How much will repairing this cost? Or is it totaled?

[gameveloster]

Hi, something bumped into my M3 on the interstate at night and I don't have comprehensive insurance. Judging from the photo, is the car totaled? Should I bring it to the Tesla service center or a Tesla certified body shop?

 

[aaronb5945]

It really depends on what's damaged behind that fender, but unlikely a total from this photo. Definitely a high dollar repair though. Very possible to have some suspension damage to that front driver wheel (an alignment would help diagnose that). At bare minimum you'll need a bumper, headlight, hood, fender, fog light, and not sure if there's damage to that front door, but it'll need to have it's paint blended due to the fender replacement. I'm a little surprised to hear you wouldn't have Collision coverage on your insurance.. Is the car fully paid off? Any financed car is required to have collision and comprehensive coverages.

For reference, I work in auto damage for an insurance company.

 

[1pnt21]

If you take it to a Tesla Service Center, they will just send it to their preferred Tesla certified body shop. And I agree with the above post as well, since we have the same profession

 

[Gauss Guzzler]

Between the curious phrase "something bumped into my M3" and the photo showing a car that has been thoroughly mangled on all sides, I'm going to assume that the "something" was a UFO and the term "bumped" is code for an anal probe.
So yes, it is totaled.

 

[Sticky Rice]

It really depends on what's damaged behind that fender, but unlikely a total from this photo. Definitely a high dollar repair though. Very possible to have some suspension damage to that front driver wheel (an alignment would help diagnose that). At bare minimum you'll need a bumper, headlight, hood, fender, fog light, and not sure if there's damage to that front door, but it'll need to have it's paint blended due to the fender replacement. I'm a little surprised to hear you wouldn't have Collision coverage on your insurance.. Is the car fully paid off? Any financed car is required to have collision and comprehensive coverages.

For reference, I work in auto damage for an insurance company.

Just throwing in my .02 and agreeing with aaron here. For reference, I work at a collision center and we are Tesla certified. We see Tesla's like this daily and unless it's a much older base model, they generally don't hit threshold and total out. It'll definitely need a full tear down before a complete and accurate sheet can be written and that repair is going to take a while, unfortunately. Being able to actually receive the parts we're ordering is still an absolute nightmare right now.

 

[brkaus]

Is the front windshield broken? Did the air bags trigger? Really hard to tell from the picture, what looks like rain, and the glare from the lights.

 

[gameveloster]

Airbags did not deploy, and front windshield is broken with a chunk missing. Brought to a body shop and the repair cost is rather steep. Car is not fully paid off, will collision coverage have helped with the vehicle collided with an animal?

 

[brancky3]

I didn't know it was possible to not have full insurance if you have a lien on the vehicle?

 

[brkaus]

I’m pretty sure collision covers impact with anything. Comprehensive covers stuff like hail or other damage.

Usually a lien holder will require both.

 

[RG129]

I'm also surprised the OP got away with forfeiting comprehensive. I would have just made the comprehensive deductible ridiculously high if you were concerned about price instead of forfeiting it completely. Striking an animal is covered under comprehensive. Collision is vehicle-vehicle or vehicle-stationary object.

 

[aaronb5945]

I'm also surprised the OP got away with forfeiting comprehensive. I would have just made the comprehensive deductible ridiculously high if you were concerned about price instead of forfeiting it completely. Striking an animal is covered under comprehensive. Collision is vehicle-vehicle or vehicle-stationary object.

One clarification here: comprehensive would cover collision with an animal, but not a stationary object - that would come from collision. Best bet is tell the truth to your insurance company as theyre the experts and can typically tell what you collided with