rear-ended by someone elses rear-end

[acal]

was stopped in the grocery store parking lot, waiting for the car in front of me to park. someone backed out of their parking spot and backed into the left side of the bumper. totally cosmetic damage to the 3....but more than just paint. The plastic of the bumper seems a bit cracked + significant paint scuff.

Anyone got recent experience on parts, assuming the bumper will get replaced? Are there sensors or something else in the bumper that would make this a more difficult repair than any other car w/ a similar bumper?

 

[Resist]

It's not more difficult to replace/repair, just more expensive.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

was stopped in the grocery store parking lot, waiting for the car in front of me to park. someone backed out of their parking spot and backed into the left side of the bumper. totally cosmetic damage to the 3....but more than just paint. The plastic of the bumper seems a bit cracked + significant paint scuff.

Anyone got recent experience on parts, assuming the bumper will get replaced? Are there sensors or something else in the bumper that would make this a more difficult repair than any other car w/ a similar bumper?

Tesla can replace it for $1200 assuming no parking sensor damage. I think the bumper cover may come prepainted but it’s hard to get a straight story on that here.

It’s a trivial job to replace it - should just take a couple hours - I would think mobile service could do it but they probably will make you take it in.

 

[afadeev]

was stopped in the grocery store parking lot, waiting for the car in front of me to park. someone backed out of their parking spot and backed into the left side of the bumper. totally cosmetic damage to the 3....but more than just paint. The plastic of the bumper seems a bit cracked + significant paint scuff.

Anyone got recent experience on parts, assuming the bumper will get replaced? Are there sensors or something else in the bumper that would make this a more difficult repair than any other car w/ a similar bumper?

Are you asking because you don't want to file an insurance claim (you should), or because you want to DIY the repair (you shouldn't) ?

The damage is superficial, and you can continue driving the car until the insurance payment and parts supplies are sorted out between Tesla's body shop, Tesla, and your insurance company. Unless you have Geico, you should have nothing to worry about, other than the time it takes to extract parts out of Tesla and get them shipped to your body shop.

Just file the claim, and let the insurance process run its course.

I assume you had exchanged insurance information with the party that hit you, right? If so, this will be treated as a collision claim, and you will be $0 out of pocket for your deductible you have on your policy (the other person's insurance is paying).

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[AlanSubie4Life]

Agreed with above. Explore all your options. The estimate from the insured parties insurance will likely end up low.

Just be careful about selecting a shop and hang onto your car until the parts arrive. For a Tesla, I would think it could be same day which would be a benefit there.

You might be able to get a better color match if a shop repainted your bumper cover rather than getting Tesla’s but it is really hard to predict that. Tesla might have to wait for a few different covers to get one that is a good match (no idea really - again not 100% sure they come with factory paint).

Just be absolutely sure the body shops do NOT do any blending of other panels (pretty sure they won’t).

 

[CharleyBC]

You asked about the sensors. There are 6 of them in each bumper. Your damage is almost perfectly between two of them—those coin-sized circles. Based on the photo, I’d say your sensors survived the ordeal. Folks have had them pop out of place, but yours look okay. So, yes, whoever replaces your bumper will have to deal with the ultrasonic sensors.

 

[jkoya]

If the bumper needs to be replaced, you might want to consider starting the application process for replacement HOV decals. My replacement HOV decals took about 6 weeks to arrive. Just a thought ........

 

[CarterStC]

Just went through this a couple weeks ago. Cost $1200, Tesla kept the car for the day. Labor was about $100 of the bill, so it isn't much work. Came pre-painted, they took a couple weeks to get the bumper cover in before the appointment.
Luckily, insurance quoted $500 more for the repair, so the deductible was covered by that and it was a "free" repair.

One other benefit - Tesla gave us $100/day (x2) in Uber credits, which we ended up using the full amount living 50 miles away from the Service Center. Only cost us about $30 more for the additional cost of a nicer Uber and tipping.

 

[Marcin411]

Going through it now just got my quote from SC, unfortunately the insurance repair estimate only came in $30 over the replacement so I'm out my deductible (hit and run in parking ramp). Your labor rate may very I'm in MN and this SC keeps a rack of spare covers in various colors so no waiting for parts.

 

[KenC]

Does that come under Comprehensive? You weren't moving.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

Does that come under Comprehensive? You weren't moving.

No this is collision and assuming the fault is determined to be entirely the other party's (which it sounds like it is), it means the OP will not have to pay their deductible (unless other motorist is uninsured, etc.). Even in a no-fault state this is the case; you just go through your own insurance company for the claim and get reimbursed later, at least that's my understanding. For the OP they're in California so the no-fault thing is not relevant, anyway.

 

[CarterStC]

Going through it now just got my quote from SC, unfortunately the insurance repair estimate only came in $30 over the replacement so I'm out my deductible (hit and run in parking ramp). Your labor rate may very I'm in MN and this SC keeps a rack of spare covers in various colors so no waiting for parts.

View attachment 458480

My tax and labor were slightly higher in CA with a total of $1100.25.

 

[boriszima]

If the bumper comes painted, will it match exactly to the current color? I guess if a car is fairly new it will, but i hear with other cars it takes time to match paint to exact color of the rest of the body of the car?

 

[CarterStC]

If the bumper comes painted, will it match exactly to the current color? I guess if a car is fairly new it will, but i hear with other cars it takes time to match paint to exact color of the rest of the body of the car?

Looks fine to me - my car is 13+ months old, 16K miles. I'm pretty picky. The bumper looked too clean when I picked it up

 

[kl118]

Go to the Tesla Body Repair Center in San Jose (1460 Mabury Rd). If it's only the bumper cover that's damaged, they can replace it with a pre-painted bumper cover that comes straight from the Tesla factory. I was rear-ended, and ended up going there. Matches perfectly. The only downside is that they are a pain to get in contact with. Your best bet is to go there in person instead of calling to make arrangements to get it done.

 

[acal]

Go to the Tesla Body Repair Center in San Jose (1460 Mabury Rd). If it's only the bumper cover that's damaged, they can replace it with a pre-painted bumper cover that comes straight from the Tesla factory. I was rear-ended, and ended up going there. Matches perfectly. The only downside is that they are a pain to get in contact with. Your best bet is to go there in person instead of calling to make arrangements to get it done.

That is a super (SUPER) helpful reply! Thanks. The reason I was asking if it's different from replacing some other car's bumper cover was to see if I should go to Tesla, or someplace else. This sounds like just the thing to do.

 

[ngogas]

ouch

 

[CarterStC]

Go to the Tesla Body Repair Center in San Jose (1460 Mabury Rd). If it's only the bumper cover that's damaged, they can replace it with a pre-painted bumper cover that comes straight from the Tesla factory. I was rear-ended, and ended up going there. Matches perfectly. The only downside is that they are a pain to get in contact with. Your best bet is to go there in person instead of calling to make arrangements to get it done.

Even easier is to use the phone app to schedule the repair. They'll call you shortly.

 

[Greglorious]

Was at my service center a few weeks ago and saw they had every color of bumper covers in stock. They do that to ensure new deliveries with shipping damage can be fixed immediately. Chances are they have your bumper and the color does match perfectly. Tesla is known to not have many deviations of each color since there is literally only one factory painting them.

 

[kl118]

Even easier is to use the phone app to schedule the repair. They'll call you shortly.

That might work too. It was shortly after I got my car repaired that Tesla announced their service centers would be able to handle simple body work including replacement of bumper covers.