It may be too late, and you may not want to tow the car to another facility if it's not drivable, but get another estimate from another certified body shop. I don't know about Long Island but there are two in Westchester (Mt Kisco and Mt Vernon). It's not unheard of for a body shop to inflate the repair charges.
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Mike_Schlechter
Model S - P457
If you haven't already, reach out to Omar in LI or Alan in CT and talk to them. Both are fantastically helpful and I'm sure can push for the valuation as well as potentially talking to the body shop / recommending another one.
Good luck and glad you were uninjured!!
Good luck and glad you were uninjured!!
I would flip this around and look at the "glass half full" side of this. If you haven't done it yet, immediately request a list of "inventory cars" from Tesla. I recently purchased an S85 MC red, tech, obeche wood, matching yacht floor, Nappa leather, parking sensors, 6856 miles for $71,800. This car does not have the new Autopilot sensors, but has everything else. Does New York have a state incentive? In CA, my price drops 10k including federal and state incentives bringing the price to under $62k (plus sales tax on $72k) for a car with full warranty (4 years, to 56,856 on the odometer).
You can look at it as having paid $34,000 to have owned your car for one year, or you can look at it as an opportunity to reset your warranty period to day one, and get a newer more updated car with far fewer miles than you had driven. Granted, you won't get an autopilot demo with the 2% per month in service discount offered on non-autopilot cars (you'll get 1% per month in service, $1 per mile driven), but I would personally be thrilled to be able to update to the latest features and new full warranty and resetting the odometer to a lower number for a few thousand dollars.
I could be wrong, but I'd also have a very hard time imagining that Tesla would not transfer your service agreement to another car you purchase from them.
You can look at it as having paid $34,000 to have owned your car for one year, or you can look at it as an opportunity to reset your warranty period to day one, and get a newer more updated car with far fewer miles than you had driven. Granted, you won't get an autopilot demo with the 2% per month in service discount offered on non-autopilot cars (you'll get 1% per month in service, $1 per mile driven), but I would personally be thrilled to be able to update to the latest features and new full warranty and resetting the odometer to a lower number for a few thousand dollars.
I could be wrong, but I'd also have a very hard time imagining that Tesla would not transfer your service agreement to another car you purchase from them.
Please forgive my ignorance on this one as I've never gone through the exprerience of replacing a "totaled" car, but are you certain $70,000 is the total amount they'll be giving you and that sales tax won't be added to that? If they're valuing the replacement price of your car at $70k before tax, your cost is higher than that by the amount of the sales tax and it would seem logical that the sales tax would be included. I work in a different industry, but I've found that the difference between getting the sales tax included in the payment and not getting the sales tax included is simply a matter of knowing to ask for it.
Moreover, the MS is a completely different animal altogether. The $1 per mile ^might^ be somewhat effective in determining the cost for a ICE powered car (its still very high) due to the wear part and unknown status thereof. That said the MS has very little unknown provided the battery has warranty or a clean bill of heath youre talking about a car that breaks all of the rules in determining used value. People are simply applying market elements to a car that doesnt fit them...sorry to hear about your loss!
Brass Guy
Active Member
Sounds pretty good - take the (insurance) money and run. The insurance company will come up with a lesser payout where you keep the car. Repair it and the insurance company will look at it to re-insure it.
From other threads I've read I'm getting the impression that Tesla shuts down cars declared "total loss." Just contact Tesla before going this route and be sure of how they will treat the situation - probably an inspection followed by re-enabling the car.
If you really want to keep the car. I would get a second estimate at any high end aluminum shop. It is laughable that the minimal damage would salvage that car. you can throw a wheel and tire on for $250 for now and drive it for a few estimates. The hard part is its the quarter panel which needs to be welded.
A salvage shop would fix this car for like 3-5k max!
Ameriprise might pay you a check for the repair at $30k.
Then you drove the car almost free for a year.
there are lots of options open to you.
A salvage shop would fix this car for like 3-5k max!
Ameriprise might pay you a check for the repair at $30k.
Then you drove the car almost free for a year.
there are lots of options open to you.
breser
AutoPilot Nostradamus
stevej119;838674[COLOR=#333333 said:
Other similarly situated people were not able to do so. The contract explicitly says it cannot be transferred to another vehicle.
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The wheel/tire estimate is a little low. A tire is probably about $250 (Primacy tires are currently $263 a piece on tire rack, but you certainly could put something cheaper on). If the wheel is still drivable that would be fine. But if the wheel is damaged such that you shouldn't drive on it you'll need a $300 wheel (Tesla's new price, might be able to find one cheaper that's used).
I believe that they have given a prorated refund to at least one person in the past when their car got totaled.
Here is the thread:
Resolved: Prepaid Service Plan Initially Not Transferable (now prorated)
I was wrong and you are right! They are saying they will refund me for tax as well. This does change the numbers a bit and I am considering an inventory car now especially if I can transfer my ranger service. Obviously I am going to go for replacement value insurance or maybe even one of those "one model year newer" options if I get another S.
breser
AutoPilot Nostradamus
When you factor in the tax credit, you probably are faring better with the Tesla than you would have with any other car. Granted, an ICE luxury brand may not have been "totaled," but you get to upgrade to the new features! I'm very happy for you that this seems to be turning out well.
Oddly, it is not limited to Tesla. Any premium vehicle will most likely be totaled. It is because the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. It is more profitable to sell the components of the car: Battery, finders, rims, etc. I had a similar incident with my Audi A8. It was totaled for minor front end damage. Fortunately, it did have a KBB, so the fair market value could be determined.
Since it's appears minor body damage, there are many body shops who are certified to repair Aluminum bodies. Audi A8s are also Aluminum. I would search for other repair resources. Also, you could counter with the insurance company's offer -- Use the resale value of the demo, less the repair cost. (do the math first). Just a couple of alternatives that came to mind. Hope it works out.
Since it's appears minor body damage, there are many body shops who are certified to repair Aluminum bodies. Audi A8s are also Aluminum. I would search for other repair resources. Also, you could counter with the insurance company's offer -- Use the resale value of the demo, less the repair cost. (do the math first). Just a couple of alternatives that came to mind. Hope it works out.
Todd Burch
14-Year Member
I also witnessed first-hand how seemingly relatively minor damage can end up totalling this car, and lost about $12K in depreciation as a result. Would be nice if Tesla tried to get this under control.
stopcrazypp
Well-Known Member
Well, the Tesla is an aluminum vehicle (which shrinks the number of shops that can work on it) and currently it's still a relatively low volume make (which shrinks it down further).
As for Tesla selling parts to non-certified shops, they don't have enough volume for that to make sense yet. It probably costs them a lot less to deal with things on a case-by-case basis (as there isn't that many totaled Tesla's out there and they have done so in the past: http://www.teslamotors.com/it_IT/forum/forums/no-tesla-certified-body-shop-hawaii) than to deal with any issues with independent shops buying parts from them and improperly installing them.
As for Tesla selling parts to non-certified shops, they don't have enough volume for that to make sense yet. It probably costs them a lot less to deal with things on a case-by-case basis (as there isn't that many totaled Tesla's out there and they have done so in the past: http://www.teslamotors.com/it_IT/forum/forums/no-tesla-certified-body-shop-hawaii) than to deal with any issues with independent shops buying parts from them and improperly installing them.
