My poor baby, someone rear ended me, anyone know what to expect in cost and time?

[cpostier]

Got rear ended last week, the driver has reputable insurance but is taking forever, can't schedule to fix until their claims department gets back to me. They are saying they are still trying to reach the driver that hit me, I sent them the dashcam video but they are still taking forever, been more than a week, have no car at all.


Anyone know what the estimated cost would prob be? Back glass looks fine and the side panels look fine, i cant open the trunk, so i cant really see how much damage there, damn app keeps texting me the trunk is open. The car was drivable but the blinkers automatically went off when I got hit.

 

[NedH]

Why are you dealing with the other driver's insurance company? Let your insurance company handle it.

 

[cpostier]

Why are you dealing with the other driver's insurance company? Let your insurance company handle it.

He hit me

 

[Gauss Guzzler]

I'd guess $6K-$8K and 6-8 weeks. You'll need a new trunk, latch, bumper cover, and crash beam. Other driver had fangs on his bumper? You can disable the door/window/trunk open notifications in the lock menu. Be sure to discuss "diminished value".

 

[gigawatt1010]

It's been hit or miss. Depends if your Service Center has their own body shop or if they still farm it to 3rd party. Another option is talk to a Tesla recommended body shop and see if they will handle the insurance claim for you. Some of the bigger shops have people that deal with insurance all day and often have direct contacts.

 

[mspohr]

My Model S was rear ended in May of last year. Looks about the same amount of damage. They replaced rear hatch, bumper cover and a bunch of stuff in the rear floor. Took about 3 months (Tesla authorized repair shop) and about $10,000. Most of the delay was due to insurance companies. I filed with my insurance company and the other person's company. My insurance company (Metromile) was terrible to work with... poorly responsive. The other insurance company (American Family) was very nice.
Tesla sent me updates on parts orders and everything was delivered promptly.
Body shop did a good job. Can't tell that it was hit.

 

[KenC]

Get your insurance to deal with their insurance. Let your insurance tell you what to do, not theirs.

 

[Apprunner]

He hit me

Yes but if you want speed, you use your own insurance and they will reimburse you for any deductible after the other insurance is done with their process and reimburses your insurance for the damage. You even send your video footage to your insurance company for them to hammer the other guy. This is how most insurance companies want you to handle it...they even tell you when they explain their policy with you.

 

[yeahthatguy]

Got rear ended last week, the driver has reputable insurance but is taking forever, can't schedule to fix until their claims department gets back to me. They are saying they are still trying to reach the driver that hit me, I sent them the dashcam video but they are still taking forever, been more than a week, have no car at all.

Why are you dealing with the other driver's insurance company? Let your insurance company handle it.

He hit me

Doesnt matter. File a claim with your insurance, make them do the leg work. If their insured (you) is not at fault (you weren't) there is no way in hell they are going to accept and pay out the loss, especially at the Tesla rates. They have plenty of people who handle just this and nothing more. Is this your first insurance claim? File a claim, upload all of your evidence, take the car to a bodyshop and wait. while waiting enjoy the schadenfreude that your insurance company will get their money come hell or high water. Its called subrogation.

 

[Phlier]

Yet another vote to call your insurance company.

It doesn't matter who hit who, the rule is always the same: Call your insurance company first.

Doesn't matter who's at fault, who hit who, who has insurance and who doesn't.... none of it matters. Call your insurance company first. Always.

It is their responsibility to work with the other driver's insurance company, etc. etc. etc. It's part of the service you are paying them to provide to you.

 

[jjrandorin]

While I tend to agree with everyone that says " File with your insurance company first", I believe of the differences for the OP would be how rental cars are handled.

Going through the other persons insurance is almost always more annoying / difficult, but as far as rental cars go, your own insurance is only going to provide (or not provide) a rental car up to the limits on your policy, as I understand it. One might have more flexibility on the rental car (cost) going through the at falt parties insurance.

Saying that, for me, I wouldnt want to deal with all the back and forth that dealing with "the other insurance" would likely entail, and I am also firmly in the camp of "this is what you pay your insurance company for, its their job to deal with this, let them do what you pay them to do", for anything that you would involve insurance for at all.

 

[Gauss Guzzler]

Why would the OP's insurance company offer free assistance? They're not a service provider, their only goal is to keep your premiums just below your breaking point. I'd assume they raise your rates anytime you contact them for help with anything, even a forgotten password. They know they can take advantage of any good will they earn with you and their entire business model is to simply exploit that fact as much as possible.

 

[jjrandorin]

Why would the OP's insurance company offer free assistance? They're not a service provider, their only goal is to keep your premiums just below your breaking point. I'd assume they raise your rates anytime you contact them for help with anything, even a forgotten password. They know they can take advantage of any good will they earn with you and their entire business model is to simply exploit that fact as much as possible.

Im not sure if this is a serious post or not (cant tell if its sarcasm or not). If you contact your insurance company, because you are their customer you can file the claim against your insurance company, and they will fulfill their obligation to you to fix your vehicle.

If you are NOT at fault, they will do whats called "subrogation" and go after the at fault persons insurance to get reimbursed the costs they paid fixing your vehicle.

Thats not "free" its what you pay for when you have car insurance.

 

[gigawatt1010]

Why would the OP's insurance company offer free assistance? They're not a service provider, their only goal is to keep your premiums just below your breaking point. I'd assume they raise your rates anytime you contact them for help with anything, even a forgotten password. They know they can take advantage of any good will they earn with you and their entire business model is to simply exploit that fact as much as possible.

that is also my thought. The insurance companies’ goals are to assess risks and it doesn’t matter whether it’s your fault or not, the fact of the matter is, you are now flagged as someone that caused them money, so your risk profile just went up by a notch or two. Granted, they’ll go after the other person’s policy. Regardless, come renewal time, your risk profile is now higher than someone that didn’t incur any damage.

 

[gigawatt1010]

Im not sure if this is a serious post or not (cant tell if its sarcasm or not). If you contact your insurance company, because you are their customer you can file the claim against your insurance company, and they will fulfill their obligation to you to fix your vehicle.

If you are NOT at fault, they will do whats called "subrogation" and go after the at fault persons insurance to get reimbursed the costs they paid fixing your vehicle.

Thats not "free" its what you pay for when you have car insurance.

I had an actual Liberty Mutual agent tell me that when I had my neighbor’s trampoline crash on my Model S during a windy day. Under his advice, to avoid the risk of having my premiums increase come renewal, we dealt directly with my neighbor’s home owners insurance.

 

[Apprunner]

Thats pretty piss poor insurance if they increase your premiums when the other guy is at fault and the other insurance pays. My family has been in a couple accidents in the past 10 years and none were our fault and we used our insurance to fix car and have them go after the other company. We've never had a premium increase and have always gotten our deductible back.

 

[Gauss Guzzler]

My point was that insurance companies base their rates on your "personality profile" which doesn't just include things like citations, neighborhood and gender, but also how much loyalty they expect from you and how much hassle you create for them. If you call to ask about a rental car your value score will decrease in their algorithm because you become a burden while your loyalty score will increase because they did you a favor "for free" so the algorithm will automatically crank up that "frog boiling" heat to milk as much money from you as possible before you jump out.

 

[TLLMRRJ]

Other driver had fangs on his bumper?

Texas plates means there's a 90% chance he was hit by a pickup truck. Probably had loops on the bumper for hooking up heavy duty tough guy stuff, but probably never does any more work with that truck than driving to the mall.

 

[KenC]

I've had Liberty Mutual for 44 years. I've been in a few fender benders, mostly deer running into my car, never been at-fault for a collision. I don't ever remember them raising my premiums.

 

[BeeGood]

that is also my thought. The insurance companies’ goals are to assess risks and it doesn’t matter whether it’s your fault or not, the fact of the matter is, you are now flagged as someone that caused them money, so your risk profile just went up by a notch or two. Granted, they’ll go after the other person’s policy. Regardless, come renewal time, your risk profile is now higher than someone that didn’t incur any damage.

Insurance companies share accident information. Your insurer is going to know that you had an accident whether you tell them or not.

If they raise your rates because someone else hit you, that’s when you walk. Plenty of providers in the country who don’t provide crappy coverage.