My Model 3 Got Wrecked Today :(

[lirandy]

After seeing the picture, I am glad that you are able to go on the forum and share your experience with us on the same day. The picture seriously looks horrible......gosh......

 

[Brando]

My guess is that insurance is going to pay the value of the car... which will certainly be less than OP paid for it. He'll then have to go after the street racer in civil court for the difference. It's a PITA.
And yes, he'll be able to claim the $7500 again on the next new one. YOu can buy as many cars as you like in a given year under that tax credit.... but Mr Street Racer doesn't need to know that.

not many have $15,000 income tax due, and I don't think you can roll credit forward - not sure

 

[Brando]

You mean like the thousands of gasoline cars that get totaled out in this country every month and almost never catch fire?

You are guilty of spreading FUD. Gasoline cars almost never catch fire following accidents. It happens, rarely, just like with electric cars.

https://www.nfpa.org/News-and-Resea...tatistics/Vehicle-fires/Highway-vehicle-fires

Vehicle fires
U.S. fire departments responded to an estimated average of 229,500 vehicle fires per year in 2007-2011. These fires caused an average of 328 civilian fire deaths, 1,426 civilian fire injures and $1.4 billion dollars in direct property damage per year. Vehicles include: passenger and freight road vehicles, such as cars, trucks, motorcycles and recreational vehicles; rail and water transport; aircraft; industrial, agricultural and construction vehicles; and miscellaneous other vehicles. Highway vehicles are vehicles intended to be driven on roads. A highway vehicle fire can occur anywhere, not just on highways.　

NFPA reports - Vehicles

 

[S'toon]

Can Tesla get past footages?
We have been asking for dash cam feature on Tesla for a while. Hope we can get this soon

WK057 has been able to get the last few frames from the dashcams of crashed cars.
Tesla Autopilot camera stores footage after a crash like a dashcam – here’s an example

 

[Vic_F]

Insurance company will try to get you to accept quick payment, do not accept. After Farmers screwed over my son I will get an attorney immediately. Do not give out your net medical costs, use geoss charge totals from hospitals and doctors

 

[iwannam3]

I hate to inject this in a discussion of a serious accident, but was the Camaro on Autopilot?

 

[chispas]

Was cruising along the i-90 tunnel in Seattle, WA on mercer island with my wife and 2 kids, when I hear some vehicles approach at high speed from behind. Then suddenly I hear a screeching sound from a car breaking hard, and then a car slams into my rear end - hard. I was going 65, so that vehicle must have been going significantly faster. From there I lose control of the car, and the car spins out of control, hitting the freeway divider wall all the way on the other side of the freeway 4 lanes across, and then bouncing back all the way back to the other side of the freeway and hitting that wall before coming to a stop.

Thankfully the model 3 performed miraculously, crumple zones compressed, airbags deployed, no fire after the accident, and no one in my family seems to be seriously injured.

Still processing what just happened and getting all the facts from the police (there may be a criminal case against the person who hit me), but any tips and things to watch out for as I go through the insurance process?

Holly cow! Happy to hear that you and your family are okay!

 

[Lanzer]

I'm glad that your family is okay. It really sucks to have something like this happen in any circumstances, and even worse on a brand new car that still have a long reservation line. I hope that Tesla will help you out in getting a new car back ASAP.

One side note is that even through your Model 3 is totaled, the battery pack on the car is still worth thousands of dollars. It might be worth salvaging.

 

[paulvinh]

Glad that you and your family are ok.

 

[Gtosnipey]

Glad you guys are ok most important thing!

 

[TT97]

NFPA statistics - Highway vehicle fires by year

Vehicle fires
U.S. fire departments responded to an estimated average of 229,500 vehicle fires per year in 2007-2011. These fires caused an average of 328 civilian fire deaths, 1,426 civilian fire injures and $1.4 billion dollars in direct property damage per year. Vehicles include: passenger and freight road vehicles, such as cars, trucks, motorcycles and recreational vehicles; rail and water transport; aircraft; industrial, agricultural and construction vehicles; and miscellaneous other vehicles. Highway vehicles are vehicles intended to be driven on roads. A highway vehicle fire can occur anywhere, not just on highways.　

NFPA reports - Vehicles

The problem is, of those 229,500 vehicle fires, 3% are due to collisions/overturns. The majority are from mechanical or electrical failures.

NFPA report - Vehicle fire trends and patterns

 

[alloverx]

I know that road very well. One day saw a car in the mirror going at least 90 there, followed a ways-back by State patrol. Obviously I kept out of the way. I got off on Mercer Island and saw he had been caught.; nice. Have seen a few races on I-90 and obviously stay out of the way and out of fast lane. I drove 65 in HOV on occasion around there. However If I see someone flying in the HOV lane i will normally get out the way.

 

[J3diMast3r]

Wow, that accident/collision looked pretty bad! Glad to hear you and your family are ok!

 

[MnVikes]

First post but wanted to voice my opinion.
Glad your OK so far and no one in your family seem to be seriously hurt.

While the racers need to “Pay the Price” of making your side good and whatever incentive a judge determines, I hardly think YEARS in jail fit the crime. Hopefully the monetary hit and the little jail time they get will be enough to let them know how lucky they are and how worse this could have been. They should be thanking Tesla for making such a safe car that avoided them YEARS of jail time.

Think I’m being to lenient on them? How about this for perspective.

This same racer could just as well been any Tesla owner who has to show off to their friends Insane or Ludicrous mode.
Accelerating 0-60 in 2 point whatever seconds in a 5;000 pound car on public streets is a sure recipe for a tragedy.
It’s bound to happen, in some cases it already has. Two teens dying in one instance, others dying when they use AP as it is not intended as of yet. But Tesla promotes how fast their cars are and how eventually they will be full AP, yet idiotic Tesla owners push the limits of these vehicles, with lots of them posting their stupidity on social media. The AP death with the center medium where the guy had talked about how bad it was in that area yet he continued to use it boggles my mind. I had the chance to test it out a Model X AP for a few days this Spring and quickly found areas where it was not ready for prime time. Guess what? I didn’t use it in those instances again.


So be thankful your O.K., let them pay the price to make it right, and hopefully others can learn from and not make the same mistakes.

 

[GSP]

You mean like the thousands of gasoline cars that get totaled out in this country every month and almost never catch fire?

You are guilty of spreading FUD. Gasoline cars almost never catch fire following accidents. It happens, rarely, just like with electric cars.

IIRC, statistics from the US National Fire Prevention Agency show that car fires happen in only 3% of accidents, which could be considered "rarely." However that still is over 11,000 car fires caused by accidents in the US every year, an average of 30 every day. I would not consider that rate to be "almost never."

The only time these fires are covered by news media is if they cause major traffic disruptions or if a cleberty is involved, or if an EV is involved. That is why it seems like such fires "almost never" happen.

GSP

 

[SigNC]

not many have $15,000 income tax due, and I don't think you can roll credit forward - not sure

It's not 15k income tax due, it's paying 15k in fed income tax. It's not like you have to underpay your fed taxes to take advantage of the credit.

 

[GabrielleFSU]

Wow! Thank goodness you are okay and that the Tesla Model 3 protected you and your family so well. I hope whoever did this to you is held accountable to the full extent allowed.

 

[CUBldr97]

I went to the yard to pick up some belongings from the vehicle today and was able to take in and observe the damage more calmly. Some interesting things to note:

1.) My phone seems to still be able to unlock the car, and the electronic doors are still working (counter example to phone unlocks fails, I've never had it fail on me ever, even now using an iPhone 6s).
2.) The screen & electronics seem to function still, other than a bunch of errors everywhere saying the car needs service and may not be operable
3.) There were airbags in the footwell as well, didn't realize those were there.

Did you take anymore pictures? did you ever see the "other vehicle" I would think he didn't make it very far to get off the highway... what has the police said if anything yet?

 

[GeorgeXP]

Glad you and the family are doing well..

 

[Krugerrand]

First post but wanted to voice my opinion.
Glad your OK so far and no one in your family seem to be seriously hurt.

While the racers need to “Pay the Price” of making your side good and whatever incentive a judge determines, I hardly think YEARS in jail fit the crime. Hopefully the monetary hit and the little jail time they get will be enough to let them know how lucky they are and how worse this could have been. They should be thanking Tesla for making such a safe car that avoided them YEARS of jail time.

Think I’m being to lenient on them? How about this for perspective.

This same racer could just as well been any Tesla owner who has to show off to their friends Insane or Ludicrous mode.
Accelerating 0-60 in 2 point whatever seconds in a 5;000 pound car on public streets is a sure recipe for a tragedy.
It’s bound to happen, in some cases it already has. Two teens dying in one instance, others dying when they use AP as it is not intended as of yet. But Tesla promotes how fast their cars are and how eventually they will be full AP, yet idiotic Tesla owners push the limits of these vehicles, with lots of them posting their stupidity on social media. The AP death with the center medium where the guy had talked about how bad it was in that area yet he continued to use it boggles my mind. I had the chance to test it out a Model X AP for a few days this Spring and quickly found areas where it was not ready for prime time. Guess what? I didn’t use it in those instances again.


So be thankful your O.K., let them pay the price to make it right, and hopefully others can learn from and not make the same mistakes.

The most effective punishment is that which fits the crime. Street racing punishment should be more along the lines of heavy fine and license revoked for a decent period of time (for an incident like this, a few years without a license makes sense and paying fines equal to the damage done to all plus traffic fines), taking driver education courses, teaching driver education to others and other community services related; garabge pick up along highways for instance, washing cars, spending time with people who have been victims of crashes caused by others...