Minor Front fender damage, advice?

[xyeahtony]

Yelp, well it happened. Fumbles mcstupid didn't see me while making a turn and drove right into me. It was in a parking lot and i was parked while he was going prolly less than 10mph.

Damage looks minor, but i can't know for sure. I really don't want to get bodywork that'll show up on a carfax and get diminished value. Looks like its just the vinyl, i dont see any paint damage. Nearest Tesla service center is a 5 hour drive and nearest authorized bodyshop is an hour away and i really dont want to spend extra time on this.

 

[appleguru]

If the other driver is at fault, I might just ask them for an out of pocket settlement to the tune of $700-$1000 or just make their insurance cover it.

Tesla quoted me $415 for a new front bumper cover (the part you dinged).

They can order the part and get it to a tesla certified body shop for painting and installation. In theory, the shop should be able to get the new part, paint it, and call you when they're ready to install it while you wait.

Is pretty minor though, if it will otherwise negatively impact you I might just ignore it.

 

[xyeahtony]

Feeling like just ignoring it since a carfax repair report will definitely have diminished value. Although i might have him just front me cash instead and just pocket it.

 

[BrettS]

If you are going to ask him for cash it might be worth taking it to a body shop or two and getting some estimates just so you have some basis for where the number came from. If I hit you and you just came up to me and said “hey, give me $700 and we’ll call it even” I’d probably be a bit wary and concerned that you’re trying to take advantage of me.

Instead if you come up and say “Hey, I got two estimates... one is $700 and one is $900. If you want to just give me the $700 then you won’t have to report it to your insurance and I won’t have to worry about it showing up on carfax” then I would probably feel more comfortable about just giving you a check.

 

[xyeahtony]

True, but if he doesn't give me the cash then i will most certainly file an insurance claim and with a blackvue camera footage supporting my side of the story 100% he doesn't have much choice. Problem with an estimate is i have to go drive out to the only tesla approved body shop and that's such a pain for me. hopefully he'd be fine with just dropping some $$ and letting the whole thing go.

Now would i be able to just take it to a non-tesla approved bodyshop for an estimate just to have a ballpark $$ to throw at him?

 

[navinsiri]

Similar thing happened to me except with the rear bumper. The damage was only visible if you got down and looked at it eye level. The other guys preferred to pay out of pocket so I took the car to the nearest tesla authorized body shop which was about an hour away. They quoted $1600 for a new rear bumper. The xpel and opticoat would cost $200 to reapply so the final payout was $1800. Took the money and didn't repair the car, but I did do the 75kwh battery upgrade.

If you want the most out of it I would recommend going to the Tesla authorized body shop as the local shops would probably be cheaper. I explained to the person who hit my car that there are very few body shops that are authorized to work on Tesla's.
I don't know how it would work out if he preferred to go through insurance

 

[appleguru]

In related news, someone backed into my bumper and left a dent/popped a hole through it (looks like they might've had a trailer hitch...)... no idea who did it.

so... you're lucky you know who it was! Time to invest in a dashcam for me.

 

[jelloslug]

Buy the part yourself, have it painted (any competent body shop can paint it), and then install it yourself. Nobody will ever know if that is your worry.

 

[appleguru]

Any idea what the going rate is to paint a part like this? Local shop quoted me $500 (including install). That seems very high to me (especially given how relatively easy the part is to remove/install).

 

[kev1n]

i like how nobody even bothered to correct him. thats not a front fender, its a front bumper. it is not vinyl. it is paint and a plastic bumper(polyurethane)

like others have posted. you dont need an authorized shop for this, it is just a repaint + install, any competent shop should be able do this

just because you have video footage on dash cam doesnt mean the insurance company is required to look at it. if you go through insurance, it will be on carfax.

you may have luck using a heat gun on it to make it look better, form it back into its original position but the proper fix would be a new bumper

 

[croman]

I can't even see the damage. Just ask for $1k and see what he says. He'll pay more than that in increased insurance premiums if you fight it. You have him dead to rights. If he fights on $1k -- negotiate to your satisfaction but Tesla repairs often end up more costly than local shops realize.

I'm really loathe to install a dashcam but I also don't want to deal with garbage like this without footage....first world problems...