I’ve never cried over a car until today...

[RedBaronCircus]

Haven't been out much since the virus. Today was an exception though. My daughter was down from Minn and we were at one of those baby imaging places where they can create these 3d models from sonograms. Anyway, someone comes in and asks, "Do any of you have a white Tesla?" I look down at my phone and it shows the alarm went off. I ran outside to this:

My heart sank. This is my first nice new car. The guy had fled on foot bloody. Police caught up to him. Not sure what he was thinking since it was his own car. No seatbelt and his head went through the windshield. In any case. They pulled his Audi away and here was the after shot:

Broke the axle on my car and at this point I'm almost hoping it's totaled. I can't imagine them ever getting it back to the condition it was. I loved that car! My wife couldn't believe I had tears in my eyes...lol. I'm just so bummed. I have Tesla Insurance so we will see how it gets handled. I don't think it will pay for things like $5500 PPF, custom painted wheels, tint chrome delete, etc, etc. I guess that is what I get for loving a material object so much.

Be sure to either sue in small claims court or use Diminished Value Claim against his company. Hope its met life. Not many companies have a claim office for DVC. I got tapped in rear, and after repairs were done($8k), I got a check for $9.6k for the decreased value to my P3D. Even id car is totaled, you can retrieve this value for totaled car...trust me, it was a snap for me and his Met Life company.

 

[Mattopotamus]

Fled on foot? Guessing that means he was DUI or he has some warrants.

 

[CyberGus]

I've only ever cried when it was time for my first-ever new car to be put to pasture after 25 years of ownership.

 

[GoEV]

My 3 was tapped on the left quarter for a much smaller dent and that was $10,459 to fix, so yes I am sure you'll be at $20 K no problem.

Don't forget to file for diminished value after the repairs are complete.[/QUO

A driver on pain meds ricocheted off our passenger rear door (at 10AM!). Didn't look like that much--replace the door and quarter panel. Came to $10K. Couldn't collect diminished value because the driver was uninsured. Our insurance doesn't include diminished value. Hurts when you go to sell the car (which we recently did for a Model Y) because our car's report showed it had been in an accident. That was actually our 2nd accident on the report. The other time was a week after we got the car when the driver behind us let his foot off the pedal and his SUV creeped into ours w/ a thud. Bumper scratch was only noticeable in the right light and I wouldn't have had it repaired, but I wanted to make sure that there hadn't been any frame, etc. damage. Tesla found no other damage and only replaced the bumper for $1K. BTW, both experiences w/ Tesla Body were excellent except for the wait. :-(

 

[FRE0]

Haven't been out much since the virus. Today was an exception though. My daughter was down from Minn and we were at one of those baby imaging places where they can create these 3d models from sonograms. Anyway, someone comes in and asks, "Do any of you have a white Tesla?" I look down at my phone and it shows the alarm went off. I ran outside to this:

My heart sank. This is my first nice new car. The guy had fled on foot bloody. Police caught up to him. Not sure what he was thinking since it was his own car. No seatbelt and his head went through the windshield. In any case. They pulled his Audi away and here was the after shot:

Broke the axle on my car and at this point I'm almost hoping it's totaled. I can't imagine them ever getting it back to the condition it was. I loved that car! My wife couldn't believe I had tears in my eyes...lol. I'm just so bummed. I have Tesla Insurance so we will see how it gets handled. I don't think it will pay for things like $5500 PPF, custom painted wheels, tint chrome delete, etc, etc. I guess that is what I get for loving a material object so much.

" Not sure what he was thinking since it was his own car."

If he was thinking, he was probably planning to report the car stolen so he wouldn't be blamed. That is a common ploy.

 

[deadlion]

Funny thing - how versatile our tears. When I started reading, before seeing the pics, I thought you were sharing how the 3D sonogram had moved you to tears.

So sorry about your beautiful Model 3. I'm glad your family was not sitting inside. You can build and customize another awesome Tesla.

 

[Johnstac]

If his head went through the windshield then he wasn’t wearing his seatbelt. Not sure if this is at play here, but a some manufacturer’s airbags require a seatbelt to be fastened to deploy—even for the driver.

No seatbelt was being worn.

 

[Johnstac]

This is gut-wrenching to see. It could happen to any of us at any time. I'm glad you're ok and I hope that guy had some sense knocked into him.
Did you have Sentry mode on? If not, I thought if you tapped on the icon that it would automatically save the recent past. Sorry that the video aspect isn't working but this is a case where it might have only been for entertainment value. You have a slam dunk case.

Yes, I always have Sentry mode on as indicated by that red dot in the box I think. As soon as the accident happened, I went into the car and hit the download function but it still only started the recording after the impact. I definitely want to look into this more though to make sure that this situation does not happen again with the recording thing. I would encourage everyone to test their Sentry mode by parking, walking away and then coming back and reviewing to make sure it's recording. I have reviewed many recordings though (I'm a little paranoid about where I park so I review a lot) and have never run into this situation in the past where there has been lapsed video.

 

[Johnstac]

If the claim is against your own insurance, then your add ons would not be covered unless you had notified your company and they had added them with an (extra cost) rider.
IF the claim is against the other guy, then their insurance would be responsible for all those enhancements.

Believe your car will be totaled with that much damage.

While I am pursuing it using my own insurance agent, he has indicated that their insurance company (who he's already been in contact with) will be the one paying for the car. In terms of my PPF, chrome delete, etc, he told me to get the receipts together as the other parties insurance company can reimburse for that. Not likely 100% though. The other guy has State Farm so hopefully it will go well. I made a mistake on his car make though. It's not an Audi A3 but rather an Audi S5. I still haven't decided if I'd be better off getting my car back or having them total it. If they total it, I will still be out money. How much, I don't know. If they repair it, it's still going to be a Carfax report right? I guess that will also depreciate the value. In any case, I sent the car down to San Diego today at a place called Amato's Collision. Good reputation I think.

 

[Johnstac]

Funny thing - how versatile our tears. When I started reading, before seeing the pics, I thought you were sharing how the 3D sonogram had moved you to tears.

So sorry about your beautiful Model 3. I'm glad your family was not sitting inside. You can build and customize another awesome Tesla.

You want to know what hurt the worst was the look on my daughter's face. She was so hurt and she felt like she caused it. I just gave her a a big hug and told her that I'm just so glad that we are all safe............. but yes, looking at the car was painful as well.

 

[M3&Me]

Haven't been out much since the virus. Today was an exception though. My daughter was down from Minn and we were at one of those baby imaging places where they can create these 3d models from sonograms. Anyway, someone comes in and asks, "Do any of you have a white Tesla?" I look down at my phone and it shows the alarm went off. I ran outside to this:

My heart sank. This is my first nice new car. The guy had fled on foot bloody. Police caught up to him. Not sure what he was thinking since it was his own car. No seatbelt and his head went through the windshield. In any case. They pulled his Audi away and here was the after shot:

Broke the axle on my car and at this point I'm almost hoping it's totaled. I can't imagine them ever getting it back to the condition it was. I loved that car! My wife couldn't believe I had tears in my eyes...lol. I'm just so bummed. I have Tesla Insurance so we will see how it gets handled. I don't think it will pay for things like $5500 PPF, custom painted wheels, tint chrome delete, etc, etc. I guess that is what I get for loving a material object so much.

hi - my m3 got slammed left front and the wheel folded in. They paid for PPF and ceramic coating! Of course I was shocked at what they paid and didn’t total it. Ready? 35k!!

 

[Supercharge me]

I feel your pain. I’d be just as upset and probably crying. FYI you can add the paint protection, tint, PPF and any after market accessories to your auto policy. I did it with Geico when I purchased my policy. Had to have my windshield replaced because of rock chips and they paid to have my tint and Xpel put back on as well. Hardly makes a difference in your monthly premium.

 

[GoBlue88]

While I am pursuing it using my own insurance agent, he has indicated that their insurance company (who he's already been in contact with) will be the one paying for the car. In terms of my PPF, chrome delete, etc, he told me to get the receipts together as the other parties insurance company can reimburse for that. Not likely 100% though. The other guy has State Farm so hopefully it will go well. I made a mistake on his car make though. It's not an Audi A3 but rather an Audi S5. I still haven't decided if I'd be better off getting my car back or having them total it. If they total it, I will still be out money. How much, I don't know. If they repair it, it's still going to be a Carfax report right? I guess that will also depreciate the value. In any case, I sent the car down to San Diego today at a place called Amato's Collision. Good reputation I think.

Yeah. For a long time, Amato's was the only repair facility in the county that could officially work on Teslas. Not sure if that is still the case, but safe to say they have experience repairing Teslas since the release of the MS in 2012 and definitely know what they are doing.

Amato's replaced my rear bumper about 5 years ago when I backed it into a jeep while trying to parallel park (yeah, my fault, totally stupid, wasn't used to the acceleration, caused zero damage to the Jeep's industrial-looking steel bumper but it punched a nice hole in mine). They used a Tesla OEM bumper and paint match. Looks like nothing happened, but it was rather expensive (~$2800 in 2015 dollars).

Total suckage about this, BTW. At least you definitely know what is really important. Good luck.

 

[Ilikestuff]

...Don't think it will pay for things like $5500 PPF, custom painted wheels, tint chrome delete, etc, etc. I guess that is what I get for loving a material object so much.

I talked to my insurance company (USAA) before I had ppf installed. Was told that I need to tell the insurance that I'm doing ppf for them to cover it. But they said that's not the case. They would cover any aftermarket stuff including ppf as long as I had receipts and stuff to prove that I had it.

 

[OCJoe]

So sorry for the damage suffered. I live in Huntington Beach and drive a M3 also, so the picture of the damaged bumper with the intact bumper sticker hit me extra hard. I hope to see you back on the road very soon!

 

[Jromf]

I regret the damage to your vehicle and I'm so glad they caught the perpetrator. Tesla offers insurance that, based on this conversation, covers more than the "usual" automobile insurance? I never knew that. Thanks for the information. Or are you discussing Tesla's warranty. Sorry for the "newbie" questions; I've just had my M3 since May.

 

[GoBlue88]

I talked to my insurance company (USAA) before I had ppf installed. Was told that I need to tell the insurance that I'm doing ppf for them to cover it. But they said that's not the case. They would cover any aftermarket stuff including ppf as long as I had receipts and stuff to prove that I had it.

Agree. I have USAA as well. I don't have PPF, but when my car got broken into a few years ago (thief smashed the passenger side window), they covered the aftermarket window tint replacement even though I didn't tell them about it in advance.

 

[PittCaleb]

I feel like that has got to be a total loss. Maybe it won’t be, but I bet it’ll be $10k+ to repair, maybe $20k.

My Model 3 is in the shop right now with *considerably* less damage and the estimate is $7,500. This is $15-20 minimum... If he axel is in deed broken, I can't imagine the frame is straight and you'd prob want to total it.

 

[smatthew]

I wondered about this very thing because he was driving an Audi A3. It was a nice looking car. When I got outside, the witnesses pointed out that he was bloody and ran away. I looked at his car windshield and there was a hole where his head and face collided. There was blood all over the inside of the drivers seat but NO airbag deployed. I confirmed this with the officer later as well. Here was one thought. When the officer gave me his info, my daughter did some reverse social engineering and found the guy had some photos of the car he had bought used 2 years earlier. This guy looked on the younger side. No judgement here but maybe he got a deal on the car as a salvage or something and they failed to replace an already used airbag? I don't know. I thought Audi was a very safe car right?

So the officer did a search through the DMV and found his insurance info for me. He has a policy at State Farm. I never saw him. Initially there were at least 5 units in the area looking for him. (This happened just 1/2 mile from the police station) An officer approached me shortly thereafter and told me they had him detained and then I heard and saw an ambulance going by. I'm guessing he wasn't in much of a condition to flee.

Many years ago, I fell aleep and crashed a car into a tree at 15-20mph. The seat belt failed, and my head destroyed the windshield. The air bag never went off. I wasn't in any shape to flee. I was just upset that I had gotten blood on the pants I had borrowed from a friend.

 

[Johnstac]

I regret the damage to your vehicle and I'm so glad they caught the perpetrator. Tesla offers insurance that, based on this conversation, covers more than the "usual" automobile insurance? I never knew that. Thanks for the information. Or are you discussing Tesla's warranty. Sorry for the "newbie" questions; I've just had my M3 since May.

I have mixed feelings about Tesla insurance so far. Last Friday when all this occurred, I called them immediately and also tried using the Tesla app as well. We waited on hold for a long time and then we were told that it was going to be an hour before they could get a tow truck to my location. Instead, we just went with the city police's suggestion of having the local tow company take the car to their yard. The other thing that bothered me was that over the phone they told me that they wouldn't be able to start helping us till Tuesday. Not sure why Tuesday but we called them Monday and things did start to progress.

Apparently, I have the option to either deal with the other parties insurance (State Farm) or I can have my insurance company (Tesla) handle it for me at the cost of my deductible. When my wife spoke with State Farm, they told here that they pay my deductible as well for my agent to handle things. I didn't want to try and deal with it all since I don't really have the experience so I'm having Tesla insurance doing the leg work. Unfortunately, Tesla insurance is telling me that they only cover 1k of extras to the vehicle and that I would have to pursue the rest with State Farm. Kind of sucks. When I bought this policy, I got max limits on everything. 1 million in coverage, etc but I don't remember any part of the insurance dealing with add-ons to the vehicle. Like another poster stated, maybe you have to ask your agent specifically about adding a rider or something for that additional expense. Live and learn. Doesn't seem fair that my car was parked safely and despite that, it's taking a lot of time and energy (and perhaps cost, not sure yet) to get things back to the way they were. But......who said life was fair right?