Help - I Totaled My Model S

[Hota]

So I totaled my 2016 Model S 75D a couple of weeks ago driving on an icy road. The road turned but the car didn't and I wound up hitting the end of a guard rail head on. Luckily, I was only going 20 mph and was completely unharmed, but it did set off 4 different airbags - driver's, both driver's and passenger side curtain and the driver's knee airbag (didn't even know this existed).

Anyhow, I have 60k miles on it and my insurance company has deemed it a total loss. They are in the process of valuing it to make me an offer. Any suggestions on how I should go about making sure I get the maximum value for the vehicle?

Anyone know how I can recover the value from the unlimited supercharging since it doesn't look like it's available if I replace it with another used Model S?

I'm going to really miss my Model S and the 5+2 seating. Not sure I can hold out long enough for a Model Y w/ 3rd row.

 

[ahkahn]

Sorry for your loss, but glad you're OK. The Supercharging isn't worth much, only a few hundred dollars at most. Make sure you do your homework on comparable models and the going rate - negotiate on replacement cost, not their wholesale value they'll send your way at first.

 

[ucmndd]

Your insurance will provide you with a valuation report and should give you the actual cash value (including taxes, registration, etc) of your 2016 S75D right before the loss. You can argue with them a bit over specific options and valuation if you think they’re off base, but more or less you’re gonna get what they give you.

 

[cookie99]

I was ready to argue my insurance company (progressive) on the value of my car, but when i read the report they gave me a more than fair evaluation, they use a 3rd party company that agregates other cars sold for your same model and then have a calculation based off of how many miles you have vs the car sold and add or subtract value from it.

you'd be surprised, its quite a sophisticated operation. at the end of the day i was more than satisfied with the valuation and took it.

 

[Az_Rael]

My insurance company was hilariously bad at my valuation report on my P85. They listed it as a regular S85 and a whole bunch of wrong options. I sent them corrected information (from my MVPA) plus receipts from the aftermarket items I had added (Tesla installed center console, LTE upgrade, and 21” arachnid wheels). Got my valuation up by $9k from where it started.

 

[beatle]

I've never had an insurance company offer me actual market value of the car or bike so that I could replace it with one similar. Just reject their first offer on GP and look at comps to your car prior to the accident.

Even if you don't decide to rebuild your car, the amount to buy your car back can often be less than its salvage value and you can pick up a few extra bucks there.

 

[David.85D]

EV-CPO is a great tool for this. Search for cars with the same options you had.

You can see current cars and completed sales

 

[Big Toys]

When I totalled my Volt, and thought for sure I'd get squat for it. They gave me more that it would cost to replace it with a similar model , so I ran to the bank to cash it, just in case they made a mistake.

 

[TonyT]

I was ready to argue my insurance company (progressive) on the value of my car, but when i read the report they gave me a more than fair evaluation, they use a 3rd party company that agregates other cars sold for your same model and then have a calculation based off of how many miles you have vs the car sold and add or subtract value from it.

you'd be surprised, its quite a sophisticated operation. at the end of the day i was more than satisfied with the valuation and took it.

I had 3 similar cases. 1 car totaled from hail, and 2 from crashes when someone else had my car. All 3 times I was paid a price of similar cars for sale and could easily buy a very similar car (Miles, year, options, etc) for what I was paid. All 3 times I chose totally different cars.

With Ameriprise and American Family.

 

[Zishan]

I'd pull those RFS out and install them on your next Model S. That's me personally.

 

[Hota]

EV-CPO is a great tool for this. Search for cars with the same options you had.

You can see current cars and completed sales

Awesome. Thanks!

 

[Hota]

I had 3 similar cases. 1 car totaled from hail, and 2 from crashes when someone else had my car. All 3 times I was paid a price of similar cars for sale and could easily buy a very similar car (Miles, year, options, etc) for what I was paid. All 3 times I chose totally different cars.

With Ameriprise and American Family.

Thanks...this is my insurance company.

 

[OrbiterTI4]

If insurance comes back with what you believe as an unreasonably low number, you could also go the route of getting your own totaled vehicle value from a professional appraiser, like Petty Details. You'd need a big discrepancy in offered/expected values for this to be worth your while though.

 

[ucmndd]

Thanks...this is my insurance company.

I'm in the middle of a total loss claim with Ameriprise right now (not the Tesla, the other car). FWIW, they provided a very detailed valuation report explaining their reasoning and calculation, and gave me about $5,000 more than the "worst case" number I had prepared myself for.

 

[Hota]

I cleaned out my car and talked to the body shop today and they were super helpful. I documented and sent receipts for everything including 6mo old tires, tint, paint protection film, etc. They also said I should be reimbursed for sales tax, registration and excise tax fees.

I guess a precision surgical strike killed my car. <20 mph with the end of a guardrail directly impacting the airbag sensor set everything off and also fractured the frame rail.

 

[HankLloydRight]

I'd pull those RFS out and install them on your next Model S. That's me personally.

You can do that, but you'll also need the boron rear bumper reinforcement bar installed as well.

 

[David.85D]

FWIW, someone posted in another thread that the rear crossmember (for the rear facing seats) is no longer listed as a restricted part and you can buy it directly. I haven’t tried...

 

[Zishan]

Agreed, you need to replace the rear bumper beam. I've heard somewhere, some of the later Model S's have the reinforced beams, as they(Tesla) did away with normal or reinforced, and just installed reinforced. DISCLAIMER: I read/heard this somewhere, please confirm for yourself and don't risk driving without the proper rear bumper beam installed.

 

[Hota]

Well thanks to all the "great" information here the insurance company upped the value of my total loss more than $10k. Enough so they are reassessing it as a total loss and may try to fix the car which likely has $40k worth of damage according to the body shop.

Crap, I think I did too good of a job.

 

[David.85D]

Agreed, you need to replace the rear bumper beam. I've heard somewhere, some of the later Model S's have the reinforced beams, as they(Tesla) did away with normal or reinforced, and just installed reinforced. DISCLAIMER: I read/heard this somewhere, please confirm for yourself and don't risk driving without the proper rear bumper beam installed.

want to try and clarify this a bit since I have done it myself. All Model S have a steel rear bumper under the plastic bumper cover. Very early cars (around the first 6000) got an extra aluminum reinforcement (it just bolts on to existing threaded studs) called the “rear crossmember”. After that it was only put on cars with rear facing seats. Both the “bumper” and “rear crossmember” are thin structures designed to crush and absorb energy.

The seats don’t attach to either of these - they use t-nuts that slide into a prepared track at the front edge of the lower trunk well, brackets that attach to the strut towers, and a pair of hooks hidden in the back of the second row seats.