I was rear-ended last week. How much would be the repair cost or is the car totaled? In SF/bay area. I don't have uninsured motorist coverage and I was told by my insurance company that I needed to talk to the other driver's insurance. And the other driver's insurance adjuster said their coverage might not be enough to cover my lost but wouldn't disclose how much their coverage is. My car will be towed to the body shop tomorrow for an estimate.
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Rear-ended 2020 model 3 repair cost
- Thread starter hufi
- Start date
ElectricIAC
Good-Natured Rascal
Do you mean underinsured? Your insurance needs to help you figure this out: You pay them a lot of money, why do their job for them?
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Judging from the pictures, the damage to your car looks to me to be about double what mine was. The cost to fix mine was just over $8,000. In my case, the other driver admitted fault and his insurance paid the full amount. Everything is more expensive where I am. So your's should be less than double what mine was. Unless there's deeper damage.
I'm surprised that with a car that's so expensive to repair, you didn't have all applicable insurance. I'm also surprised that California allows people to drive without liability coverage. Not having uninsured motorist coverage is kind of like not having insurance!
If the other driver was at fault, your insurance company should cover you and should deal with the other company to recover what they can. That's what happened in my case: I have Liberty Mutual and the other guy had Geico. I tried to apply directly to Geico but their system required me to use my (tiny) smartphone, which didn't work, so I went to LibMu and they took care of everything. If your insurance company won't do this for you, you should switch insurance companies. Note: The companies that will take good care of you are not the ones with the lowest prices. You don't always get what you pay for, but you never get what you don't pay for.
I'm surprised that with a car that's so expensive to repair, you didn't have all applicable insurance. I'm also surprised that California allows people to drive without liability coverage. Not having uninsured motorist coverage is kind of like not having insurance!
If the other driver was at fault, your insurance company should cover you and should deal with the other company to recover what they can. That's what happened in my case: I have Liberty Mutual and the other guy had Geico. I tried to apply directly to Geico but their system required me to use my (tiny) smartphone, which didn't work, so I went to LibMu and they took care of everything. If your insurance company won't do this for you, you should switch insurance companies. Note: The companies that will take good care of you are not the ones with the lowest prices. You don't always get what you pay for, but you never get what you don't pay for.
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CA requires liability insurance by law. However, it's only $5000 minimum coverage. No state requires you to carry enough to fix any car ever. There are $10M cars out there, that would be kind of silly. Many people only have $25-50K coverage which won't even cover a totaled Tesla.
This is why uninsured/underinsured insurance exists. Most states do not require you to buy it. It's up to you risks profile.
It is NOT your insurance company's problem to deal with someone else that hits you. Many of them will as a courtesy, but that's not what insurance is for.
In the end, you can ALWAYS sue the driver. The question is if you can collect if they don't have insurance...
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Actually, it is commonly done where the not-at-fault driver runs the claim through their own insurance company, which will subrogate the claim to the at-fault driver's insurance company.
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Which is why I said "Many of them will as a courtesy."
But if you don't have uninsured insurance, and the other insurer is going "our insured has very low limits" - you will quickly find your insurance company telling you it's your problem given they know they won't be able to subrogate. Which is the situation here. Your insurance does not cover you universally- that is the whole reason your policy has all sorts of limits and coverages, and you pay more to have higher limits and coverages.
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It is, though. It’s one of the things I pay them for. It’s not a courtesy, it’s part of their claims servicing.
And I always prefer to work through my provider instead of someone else’s. They have more lawyers than I do, and they’re incented to minimize their outlay and lay it on the offending party’s carrier. That’s in my best interest as well.
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I'd like to see the section of your policy you believe forces the insurer to do this by contract.
My policy in WA specifically says they are not required to recover or pay for property damage for which you are not legally liable. In other words, if it's someone else's fault, they don't have to help you.
The way they become liable is via uninsured coverage, but this only gets triggered when the other party runs out of coverage, and the OP doesn't have this coverage.
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I don’t know what happens out there in WA, but given that State Farm documents the subrogation and deductible recovery process on their website, I’d say it’s a service they offer, not just a courtesy. Nobody, not once, ever, even remotely implied they were “doing me a favor” by taking my claim. It’s their freakin’ job.
Subrogation and Deductible Recovery for Auto Claims
Learn how State Farm may try to recover a claim payment when another party is primarily at fault for your damages.
www.statefarm.com
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Two points: One: A good insurance company will take good care of their clients. This does not mean paying for items you have chosen not to insure. But it does include collecting from the other driver's insurance company where this can be done. And in cases where fault is disputed, it means going to bat for you. They may not be legally required to do any of this, but it's a matter of customer service. A good company will do it. A cheap company will not. Which is why it is a bad idea to shop for insurance by price.
Second point: With a car like the Tesla, especially a new one, why would anybody decline to pay for uninsured/underinsured driver coverage? If you can't afford the insurance, you can't afford the car!
If you're driving a junker and you have no assets that could be seized, you might want the legal minimum of insurance, and buy the cheapest, knowing that you get no benefit other than being legal. But if you're driving an expensive car, it's just reckless not to be fully insured. Unless of course you've made the decision to self-insure: That is, accept the financial risks of an accident.
Second point: With a car like the Tesla, especially a new one, why would anybody decline to pay for uninsured/underinsured driver coverage? If you can't afford the insurance, you can't afford the car!
If you're driving a junker and you have no assets that could be seized, you might want the legal minimum of insurance, and buy the cheapest, knowing that you get no benefit other than being legal. But if you're driving an expensive car, it's just reckless not to be fully insured. Unless of course you've made the decision to self-insure: That is, accept the financial risks of an accident.
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U
I’d never consider Tesla insurance anyway — they can’t offer any of the other policies I carry but man - now “claim = guilt”? That’s a new formula.
Ugh. That’s just garbage customer service.@dmurphy - Interesting find here. If you want your insurance company to deal with accidents for which you are not at fault, don't get Tesla insurance:
Just another way Elon is disrupting!
I’d never consider Tesla insurance anyway — they can’t offer any of the other policies I carry but man - now “claim = guilt”? That’s a new formula.
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@dmurphy - Interesting find here. If you want your insurance company to deal with accidents for which you are not at fault, don't get Tesla insurance:
Just another way Elon is disrupting!
When I was rear-ended I got the other guy's insurance info and gave that to my insurance company. The other guy had Geico. I have Liberty Mutual. My agent told me I could file with them and they would pursue Geico or I could file directly with Geico. I did the latter initially, but Geico's process, which required using my phone, which is too small for me to use their app, was not working for me. I went back to my company. Liberty Mutual did everything for me, and when Geico accepted responsibility and paid the full repair cost, Liberty Mutual sent me a check for the deductible as well.
Tesla insurance is total garbage if they won't go to bat for their clients and pursue the other driver's company. That's part of what you pay for. (And it's the reason you should never buy cheap insurance: Shop for insurance by reputation for customer service, not by seeking out the cheapest price. Cheap prices should be red flag that tells you you won't get acceptable service.)
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