Ouch! MS 90D repair saga begins...

[RogerHScott]

[Trigger warning: if you're squeamish about Tesla gore, you might want to look away]

Well, this happened :

There were "circumstances", but the bottom line was "my fault". I made an "ill-advised" left turn.
The good news: no one, including the (completely blameless) driver that hit me, was hurt. The only "injury" was some airbag rash I got on one arm.
All that auto safety crap that we haul around really works when you need it!
The bad news, in addition to the other driver's really messed-up car (no pictures of that):

I got the estimate (*) from the insurance company today (very prompt). The shop tells me that for Teslas they always end up adding a bunch of stuff to that initial estimate once they start tearing things down, so I won't even bother to say what it was, though it was way below what I was expecting/fearing. Begin the "how much will this mess cost to repair (and how long will it take)?" games! Fwiw, the shop says the parts availability situation has improved considerably in recent months.

I am very glad to hear they can repair it, 'cause I really like this specific car and wouldn't want to have to replace it. I'm sure many of you can relate to how beyond becoming attached to Tesla, in general, you become attached to your particular car. My only worry is how well they are able to determine all of the possible effects of an impact like this throughout the car. Although I suspect they'd just flat-out reject any car that's been in a collision like this, I wonder how the 'C' part of Tesla's CPO program would verify that everything had been fully and properly repaired? I'd kind of like to know that it would pass that level of scrutiny before agreeing that all of the necessary repairs are well and truly "done".


(*) - should I be worried that they got the exterior color wrong on the estimate?

 

[futurem3owner]

There were "circumstances", but the bottom line was "my fault". I made an "ill-advised" left turn.

Ouch! Even with the warning, still winced in pain... I'm glad you weren't seriously injured. This wasn't a case of autopilot gone rogue, right?

 

[Destiny1701]

Personally with that kind of frame damage I'd be more concerned with mechanical damage ongoing after a 3rd party repair.

If the option is available, I'd hope to have it written off and start fresh. If you own it, it will have a massive carfax claim on it for life and result in quite the devaluation.

Also some insurance plans have full replacement guarantee endorsements on them. If you have it, I'd work with the body shop to have that estimate done as high as can possibly be..ie. don't be Conservative

 

[Joe F]

Ouch indeed! Glad to hear there were no injuries.

Sorry man. Hope repairs go fast. I’d feel as if I lost a family member.

 

[RogerHScott]

Rarely has a song fit a day better than this fits this past Wednesday (the topic of this thread was only part of it):

 

[RogerHScott]

This wasn't a case of autopilot gone rogue, right?

Nope, 100% of the blame goes to the human driver. The only other thing I could ask for from the car is a "you see that car coming right at you, right?" warning when starting a turn

 

[RogerHScott]

If the option is available, I'd hope to have it written off and start fresh.

The estimate -- so far -- is nowhere remotely close to "totaled", so I don't think that's in the cards.

... result in quite the devaluation.

If that's only a "perception-based" devaluation, I'm not overly concerned. We've driven pretty much every car we've ever owned into the ground, and I don't anticipate our Tesla experience being much different.'

If the shop reports something much more alarming than the initial estimate, all bets will be off.

 

[davinci2017]

I'd be quite surprised if the costs dont total up to being "not worth it", but since its a 90D and not a 60/75 maybe that extra 20k makes the difference.

I do hope they can stick to a hard estimate and pull it off and you get a shiny car in return, but its a bit 50-50 here IMO.

 

[boaterva]

OMG... glad you’re okay, but I’m on the ‘it may be quicker to order even a custom new car’ side. Keep us informed! Be interesting to see if the new wonderful parts/repair organization is any quicker (like a ‘normal’ car’s repairs...).

 

[RogerHScott]

I’m on the ‘it may be quicker to order even a custom new car’ side

Quicker, quite possibly. But not cheaper, the way things are looking.

 

[sammyfan711]

Sorry you’re going through this brother!

I am quite curious on the initial quote, 10k?

 

[Destiny1701]

The estimate -- so far -- is nowhere remotely close to "totaled", so I don't think that's in the cards.


If that's only a "perception-based" devaluation, I'm not overly concerned. We've driven pretty much every car we've ever owned into the ground, and I don't anticipate our Tesla experience being much different.'

If the shop reports something much more alarming than the initial estimate, all bets will be off.

I was more worried about frame damage which in most cases results in either a 'rebuilt title' or a write off. At second glance, it seems like much more damage internally. Front end suspension, axles, tie rods, brakes, full and half shafts, perhaps the motor itself or motor mounts...plus all the body work. This could easily run up the bill substantially.

Glad no one was hurt!

 

[tpoltron]

The estimate -- so far -- is nowhere remotely close to "totaled", so I don't think that's in the cards.

You probably already know this but I just want to make sure that you know they will total the car if the
Repair Price > undamaged Trade In Value - estimated Damaged Auction Value.
Since most of the car looks intact it should sell well at auction, maybe $20k. Better estimates anyone?

 

[SMAlset]

Sad, sad photos. I winced. I do understand your comment on falling in love with your current car and hoping it can be repaired. We have ventilated seats in our MS that we don't want to be without so that would keep us from wanting to upgrade anytime soon. We also tend to keep our cars for many years. Heck my 2001 Avalon XLS was top of the line when we bought it and pretty much fully loaded and great comfortable car still with good gas mileage for a full size ICE and trunk that would hold several bodies!, it's day has come and gone but two or three years ago it got rear ended and being so old was close to being totalled. Didn't want to see it happen as there wasn't any other car out there I wanted yet. Got it fixed and still driving it until hopefully we have a Model 3 to keep our MS company in the garage.

Best of luck with your baby and glad no one was serious hurt. Nice to know the MS continues to keep it's occupants safe.

 

[K-MTG]

Oh nooo!!!! Looks like a total.

 

[RogerHScott]

State Farm says about $10.8k. We'll see what the shop says after they've done their tear-down.

Should I have titled this thread "Will this buff out?"?

 

[RogerHScott]

Still waiting on the official final estimate, but the shop estimates about $30k. I guess State Farm missed something
The good news is the shop doesn't see anything they can't fix.
Bad news is they're saying 5-6 weeks without "unexpected" part delays. Like there won't be any of those...

 

[RogerHScott]

The fun just never ends. The shop hasn't even presented the official updated estimate to State Farm yet because -- <huge sigh> --
Tesla has recently made available a new parts kit that allows a more "local" repair of local damage to a particular area of the car, which
is a good thing, but such things appear in the online repair estimation database as both a part, with part cost, and a labor estimate; the
shop then uses this labor estimate, times their labor rate, to estimate the total cost of using that part; Tesla has not filled in the labor
estimate for this new kit, so the shop can't..., so the whole multi-week(/month?) repair clock hasn't even started running yet

Does anyone know how much their local Tesla-certified shop charge (hourly) for labor? I'm curious as to how this shop compares. They
tell me that State Farm gives them endless grief over their rates, but they say they've gotta charge those rates to cover the cost of being a Tesla-certified shop, particularly one not near Fremont.

 

[David.85D]

ServiceKing in Maryland charged $48/hr for regular labor. I believe welding Al and paint work is at a higher rate.

 

[RogerHScott]

ServiceKing in Maryland charged $48/hr for regular labor. I believe welding Al and paint work is at a higher rate.

Wow, I only semi-facetiously have to wonder whether it would have been cheaper to ship my car to Maryland than do the work locally at $150/hr.