Hit & Run Southern California / Pasadena - Ameriprise Insurance / Tesla Service?

[tbwnm]

Avio looks interesting but it's quite a bit further away from me (Van Nuys and I'm in Altadena). Have sent pictures and spoken to both All City & DC Auto in Burbank and although they still obviously need to get their hands on the car to see what's really going on and provide an estimate accordingly, All City was pretty certain the car was repairable whereas DC Auto told me there is a good chance the car would be totalled. With the apparently lousy insurance I have learned that I have with CONNECT / Ameriprise, the guy at DC Auto speculated that if the car is valued between $40 to $43,200 on KBB, the insurance company would most likely settle between $37K and $40K. However, with sales tax, the car cost me over $45K. So at this point, I'm hoping the car can be fixed so I don't end up between $5k to $8k out of pocket if I have to make up the difference to purchase a new one. All this seems rather unjust given that I'm not at fault and this is a hit and run on a car that is only 8 months old. Oh well, at least no injuries. It's just a car and life goes on...

 

[AdamVIP]

Well you have the plate and camera proof so the police should have tracked down the guy already. Hit and run is a crime and a fairly priority one in LA given the high numbers of them. If the guy is tracked down and he has insurance you shouldn't have a deductible and should push for a total on the car. If you do end up footing the bill under uninsured motorist coverage then you should just work the math of deductible vs diminished value with a mark on a car fax.

 

[tbwnm]

Well you have the plate and camera proof so the police should have tracked down the guy already. Hit and run is a crime and a fairly priority one in LA given the high numbers of them. If the guy is tracked down and he has insurance you shouldn't have a deductible and should push for a total on the car. If you do end up footing the bill under uninsured motorist coverage then you should just work the math of deductible vs diminished value with a mark on a car fax.

If he has insurance being a big IF (given the state of the vehicle which I could see on the dashcam BEFORE the hit, I will be pleasantly surprised if they have insurance). I'm still waiting for the report to come back on this and I have my fingers crossed. If CONNECT have to pay the claim through the uninsured motorist coverage (and can't collect from the other party) then I could be in for an uphill battle with CONNECT on either a total loss or repairs. My adjuster / claims representative CONNECTS response to Tesla Body Shop Rates is not encouraging, specifically:

"My material damage department advised that they go based off of the California Labor Rate Survey which is Department of Insurance Compliant. Some rates and prices with Tesla might be inflated for simply being a Tesla but not necessarily a reasonable cost for materials. Again, we will have to get an estimate completed first and to review it. I understand that the Tesla dealership has a waiting list for the drop off of your vehicle. Is there a way someone at Tesla can come to your residence to complete an inspection for an estimate with photos?" .

I mean what do they mean by "cost for materials"? Where else are you supposed to get Tesla parts other than directly from Tesla? It's not like you can get 3rd party knock off parts from China through 3rd party Tesla Certified Body Shop? This makes no sense (also Tesla are not sending anyone out to do estimates for collision repairs as far as I am aware).

Unfortunately, I can't use a tax deduction for diminished value right now so this won't help in my case.

 

[hridge2020]

car damage images?

 

[tbwnm]

Update: As the Tesla Body Repair Center in Pomona seemed so reluctant to take the car given they have had disputes with CONNECT (formerly Ameriprise Costco) in the past paying their mechanical labor rates and that I couldn't even get an appointment to drop off the car until September 21st, I decided to have the car towed to ALL CITY COLLISION CENTER in Burbank who said they worked with everyone (including CONNECT) and had no problems. Erick at ACCC has been pretty responsive and it only took them a couple of days to get the estimate to CONNECT. ACCC said the car was totally reparable with superficial damage and but the repair estimate still came in at $26K (every panel on the drivers side was damaged and neither doors would open). Waited a week for CONNECT to get back to me and they have totalled the car which was a surprise to me as well as ACCC. The "Gross ACV" CONNECT arrived at was $40,507 which after taxes and fees came to a total loss settlement of $44,568 (less $500 deductible). They based this settlement on (4) Comps that were within about 200 miles but none of the comps except one matched my configuration (and this comp was higher than what they offered for mine and already sold). Pretty impossible getting a used 2019 SR+ Silver Metallic with only 6K miles on it in the Los Angeles area right now. Cost new will be $45,656 to replace including taxes and fees so at this point I'm out of pocket $1,656 + I will be without a car for probably 2 to 3 months (already been 3 weeks since the accident + wait time of 3 to 7 weeks for a new one once I place an order). Also lost the 2 years of free supercharging that I got as part of a one off promotion when I purchase the car last September. I'm fighting with the insurance company for more so that I can at least replace the vehicle and not be out of pocket. I guess it could be a lot worse, but feels unjust as I was not at fault for this hit and run and I'm going to be out of pocket and without a car for a while because of it. All in all its been a pretty awful experience dealing with CONNECT (really your just a number and communication has been a challenge) and it's not over yet. However, would be interested to hear from anyone else who has been in my situation. Perhaps I'm better off than I thought? Also, does anyone know how this will affect the CVRP rebate I received back in December for $2,500? Will I have to return a portion of this and/or can I claim another one on the new Tesla? Thanks!!

 

[AxlxA]

@tbwnm that sucks.

Crvp you can only claim twice under your name. So you still have one more unless you've purchased another EV before.

Even though it's $1657 out of pocket for a new SR+, you essentially had drive the car for 10-12mo for $1700. That's not a bad deal tbh. Imagine being in an BMW, they'd only pay you 75% of that msrp.

I'm a little worried as I also have same isnurance company as you. The fact that one repair shop refuse to take you in due to your insurance, that sounds kind of illegal to me but whatever.

Sorry you lost Supercharging x1 year left. It's not worth it for me but folks in socal love it. That's approx $400 you saved by Supercharging every 6000miles you drove. Vs paying $200 home charging assuming you have some sort of EV rate and a connector already.

Maybe it is a good time to hunker down, save a little more, and get a model Y LR AWD =p

Or find a used 2018/19 performance 3 from private sellers? I saw one recently asking $48k.

 

[Triple D]

All in all its been a pretty awful experience dealing with CONNECT (really your just a number and communication has been a challenge) and it's not over yet. However, would be interested to hear from anyone else who has been in my situation. Perhaps I'm better off than I thought?

This is interesting because I was considering switching to Connect insurance today. I got a quote and the premium is about $900 cheaper per year than my current auto insurance.
Currently my wife and I use California Casualty insurance but we have never had to file a claim. $900 is a big difference though...

 

[tbwnm]

@tbwnm that sucks.

Crvp you can only claim twice under your name. So you still have one more unless you've purchased another EV before.

Even though it's $1657 out of pocket for a new SR+, you essentially had drive the car for 10-12mo for $1700. That's not a bad deal tbh. Imagine being in an BMW, they'd only pay you 75% of that msrp.

I'm a little worried as I also have same isnurance company as you. The fact that one repair shop refuse to take you in due to your insurance, that sounds kind of illegal to me but whatever.

Sorry you lost Supercharging x1 year left. It's not worth it for me but folks in socal love it. That's approx $400 you saved by Supercharging every 6000miles you drove. Vs paying $200 home charging assuming you have some sort of EV rate and a connector already.

Maybe it is a good time to hunker down, save a little more, and get a model Y LR AWD =p

Or find a used 2018/19 performance 3 from private sellers? I saw one recently asking $48k.

Thanks for the reply, Tesla Body Repair didn't exactly refuse to take the car but said there is a possibility I would have to pay the difference if CONNECT ended up not paying their published rates and I just didn't want to take the chance. Jay at Tesla Body Repair said this has only been an issue with CONNECT so far. They recommended I send a copy of Tesla Body Repair labor rates to CONNECT which I did to which they responded:

"material damage department advised that they go based off of the California Labor Rate Survey which is Department of Insurance Compliant. Some rates and prices with Tesla might be inflated for simply being a Tesla but not necessarily a reasonable cost for materials".

Clearly this was a boiler plate reply and seemed rather obtuse (where else are we supposed to get materials/parts other than from Tesla?):. Also could be a bit of a racket going on with Tesla Body Repair as they are the only Tesla owned body repair facility and have way more work than they can handle already and are not motivated to negotiate. Probably best that I didn't go there anyway as I would have ended up waiting until September 21st for my appointment and its highly likely CONNECT would have totaled the car anyway. In terms of the settlement, not sure if CONNECT is any better or worse than other insurance companies. There premium ended up being several hundred dollars a year cheaper than the quote I received from my prior carrier MERCURY and also cheaper than the Tesla Insurance and offered a richer plan for a lower premium. Not sure if "you get what you pay for" applies to insurance companies or not, but that has been my experience in the past with most things so perhaps I should have known better. Also, things may have changed since they were purchased by American Family and are no longer Ameriprise (when I purchased the insurance last October they were still Ameriprise through Costco)?

 

[AxlxA]

Thanks for the reply, Tesla Body Repair didn't exactly refuse to take the car but said there is a possibility I would have to pay the difference if CONNECT ended up not paying their published rates and I just didn't want to take the chance. Jay at Tesla Body Repair said this has only been an issue with CONNECT so far. They recommended I send a copy of Tesla Body Repair labor rates to CONNECT which I did to which they responded:

"material damage department advised that they go based off of the California Labor Rate Survey which is Department of Insurance Compliant. Some rates and prices with Tesla might be inflated for simply being a Tesla but not necessarily a reasonable cost for materials".

Clearly this was a boiler plate reply and seemed rather obtuse (where else are we supposed to get materials/parts other than from Tesla?):. Also could be a bit of a racket going on with Tesla Body Repair as they are the only Tesla owned body repair facility and have way more work than they can handle already and are not motivated to negotiate. Probably best that I didn't go there anyway as I would have ended up waiting until September 21st for my appointment and its highly likely CONNECT would have totaled the car anyway. In terms of the settlement, not sure if CONNECT is any better or worse than other insurance companies. There premium ended up being several hundred dollars a year cheaper than the quote I received from my prior carrier MERCURY and also cheaper than the Tesla Insurance and offered a richer plan for a lower premium. Not sure if "you get what you pay for" applies to insurance companies or not, but that has been my experience in the past with most things so perhaps I should have known better. Also, things may have changed since they were purchased by American Family and are no longer Ameriprise (when I purchased the insurance last October they were still Ameriprise through Costco)?

Makes me wonder if going Tesla insurance would be better or not then? Tesla insurance is $200-300 more q6mo for me though.

 

[SCalEV]

Have had Connect / Costco for 5 years. Very happy with customer service, etc. Have not made a claim.

This outcome sounded very fair by Connect. I would not let the first shop's subjective comment discourage anyone from using.

Ed

 

[AdamVIP]

Honestly totaling the car will be the best in the long run. Id certainly push a little with the estimate and they may come up a little more but Id just be happy to not have the looming carfax report following me around until I sell it.

Did they not catch the guy who hit you though?

 

[tbwnm]

Honestly totaling the car will be the best in the long run. Id certainly push a little with the estimate and they may come up a little more but Id just be happy to not have the looming carfax report following me around until I sell it.

Did they not catch the guy who hit you though?

The dashcam video caught the whole thing (recorded to a trusty Samsung SSD drive!), but unfortunately the drivers face was in shadow. Our insurance has confirmed the vehicle that hit us had AAA insurance but it seems the driver has not been positively identified and as such AAA has not yet confirmed liability (although clearly we are not at fault). If AAA does not accept liability because of this technicality then it fall under our "uninsured motorist" coverage. With a police report, video footage of the entire accident & a witness, it’s surprising that it’s taking so long for AAA to respond definitively and accept liability (accident occured on August 9th). In California my understanding is that a "Hit & Run" can either be charged as a felony or a misdemeanor. However, the Highway Patrol officer who took the police report said that the only way to formally charge a hit and run is if a witness positively identifies the driver from a line up (without this the DA will throw the case out). We didn't get a good look at the driver (he/she was booking it!) and the Dashcam footage doesn't show the face and at this point we have to assume that the witness on the police report won't or can't identify the driver either. Given this is a crime, my guess is the driver of the vehicle that hit us does not want to admit fault in an attempt to try get away with it.

PS: Just a note on the Dashcam footage recording; my understanding is that if you honk your horn the TeslaCam will automatically save the last 10 minutes of footage from all repeaters (although you have to have this feature enabled in the dashcam settings). I remembered to honk the horn shortly after I pulled off the highway. It may have saved the footage anyway without honking the horn, but my experience with the Tesla Dashcam is that sometimes it records and saves footage and sometimes it doesn't (can be hit and miss no pun intended). Lesson here is, if in doubt honk your horn whenever you want to save footage from the repeaters (I also hit the save button on screen as well)!

 

[Triple D]

In California my understanding is that a "Hit & Run" can either be charged as a felony or a misdemeanor.

Hit and run can be a felony if there is injury or death.

 

[gaswalla]

Love the folks that never made a claim and state the insurance is great.

 

[tbwnm]

So wanted to circle back on my original post now that I received my settlement from CONNECT / COSTCO Insurance (formerly Ameriprise). The total settlement payment I received for a 2019 Model 3 Standard Range +, Metallic Silver with 6,393 miles on the the clock that I took delivery on October 5th, 2019 came to $44,568.06 including all taxes and fees. The "Base Value" CONNECT calculated came to $40,507.00 which was based on (3) comps currently available in the Los Angeles Area. There were no direct comps that matched my exact vehicle configuration, so CONNECT made adjustments (i.e some comps had more/less miles, others had different upgrades such as wheels etc...). It’s because the Tesla Model 3 holds its value so well and used inventory is constrained that I received this settlement (it could have been so much worse!). A new 2020 Model 3 matching my prior configuration currently comes out to $44,578 including all taxes and fees, so basically my out of pocket cost comes to just $10.50. When I ordered the now totaled vehicle last September, the cost of the "Standard Range Plus” add on was $3,990. This has since been reduced to $2,990 so the new 2020 car will end up costing $1K less, thus reducing my out of pocket to just $10.50. Initially I was also unhappy that CONNECT deemed my vehicle a total loss as the repair estimate from ALL COLLISION in Burbank came in at $26K (which was well below the 75% value threshold customary for a total loss), but this turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as if the vehicle had been repaired it would have left a large ding on the title that would have negatively impacted the value of the vehicle. It took a little under (3) seeks from the date of the accident on August 9th to receive the first 50% of the settlement on August 28th. The 50% balance was received about a week later (on or around September 7th) once we signed and mailed the Title to COPART in Sacramento. Based on what I have read regarding other peoples experience with insurance claims, this was a pretty quick turnaround. Communication with my adjuster was frustrating as they were hard to reach at times and just didn't seem to have a handle on what was going on during the process (although they were courteous and conciliatory). I also had to take pictures of the damage as well as as find a way to compress and email the dashcam footage as their email/internet security would not open links to Dropbox etc…(for some reason our adjuster was also unable to view an “unlisted” link on YouTube of the dashcam footage even though this link was public?). There was also the issue between CONNECT and Tesla Body Repair in Pomona mentioned earlier in the chain. Although again, it worked out for the best that I didn’t end up waiting to send the car to Tesla Body repair as CONNECT probably would have just totaled the vehicle anyway which would have pushed the settlement back by 6 weeks or so. Once my claim was sent to the total loss department the process moved very swiftly. One other thing I learned is that although I paid for $50 per day / $1,500 “per occurrence" of rental car coverage as part of my policy, once your vehicle is declared a total loss the insurance will only cover (3) days of rental after the date the total loss has been declared, so in the end we never got a rental car even though we have now been without a 2nd car for several weeks (we thought the car was going to be repaired which was estimated to take at least 3 weeks so we decided to wait on the rental car until repairs started which was a mistake). As mentioned earlier in the chain, our accident was a hit and run and we were not at fault and although it appeared to our adjuster after checking the license plate on the vehicle that hit us, the vehicle was insured through AAA, the actual driver of the vehicle couldn’t be identified so AAA did not accept liability and our claim ended up being covered under our uninsured motorist coverage (CONNECT now has to try and go after the driver personally to recover). After all is said and done, for the next Tesla, I may well go with CONNECT again as even though communication was a challenge and there was some hiccups, I believe they did right by me on my claim. Their rates were also quite a bit less than other insurance companies I researched last year (will be interesting to see if their rates have since increased).

 

[Vanteer]

Thanks for wrapping up the saga. Glad it worked out. We have Connect insurance also. How we never have to file a claim, but seems in the end, all worked out.

 

[AxlxA]

@tbwnm so would it be fair to say you had a positive outcome and youll continue to go with them and would recommend for the rest of us to stay with them? It's significantly cheaper than other insurance companies for me.

 

[tbwnm]

@tbwnm so would it be fair to say you had a positive outcome and youll continue to go with them and would recommend for the rest of us to stay with them? It's significantly cheaper than other insurance companies for me.

Yes. Although I really don't have much too compare to as far as an experience with a total loss claim (or any claim for that matter) with another insurance company when it comes to Tesla. Don't think anyone on this chain had dealt with a claim? Main issue with Connect was communication. I'm in Los Angeles, CA but their offices and representatives are all out of state and there was no Adjusters in California, so your never dealing with anyone local and there are time differences etc.... Consequently they never sent out an adjuster (although with COVID I think this is how all insurance companies are currently operating?) and I had to complete and submit the DMV Accident Report as well as provide pictures (been years since we have filed any kind of auto insurance claim but if I remember correctly this was all handled by the insurance company). We did use Mercury in the past for both our Homeowners as well as auto Insurance and I really liked having a local rep who actually new who I was and was responsive. That said, Mercury's quote was significantly higher for the Tesla which is why we switched. I will shop around again when we are ready to take delivery of our next Tesla, but there is a good chance we will end up back with CONNECT as based on the shopping around we did last year, they offered the best rates.

 

[boriszima]

@tbwnm - thanks for all the details, wow. Glad you made out ok. It feels like you got a good value out of your ordeal. Now that 2021 Model 3 is peeking out the corner, is that what you are aiming for? and would you insure it with CONNECT again?

 

[tbwnm]

@tbwnm - thanks for all the details, wow. Glad you made out ok. It feels like you got a good value out of your ordeal. Now that 2021 Model 3 is peeking out the corner, is that what you are aiming for? and would you insure it with CONNECT again?

Yes. I have an order pending. One thing I'm going to research is the difference in glass insurance coverage. You read so many posts on this forum about glass / windshield damage and Tesla glass is expensive. I assume with Connect the deductible is the same for windshield replacement (our prior policy had a $500 deductible) but have heard of other insurance companies that have windshield coverage where the deductible is waived (although don't know if any of them offer this for Tesla's). Driving on Los Angeles freeways and roads it seems rocks get kicked up all the time so I would say this is a Tesla owner's most likely area of exposure (have had cracks on windshields on both our prior cars which were not Teslas). Would appreciate hearing from anyone out there who has had a glass replacement claim recently in the Los Angeles area.