Hit and run on brand new Model 3

[FastEddieB]

Grrrr…

Last night we were on the way home last night from a hockey game. As we stopped for a red light, a turning car swung wide and sideswiped the left rear door and fender of our precious new Tesla…

And then took off! We caught it on a dashcam, and on the left side camera. Might be just enough to figure out the tag. Once I edit and combine the two videos, I’ll post them here. Anyway, could have been worse and thankful we weren’t injured and the car is fully drivable.

 

[FastEddieB]

Here's the videos caught by our dash cam and the Tesla's left side cam:

 

[Stew-2]

This makes me so mad for you, I hope they get caught

 

[FastEddieB]

This makes me so mad for you, I hope they get caught

There may be a chance of that.

My son-in-law used video voodoo to ascertain the tag from the video, then publicly available websites to track down the VIN. Gave that to Progressive, our insurance company, who says that vehicle, a 2010 Nissan Altima, is also insured by them. If he or she makes a claim, we might have insurance fraud. Anyway, contacting the Sheriff’s Office with the info and see where it goes.

 

[FastEddieB]

Followup...

WE GOT HIM!!!

Here's a summary of how we caught the guy.

We pulled the USB stick and downloaded the videos from the car's cameras and with the separate dashcam we use. Even going frame-by-frame it was just not possible to make out the tag number. One example here:

I emailed the files to my son-in-law and he used some frame-by-frame video processing software to come up with a full Tennessee tag # which checked back to a 2010 Nissan Altima, pretty consistent with the fleeing car.

I gave that info to the deputy who handled the accident and our insurance company. The officer said the tag checked back to an address in the City of Knoxville, and his supervisor wouldn't let him go that far out of his zone, and that we'd need to get a city officer to follow up. I called and they said they didn't have the manpower to handle accidents occurring outside their city, but that a county officer surely had the jurisdiction to do so. I contacted the Deputy and he said he'd go by and attempt to make contact with the owner of the vehicle.

While all that was transpiring, our insurance company was tracking down the tag info themselves and found the vehicle had just been insured by another company the morning of the accident. Yesterday that insurance sent me an online claim form that had the name of their insured. Karen and I searched Facebook for the name and came up with someone of that name who had posted this:

Gotcha!

Late yesterday the deputy informed me he had made contact with the owner, who confessed to leaving the scene of the accident and got a citation for the same.

Kind of amazing how it all worked out. Big thanks to my son-in-law - without his help it would have likely been a dead end. The other driver's company has an internal investigation going on regarding the coincidence of insurance purchased that very day and the nature of the hit-and-run. That may delay getting our car fixed for a bit, but its functionally fine so not that big a deal. Will follow up as things proceed.

 

[mangrove79]

That is f'd up. I hope the punishment fits the crime here as he was just hoping to get away with it. Judging from the parts of the facebook post that's visible, was he agreeing that it was caused by a deer? If so, that's pathetic. Incredible detective work!

 

[Darmie]

Wow, Terrible this had happen but so happy of your outcome. I always wonder what other crimes people like her get away with.

 

[KenC]

Funny how that deer left paint marks.

 

[Birdsfan]

AWESOME that you were able to make the guy pay for his actions. Too often this goes without the guilty party getting his/her due. He will also have to relinquish the Jesus fish on the back of the car!

 

[phishphan]

Happy to see how this ended!

 

[6spdcoupe]

Sorry to hear what happened to your new car. But I'm glad you found the culprit! Following the thread for any updates.

 

[RyanS]

• If anyone was injured in the crash, a hit and run could be charged as a Class A misdemeanor. Punishment can include up to 11 months and 29 days in jail, a fine of up to $2,500, and suspension of driver’s license.
• If the accident resulted in property damage only, drivers might be charged with a Class C misdemeanor, which is punishable by suspension of driver’s license, a $50 fine, and up to 30 days in jail. Penalties may depend on the dollar amount of the property damage.

You were injured, correct? At least, fixing Tesla is very expensive. My daughter was involved in a hit and run. CHP won’t do anything on weekends but my insurance tracked down the other driver and made the other insurance paid for the damage.

 

[Solarman004]

@FastEddieB glad to hear how this turned out, but sorry you had to go through this.
Could you please share the name of the video processing software used to identify the tag?
I've never lived in TN but sure would like to see their red-painted deer!

 

[FastEddieB]

No, we weren’t injured.

My son-in-law explained…

“We used the vlc player. It’s an app that’s usually used to watch video. It has a feature where you can take slow down the frame rate and then take snap shots of each one. When you screen shot the video you can then edit them in different filters. Some of the filter looked blank when we tried to save them. So we used an open source app named greenshot to snip each picture and save them.”

 

[FastEddieB]

Quick update…

First, the fellow’s insurance said they would send us a check for $2,200, which was the amount of their initial estimate. When we said that wouldn’t be nearly enough, they said that was an initial payment to get the ball rolling, and once we had a formal estimate they would pay any difference to the body shop. Sure enough, our body shop estimate was over $6,500 higher, and the insurance company paid that immediately. Still waiting on parts and scheduling, not a big deal since the car’s fully drivable as is.

Secondly, the Knox County State Attorney called to confirm our address. They said a court date for the hit and run charge is scheduled for next month and we’d be getting subpoenas in the mail.

Finally, we’re looking into making a “diminished value” claim. Apparently there’s a formula to reflect how much less the car is worth due to damage history. I’ll let you know how that pans out.

 

[santua]

That estimate seems a bit high for that sort of damage, at least from what it is visible in the picture.

 

[FastEddieB]

That estimate seems a bit high for that sort of damage, at least from what it is visible in the picture.

From reports from others with comparable damage of about $5k to $7k in repairs, our estimate from a Tesla-authorized shop did not seem way out of line. It seems like what seems like superficial damage on Teslas can end up being quite expensive to do right.

If you’re curious, I can attempt to attack a pdf of the estimate.

 

[oreobbq]

Great work! Tesla cam paying for itself several times over.

 

[santua]

From reports from others with comparable damage of about $5k to $7k in repairs, our estimate from a Tesla-authorized shop did not seem way out of line. It seems like what seems like superficial damage on Teslas can end up being quite expensive to do right.

If you’re curious, I can attempt to attack a pdf of the estimate.

I said that because I have had worst damage on a Porsche and repairs were significantly cheaper. However, I did not go to an authorized shop from a dealer, I went to a body shop that deals with high-end luxury cars.

I am guessing that authorized shops charge a premium for parts and work. Regardless, if you did not have to pay for it, then that is all that matters.

 

[FastEddieB]

Went to court last Wednesday on the “leaving the scene”. The State suggested dismissal after the defendant met certain conditions. I objected and showed her the FaceBook screenshots we took, and said I’d like an adjudication on the charges, especially since this wasn’t his first hit-and-run. In the end he pled guilty and was so adjudicated with a fine, so it will stay on his record. Probably the best we could hope for.

As an aside, still waiting to hear back from the body shop about scheduling the repair. Not a big deal, since the car is fully driveable but we’d still like to get it done.