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MASTER THREAD: Tesla Insurance Services in California

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I put off asking about covering my spouse until today. I was told on the phone (only way to add a spouse to the policy) that the premium would adjust with an increase of over 100% (more than double what I am paying for myself). Ouch.

......

Anyone want to help me think this through better and/or confirm my suspicion that for my case (me + spouse) maybe this isn't the best route?

Thanks in advance.

So I'm in a similar boat except I KNOW my wife won't be driving my car since she hates driving, and hates driving other peoples cars period. In that respect, I'm not paying for insurance I don't need (unless in an emergency).

In your case, I would suspect if you need your wife drive it even once in a blue moon, Tesla insurance does not make sense because it will likely be higher due to the additional of spousal insurance. This is one of the ways the algorithm/efforts costs are less with Tesla than a comparable policy from another vendor.

I think if you have multiple vehicles (non-Tesla's) and multiple drivers, you can probably get a better policy than Tesla all other things being equal.

If I ever need my wife to drive the Tesla, I would just cancel Tesla insurance and add it back to Geico which would only take a day or 2 and easily done over the web.
 
But that said, the guy told me that if my wife only drove the car once or twice a month then she'd be covered no problem. This sounded a little suspect to me, so I sent my policy to my broker who does all my other vehicles/home. She referred me to page 31 (see highlight). This seems to indicate that *if* my wife drives the vehicle, the covered limits drop significantly.
Your interpretation is correct. According to the page you posted, the liability limits for family members not explicitly added to the policy drop to the legal minimum in California (15K/30K/5K), which is way too low. Not advisable if your wife occasionally drives the car.
 
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Would an umbrella policy kick in at this point? If my wife and I have a 1m umbrella elsewhere?
Umbrella coverage normally requires a car policy with liability coverage limits significantly higher than the legal minimums (250K/500K is common). So my guess is that the umbrella coverage would not kick in for your wife. But you should check with your insurance provider.
 
The exact same thing happened to me on the 405N last week. A motorcycle took off my passenger side mirror and ran. Here's the pic of the guy who did it. Curious if it was the same dude.View attachment 454861
I don’t understand why they legally allow motorcycles to split the lane like that in some states, it’s like threading a needle and we all know what happens to the rider if someone changes lanes at the same time when the driver never sees them.
 
It could be the very first report with Tesla's own Insurance experience. (I could be wrong, but I googled a lot, haven't found anything similar online, feel free to beat me for the first experience)


================You can just read this instead of my whole story====================
A short version and something I want to highlight here:
1. My case, Tesla Insurance is cheaper than GEICO
2. No Tesla employees contacted me, at least for my case so far
3. You will still use old fashion Enterprise for your rental service, not Tesla
4. Based on my experience so far, I would say
Tesla Insurance is cheaper because they are using 3rd party insurance companies to provide the service
5. TBD

=====================Something for Tesla, or Elon Musk==============================
1. You should train your vendor / third-party guys better, at least ask them to declare they are under Tesla's umbrella when facing customers
2. As a customer, I DON'T expect to hear any other companies' name, I do not care your tricks as long as I do not know, play better please
3. For my case, your third-party guys are doing well so far
3. TBD

============================================Where My Story Begins===================

Okay, folks, I bought my Tesla Model 3 last year (2018), and was using GEICO starting from my first day, then transferred to Tesla's won Insurance on the very first day they published (Yes I live in SoCal, and yes Tesla Insurance on the very first day was very buggy).

9/13/2019
I was hoping I could never use it, but unfortunately, yesterday (9/13/2019) a motorcycle hit me on 405 HWY and ran away when I was just driving on the carpool.

So I called Telsa Insurance, the phone number provided in the insurance card after I off the HWY. A female picked my phone, collected my information, told me an adjuster would contact me in 1 or 2 business days; then she said me they are 3rd party company, not Tesla itself. (Wait, what!?, okay... that's my first shock)

After that, I also called 911 trying to report the hit&run, as that motorcycle's license plate number is easy to identify from my dash camera. An officer picked up and collected information and then transferred, then they told me it was too late to file a report, asking me to visit CHP to do so. Then they also told me Insurance should be fine without a police report for my case. (Yeah that was what I thought)

9/14/2019
Today, an adjuster called me around 2 pm PDT, reviewed my case, and told me I have to go to the police to fire a case. (Okay....) Lucky it was only around 2pm. So I did so and sent information back to the adjuster. BUT, I recognized her email address was a third-party insurance company named Crawford... NOT TESLA...
Additionally, in her email, she explained I could use a rental service while repairing later, but the current in-network rental provider is Enterprise... NOT TESLA...

TBD.....
I will keep posting with my updates.
I stopped reading after "a female answered the phone".
 
Pretty standard: the Tesla service center I used a few weeks ago had an Enterprise Rental desk in the service waiting room where the advisor arranged for a loaner (an S 85D) while my 3 was in the shop getting a new A/C compressor.

After I turned in my 2015 P90D 6 months prior to the end of the lease (I was disgusted with Teslas policies and service), I went back to Mercedes. They have an Enterprise desk right there next to the service writers, cars are always available and the fleet consists of low mileage C class and small SUVs. So, the fact that Tesla is using Enterprise isn't all that rare, as long as they always have cars which are Teslas.
 
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I don’t understand why they legally allow motorcycles to split the lane like that in some states, it’s like threading a needle and we all know what happens to the rider if someone changes lanes at the same time when the driver never sees them.


As a motorcycle rider I can say... because it’s overall safer. Yeah you can get tagged in an improper lane change, and some riders split just WAY too fast, but the biggest risk for riders is to get rear ended.
 
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In California, the cops or CHP won't even show up to an accident anymore unless there is an injury...

This is why you should report an injury, to get the police to show up.

Why? After both parties leave, it’s too easy for the guilty party to change their story and try for a 50/50 split of liability.

A vehicle hit by a motorcycle may claim the rider riding aggressively. A rider may claim interference by a driver making a lane change without 100 feet of notice. The list is endless.
 
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Reactions: Guy V
It could be the very first report with Tesla's own Insurance experience. (I could be wrong, but I googled a lot, haven't found anything similar online, feel free to beat me for the first experience)


================You can just read this instead of my whole story====================
A short version and something I want to highlight here:
1. My case, Tesla Insurance is cheaper than GEICO
2. No Tesla employees contacted me, at least for my case so far
3. You will still use old fashion Enterprise for your rental service, not Tesla
4. Based on my experience so far, I would say
Tesla Insurance is cheaper because they are using 3rd party insurance companies to provide the service
5. TBD

=====================Something for Tesla, or Elon Musk==============================
1. You should train your vendor / third-party guys better, at least ask them to declare they are under Tesla's umbrella when facing customers
2. As a customer, I DON'T expect to hear any other companies' name, I do not care your tricks as long as I do not know, play better please
3. For my case, your third-party guys are doing well so far
3. TBD

============================================Where My Story Begins===================

Okay, folks, I bought my Tesla Model 3 last year (2018), and was using GEICO starting from my first day, then transferred to Tesla's won Insurance on the very first day they published (Yes I live in SoCal, and yes Tesla Insurance on the very first day was very buggy).

9/13/2019
I was hoping I could never use it, but unfortunately, yesterday (9/13/2019) a motorcycle hit me on 405 HWY and ran away when I was just driving on the carpool.

So I called Telsa Insurance, the phone number provided in the insurance card after I off the HWY. A female picked my phone, collected my information, told me an adjuster would contact me in 1 or 2 business days; then she said me they are 3rd party company, not Tesla itself. (Wait, what!?, okay... that's my first shock)

After that, I also called 911 trying to report the hit&run, as that motorcycle's license plate number is easy to identify from my dash camera. An officer picked up and collected information and then transferred, then they told me it was too late to file a report, asking me to visit CHP to do so. Then they also told me Insurance should be fine without a police report for my case. (Yeah that was what I thought)

9/14/2019
Today, an adjuster called me around 2 pm PDT, reviewed my case, and told me I have to go to the police to fire a case. (Okay....) Lucky it was only around 2pm. So I did so and sent information back to the adjuster. BUT, I recognized her email address was a third-party insurance company named Crawford... NOT TESLA...
Additionally, in her email, she explained I could use a rental service while repairing later, but the current in-network rental provider is Enterprise... NOT TESLA...

TBD.....
I will keep posting with my updates.
 
To all concerned. Tesla uses Farmers insurance co. as the underwriter. Fact...i heard it from an insurance friend in CA. Buyer beware. I'll give them one xhance when it comes to NY...
 

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In California, the cops or CHP won't even show up to an accident anymore unless there is an injury...
This is not true. I was involved in an accident - amazing what a cement mixer can intentionally do to a Model S at 3 miles an hour - I did end up talking to the CHP and they said you should always contact the jurisdiction for a report where there is damage or injury. You may not be the highest priority, but that is what they said.
 
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Reactions: Ulmo
It cost less than an additional $10 per month to add my wife to our policy on the Model S. Tesla is still significantly cheaper than Geico for us on that car.

Also, if someone not named on the policy drives the car and gets into an accident, given that the coverage limits are then very low, wouldn’t that person’s own insurance (assuming they have insurance) kick in? I’m not sure, but that’s my impression.
 
I am not an expert but I think the CHP meant it's too late for them to write up a report at the accident scene but you should file one at CHP office instead.

It's California law that you must file a police report within 10 days if there's any:
fatality
$1,000 damage
injuries


California law requires you to report an accident to the DMV using form SR-1.
Filing a report with the police or CHP is not a substitute for this requirement.
(It might be possible that your insurance company will do it for you, but you should not assume that it will.)