ASAP, in such a way that it would be expunged from the record and I wouldn't have to pay $14 for each car to fix it. It's supposed to be done by tomorrow morning, or evening by the latest. We shall see.

Meanwhile, I'm not going to worry about it. I haven't even tried looking that the DMV site.

I suggested that perhaps it would be cheaper and simpler for them to go through the records of all their customers to make sure the DMV has got it right. The service rep basically said "great idea" but sounded like "of course, but it won't happen because (reasons I can't do anything about)". It might be the insurance company's fault, but from many years of dealing with the DMV I'm betting that they've made it impossible to get right.

 

[mlkmade]

Just wanted to follow up on my experience. Every promise Tesla Insurance made to me regarding this situation was not kept.

I was told I would I receive a follow up phone call (this was 2 months ago) to confirm they took care of everything in the original conversation I had with Tesla insurance about this. I called 3-4 weeks later after not hearing anything and was told by the agent they are no longer giving curiosity calls as their staff was overworked because of it and to just trust that it's taken care. This made me so irate about how this was all handled. The first phone call that told me I was on my own, the 2nd phone call that made false promises, and the 3rd phone call that said "trust us".

What a joke.

Thankfully my stuff was cleared in time and I suspect it had nothing to with Tesla insurance's efforts and everything to do with the DMV rep telling me to email my info to a specific address.

Email your proof of insurance, including your NAIC # to: [email protected]

 

[Bet TSLA]

I got two letters today, one for each car: "YOUR VEHICLE REGISTRATION IS SUSPENDED EFFECTIVE: 12/12/2019". Further down it says "Since your vehicle registration is suspended, you may not operate the vehicle until this matter is resolved." So apparently I (and my wife) have been driving our cars illegally for the past few days. Or maybe not, since we weren't informed, but it doesn't say that is any excuse.

Anyway, I called Tesla insurance and they were apologetic and promised to take care of the matter ASAP, in such a way that it would be expunged from the record and I wouldn't have to pay $14 for each car to fix it. It's supposed to be done by tomorrow morning, or evening by the latest. We shall see.

Meanwhile, I'm not going to worry about it. I haven't even tried looking that the DMV site.

I suggested that perhaps it would be cheaper and simpler for them to go through the records of all their customers to make sure the DMV has got it right. The service rep basically said "great idea" but sounded like "of course, but it won't happen because (reasons I can't do anything about)". It might be the insurance company's fault, but from many years of dealing with the DMV I'm betting that they've made it impossible to get right.

I replied to their yesterday's e-mail around noon with an "Any progress?" and got back "...my assistant supervisor is waiting for a response from the DMV. Should be later today, I will email you either way...". As I wanted to use the cars today I just drove them and didn't worry about it. I never did hear anything further from them today, and as it's now after 9pm I don't think I will. My long experience says that waiting for anything from the DMV is a fool's errand, but we'll see how they do. Tomorrow is another day.