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Model S accident - seeking advice

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I had an accident yesterday, and had damage that I feel is extensive on the passenger (right) side of the car.


It's early on in terms of getting things sorted out with insurance, but I'm getting a bit concerned about the direction it may go. The insurance company has sent it to a repair shop that is on their list for assessment. I've inquired about the one that Tesla recommended, and the insurance company is claiming they won't warranty the work if it's sent to Tesla's recommended (if it comes to that).

I'm concerned because I don't rightly know whether the repair shop has any experience with Teslas and what other implications there may be resulting from this from Tesla's end. I believe I've read that if Tesla isn't satisfied with the repairs they won't allow access to the Supercharger network - amongst other things.

I'm also concerned about post-repair issues and whether Tesla would get involved in repairing it.

Thoughts?
 
Good luck getting Tesla to send parts to a Non Certified shop or that they would even have access to repair manuals. I don't know how it works In Canada, But in California you have the right to pick the shop of your choice. Very sorry for you accident. Sadly its going to be a long road to repair if they don't total. Do you have GAP insurance?
 
The insurance company has sent it to a repair shop that is on their list for assessment. I've inquired about the one that Tesla recommended, and the insurance company is claiming they won't warranty the work if it's sent to Tesla's recommended (if it comes to that).

That is just a line they use to get you to use their cut-rate shop. Any decent shop will provide a warranty for their work, so you don't need your insurance company to warranty it.

But given what appears to be extensive damage I don't think anyone but a Tesla certified shop can work on it. Though maybe once the first shop looks at it and gives an estimate they will just come back with it being a total and you get to order a new car.

It look to me like the whole passenger side got damaged: Front fender damaged, front door (gone?), rear door damaged, rear quarter panel looks creased?, front suspension looks broken, which means the front motor could be damaged. Between all of that and all the airbags that went off it looks like a very expensive repair.
 
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My car was the one with similar damages to yours. Once the repair is done, an authorized body shop works with tesla to get codes cleared and other software systems up to speed. I cant imagine a non authorized body shop knowing how to align radar sensors in the auto pilot system
 
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From when we had some damage a year ago the only TESLA certified shop was Excellence Auto in the GTA\Toronto area. StateFarm then, Certas now, is who we dealt with and there were no issues with our experience except at that time the adjuster didn't have a Tesla in his list of cars for doing the estimates. In Ontario you have the right to choose where to repair. An insurance adjuster may want to get quotes etc... however it's still your decision who does the work with like\certified parts. If you haven't spoken with the team at Lawrence avenue do so, they should be more than able to help point you in the right direction especially with your warranty concerns. Sorry about your car, but more importantly hope you and anyone else involved are okay.
 
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That is just a line they use to get you to use their cut-rate shop. Any decent shop will provide a warranty for their work, so you don't need your insurance company to warranty it.

But given what appears to be extensive damage I don't think anyone but a Tesla certified shop can work on it. Though maybe once the first shop looks at it and gives an estimate they will just come back with it being a total and you get to order a new car.

It look to me like the whole passenger side got damaged: Front fender damaged, front door (gone?), rear door damaged, rear quarter panel looks creased?, front suspension looks broken, which means the front motor could be damaged. Between all of that and all the airbags that went off it looks like a very expensive repair.

I'm assuming it's going to be an expensive repair, if not an outright nightmare. Although I've not included other pictures, you've pretty much got it. The loss of the door must have been from sheering, but I'm not at all happy with that. It looks like the main door brace just failed. I'm just glad my kids came out of it with minor scratches.

I'll be in contact with both insurance and Tesla to see what I can have done.

Thanks to everyone for the comments.
 
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It's buried in the hood of the SUV - peeled back like the old tin can. Under the circumstance, I'm not exactly pleased with the door's performance in the accident, but thankful that my son is okay who was seated there.

First I'm glad that your son is okay, and that losing the door didn't result in injury.

Wow. How fast were the two vehicles going? I would love to see some more pictures and understand how the two cars impacted each other that resulted in this. (I would hope that Tesla would be interested as well so that they could look at the car and determine why the door structure failed the way it did and possibly improve it in the future.)
 
Who's at fault?

I would take it to a Tesla approved shop even if "insurance won't warranty it". They're certified for a reason.

Well, the other driver is at fault.

As it's looking it may be a write off, so will get it assessed where it is now, and if it's going to be repaired it'll get moved to the Tesla recommended repair shop - that's been agreed to now. The insurance agent, thankfully, wasn't a trial do deal with - actually pleasant enough.

So, thinking ahead and if the car is determined a write off (and never having been through this before) any idea of what the assessed value the insurance is likely to be? 9 months old, 11K kilometres. Any idea of whether there's room for negotiation if I think it's low, or is it take it or leave it?

And jokingly, if I try to get another Tesla can I use my own referral to save a little cash?
 
So, thinking ahead and if the car is determined a write off (and never having been through this before) any idea of what the assessed value the insurance is likely to be? 9 months old, 11K kilometres. Any idea of whether there's room for negotiation if I think it's low, or is it take it or leave it?

And jokingly, if I try to get another Tesla can I use my own referral to save a little cash?

Personally I think you are better off if they do write the car off. If they don't make it a write-off make sure to demand a diminished value payout in addition to the repair. (Asking for that might make them change their mind and write it off.)

If you do want another Tesla you could likely get a new car built quicker than getting your damaged car repaired. And you might be able to find a CPO and get it really quickly.

As far as valuation I would say to go look on the Tesla CPO site for comparable cars, and then expect that you should get a little less than that since you have ~1 year less warranty remaining.

From my experience there is always room for negotiation. And don't forget to include the cost of any upgrades you have done, if any: paint protection, wheels, tires, etc.

I'm not positive but I think you are allowed to use your own referral code.
 
First I'm glad that your son is okay, and that losing the door didn't result in injury.

Wow. How fast were the two vehicles going? I would love to see some more pictures and understand how the two cars impacted each other that resulted in this. (I would hope that Tesla would be interested as well so that they could look at the car and determine why the door structure failed the way it did and possibly improve it in the future.)

It was a weird one to me. I was doing around the posted 50kph limit and the other one started from the parking spot about 15-20 feet behind - t-boned me. Side airbags deployed, front one's didn't - since there wasn't any damage up front.

This is all speculative, but she must have floored it given the impact. I looked at the car yesterday and saw that the impact seemed to start just ahead of the front wheel and then my car carried forward and essentially scraped the length of the car. I'm not liking the fact that the safety cage essentially failed/sheared off exposing the passenger.

Tesla will be informed in the next couple of days, but yeah, I really think this is a weak spot given the situation.
 
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Where's the passenger door?

It's buried in the hood of the SUV - peeled back like the old tin can. Under the circumstance, I'm not exactly pleased with the door's performance in the accident, but thankful that my son is okay who was seated there.

The car performed as designed in the accident ... the door is not structural and the steel B pillar provided intrusion protection :cool:
Be careful when the repairs are done to ensure that the B pillar is repaired or replaced ... the steel to aluminum bonding is critical.

upload_2017-3-4_10-5-31.png
 
The car performed as designed in the accident ... the door is not structural and the steel B pillar provided intrusion protection

I'm not sure I agree with that. I would hope that the extruded aluminum in the doors is structural and could prevent, or minimize, a car coming in at an angle and hitting the door dead center from intruding into the passenger cabin. (But in that kind of an accident the door likely wouldn't get sheered off.)
 
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I'm not sure I agree with that. I would hope that the extruded aluminum in the doors is structural and could prevent, or minimize, a car coming in at an angle and hitting the door dead center from intruding into the passenger cabin. (But in that kind of an accident the door likely wouldn't get sheered off.)

Extruded aluminum is not nearly as strong as high strength steel HSS. :cool:
The diagram shows that the door bars were only on vehicles before mid-2014.
 
It looks like they must have been parked in a parallel parking spot on your right and tried to make the immediate left turn or a U-turn and hit you on the side. Nothing you could have done to avoid that one. For your door to come off it must have been a substantial hit just in front of the hinge. Glad no one was seriously injured. Good luck getting it repaired or replaced.
 
It looks like they must have been parked in a parallel parking spot on your right and tried to make the immediate left turn or a U-turn and hit you on the side. Nothing you could have done to avoid that one. For your door to come off it must have been a substantial hit just in front of the hinge. Glad no one was seriously injured. Good luck getting it repaired or replaced.

You got it right. I think she was trying to beat traffic to get onto the street perpendicular to the parking (the street that goes behind the SUV). I'll try to put up a couple more pictures, but part of the body is torn off from behind the front wheel right about where the door hinge is. The door hinge and latch are still there, surprisingly. As FlatSix911's diagram show, you can see how the differing structures endured this particular crash.
 
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