My 2020 model S with free unlimited charging was just declared totaled by my insurance, is there anything I can do?

[jjrandorin]

I think I personally saved around $1k/year on supercharging

Based on what you have posted in this thread, it appears to me that you are basically asking:

"is there a way I can risk the 36k repair job being the actual cost of the repair and not being more, as well as figure out some way to keep supercharging on a salvage vehicle, to save 1k a year in charging costs for myself?"

You would have to keep the car, find someplace to repair it, hope that the 36k current quote didnt ballon up (body shop quotes always go up when they start taking panels off), and then find someone to re enable supercharging on your "now salvage" vehicle, and do all that to save 1k a year (which is less than $100 a month).

Thats basically what you are asking.

 

[ucmndd]

Irrelevant. Most of the driving that required use of supercharging has been away from home.

You’ve spent 50,000+ miles on the road in the last 2 years away from home where supercharging was mandatory?

 

[ElectricIAC]

You’ve spent 50,000+ miles on the road in the last 2 years away from home where supercharging was mandatory?

Probably closer to 36K for that but there is also times where you’re in and around town and it makes more sense timewise to drop in to a supercharger than it does to L2.

Call it opportunity supercharging.

 

[Tam]

What do people value unlimited charging as?...

Simple maths which may not be in real life due to many other variables:

EPA rates the 100 kWh 2020 Model S long range as 402 miles.

An average driver drives 12,500 miles annually, or that's what Tessa warranty claims.

Los Angeles Supercharger costs $0.28/kWh off-peak or $0.56 at peak. SCE home residential TOU-D-Prime is similar: $0.21 and $0.54.

12,500 miles annually / 402 miles per one full charge = 31.09452736 full charges per year.

31.09452736 full charges x 100 kWh = 3,109.452736 kWh

3,109.452736 kWh x $0.56 = $1,741.29

That's the theoretical annual cost: $1,741.29 for 12,500 miles per year.

 

[ElectricIAC]

Simple maths which may not be in real life due to many other variables:

EPA rates the 100 kWh 2020 Model S long range as 402 miles.

An average driver drives 12,500 miles annually, or that's what Tessa warranty claims.

Los Angeles Supercharger costs $0.28/kWh off-peak or $0.56 at peak. SCE home residential TOU-D-Prime is similar: $0.21 and $0.54.

12,500 miles annually / 402 miles per one full charge = 31.09452736 full charges per year.

31.09452736 full charges x 100 kWh = 3,109.452736 kWh

3,109.452736 kWh x $0.56 = $1,741.29

That's the theoretical annual cost: $1,741.29 for 12,500 miles per year.

That’s assuming you get rated efficiency and are doing straight 400 mile drives between charges.

Let’s get realistic about efficiency and throw down some buffer for vampire drain, sentry mode, etc usage and you can be looking at 50% more energy consumed conservatively speaking.

 

[OsoFlaca]

thanks

There were some DIY builds that used salvage teslas and they got free SC. Maybe that’s a reason too.
But I worked out when I lost my model x the free SC was worth around £1100 per year for me.
That capitalises to around £10,000. Ask your insurance to cover that loss too.

 

[cbdream99]

UFSC is tied to the car, realistically do you want to keep driving this car even if it is/can be fixed without salvaging it, this car probably have a substantial diminished value if it is put back together.

 

[DerbyDave]

Free Unlimited Supercharging was Free for a period in 2020, and is not transferable. It did not cost anything, and does not increase the value of the car as a used car since it is not transferrable. The only argument would be for reimbursement for loss of use of a particular feature not on a newly purchased replacement. This won't be a good fight for a Tesla. Take the money, don't cause yourself a bunch of trouble. Move on.

 

[jrr6415sun]

UFSC is tied to the car, realistically do you want to keep driving this car even if it is/can be fixed without salvaging it, this car probably have a substantial diminished value if it is put back together.

I don’t care about diminished value, I was planning to use the car with unlimited charging for at least a decade and not sell it. As long as it drove fine with unlimited charging all that matters to me. But since it won’t be able to supercharge after being a salvage title that changes things. I think it is more cosmetic damage because I was able to drive the car for a short distance to the tow truck after it got in the accident, it is just very expensive cosmetic damage.

Based on what you have posted in this thread, it appears to me that you are basically asking:

"is there a way I can risk the 36k repair job being the actual cost of the repair and not being more, as well as figure out some way to keep supercharging on a salvage vehicle, to save 1k a year in charging costs for myself?"

You would have to keep the car, find someplace to repair it, hope that the 36k current quote didnt ballon up (body shop quotes always go up when they start taking panels off), and then find someone to re enable supercharging on your "now salvage" vehicle, and do all that to save 1k a year (which is less than $100 a month).

Thats basically what you are asking.

When I made this thread I didn’t know that supercharging did not work on salvaged titles. I was asking if there was a way to repair it or find a shop that would do it (either officially or unoficially) for less then or near the $43k that my insurance would pay me to keep it and if it would be worth it. So yes the $36k repair vs $43k payment from insurance. I also didn’t know the value of supercharging, it may be worth a lot more to some people than others.

Right now i’m saving $1k a year, but I don’t drive that much. If I start driving more in the future, or electricity costs increase a lot in the future it could easily be a few thousand or more savings a year. Also the peace of mind of never having to think about the cost when I got into my car and went somewhere is a huge benefit.

 

[jrr6415sun]

Besides the S, nobody got hurt I hope. How did the accident happen, were other cars involved?

I don’t want to turn this thread into an argument about the accident, but I had the full self driving beta on in aggressive mode on the highway going 65-70ish mph. A truck swerved in front of me into the left lane. I am assuming the autopilot thought the median/grass was another lane because it changed into it to avoid the truck and I was not able to stop it in time. There was a wire guard rail on the left that went into a V shape with a metal guard rail on the right and the car ran into the bottom of the V and was hit on both sides and the front. I was slamming on the brakes the whole time but the car wasn’t stopping, although I only had 2-3 seconds before I hit something and i’m not sure how good the brakes are on grass. The car didn’t beep at all, no beeping that I was going out of the lane, no beeping that I was about to hit something. It didn’t try to stop, airbags didn’t go off etc. Usually if i’m close to hitting something whether i’m in autopilot or not the car will brake instantly.

If the wire guard rail wouldn’t have been there my car would have been fine, but the wire really destroyed the car all around it. I didn’t get hurt at all which is good though. No other cars were involved. The city says the guard rail is probably $20k+ to replace.

 

[ElectricIAC]

I don’t want to turn this thread into an argument about the accident, but I had the full self driving beta on in aggressive mode on the highway going 65-70ish mph. A truck swerved in front of me into the left lane. I am assuming the autopilot thought the median/grass was another lane because it changed into it to avoid the truck and I was not able to stop it in time. There was a wire guard rail on the left that went into a V shape with a metal guard rail on the right and the car ran into the bottom of the V and was hit on both sides and the front. I was slamming on the brakes the whole time but the car wasn’t stopping, although I only had 2-3 seconds before I hit something and i’m not sure how good the brakes are on grass. The car didn’t beep at all, no beeping that I was going out of the lane, no beeping that I was about to hit something. It didn’t try to stop, airbags didn’t go off etc. Usually if i’m close to hitting something whether i’m in autopilot or not the car will brake instantly.

If the wire guard rail wouldn’t have been there my car would have been fine, but the wire really destroyed the car all around it. I didn’t get hurt at all which is good though. No other cars were involved.

If as described I’d be raising cane with Tesla.

 

[father_of_6]

Wow... so FSD caused the accident. Do you have video? I'm in agreement with @ElectricIAC ... I'd get the new car and then literally blackmail Tesla with that video to enable free Supercharging on it.

 

[vcor]

If free supercharging is really important, a not great solution is to buy a used Tesla with transferrable SC. S/X built prior to about Jan-17-2017 have this.

 

[_Redshift_]

If as described I’d be raising cane with Tesla.

Even though I am critical of Tesla’s ADAS, I have to say I am siding with the ADAS this time.

The car swerved to avoid hitting the truck. It probably saved major injuries to the driver.

Also, a wire guard is not something the FSD or AEB systems can detect reliably. As it is, both systems are shown to be lacking in many aspects by testers on YouTube.

Fighting with Tesla will probably not be worth it. Those lawyers can suck up a lot of the money the Insurance paid the OP.

 

[ucmndd]

Even though I am critical of Tesla’s ADAS, I have to say I am siding with the ADAS this time.

The car swerved to avoid hitting the truck. It probably saved major injuries to the driver.

Also, a wire guard is not something the FSD or AEB systems can detect reliably. As it is, both systems are shown to be lacking in many aspects by testers on YouTube.

Fighting with Tesla will probably not be worth it. Those lawyers can suck up a lot of the money the Insurance paid the OP.

Agree. Beta software, might do the exact wrong thing at the wrong time, be ready to take over immediately, blah blah blah.

We can argue if it would have been better for the car to stay in its lane and take the hit from the truck, but given the limited info presented I’d say it made a rational and defensible choice.

 

[ElectricIAC]

Agree. Beta software, might do the exact wrong thing at the wrong time, be ready to take over immediately, blah blah blah.

We can argue if it would have been better for the car to stay in its lane and take the hit from the truck, but given the limited info presented I’d say it made a rational and defensible choice.

Elon could hide behind this beta software drek when FSD was still $5-7,000 but it’s simply unconscionable at $12-15,000.

 

[ucmndd]

Elon could hide behind this beta software drek when FSD was still $5-7,000 but it’s simply unconscionable at $12-15,000.

I mean, it’s no secret that FSD is a joke and you’d have to be insane to pay $15k for it.

But the question stands: what should the car have done in the scenario described by OP?

 

[ElectricIAC]

I mean, it’s no secret that FSD is a joke and you’d have to be insane to pay $15k for it.

But the question stands: what should the car have done in the scenario described by OP?

In the moment I’d treat it like a potential deer strike and engage braking action.

 

[_Redshift_]

In the moment I’d treat it like a potential deer strike and engage braking action.

I’d argue for the age-old advise from the ABS era: “stomp and steer”. I’m pretty sure the FSD did the steer, but not the stomp.

 

[cbdream99]

I don’t care about diminished value, I was planning to use the car with unlimited charging for at least a decade and not sell it. As long as it drove fine with unlimited charging all that matters to me. But since it won’t be able to supercharge after being a salvage title that changes things. I think it is more cosmetic damage because I was able to drive the car for a short distance to the tow truck after it got in the accident, it is just very expensive cosmetic damage.

I think Florida is similar to Texas, a salvaged car can get a rebuilt title, basically it is fixed and passed inspection. However, I don’t know what will Tesla do in such scenario …. is the official statement once it is salvaged then it is done ?