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Sorry about the accident, hope everyone is OK.
Someone sideswiped my MS a couple of years ago and here is what I learnt. I filed with the other party's co and the other driver denied fault, obviously, and they denied the claim. I then filed with my company, and took the car to a Tesla certified body shop. Paid my deductible and insurance co covered the rest. My car took longer than 30 days to repair, but my insurance co only paid for 30 days rental that was on my policy. They said I could continue renting and pay for any additional charges, and they'd try to subrogate it. I chose not to. My company then subrogated the claim and when the other driver was found at fault (Of course, the idiot hit me on the rear left door and quarter panel while merging from the left), my deductible was returned to me. Show on my MVR as no fault accident.
NJ is a no fault state, so all medical claims go to my insurance co.
I filed a diminished value claim with the other parties co after all repairs were completed, and gave them a number. My company said they'd have no part in that claim. They hired their own appraisal and came back with a similar number and I accepted that. They did take a very long time though, and I had to send a "if I don't hear from you in 2 weeks, I'll have to speak to a lawyer" email. Not sure if it made any difference.
When choosing the body shop, I could go to any I wanted and my insurance co would cut me a check unto the appraisal or go with one in their network and they'd deal with everything. I found a Tesla body shop that was in their network that had good reviews. They did a fabulous job.
It's a lot of work and takes times, something that should be much easier in theory.
Someone sideswiped my MS a couple of years ago and here is what I learnt. I filed with the other party's co and the other driver denied fault, obviously, and they denied the claim. I then filed with my company, and took the car to a Tesla certified body shop. Paid my deductible and insurance co covered the rest. My car took longer than 30 days to repair, but my insurance co only paid for 30 days rental that was on my policy. They said I could continue renting and pay for any additional charges, and they'd try to subrogate it. I chose not to. My company then subrogated the claim and when the other driver was found at fault (Of course, the idiot hit me on the rear left door and quarter panel while merging from the left), my deductible was returned to me. Show on my MVR as no fault accident.
NJ is a no fault state, so all medical claims go to my insurance co.
I filed a diminished value claim with the other parties co after all repairs were completed, and gave them a number. My company said they'd have no part in that claim. They hired their own appraisal and came back with a similar number and I accepted that. They did take a very long time though, and I had to send a "if I don't hear from you in 2 weeks, I'll have to speak to a lawyer" email. Not sure if it made any difference.
When choosing the body shop, I could go to any I wanted and my insurance co would cut me a check unto the appraisal or go with one in their network and they'd deal with everything. I found a Tesla body shop that was in their network that had good reviews. They did a fabulous job.
It's a lot of work and takes times, something that should be much easier in theory.
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Thanks for the suggestion. This is where I think I need an attorney and lawyer since I want to avoid dealing with their insurance company directly. But also, it looks like many PI attorneys do not really help file a diminished value claim. Do you have any experience or insight to share with me on this matter? It will be really helpful.
This is really helpful! Thank you so much for sharing your experience. I am still deciding between letting my insurance co handle it or hiring a lawyer to handle everything including a DV claim. Could you share a little more detail on how did you file a DV claim with the other insurance company? Did you just send a letter / email or call to request compensation? Again, I really appreciate you sharing your experience in detail. It is tremendously helpful fo rme.
I just called the other insurance company, told them I was in an accident where their insured was at fault and wanted to file a diminished value claim. Before I made the call, I took NADA number for "no damage value" (which nobody cares about) and subtracted the cost of repairs and used that as the first number. They claimed that the cost of repairs is not a good indicator since the cost may differ across markets and shops. The number of repair hours on the repair bill was more indicative of the severity of the damage. They also didn't consider the replacement parts (after market or not) since technically, the repair made those "whole". They low balled a number, I countered with a number that was about 75% of my ask and they accepted that.
To be honest, unless you plan to sell the car soon, it's an academic number. There is no telling what the market and the impact will be in the future when you actually do sell the car. The couple of attorneys I called wanted between 30 and 40% of the recovered amount + their costs + I'd have to pay for an appraisal, and that added up fast.
I initially asked for about $8K and ended up accepting $5700. Ended up doing it all myself.
You have time until the repairs are completed to your satisfaction and you have a final bill. IANAL and following is just my $0.02, check out online places like Free Diminished Value Estimate | DIMINISHED VALUE and see what the dv amount comes out to be. Maybe talk to attorneys and then depending on what they charge and how much the amount is, decide if you want to do it yourself or hire them.
Good Luck, let us know how it turns out.
Also, SCs around me do no body work at all and I suspect it's same for many. I'd check out the Tesla certified collision repair centers and see which one are in your insureds network as well and then check reviews.
www.tesla.com
Collision Support | Tesla
Tesla Approved Body Shops have been factory trained and equipped to rebuild Tesla vehicles to the original vehicle specifications for structural integrity and quality of finish.
www.tesla.com
Yes, we are using a Tesla authorized repair shop (Brooks Motors in Walnut Creek). It's still being repaired, but I don't expect any lasting problem except for the value of the car due to being in a collision.
As for DV claims, yes you must go to the at-fault insurer for that claim and I don't believe your own insurance company will pursue it. I've done it once before successfully and things actually got easier once the other party pushed the claim off to their lawyer, who understood that DV claims are legit and winnable. I am waiting to see what the insurance company does. Don't know the amount we will settle on, but I am confident they will pay something for the DV claim. Because if they don't, I will simply go after the insured party and put the pressure on them to put the pressure on their insurance company. In California, if an insurance company denies a valid claim and exposes their own customer to liability then the customer can sued them for breach of good faith and fair dealing. It basically means that an insurance company cannot collection premiums and then try to avoid paying out valid claims.
Thank you so much! Your experience has taught me a lot of great tips for claiming DV. I cannot thank you enough. I hope you will always be safe on the road!
Thanks for sharing your experience and valuable tips. I really appreciate your kindness and thoughtfulness. I sincerely hope you will always be safe on the road.
MrIanB
Member
Go to carmax or similar auto sales mart once car repaired and speak with season appraiser. He will write up what your diminished value is now. File claims resp party for diminished value. If amount is less than carmax appraisal show it to them and informed will not take less than that. May take some time but hold your ground and eventually they should settle close to that amount if not more.
Ian B
I can sympathize with you. I had a similar accident with my 5 month old Model S LR in Virginia on August 21. I'm happy to report that my passenger and I were not injured. The driver of the Corolla went to the hospital in an ambulance. Thanks to the video recordings, I have been found 100% not liable for the accident and the other driver's insurance is paying for all the repairs.
Unfortunately, repairs have taken forever. My car has been in a Tesla certified shop in Arlington, VA for months. Still waiting for parts for the repair. It will be 3 months on November 20 (but whose counting).
I hope your repairs are done in a more timely fashion.
Unfortunately, repairs have taken forever. My car has been in a Tesla certified shop in Arlington, VA for months. Still waiting for parts for the repair. It will be 3 months on November 20 (but whose counting).
I hope your repairs are done in a more timely fashion.
Thank you for sharing the experience. Hope you can get your car back asap. Did you have any concerns about dealing with the third-party insurance? I am also thinking about it but I am worried about their liability limit beling below the repair & rental costs. Did they confirm that the other party's liability limit is enough?
That is why you have uninsured/underinsured coverage on your policy.
MrIanB
Member
> diminished value claim
What is diminished value claim? Do the at-fault insurance companies also compensate for the diminished value? I got rear-ended 10 days ago and I am in similar situation. The other party took the responsibility, and I am working directly with their insurance to get things scheduled. My own insurance is MetroMile and I have already heard bad reviews about them in settling the claims, so I preferred going with other party's insurance.
MrIanB
Member
Correct. Once your vehicle repaired by other insurance you tell the adjuster you want to file a diminished value claim w them. They will assign and adjuster to handle that part. Its compensation for loss of value on your car.
What is the range of that compensation? Is it few 1000s or in $10,000s , since we are talking about Tesla.
MrIanB
Member
I believe you can google as there may be a formula for each state to determine it. Sorry dont have more info. What i did was go to carmax and ask for an appraisal w diminished value and showed the repair estimate to give me the diminished value estimate. Then i used it to negotiate any offer from the other ins co.
Ian N
Sure. I checked and it is in $10,000s. Hope the insurance company accepts it.
