P90D accident and 10 month repair is still counting.....

[bdavid01]

so On Feb 2, 2016 I had a small accident. assisting my friend with his seat belt, i started drifting to the left and was unable to fully recover from the mistake resulting in hitting this light. it was a terrible day but thank goodness I have USAA for insurance right? not so much. the car is still in the shop after 80 in repairs (salvage was 34k plus the 80 puts me well over the 'total' value of the car. that being said, I still don't have the car back. i hope this week but my concern here was 2 fold. one, share my story about the repair, and 2, ask if there is merit to engaging Tesla for what appears to be a lot of balls being dropped on this car and see if they cant assist with something like discounted ludicrous mode (never got it knowing one day i might 'upgrade' to that) and now seems like a good time for that.

Regarding repairing your car, be sure to say on the field inspection process. it seems there was a lit of back and forth on pricing and the initial estimates went from 56k to 75k super fast but no one was reporting that info to USAA as if they had, i might have had this car totaled out prior to over committing financially and forcing the repair of the car leaving me 10 months x 1500/month and a crappy dodge pickup truck rental. I did get some reprieve from Tesla in the form of a loaner model S after about 6-7 months of the repair as USAA was sick of paying for the Dodge while the car sat waiting for parts. now that its 10 months i am desperate and deeply saddened, missing my S and feeling like i have no where to turn for assistance. any help would be much appreciated and i have all documents regarding this story should anyone have any further questions.

 

[Upscaleman]

Small accident? You jumped the curb and hit a light pole that is 5 feet recessed from the road, with that much resulting damage?

Methinks you may be misrepresenting the facts a wee bit.

 

[Kross]

Holy cow, that's not small! Hope you and the passenger were alright after it. Did the airbags deploy?

I'm surprised your insurance didn't just total the car, given the cost of the repairs; any reason for that? Is it not costing USAA more now to just repair it for you?

 

[brkaus]

Definitely contact Tesla - Body Shop Support

Find out where the bottleneck is at. Tesla should know if your parts have even been ordered.

Sorry for your accident.

Just re-read. Looks like Tesla is in the loop providing you a loner car. Hopefully that means they are involved. In any case, I would contact the body shop support folks above ASAP.

Any chance they could total it out now? You mentioned financial commitments, but perhaps a CPO would work out?

 

[demundus]

That is wacky.... How does that even happen? You're parallel to what looks like a parking space, popped the curb into a cement light post.

 

[jaguar36]

How was USAA not in the loop on the estimating process? Wasn't it their adjuster (or their authorized shop) doing the estimating? What was the drivers for that crazy long repair time? Was it really all just waiting for parts from Tesla?

 

[razh]

Small accident?? That thing is totalled!

 

[Sawyer8888]

now that its 10 months i am desperate and deeply saddened

Fortunately, you and your passenger(s) were OK. Unfortunately your car and the repair time are far from OK. The accident appears to be small relative to an accident involving another party with injuries. Your encounter with the light post seems a few degrees above a small fender bender.

Regardless, small or large, the repair time is inexcusable, yet it is not unusual for a Tesla. Sometimes, the only characteristic people are familiar with, other than the battery and their high cost, is the lengthy repair time frame. All-things insurance related are the largest drawbacks to owning a Tesla IMO. The cost and time involved in repairing these cars is driving up insurance rates. There is a lack of both spare parts and educated repair shops. For those that are authorized Tesla shops, many of them charge excessive rates.

Thank you for sharing your experience. Doing so should help other owners in the future. The media pick up on some of the threads on this forum - this topic being one of the popular ones. I wish you the best with having your car fixed or replaced.

Related news:

Tesla owners should pay more for insurance, AAA says

Model S Owner Endures Insurance Woes Over Repairs

 

[sakimano]

sounds like the story he told the police.

the real story? x-rated I'm guessing.

 

[P85DBeast]

so On Feb 2, 2016 I had a small accident. assisting my friend with his seat belt

Sorry for your accident and I’m glad you and your passenger were ok. But ummmmmm.... (don’t mean to sound rude) but why does your friend not know how to use a seatbelt?

 

[jon1478]

This is a bummer. Yeah the repair process, delays, escalation of costs, and long repair times will really hurt Tesla. Word of mouth is powerful.. You have a sweet car, everyone around you finds out, your car gets in an accident, and everyone around you realizes that the sweet car takes 3 months to a year for repair. I'm sure with each of these cases, Tesla looses quite a lot of potential buyers.

I really hope the model 3 is much easier to repair... I keep hoping to hear less of these stories... This does look like a bit more than a minor accident (maybe if it weren't a Tesla -- but that's not the case unfortunately).

 

[bmah]

To all respondents, please keep your comments respectful and on-topic.

Thanks,

Bruce.

 

[Tiger]

Did OP choose to get the salvage car + cash and fix himself over being totaled by insurance and one time pay-off?

 

[bdavid01]

Small accident? You jumped the curb and hit a light pole that is 5 feet recessed from the road, with that much resulting damage?

Methinks you may be misrepresenting the facts a wee bit.

Small accident? You jumped the curb and hit a light pole that is 5 feet recessed from the road, with that much resulting damage?

Methinks you may be misrepresenting the facts a wee bit.

not at all. I was assisting with the seat belt and looked away for a second. at the rate of speed i was traveling (about 40 or so) i was veering to the left as i looked down and to the right, looked up again and saw that

Sorry for your accident and I’m glad you and your passenger were ok. But ummmmmm.... (don’t mean to sound rude) but why does your friend not know how to use a seatbelt?

my point exactly, he and i argued all night about it. he is severely obese and therefore not a good fit for the model S. he chose to leave the belt off and be comfortable until i started getting on him about it just before the accident.

 

[bdavid01]

Small accident? You jumped the curb and hit a light pole that is 5 feet recessed from the road, with that much resulting damage?

Methinks you may be misrepresenting the facts a wee bit.

I can see your confusion. We were traveling about 40-50 MPH, then i saw the problem and took the action to stop the car and avoid that wall you see in the background. turning hard right, braking, got me down to < 10 or so i imagine but we did hit and set off airbags. the drivers airbag didn't touch me but popped right in my face, my passenger took the airbag to the face (as he deserved it without his belt on) and we talked away with no issues. he later went to the dr for some neck issues as he was sandwiched pretty good into the car but i had zero issues and i have to assume it was because of the car. did you have something in particular that you were curious about as your comment seemed like you felt there was more to the situation? please feel free to explain and ill do my best to clarify.

 

[MP3Mike]

We were traveling about 40-50 MPH

You were going 50 MPH in what looks like a parking lot?

 

[JasJ]

Google Maps

This looks like the location... (tarrant roofing is top left - accident site in the center where the pickup is) ... if you zoom back, makes you wonder about the speed and direction.

Just saying....

 

[bdavid01]

You were going 50 MPH in what looks like a parking lot?

Google Maps

This looks like the location... (tarrant roofing is top left - accident site in the center where the pickup is) ... if you zoom back, makes you wonder about the speed and direction.

Just saying....

not really, i was going thru the lot, parrallel to the wall but about 2 rows over, slowly pulling left as i looked down and to the rt to deal with the bely issue under my friends 'Dunlop' and then realised i was heading for the wall at about a 45, braked, hard right, then hit.

 

[bdavid01]

You were going 50 MPH in what looks like a parking lot?

yes, a very large, unoccupied paring lot.

 

[Half Dollar Bill]

@bdavid01,
I'm sorry about your accident and I feel your pain for being without your car.
Early into my ownership 4 years ago I rear-ended another driver at low speed and the car was in the shop for 3-4 months. I'm grateful nobody was hurt in my incident as well as yours.
The insurance issues aside, and not meaning to minimize them, you're really looking for validation to guilt Tesla into giving you something for nothing. In my experience with Tesla so far, they seem to recognize when they mess up and will generally try to make it right. I've received far more goodwill from the service department than I would have asked for. You want to raise the stakes and ask for something first? Go ahead but just be prepared to walk away if they say no.
On pure ethics alone, I think it's ballsy to expect consideration for an incident that you were at fault for. The causality chain, including the insurance screw-ups, Tesla's parts performance and your Dodge nightmare, started with you driving distracted. When I got my car back it was like starting all over again so I hope it's the same for you.
Good Luck.