Need advice on Rear End Damage

[TM3CA]

OK, so this happened yesterday. Got rear-ended by a young kid in an old Pontiac. He had insurance but minimal coverage. His insured advised me to file a claim on my insurance as his will not be enough to cover the repair/rental car. I have AAA and filed a claim immediately and am waiting for the adjuster's direction.

Anyone have experience with this?

- Would like to have repair done by a Tesla shop. Not an 'authorized' one. But open for advice on this one.
- Rental car: anyone successful on being provided a "comparable" vehicle?
- How long did the repair take? I heard it's getting better
- Prefer advice from So Cal owners....but not mandatory
- Will lose the purple HOV stickers. How to replace?

Oh yeah, dash cam was on but I guess I needed to press SAVE because files were overwritten on the way to my insurance company.

Needless to say, it's a sad day in my household. It really hurts!! Didn't even reach it's 1-year birthday!!
Had to dust off the ICE vehicle and put gas in the tank. (WHAT?)

Looking forward to your responses. Thanks in advance!!

BTW the trunk seems to close normally but one of the photos shows inside the well of the trunk with it's interior pushed in. Another photo attached was taken by aiming my camera inside a gaping hole under the bumper cover. Damaged metal showing from trunk well
.

 

[MichaelP90DL]

Oh man, that's rough. Good luck with it....

 

[Puddles]

Condolences! That is a sad story. Hoping for a good outcome.

 

[St☰v☰]

So sorry to see that, I hope you're OK.

That's a lot of damage, I'd be surprised if they don't total it. Is/was it an SR+?

 

[VT_EE]

OK, so this happened yesterday. Got rear-ended by a young kid in an old Pontiac. He had insurance but minimal coverage. His insured advised me to file a claim on my insurance as his will not be enough to cover the repair/rental car. I have AAA and filed a claim immediately and am waiting for the adjuster's direction.

Anyone have experience with this?

- Would like to have repair done by a Tesla shop. Not an 'authorized' one. But open for advice on this one.
- Rental car: anyone successful on being provided a "comparable" vehicle?
- How long did the repair take? I heard it's getting better
- Prefer advice from So Cal owners....but not mandatory
- Will lose the purple HOV stickers. How to replace?

Oh yeah, dash cam was on but I guess I needed to press SAVE because files were overwritten on the way to my insurance company.

Needless to say, it's a sad day in my household. It really hurts!! Didn't even reach it's 1-year birthday!!
Had to dust off the ICE vehicle and put gas in the tank. (WHAT?)

Looking forward to your responses. Thanks in advance!!

BTW the trunk seems to close normally but one of the photos shows inside the well of the trunk with it's interior pushed in. Another photo attached was taken by aiming my camera inside a gaping hole under the bumper cover. Damaged metal showing from trunk well
.View attachment 471172View attachment 471173View attachment 471176View attachment 471180View attachment 471181
View attachment 471178View attachment 471179

Good news is it appears there is no quarter panel damage so this is an easy fix compared to my rear-ended this summer. Since your insurance is covering the rental, I wouldn’t worry about trying get a comparable car.

 

[rdeca]

You can still recover the lost videos if you have a large enough drive since they would not be overwritten yet. I suggest taking the USB drive out of the car and use a data recovery tool on your PC to get the lost videos.

 

[rickdogg82]

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/wcm/c...d0-74ce63a147d6/reg1000.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CVID=

 

[SD_Engnr]

Totaled.














Ok, not really, but I had to say it. Looks rough what with the steel under the bumper cover being that deformed.

Good luck and please do keep us updated!

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

He had insurance but minimal coverage

That sucks. Crazy that you can get away with $5k coverage.

Had to dust off the ICE vehicle and put gas in the tank.

Isn't it driveable? I would just drive it, if the car permits it. If necessary you can remove the rear bumper cover and diffuser quite easily (to make sure they don't fall off when driving, which would be a hazard for sure).

That way you can presumably wait until parts are ordered and on the way and a contract is signed with your shop, before having to get a rental car. Might minimize the time without the car.

It looks like about $15-20k worth of damage to me. I guess it could end up a bit less if the trunk lid does not need to be touched (it looks undamaged?).

 

[jkoya]

I had to get replacement HOV stickers in May and it took about 6 weeks. The first set of the purple HOV stickers took 10 weeks to get, so it was a bit quicker the second time around ....

 

[Tessaract]

OK, so this happened yesterday. Got rear-ended by a young kid in an old Pontiac. He had insurance but minimal coverage. His insured advised me to file a claim on my insurance as his will not be enough to cover the repair/rental car. I have AAA and filed a claim immediately and am waiting for the adjuster's direction.

Anyone have experience with this?

- Would like to have repair done by a Tesla shop. Not an 'authorized' one. But open for advice on this one.
- Rental car: anyone successful on being provided a "comparable" vehicle?
- How long did the repair take? I heard it's getting better
- Prefer advice from So Cal owners....but not mandatory
- Will lose the purple HOV stickers. How to replace?

Oh yeah, dash cam was on but I guess I needed to press SAVE because files were overwritten on the way to my insurance company.

Needless to say, it's a sad day in my household. It really hurts!! Didn't even reach it's 1-year birthday!!
Had to dust off the ICE vehicle and put gas in the tank. (WHAT?)

Looking forward to your responses. Thanks in advance!!

BTW the trunk seems to close normally but one of the photos shows inside the well of the trunk with it's interior pushed in. Another photo attached was taken by aiming my camera inside a gaping hole under the bumper cover. Damaged metal showing from trunk well
.View attachment 471172View attachment 471173View attachment 471176View attachment 471180View attachment 471181
View attachment 471178View attachment 471179

I feel your pain.

It parallels mine, where an uninsured driver with an invalid drivers license rear-ended my M3LR this summer during a vacation trip 1000 miles from home. My damage was more extensive, repairs cost 17k USD (that's US Dollars), and took almost 3 months to complete. Car was repaired in Minneapolis, by an authorized Tesla repair facility, so your's might be a little faster in SoCal where I presume parts are more quickly obtainable.

My insurance policy limited reimbursement for a rental car to a total of 1500 CAD (that's Canadian Dollars). So I could rent a Lambo for a week, or a noral car for much longer. No way will you get a Tesla rental for 3 months, in my opinion. I know: it sucks.

The damage is not costly enough for a write off. Not by a long shot.

 

[Trevor B]

Needless to say, it's a sad day in my household. It really hurts!! Didn't even reach it's 1-year birthday!!

Really? It's just a car ... be glad you're ok!

 

[TM3CA]

Thanks for the replies.

First off, I failed to mention, no injuries were sustained in the collision. Best news of all.

This is a LR/RWD.

Car is drivable but all kinds of warnings pop up on the screen due to sensors being damaged or gone. Rather not drive it due to the bumper and diffuser being about 3" from the ground. Too difficult to remove also.

Was unsuccessful retrieving any video footage from the dash cam. I guess I should've learned how to use it!

Trunk lid I think is not damaged. Kind of surprised that the latch still mates up with the trunk latch. What is concerning is all the metal damage behind the bumper. I hope and pray there is no frame damage. Both rear quarter panels/rear doors seem normal.

I guess I'm reaching out to the forum to find out if any reputable "Tesla Certified" body shops are out there and can they be recommended. Feel better having Tesla do the repair though.

Will try to contact my insurance in the AM to see what happens next.....will keep you posted.

 

[Rottenapplr]

OK, so this happened yesterday. Got rear-ended by a young kid in an old Pontiac. He had insurance but minimal coverage. His insured advised me to file a claim on my insurance as his will not be enough to cover the repair/rental car. I have AAA and filed a claim immediately and am waiting for the adjuster's direction.

Anyone have experience with this?

- Would like to have repair done by a Tesla shop. Not an 'authorized' one. But open for advice on this one.
- Rental car: anyone successful on being provided a "comparable" vehicle?
- How long did the repair take? I heard it's getting better
- Prefer advice from So Cal owners....but not mandatory
- Will lose the purple HOV stickers. How to replace?

Oh yeah, dash cam was on but I guess I needed to press SAVE because files were overwritten on the way to my insurance company.

Needless to say, it's a sad day in my household. It really hurts!! Didn't even reach it's 1-year birthday!!
Had to dust off the ICE vehicle and put gas in the tank. (WHAT?)

Looking forward to your responses. Thanks in advance!!

BTW the trunk seems to close normally but one of the photos shows inside the well of the trunk with it's interior pushed in. Another photo attached was taken by aiming my camera inside a gaping hole under the bumper cover. Damaged metal showing from trunk well
.View attachment 471172View attachment 471173View attachment 471176View attachment 471180View attachment 471181
View attachment 471178View attachment 471179

On the forum to receive HOV stickers there’s an option to obtain replacement stickers. You still pay a small amount but you can get it replaced.

 

[KenC]

Sorry. You may have videos saved in another folder, automagically.

 

[Big Dog]

if it was my car, I'd take it to the Tesla Pomona body shop and give them the card key and tell 'em to call me when its done. (I have no experience with them, but like you, I'd prefer a Tesla-managed operation.)

Body Shop Support

 

[SMAlset]

....Was unsuccessful retrieving any video footage from the dash cam. I guess I should've learned how to use it!....

How large of a flashdrive do you have? What @rdeca was referring to involved using a recovery program. If the drive is large enough even though the 1 hour buffer will get written over, it's possible that the flashdrive's writing might have skipped that section and started writing to another area and the files could still be there on the flashdrive. What OS are you using? Someone here probably can recommend an appropriate program for you to try it with. I know others here have reporting recovering some crash video this way. Just want to make sure you give it every chance in case you need the footage.

 

[TM3CA]

Using

Lexar JumpDrive S57 128GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive

Mac iOS

Would be nice to see the video if it still exists. Not mandatory though as the other insurance already admitted fault.
What is a good file recovery program to try?

@Big Dog: I just discovered the Tesla Pomona facility and read reviews on Yelp. Didn't even know it was there. Sounds promising but I have to wait for my insurance first.

 

[Big Dog]

^Under CA law, an insurer cannot require you to go to a certain repair facility....

 

[TM3CA]

Today’s update:

Contacted Tesla Body Shop in Walnut, CA. (Owned and operated by Tesla) Next available appointment....get this, January 6, 2020!! They said I could try another shop that is Tesla certified to see what their workload is like. Excellent reviews on Yelp. They’ve been repairing a lot of Teslas so they are very experienced. Going to bring the car there tomorrow for an evaluation and their appointment date.

Since the claim will be with my insurance company, I”m limited to $35/day for the rental car. 30 day max. Pretty much screwed here. Looks like I’ll be driving the old ICE car for a while.

It just gets better and better every day.......