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Need advice on Rear End Damage
- Thread starter TM3CA
- Start date
My advice is to check that the trunk seals correctly before driving off.
My 3 was rear ended and repaired at a highly rated San Diego Tesla approved body shop (where I frequently saw Tesla employees drop off vehicles from the nearby Tesla Service Center). I found the bottom compartment soaked with water, made a trip back the following day where they dried and replaced the liner. One week later, it rained and I found the bottom compartment soaked with water again. After drying it myself, I took a video with my phone inside the trunk, and poured a bucket of water on the roof, and clearly showed water pouring in from the trunk lid. Finally after showing that video, on the 3rd visit, did they adjust the trunk and corrected the problem. Crazy they did not perform that simple test after the initial repair or the repeat visit, and only found the problem after I shot the video before the 3rd visit...
My 3 was rear ended and repaired at a highly rated San Diego Tesla approved body shop (where I frequently saw Tesla employees drop off vehicles from the nearby Tesla Service Center). I found the bottom compartment soaked with water, made a trip back the following day where they dried and replaced the liner. One week later, it rained and I found the bottom compartment soaked with water again. After drying it myself, I took a video with my phone inside the trunk, and poured a bucket of water on the roof, and clearly showed water pouring in from the trunk lid. Finally after showing that video, on the 3rd visit, did they adjust the trunk and corrected the problem. Crazy they did not perform that simple test after the initial repair or the repeat visit, and only found the problem after I shot the video before the 3rd visit...
Great news! That’s progress. We’re still waiting for parts on my wife’s Buick (the deer incident was 10/21.). They estimate about 3 weeks of repair time once the parts do finally come in, so even if we got them today, we won’t see it again until the new year. Problem is, my rental coverage runs out at the end of the week - and unfortunately, the deer was uninsured.
good news is our body shop has been super proactive, gives me an update every few days, and they’re also Tesla certified. Once the Buick’s done, I’m going to have them do a small paint touch up where I sweated the front under bumper, and see if they can realign the trunk lid for me. It’s off by a very small hair - isn’t worth bringing in for by itself, but if it’s in for the bumper anyway ...
So best of luck - did your repair estimate include any frame straightening or anything like that? That’s the thing that concerns me most about our situation ... if we need to mess with the frame, I’m trading the car in.
Garlan Garner
Banned
Why didn't you make the claim against the other persons insurance?
You would have gotten unlimited car rental time.
yeah- i don't get that. we let people without insurance or with insufficient insurance WAY too easily off the hook. by claiming it against your insurance you also will see a nice premium hike...
That is NOT necessarily the case. Many factors go into premiums - there’s no “automatic increase” because you filed a claim. Especially when it’s this clear cut - they will subrogate the other party.
@dmurphy: My written estimate has no mention of frame straightening....yet. So far parts only. I’m sure things will change as the car goes “under the knife”. I hope and pray there’s no straightening required!
Regarding insurance issues: The person at fault had the minimum insurance coverage required by law in California. $5000 collision property damage. (Plus bodily injury liability of course) That’s it. This will maybe buy me a new bumper. So definitely insufficient to repair almost any car. Which totally sucks. Therefore, I’m forced to file claim against my own policy (AAA) I’m only covered for 30 days rental at $30/day. So my insurance will pay the body shop and in turn send the bill to the other insurance company and hope they’ll pay. Otherwise AAA said they’d eat the cost. So definitely no unlimited rental car.
As for affecting my premium, since the other person accepted full responsibility for the collision, my premium will not increase.
So yeah, super unfortunate that the other person had such lousy insurance coverage. But he is in compliance with California law.
Regarding insurance issues: The person at fault had the minimum insurance coverage required by law in California. $5000 collision property damage. (Plus bodily injury liability of course) That’s it. This will maybe buy me a new bumper. So definitely insufficient to repair almost any car. Which totally sucks. Therefore, I’m forced to file claim against my own policy (AAA) I’m only covered for 30 days rental at $30/day. So my insurance will pay the body shop and in turn send the bill to the other insurance company and hope they’ll pay. Otherwise AAA said they’d eat the cost. So definitely no unlimited rental car.
As for affecting my premium, since the other person accepted full responsibility for the collision, my premium will not increase.
So yeah, super unfortunate that the other person had such lousy insurance coverage. But he is in compliance with California law.
As sad as this all sounds that's pretty much the ugly truth of insurance.
If you own a nice car, you buy insurance to protect yourself from every scenario. Including the one where someone who is under insured but within legal limits hits you and you having to go through the trouble.
I was just rear-ended as well and only had the car for 2 months. The other party's insurance is very slow in communication and still trying to determine fault. I scratched my head because I was rear-ended...and I was completely stopped. So I sent in the Tesla dash video and awaiting to hear back.
I've seen people on the forum suggest filing a diminish value claim. I would like to file one but I have no experience in this and being that your own insurance is handling the claim I am not sure if you can file it. Hoping others in the forum can shed some light on this.
If you own a nice car, you buy insurance to protect yourself from every scenario. Including the one where someone who is under insured but within legal limits hits you and you having to go through the trouble.
I was just rear-ended as well and only had the car for 2 months. The other party's insurance is very slow in communication and still trying to determine fault. I scratched my head because I was rear-ended...and I was completely stopped. So I sent in the Tesla dash video and awaiting to hear back.
I've seen people on the forum suggest filing a diminish value claim. I would like to file one but I have no experience in this and being that your own insurance is handling the claim I am not sure if you can file it. Hoping others in the forum can shed some light on this.
I’m hoping for you as well. Our estimate had parts and labor on it, but I’m sure there’ll be a supplemental as we progress. Sounds like you’re in a similar situation, but you’re likely to have your vehicle before I have mine — Buick (GM) is *so* backlogged due to their strike, they just can’t catch up. And meanwhile, Tesla seems to be hitting their parts stride; I’m hearing multiple reports of part lead times of only a few days!
best of luck — I’m really hoping you get your Model 3 buttoned up and back as new quickly.
MichaelP90DL
Active Member
It's great to hear that parts delivery is big-time improving. That's one thing that I was concerned about when buying my car. But I gambled on not crashing it until Tesla improved in that respect.
... this is the thing about Tesla. They want to do right. They want to be the best experience ever. Sometimes they just need time to figure themselves out.
The product is so good, I’m willing to cut them way more slack than, oh, say, Buick right now.
I had the same situation, $5k coverage and on top of that he denied the accident...thank goodness for TeslaCam which caught it all. Keep your rental car receipts and you can bill the other person's insurance for expenses not paid by your insurance and then the other company will prorate the payment between you and your insurance company. I got an extra couple hundred bucks for my excess car rental costs and self installed ceramic coating.
Quick update: My Model 3 is finally going in for repairs.....
Date of accident: 10/28/2019
Parts ordered: 11/14/2019
All parts received: 11/25/2019
Car dropped off: 1/6/2020
Wish me luck!!
Date of accident: 10/28/2019
Parts ordered: 11/14/2019
All parts received: 11/25/2019
Car dropped off: 1/6/2020
Wish me luck!!
MichaelP90DL
Active Member
Good luck - hope it’s fixed quickly! Was the delay between parts arrival and drop off at your request, or the body shop’s? I know the initial appointment was set for 1/6; but was that because you’re at the Tesla owned shop, or did you request something specific? Just curious - and curious if they would’ve squeezed it in earlier if you were not driveable.
(and for those who still think Tesla is slow with parts .... for our Buick
Deer hit: 10/21/19
Parts ordered: 10/24/19
Parts received: 12/23/19
Repairs begin: 1/2/19
Vehicle complete: TBD. Hopefully in January.
The 2 weeks between the collision and parts order was due to getting the estimate done and approved, selecting a shop and the shop’s workload.
By the way, I chose a “Tesla approved” shop, not Tesla owned because the Tesla shop said they couldn’t even provide an estimate until Jan 6 which was then over 2 months away.
The delay in bringing my car to the shop was due to the shop not being able to begin repairs due to their workload. Even though my parts arrived complete, the shop said they couldn’t even start the repairs so they said to just keep my car in my garage until they had a start date which is now 1/6. I thought about pulling all the parts and having them sent to a shop with more capacity but it seems all Tesla approved shops in southern CA are extremely busy. And apparently, Tesla won’t allow customers to move parts from shop to shop. All parts must be returned and reordered.
@dmurphy: Feel your pain with the repair time with your deer hit....but for a Buick? 2 months to get parts?? Surprising!!
By the way, I chose a “Tesla approved” shop, not Tesla owned because the Tesla shop said they couldn’t even provide an estimate until Jan 6 which was then over 2 months away.
The delay in bringing my car to the shop was due to the shop not being able to begin repairs due to their workload. Even though my parts arrived complete, the shop said they couldn’t even start the repairs so they said to just keep my car in my garage until they had a start date which is now 1/6. I thought about pulling all the parts and having them sent to a shop with more capacity but it seems all Tesla approved shops in southern CA are extremely busy. And apparently, Tesla won’t allow customers to move parts from shop to shop. All parts must be returned and reordered.
@dmurphy: Feel your pain with the repair time with your deer hit....but for a Buick? 2 months to get parts?? Surprising!!
Well, between the GM factory strikes and the relative scarcity of parts for the late model Enclave, they’re a bit hard to come by. One thing I learned ... Tesla isn’t the only manufacturer building bodies from both steel and aluminum. Didn’t know part of our Enclave was aluminum! Not just any body shop can repair that, either ... so at least I chose wisely with a Tesla-certified shop.
I spoke to the shop manager on 1/18 since I didn’t receive any text updates on my repair. Tells me the car should be ready for pickup this coming week!! What a surprise. Told me they will submit a supplement to my insurance for an additional $3000 bringing the total to about $19K.
Anxiously awaiting a phone call within the next couple of days. Praying everything is repaired to my liking.
Anxiously awaiting a phone call within the next couple of days. Praying everything is repaired to my liking.
wdskuk
Member
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