P3D Mildly Rear-Ended - how long to remove rear bumper fascia

[Camera-Cruiser]

Our P3D got mildly rear ended last week. The bumper was scuffed etc., but no visible body damage. What I am worried about is that the rear energy absorber was probably damaged. Any idea how long it takes to remove the rear fascia and check it out?

From watching the video (Thank you TeslaCam), it looks like a 2" or so bumper deflection. The only visible damage to the SAAB that hit our P3D is that they lost their front license plate. You can see a horizontal piece of chrome in the first image - that is their plastic chrome trim popping off from their front plate.

Ugh. Happy no one was hurt, that other driver has insurance, but this is a huge time waster.

 

[TonyT]

I think you will discover it's fine. If it is built anything like the S my bumper sustained some minor cosmetic damage. All the supports and absorbers were solid. I felt a pretty solid hit and thought it would be bad.

 

[Rockster]

Why are you wanting to take care of this yourself if you were rear ended?

I had virtually the same damage to my Model S and the final repair was about $1250 or so. It involved replacing and repainting the bumper cover and blending the paint onto the wheel wells. We managed to convince the other guy's insurance company that it was cheaper to pay the body shop to remove the bumper, write their initial estimate, reinstall the damaged bumper, let us drive the car for the six weeks that the parts would be on order, then pay the body shop to remove the bumper again and perform the repairs. The balked at first but when we finally reached someone with the authority and the brain cells to think for a moment they realized it was cheaper to go that way than to pay for a rental for six additional weeks.

The diminished value claim resulting from this damage on our relatively new S was about $6k, but we had to go all the way to small claims court to get Progressive to cough it up.

 

[Camera-Cruiser]

Why are you wanting to take care of this yourself if you were rear ended?

I had virtually the same damage to my Model S and the final repair was about $1250 or so. It involved replacing and repainting the bumper cover and blending the paint onto the wheel wells. We managed to convince the other guy's insurance company that it was cheaper to pay the body shop to remove the bumper, write their initial estimate, reinstall the damaged bumper, let us drive the car for the six weeks that the parts would be on order, then pay the body shop to remove the bumper again and perform the repairs. The balked at first but when we finally reached someone with the authority and the brain cells to think for a moment they realized it was cheaper to go that way than to pay for a rental for six additional weeks.

The diminished value claim resulting from this damage on our relatively new S was about $6k, but we had to go all the way to small claims court to get Progressive to cough it up.

No, I am not planning on taking the rear fascia off myself. I was more curious if I was going to be down a day or two while they removed it, examined it, and then put if back on so I could drive it until the parts came in, vs maybe a few hour wait. In essence hate being without the car because of Orange County to Los Angeles and back type commuting. I think I need another Tesla as a backup to this one.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

No, I am not planning on taking the rear fascia off myself. I was more curious if I was going to be down a day or two while they removed it, examined it, and then put if back on so I could drive it until the parts came in, vs maybe a few hour wait. In essence hate being without the car because of Orange County to Los Angeles and back type commuting. I think I need another Tesla as a backup to this one.

If you look at the videos for hitch installs you can get an idea. It takes probably 30 minutes, max, to remove the cover with appropriate tools (sockets, and appropriate torx bit for wheel wells). Similar to put it back on (maybe a little longer since it can be annoying).

The crash bar can simply be unbolted and replaced once the cover is off, if it sustained any damage. These crash bars are apparently very strong these days, though, so if it sustained damage, they have a bit too strong a tendency to transmit "crush" to other pieces of the car. (So claims my brother who works as a claims adjuster.) So an expert would have to check that.

Probably not the case for you that there is more damage, but you never know.

Hopefully it's just a bumper cover replacement - and you'll have to decide whether to get a pre-painted one, or have your existing cover repainted/repaired (if it is possible) - it is up to you. A good shop can repaint very well and it would be cheaper than a brand new cover from Tesla (around $1200 I think). But just a choice that has to be made.

Your rear diffuser will also have to be replaced, but that's no big deal. Comes off with the bumper cover and is then separated from it.

 

[Camera-Cruiser]

If you look at the videos for hitch installs you can get an idea. It takes probably 30 minutes, max, to remove the cover with appropriate tools (sockets, and appropriate torx bit for wheel wells). Similar to put it back on (maybe a little longer since it can be annoying).

The crash bar can simply be unbolted and replaced once the cover is off, if it sustained any damage. These crash bars are apparently very strong these days, though, so if it sustained damage, they have a bit too strong a tendency to transmit "crush" to other pieces of the car. (So claims my brother who works as a claims adjuster.) So an expert would have to check that.

Probably not the case for you that there is more damage, but you never know.

Hopefully it's just a bumper cover replacement - and you'll have to decide whether to get a pre-painted one, or have your existing cover repainted/repaired (if it is possible) - it is up to you. A good shop can repaint very well and it would be cheaper than a brand new cover from Tesla (around $1200 I think). But just a choice that has to be made.

Your rear diffuser will also have to be replaced, but that's no big deal. Comes off with the bumper cover and is then separated from it.

Thank you. It was just a bit more than a "love tap" according to my wife. I doubt that there would be any scuffing If the other driver did not have her front plate on. If this would have happened to my Land Cruiser I wouldn't give it another thought. After I buffed it out myself, you can barely see the scuffs. This is in the 1,000 grit sandpaper fix it realm. Sure, I want perfect, and if the rear energy absorber is damaged, then I want it fixed. But this is looking more like a time suck than anything else, not to mention if the whole rear fascia is replaced, then I need to get new purple stickers.

This will be the second rear bumper tap in less than 6 months. The first was a hit and run while parked that was caught on TeslaCam. Suspect caught because the the side camera caught the plate. So the rear bumper was resprayed, thus losing the purple stickers. In that case I just used the two stickers that I never applied to the front and rear driver side. So now I will have to make a written request for replacement.

Regardless of the time suck. Both incidents were minor compared to some of carnage reported here.

TeslaCam, while maybe being an energy suck, is awesome.

 

[Magnets!]

$365 to remove/replace rear bumper for Tesla certified shop in SoCal. High labor rates.

 

[mswlogo]

I wouldn't take it off. It looks like 95% might buff out. I'd try that and see how you like it.

If not do ^^^^^^ above post.

This stuff with an Orbital is freaken awesome.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HUB1MI6

It is NOT worth putting in a claim for.

 

[TonyT]

It should not take long to remove. We just removed and replace one to add parking sensors in about 1 hour. I got way more than a love tap, but it was not any major damage. Repair bill was about 1 hour to replace since I didn't want the repair and pushed for the replacement which was faster since the prepped a new bumper and swapped it out in 1 day.

 

[Camera-Cruiser]

Thanks to all. I’m mulling it over. It is so minor, and if I knew that here was nothing wrong underneath, I’d probably live with it. My OCD wants to check behind the fascia. Ugh.

A door ding would be worse, and my rear passenger side wheel road rash would catch someone’s eye sooner.

After 13 months of ownership, I think it’s time to let it be “just a car” and lower my blood pressure a bit.

 

[03DSG]

Thanks to all. I’m mulling it over. It is so minor, and if I knew that here was nothing wrong underneath, I’d probably live with it. My OCD wants to check behind the fascia. Ugh.

A door ding would be worse, and my rear passenger side wheel road rash would catch someone’s eye sooner.

After 13 months of ownership, I think it’s time to let it be “just a car” and lower my blood pressure a bit.

I think your OK. I was rear ended in June ‘18 when my 3 was 9 days old. A good wack only on the bumper cover. Similar damage. A few chunks out of the bumper cover, a licence plate imprint and one damaged sensor and sensor mount. Damage to the other car was a bent licence plate. Zero damage to the underlying metal bumper. Just over $1000 for bumper cover removal, repair, repaint, new sensor/mount and reinstall. 3 days in the Tesla certified body shop.

 

[BoringMod]

How hard was it to win the diminished value claim?

Why are you wanting to take care of this yourself if you were rear ended?

I had virtually the same damage to my Model S and the final repair was about $1250 or so. It involved replacing and repainting the bumper cover and blending the paint onto the wheel wells. We managed to convince the other guy's insurance company that it was cheaper to pay the body shop to remove the bumper, write their initial estimate, reinstall the damaged bumper, let us drive the car for the six weeks that the parts would be on order, then pay the body shop to remove the bumper again and perform the repairs. The balked at first but when we finally reached someone with the authority and the brain cells to think for a moment they realized it was cheaper to go that way than to pay for a rental for six additional weeks.

The diminished value claim resulting from this damage on our relatively new S was about $6k, but we had to go all the way to small claims court to get Progressive to cough it up.

 

[Rockster]

How hard was it to win the diminished value claim?

More than eighteen months of back and forth with the insurance company, culminating in a jury trial in small claims court, in which the owner of the DV appraisal company, Petty Details, was our expert witness. We prevailed, being awarded 100% of our requested amount, but it was a pain going through all the delays and hassles. Insurance companies don't make it easy, but it was worth it. Some insurance companies will settle a DV claim with just some back and forth, some require more aggressive posturing. It's never easy because insurance companies hate hate hate that there's such a thing as diminished value, but it's certainly doable.