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Owning a Tesla is awesome, until you get into an accident...

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Just renewing with State Farm: Over past 12 months increases are:

1. $2000 Deductible Collision = up 9.8%

2. $2000 Deductible Comprehensive = up 5.5%

FWIW.
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mine is up 22%, despite my flawless driving record. this is completely due to increased rates in collision and comprehensive for Tesla vehicles. insurance company confirmed its because of the high accident rate and extremely high cost of repair.
 
Ooops, I jumped over the interim increases at 6 months which were:

Collision = 6.5%

Comp = 2.3%

thus understating the actual increases! Methinks that is the beauty of the 6 month business model.
I'll leave it for others to set this all straight- head beginning to hurt.
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mine is up 22%, despite my flawless driving record. this is completely due to increased rates in collision and comprehensive for Tesla vehicles. insurance company confirmed its because of the high accident rate and extremely high cost of repair.

Again, I have to challenge this statement as we have the same insurance company yet my rate has only gone down over the last 2 years of Tesla ownership. There clearly are other factors at play.
 
I had a small dent in the wheel well that happened in a parking lot, along with a small dent from a shopping cart (all in one occurrence). Long story short, the cost to fix was over $4,000. State Farm paid it, then the next day dropped the coverage on my Tesla. As it was explained to me, the cost of parts from Tesla to the body shop is much higher than in Mercedes, BMW, Jaguar, etc. Reason is that Tesla produces a lot less cars and therefore parts like door panels, fenders and such are extremely high. Being dropped by State Farm turned out to be a blessing, as I switched both my Model S and my wife's SC430 to Liberty Mutual and saved over $1,000 a year.
 
My premium increased $200 with Geico. The rate increase was solely related to increases to the collision and comprehensive portion of the policy. As I stated before, when I asked why (as I have no tickets/accidents), Geico said that their experience with the car showed it cost much more to repair than they had anticipated, and that all Tesla owners in the DC area were seeing rate increases to make up for the increased cost of repairs.
 

- “I mean, you put a quarter panel on a Model S, and that’s going to be an $18,000 job, compared to, what, $5,000 for the average [domestic] vehicle?

That just proves these shops are making a killing with the insane prices. $10k for little dings and scratches. "lucrative investment" BS - it's lucrative because YOU ARE PRICE GOUGING OWNERS.

Really? I'd wait to have a quote on a quarter panel, before thinking the 18k is all price gouging. It makes perfect sense that no aftermarket competes with Tesla, yet. You don't think that could be leaving Tesla in a position to name its price?

Has anyone got a receipt, for a quarter panel and door? Can anyone comment on body fillers and aluminum working together, or if that's a whole new ballgame, too? A body shop that has worked with aluminum, and our own sell-insuring, could be a friend in the future. It's not the compulsory costs that are going up.
 
Really? I'd wait to have a quote on a quarter panel, before thinking the 18k is all price gouging. It makes perfect sense that no aftermarket competes with Tesla, yet. You don't think that could be leaving Tesla in a position to name its price?

Has anyone got a receipt, for a quarter panel and door? Can anyone comment on body fillers and aluminum working together, or if that's a whole new ballgame, too? A body shop that has worked with aluminum, and our own sell-insuring, could be a friend in the future. It's not the compulsory costs that are going up.

Uh yeah there's a number of these incidents and receipts posted on these forums now, including the op and his $30k repair estimate....one owner got quoted $8k for a scratch, literally.
 
Again, I have to challenge this statement as we have the same insurance company yet my rate has only gone down over the last 2 years of Tesla ownership. There clearly are other factors at play.
Not necessarily. Insurance companies calculate risk both locally and nationally. A lot of local high dollar claims are going to be more relevant than a lot of high dollar claims from across the nation. I suspect areas with dense Model S populations will lead the rate hikes of everywhere else. They might just not have the history in your area that he has in his.

I know from trying to switch a few months ago that around here GEICO is the only company still offering decent rates on the Model S, everyone else is sky high (the next cheapest is nearly 35% more expensive). It's only a matter of time until my GEICO rate goes up as well.
 
Do you guys not have new car replacement insurance in the US? As long as the car is less than 4 years old we (at least in BC) can pay a small premium to ensure that if the car is totaled, it is replaced by a brand new car. For a car such as a Tesla, at least in my mind, it is a no brainer.
 
Any news on what Tesla plans to do to offer parts at price comparable to a Mercedes for similar repairs? If this price gouging continues some insurance companies will drop coverage of Teslas, other will charge exorbitant rates, and still more resale values will plummet costing us all in depreciation because no one wants to touch a 3-4+ year old Tesla because any little ding and the car is totaled.
 
Any news on what Tesla plans to do to offer parts at price comparable to a Mercedes for similar repairs? If this price gouging continues some insurance companies will drop coverage of Teslas, other will charge exorbitant rates, and still more resale values will plummet costing us all in depreciation because no one wants to touch a 3-4+ year old Tesla because any little ding and the car is totaled.
There's really not much Tesla can do right now given the volume difference. Mercedes in the US alone sells about 10x as many vehicles as Tesla does worldwide, and worldwide vs worldwide it's more like 50x. Plus given Tesla is very parts constrained, that only increases the parts costs. There's probably not going to be a whole lot of change in the parts cost front until the Model 3 is well under way in sales.
 
There's really not much Tesla can do right now given the volume difference. Mercedes in the US alone sells about 10x as many vehicles as Tesla does worldwide, and worldwide vs worldwide it's more like 50x. Plus given Tesla is very parts constrained, that only increases the parts costs. There's probably not going to be a whole lot of change in the parts cost front until the Model 3 is well under way in sales.

Revoke certified shops "Tesla approved" branding if they continue to gouge customers.
 
My premium increased $200 with Geico. The rate increase was solely related to increases to the collision and comprehensive portion of the policy. As I stated before, when I asked why (as I have no tickets/accidents), Geico said that their experience with the car showed it cost much more to repair than they had anticipated, and that all Tesla owners in the DC area were seeing rate increases to make up for the increased cost of repairs.

I got a quote for the P85D and it was $700 with Geico for 6 months. As a comparison my Bentley Flying Spur Speed was $500 for all things remaining the same! this is crazy...
 
There's really not much Tesla can do right now given the volume difference. Mercedes in the US alone sells about 10x as many vehicles as Tesla does worldwide, and worldwide vs worldwide it's more like 50x. Plus given Tesla is very parts constrained, that only increases the parts costs. There's probably not going to be a whole lot of change in the parts cost front until the Model 3 is well under way in sales.
I'm not sure I buy this argument. There's a ton of parts that go into a Tesla (or any other car), and we don't necessarily know where they are parts constrained. If the stamping machines are running at 90% capacity, then the only additional marginal cost to making more body panels is the aluminum sheet and the operator labor. If they are changing a huge markup for these repair parts, then the customers are getting screwed.

Revoke certified shops "Tesla approved" branding if they continue to gouge customers.
This only works if the repair shops are the ones gouging the customers, and the pre-shop markup parts cost is reasonable.

It's hard to know who's doing the gouging unless we start seeing repair invoices. Once the F-150 brings aluminum down-market, the number of qualified shops should increase.
 
I'm not sure I buy this argument. There's a ton of parts that go into a Tesla (or any other car), and we don't necessarily know where they are parts constrained. If the stamping machines are running at 90% capacity, then the only additional marginal cost to making more body panels is the aluminum sheet and the operator labor. If they are changing a huge markup for these repair parts, then the customers are getting screwed.
You have to account for overhead too, not just marginal. And when you are making parts in small volume, the overhead will be significant. As volume increases, the parts cost you can sell at and still break even will approach the marginal. There are some parts that are more general (like switch-gear) that won't be as affected, but body panels are custom made for this car only.
 
You have to account for overhead too, not just marginal. And when you are making parts in small volume, the overhead will be significant. As volume increases, the parts cost you can sell at and still break even will approach the marginal. There are some parts that are more general (like switch-gear) that won't be as affected, but body panels are custom made for this car only.
I suppose, although I'd argue we're probably just quibbling about accounting issues (I'm thinking more cash flow, you're looking all in/GAAP).

They're stamping 1000 left front fenders a week (or whatever the current production is). The additional cost to make one more to fix a heartbroken owner's baby that just got smacked by a teenage idiot who just got their license just isn't that much.

Certainly we can agree that owners shouldn't be screwed on repairs, either by Tesla on wholesale parts costs, or repair shops on labor/markup. It's not the "Tesla way", and will come back to bite them (bad PR, excessive insurance, etc)
 
Another data point. There is a local owner here in NJ whose MS60 just got whacked by someone who backed into the other day in a parking garage. I have permission from the owner to post his photos and repair quote. This one is actually reasonable given some of the other recent quotes we've seen.

The repair is being done by Peotter's in NJ and yes it's a certified Tesla repair shop.

Replacing:

  • front bumper,
  • left fender,
  • left head lamp assembly due to crack;
  • paint, including blending of the left front driver side door ,
  • labor

The estimate is $6700. This one is actually good. Is it possible Tesla is taking control of the repair estimates now??

Pics:

IMAG6047.jpg


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you know what's kind of funny but not really: Peotter's is using a smashed up Tesla on the landing page of their web site. I don't know if that is supposed to say 'We repair Tesla's here!' or if it's rather 'We repair more Tesla's now than any other car!!' .

Peotters Auto Body, Inc.

peotters.png
 
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Another data point. There is a local owner here in NJ whose MS60 just got whacked by someone who backed into the other day in a parking garage. I have permission from the owner to post his photos and repair quote. This one is actually reasonable given some of the other recent quotes we've seen.

The repair is being done by Peotter's in NJ and yes it's a certified Tesla repair shop.

Replacing:

  • front bumper,
  • left fender,
  • left head lamp assembly due to crack;
  • paint, including blending of the left front driver side door ,
  • labor

The estimate is $6700. This one is actually good. Is it possible Tesla is taking control of the repair estimates now??


you know what's kind of funny but not really: Peotter's is using a smashed up Tesla on the landing page of their web site. I don't know if that is supposed to say 'We repair Tesla's here!' or if it's rather 'We repair more Tesla's now than any other car!!' .

Peotters Auto Body, Inc.
I think more or less that they are just a HONEST shop. As long as repair is done correctly.
 
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