Insurance companies at times are very efficient at collecting premiums but slow to pay claims. True in some cases but not always. Totaled my 16 year old car. Sometime the odometer switched from miles to KM. Dealer said problem was in the cars computer and only fixable with a new computer module. So I didn’t have it fixed. When settling with my insurance company they deducted value because of the high odometer reading. Took awhile but they added the value back in. The said they found articles about this issue on other similar cars and gave me credit for it. So first work with your insurance company instead of instantly getting into an adversarial relationship.
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Model 3 totaled! please advise
- Thread starter ddreww
- Start date
Insurance companies at times are very efficient at collecting premiums but slow to pay claims. True in some cases but not always. Totaled my 16 year old car. Sometime the odometer switched from miles to KM. Dealer said problem was in the cars computer and only fixable with a new computer module. So I didn’t have it fixed. When settling with my insurance company they deducted value because of the high odometer reading. Took awhile but they added the value back in. The said they found articles about this issue on other similar cars and gave me credit for it. So first work with your insurance company instead of instantly getting into an adversarial relationship.
Physicslawyer
Member
I am a lawyer and have dealt with having a car totaled by insurance. They will want comps. You can go find the comps as easily as they can and negotiate yourself. If you are not comfortable negotiating, then I suppose you can hire a lawyer. A lawyer is expensive and will likely not do anything differently than what you could do yourself. Good luck. I would also comp performance models, but realistically compare the differences between yours and the ones you find. I have had Geico for the past 18 years and they were fair.
First, since you were rear ended it’s the other drivers fault. Second, since it’s not your fault the other insurance company will pay for it. You should work directly with your company on a fair replacement value and that’s what you should request Which will be paid by the other drivers insurance. Third, you maybe entitled to “pain & suffering” for the BS your going through which would certainly get you a brand new car so figure out what that cost is today and demand that $$$$. Good luck
Not completely true. The other drivers insurance company will pay up to the max policy. If they don’t have enough insurance to cover the damage your own insurance kicks back in. In my state the minimum policy is $30,000. So if the person who hits you has the minimum your policy covers the rest.
I have had several vehicles totaled through Allstate in California. Two from house fire and one from being rear ended I’m very pleased with their payouts which include registration and taxes. For comps they only use dealer sold or dealer listed vehicles. They exclude private party sales which are always much lower. Not sure about other states but California Allstate has two new vehicle optional riders: loan gap or replacement rider.
I paid cash for my “Y” LR last July so I chose the the replacement rider. Which gives me the totaled replacement cost of a brand new Model Y for the first three years rather than a used 50k miles Y. So if I total my Y in June of of 2023, they will give me 2023 out the door price. The rider cost is about $60 a year and falls off at the 4 year purchase anniversary.
I paid cash for my “Y” LR last July so I chose the the replacement rider. Which gives me the totaled replacement cost of a brand new Model Y for the first three years rather than a used 50k miles Y. So if I total my Y in June of of 2023, they will give me 2023 out the door price. The rider cost is about $60 a year and falls off at the 4 year purchase anniversary.
Actually, here in NJ, minimums are:
$15,000 per person for injury
$30,000 combined for injury
$5,000 for property damage (ie they wreck your car.)
It’s super important to check your uninsured/underinsured coverage. That $5k property minimum is woefully low.
SteveBaker
Member
We had a small fender-bender with our 10 month old Model 3 a while back - and the body shop in Austin told me that odds were good that the insurance company would want to total it. Evidently, the high cost and low availability of Tesla parts to 3rd party repair shops can make the value of a car with minor body damage be worth more as scrap. In the end, they didn't do that - but evidently it's not uncommon. Stick out for the full value of a new car - you stand a good chance of getting it.
SteveBaker
Member
We had a small fender-bender with our 10 month old Model 3 a while back - and the body shop in Austin told me that odds were good that the insurance company would want to total it. Evidently, the high cost and low availability of Tesla parts to 3rd party repair shops can make the value of a car with minor body damage be worth more as scrap. In the end, they didn't do that - but evidently it's not uncommon. Stick out for the full value of a new car - you stand a good chance of getting it.
Not sure this helps however, I own a model X. The autopark failed and hit the side of the garage. $3,500 damage.Tesla told me to file claim with my insurance company Travelers. I did and now I am in the middle of a subrogation case between Tesla and Travelers. Traveler paid me the $3,500 and said they are going after Tesla for my $1,000 deductible.
While filling out claim form the Traveler agent ask me who was in the driver seat? I responded" NO ONE"! Travelers was not sure how to deal with this. Point is we are in "uncharted waters " with Tesla and car insurance companies.I suspect that is where you are in your case, Fortunately for me Travelers paid me quickly and is going after Tesla for my $1,000 deduction at no cost to me. Could take months to litigate. Good luck going forward." It is the scouts who come back with the arrows in their backs".
Oh my!
Who was this insurance company; we'd like to avoid such treatment by avoiding them.
Thx.
This occurred to us with our totaled 2013 Model S. We had just put tires on it (for around $1k IIRC) in 2014 when my wife called to ask what to do as flood waters rose around her at an intersection. (I suggested she had two option: either abandon the car and walk to safety, or just drive it out of the rising water. She chose the latter, thankfully, as Teslas operate well even when partially submerged.)
USAA bumped up our too low estimate by a few hundred dollars by simply taking photographs of the tires and showing them the receipt/invoice. I think they got about $40k for the car ('13 MS 85, 12k miles; 21" wheels and decent range of options) at the salvage auction. I was going to bid as the flood water level was very low, but found it crazy to pay that much for a car with no factory warranty/salvage title. Just as well as we would have had too many cars, and, frankly, mid-2013 MS's don't have much of the equipment added in the years that followed.
FWIW, USAA didn't jerk us around too much, but the value given was a bit low. Another issue: it was likely one of the first Tesla's they'd ever had a flood total claim on, and, as such, they could barely spell "Tesla" let alone decide how high the water needed to reach to total it. Fortunately, the local Tesla SC helped them out. The cars are water resistant, not water proof . . . . And so began our Tesla journey with that first car leading to the other eight Model S's that followed.
TheRFMan
Member
That's nice, it covers for inflation as well. In Ontario, it's common to have a depreciation waiver rider added for the 5 five years, where in case of total loss, they pay back the amount on the original bill of sale and call it a day. If the price has gone up since the original purchase, the difference is not covered.
SabrToothSqrl
Active Member
eSurance... Screwed by AllState I guess. And we had (and still have) every coverage MAXED and full tort.
Other party was 100% at fault, but I guess if you're a piece of $hit with no insurance, you get off easy when you rear-end someone, destroy their car and cause the person pain for months after.
Hi Reborn, my car recently got into a hit-and-run incident so I'm trying to figure out the ACV of my car following your instructions. From NADA website, below are the numbers I got. I was wondering, which number did you provide your insurance company? FYI, I have a 2018 Model 3 LR RWD with ~28k miles. The car is also equipped with EAP and FSD but I was only able to add the Autopilot Package and Adaptive Cruise Control when I selected to manually enter the options of my car. Hopefully I'm doing this correctly. Please let me know, thanks in advance!Make sure the base value they used is aligned with your car. Use NADA. I totaled my car (my fault) and Geico used a base model (50)kfor their estimate and depreciated it and offered me a check for 46k (including taxes)
i went on NADA website and put in my options and my car was actually worth more that I bought it (63k) so they used the actual amount I paid (61k). After depreciation, I got 57k which is 10k more that they offered.
Go on nada website and enter your info and compare it to the base price they’re using. present the discrepancy to them. See my spreadsheet. I’m a CPA, I don’t play with my money. I didn’t use a lawyer.
Do your homework and consider hiring a USPAP certified appraiser to provide an independent valuation report. There are many across the country. I’m looking at appraisalengine.com and diminishedvalueexpert.com
