Well it finally happened. With 15 months of ownership and just under 10,000 miles, the Aluminum Falcon was hit Friday night. We were stopped at a stoplight and another driver slammed into us. His airbag deployed and there was quite a bit of damage to the front of his Mazda 3. We were thrown about quite violently from the impact but seatbelts and the great seat design (good, solid, well-placed headrests I am sure contributed to our safety.
Police, fire and EMS responded to the scene and cited him (he openly admitted he had his cell in his lap, it slipped to the floor and he bent down to retrieve it and didn't see us or the red light when he hit us. The crappy part about this is this was a completely preventable accident that shouldn't have happened, but there isn't a single thing I could have done to prevent it...purely a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I've already spoken to my insurance company (USAA) and made arrangements to have car looked at by certified Tesla repair shop (Chantilly Auto Body in Chantilly VA) this upcoming Friday. Shop has told me they will inspect car and (since car is driveable) let me keep using car while they order parts (they admitted some parts can take a long time to come in, others arrive in a few days). Once parts are received from Tesla, I'll bring car in and they will start repair.
Only modification I had made to the car was a total PPF wrap. USAA knows it was wrapped and I'm going to get an estimate from that company for how much it will take to re-wrap the affected parts of the car once repairs are complete. I intend to have insurance pay for that as well.
I know that you never know how much damage is until you open up the car, but from the outside, the damage looks pretty minor. There are scrapes and some holes in the rear bumper. The back of the lift gate has scratches and some dents. I'm guessing there is some damage to the bumper beneath the bumper cover. None of the quarter panels show any signs of damage. My guess is that the bumper cover, bumper and likely need to replace the liftgate mean we are talking a repair bill in excess of $5K, but I honestly have no idea what things cost to repair/replace.
USAA has informed me that they will handle my claim and deal with the other owner's insurance (GEICO) to handle getting reimbursed (including the cost of my deductible).
This is literally the first accident I have had in 35 years of driving, so I have a couple of questions I'm hoping for advice on.
My car is a 90D with 9,500 miles on it. Clearly it has depreciated since purchase, but I'm not sure how much it is worth today (other than running an Edumund's website query). My guess is that even after the car is repaired, the accident history has decreased the car's value by at least 10,000 if not a lot more. Have read all the threads on diminished value and GEICO and suspect I am going to have to retain one of the diminished value experts people have posted about and presumably have to negotiate/go to court for some sort of reimbursement from GEICO. I just don't know what the process is.
Do I do all this now? Get the car repaired via USAA and then go with some sort of court claim against GEICO/the owner for diminished value? How about claims for the ER bill for myself and my daughter (we have TRICARE health insurance but I am sure will have copays/expenses associated with the treatment since it was at a civilian hospital)? I recognize that we are very fortunate that we are OK with just minor injuries and the car is still usable, but am trying to figure out what the next steps are. Would appreciate any expertise those who have knowledge in this area (especially when it comes to Virginia law) could share, be it on the forum or via private message/email.
Obviously I am just sick to my stomach about the damage to the car and loss of value. I recognize that the car will be repaired to be "good as new" but also know that when I go to sell or trade the car in, the damage drastically decreases what the car is worth and honestly believe the other driver/his insurance company should be making me whole for that. However, I had never even heard of diminished value until reading some of the threads in these forums and have never been involved in any kind of legal claim/proceeding in my life...have no expertise or people to ask, hence I'm asking the good people of the Tesla community.
Thanks for your consideration and feedback.
Dave
Police, fire and EMS responded to the scene and cited him (he openly admitted he had his cell in his lap, it slipped to the floor and he bent down to retrieve it and didn't see us or the red light when he hit us. The crappy part about this is this was a completely preventable accident that shouldn't have happened, but there isn't a single thing I could have done to prevent it...purely a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I've already spoken to my insurance company (USAA) and made arrangements to have car looked at by certified Tesla repair shop (Chantilly Auto Body in Chantilly VA) this upcoming Friday. Shop has told me they will inspect car and (since car is driveable) let me keep using car while they order parts (they admitted some parts can take a long time to come in, others arrive in a few days). Once parts are received from Tesla, I'll bring car in and they will start repair.
Only modification I had made to the car was a total PPF wrap. USAA knows it was wrapped and I'm going to get an estimate from that company for how much it will take to re-wrap the affected parts of the car once repairs are complete. I intend to have insurance pay for that as well.
I know that you never know how much damage is until you open up the car, but from the outside, the damage looks pretty minor. There are scrapes and some holes in the rear bumper. The back of the lift gate has scratches and some dents. I'm guessing there is some damage to the bumper beneath the bumper cover. None of the quarter panels show any signs of damage. My guess is that the bumper cover, bumper and likely need to replace the liftgate mean we are talking a repair bill in excess of $5K, but I honestly have no idea what things cost to repair/replace.
USAA has informed me that they will handle my claim and deal with the other owner's insurance (GEICO) to handle getting reimbursed (including the cost of my deductible).
This is literally the first accident I have had in 35 years of driving, so I have a couple of questions I'm hoping for advice on.
My car is a 90D with 9,500 miles on it. Clearly it has depreciated since purchase, but I'm not sure how much it is worth today (other than running an Edumund's website query). My guess is that even after the car is repaired, the accident history has decreased the car's value by at least 10,000 if not a lot more. Have read all the threads on diminished value and GEICO and suspect I am going to have to retain one of the diminished value experts people have posted about and presumably have to negotiate/go to court for some sort of reimbursement from GEICO. I just don't know what the process is.
Do I do all this now? Get the car repaired via USAA and then go with some sort of court claim against GEICO/the owner for diminished value? How about claims for the ER bill for myself and my daughter (we have TRICARE health insurance but I am sure will have copays/expenses associated with the treatment since it was at a civilian hospital)? I recognize that we are very fortunate that we are OK with just minor injuries and the car is still usable, but am trying to figure out what the next steps are. Would appreciate any expertise those who have knowledge in this area (especially when it comes to Virginia law) could share, be it on the forum or via private message/email.
Obviously I am just sick to my stomach about the damage to the car and loss of value. I recognize that the car will be repaired to be "good as new" but also know that when I go to sell or trade the car in, the damage drastically decreases what the car is worth and honestly believe the other driver/his insurance company should be making me whole for that. However, I had never even heard of diminished value until reading some of the threads in these forums and have never been involved in any kind of legal claim/proceeding in my life...have no expertise or people to ask, hence I'm asking the good people of the Tesla community.
Thanks for your consideration and feedback.
Dave
