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I am in the club - rear ended today
- Thread starter Acho
- Start date
Your insurance company will pay this, with the other driver at fault - based on your footage. Pretty much an open and shut case.
Depending on the amount of damage, you can choose to live with it and pocket the payout, or get it repaired and risk the Carfax hit.
Optimally, get a good body shop to fix it off the books, for less than the estimate - pocket the difference and move on.
Depending on the amount of damage, you can choose to live with it and pocket the payout, or get it repaired and risk the Carfax hit.
Optimally, get a good body shop to fix it off the books, for less than the estimate - pocket the difference and move on.
The adjuster called me and I have appointed tomorrow for estimate with "their" body shop. Will see what they will offer
Based upon our experience being rear ended three times, some things to keep in mind:
- If your repairs are done anywhere other than a Tesla certified body shop it will be an issue if you ever choose to trade your vehicle in to Tesla on the purchase of another Tesla. If you're sure you'll never trade it in to Tesla, it's a non-issue.
- Every time ours was repaired the existing wrap was replaced. It's part of your car that was damaged and it's part of the repair.
- Even if you were to pay cash, out of pocket, for the repair and not involve an insurance company, CarFax may become aware of the accident because of relationships they have with body shops. And, believe it or not, they even have agreements with some of the software vendors that produce estimating software that the body shops use, which results in a CarFax hit even if the body shop never reports it. Sometimes the body shops themselves aren't even aware of this aspect of the software they're using and they'll swear they don't report to CarFax, but they actually are, unwittingly, via the software that they've licensed.
- Remember the importance of a diminished value claim but don't mention diminished value until after the repairs are complete to your satisfaction, as you don't want to taint the repair process.
- If there are delays on parts, you might be able to convince the insurance company to pay the body shop to reassemble the bumper while you drive the damaged car until parts come in. The extra hour or two of labor for the shop to replace the bumper and then re-remove it is way less money than a rental for a few weeks or a month. You may have to be persistent with the insurance company to get them to understand this point but I've successfully gone this route.
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Went for estimate today to "their" body shop. As you may expect "their" body shop is not tesla authorized body shop so now I am waiting for further instructions
Sorry to hear about the accident. Definitely go with a Tesla Certified shop. I was just recently in the same boat. I provided a receipt to the insurance adjuster of my Opti-Coat and PPF on my rear bumper. They paid to have both those re-applied after the bumper was repaired. The Tesla certified shop that YOU want to take your car to will take a look at your car and the estimate that the insurance company gave you. They'll write up their own estimate and have you sign it. As long as you can still drive your car, they'll have you leave and contact you when the needed parts are delivered to schedule a time for you to bring your car in. I had both similar damage and circumstances to mine as you do. It took about two weeks from the initial visit to the Tesla body shop to picking up my car after the repairs were done.
Carfax seems to be hit or miss. My previous car was rear ended and I went through insurance to get it repaired. The accident did not show up on that car. My wife's was hit in the parking lot on the rear driver side door by someone trying to steal a parking spot. We went through insurance also and that was reported. I asked my insurance agent if/when an accident gets reported to Carfax. He stated that if insurance is involved, it is reported....obviously, this is not the case. I asked another buddy of mine that is an insurance agent for a different company. He was not sure and said something about Carfax having to buy the data from systems like Lexisnexus. I asked the Tesla body shop, but they stated that they don't report it to Carfax...I'm waiting a couple of months to see if my accident shows up on Carfax or not before looking into Diminished Value.
@Rockster, your explanation regarding software licensing and what the body shops use actually makes a lot of sense now regarding how one will show and not the other on Carfax.
Yeah, it’s amazing how many opportunities there are for data mining. As for basing one’s decision about making a diminished value claim upon the presence or absence of a car fax report, I thought about that and decided that even if the accident was never reported it was likely that a buyer would ask about my car’s history and I wasn’t going to withhold that there had been an accident. That made a dv claim necessary, despite what car fax knew or didn’t know.
RAM_Eh
Member
Yes absolutely. The exact same thing happened to me and the guy was Asian and did not speak English. He could not produce the insurance on the spot so I called the police. No police report was filed but went through insurance and the carfax report was filed.
Total cost was $ 1000.00 done through a Tesla repair dealer. They replaced the bumper cover and painted it. Because it was a new cover care was in and out in 1 day.
Funny thing is that couple day before the accident my wife asked me why in the world I want to capture on video the road infront and behind me. Now she knows
Here is the update:
My insurance is Safeco. I sent them the video and they confirmed that it clearly shows whose falt it is. I was eaiting for them for further instructions how to proceed but instead I got check in the mail for $249.68
I called them and they said that the appraisal of the damage they got from their service center /not authorized service center by Tesla and the guy who looked at the car briefly and said that he can not give an estimate/ was $749.68 but since I have $500 deductible which they substracted from the estimate and the amount of $249.68 acording to them plus $500 out of pocket should cover the bumper cover replacement including paint and the wrap.
I think I just got a deal and some money to pocket
My insurance is Safeco. I sent them the video and they confirmed that it clearly shows whose falt it is. I was eaiting for them for further instructions how to proceed but instead I got check in the mail for $249.68
I called them and they said that the appraisal of the damage they got from their service center /not authorized service center by Tesla and the guy who looked at the car briefly and said that he can not give an estimate/ was $749.68 but since I have $500 deductible which they substracted from the estimate and the amount of $249.68 acording to them plus $500 out of pocket should cover the bumper cover replacement including paint and the wrap.
I think I just got a deal and some money to pocket
lvrouter
Member
Amazon carries "rear brake flashers", primarily designed for motorcycles but should work with the center brake light as long as it is LED compatible. Anyone consider this option?
It is not because the other driver didn't notice on time that I am stopping. Boths cars was at rest for about 2 minutes /long left turn red signal/. Then she for some strange reason released her brakes while still red an no one was moving /see the video/
Update: just spoke with my adjuster and she said to take the car to whichever service I like and let them submit the estimate to them
I wasn't specifically referring to your car, just in general, how would one figure the diminished value? It seems one would need an average selling price for identical cars, one with the Carfax report and one without.
I had a BMW convertible, it was flawless, not a door ding, no paint swirls, carefully hand washed. I'd visited the factory in Germany, and ordered it, a 6 speed manual transmission, white, gray leather, black top, no I-drive. It was the last year of the body style I liked. I followed the manufacture, tracked the ship that brought it over to the US. I put a short shift kit in it, and it was babied. I was working, someone pulled in next to it in order to punch in. It was his habit to park where he shouldn't, run in to punch in, then return to his pickup truck and then move the truck to a spot for which his parking was authorized. It was only a 30 foot distance between the spots so the whole exercise was moronic. My car had been there all night. It was dark when he parked next to me and during his bolt to the time clock and back he forgot he was parked next to my car. The black convertible top probably didn't help. So he cranked his steering wheel, backed out, and creased my car deeply down the left side. It was awful. Anyway, there was a small body shop, a one man operation that also customized cars. It was sheet metal damage, the car underneath was fine. He even shot test panels with different spray guns so he could precisely match the exact factory paint texture. The repair was perfect. There was that Carfax, though. Carfax doesn't bother much with details. Mine said “collision left side”. Those 3 words cost me over $5000 when I sold the car. So any Carfax report associated with a car makes an expensive difference to the value of the car. Most people see a Carfax report and just go on to the next available car. You could tell a prospective buyer that it is just sheet metal damage or perhaps just a bumper cover, but most buyers just avoid the car to begin with, so you don't get the chance. When you do get the chance, you are into the second tier buyers who want a fairly steep discount for buying a car “that has been wrecked”.
So, back to the question, how does one determine the diminished value of a Tesla encumbered with the millstone of a Carfax report, listing a “collision”, even if it is just 2 mph bump and just a bumper cover replacement?
FlatSix911
Porsche 918 Hybrid
I have used the rear brake flasher device on a few sports cars that had very low LED bulbs to improve visibility.
It really helps get the attention of people following too closely who would otherwise miss the brake lights
