Rear ended today. 3-4 month wait - parts not available.

[dmurphy]

Very, very sorry to see this. It's heartbreaking - you clearly love your Model 3 and it's fully decked out - this stinks.

That said ....

No injuries.

This is the part to be most grateful for. For all the things Tesla does that are screwy (and there are plenty) - they've built an unbelievably safe and secure vehicle. It's like a cocoon around you that sacrifices itself, to save you. Small consolation, but every day we're breathing and upright is a good one, ya know?

Sentry does not have the camera in the back....or I would have had that as an option.

True.... but curious if the Dashcam caught anything else, either on the repeaters, or even possibly the front-facing camera showing you weren't at fault. (i.e. stopped at a light, moving with traffic responsibly, etc?)

If you have the Dashcam footage available, save it. Even if it's not a direct video, it might just come in handy.

Also ... make sure your insurance subrogates your deductible from the other party. That's on them, not you. Also - as others have said - a diminished value claim might just make sense. I've never done one, but from what I read, the couple hundred bucks to hire your own appraiser seems to pay off, especially on Teslas.

Please, keep us posted. And if you find yourself in the NJ area, you're welcome to borrow my Model 3.... it's a downgrade from your Performance model, but still better than nothing.

Good luck! And if you have any photos and/or the dashcam footage, I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd be curious to see.

 

[Raechris]

Garland-sorry to hear and glad you are okay. It has happened to me a couple times (not my MS) and know the hassle. They will accept responsibility and be aware of aches and pains a few days out. My first rear end did not hurt but the second threw off chronic back issues so there is an affect. They should offer something for your discomfort (non taxable) which may help offset the depreciation by having that on your carfax

 

[Az_Rael]

Sorry @Garlan Garner - you waited a long time for your car and got the best of the best - all boxes checked.

What really sucks here is the loss of FUSC If the car is a total.

I am fearful insurance wouldn’t cover that.

Insurance should cover it, they will just depreciate the option like they do every other option like upgraded wheels or paint.

That is true, it is harder for these companies to be able to evaluate those items since there is no Moroney sticker line item price for them.

Depends on how he bought it. My Moroney sticker lists both EAP and FSD for my car because I configured it that way. Even if he ordered it after delivery, all you have to do is provide insurance the invoice and they will add it to their calculations. I did that with a few upgrades I did after delivery on my S like 21” wheels and the center console.

 

[Garlan Garner]

Insurance should cover it, they will just depreciate the option like they do every other option like upgraded wheels or paint.



Depends on how he bought it. My Moroney sticker lists both EAP and FSD for my car because I configured it that way. Even if he ordered it after delivery, all you have to do is provide insurance the invoice and they will add it to their calculations. I did that with a few upgrades I did after delivery on my S like 21” wheels and the center console.

I ordered it - All options upon original purchase.

When I say inoperable - it only said inoperable because there is a 12V issue. I was able to get the car into tow mode just fine - the brakes released and everything. No damage beyond the trunk.

 

[super20g]

I would not expect the body shop to do the right thing but reach out and make sure you have told them what you expect of them. Mine was mostly discharged and never recharged while at the body shop and the air intake tube/filter was full of dust. That is beside all of the damage they caused but that is unrelated. Also a well respected high end shop with lots of Tesla's and exotics on the lot.

 

[hmgolds]

I have to wonder if the body shops that experience better parts availability are the ones who:
a - "know" the system
b - are the polite squeaky wheel with Tesla's part organization

And that those who are more passive experience longer wait times. There may also be issues with availability of body shop staff that can work on your Tesla. It can be easier to blame parts availability than labor availability.

 

[Rojer Lockless]

Not to change the subject but this is a very new car and it can happen to big dealers too. I bought a 2017 Honda Civic Hatchback in September of that year. The regular new gen civic came out a year before in 2016. I got hit in the back rear quarter panel above the passenger rear wheel. Because it was a new model even though it was a Honda, they took FOUR MONTHS to send the parts. I was in a crappy rental the whole time just waiting while my 1 day old car sat. Talking to Honda they basically told me that they'd rather take those parts and stick them on new cars then take the part off the assembly line and fix one.

Even big companies have crazy issues with new models.

 

[Garlan Garner]

Just came from the body shop.

Its a shame. There is a guy there in tears because he can no longer pay for the rental and his car note as he has been without his car since January. The insurance companies allotment of car rental days has expired. He has decided to default on his Tesla loan and let them ( his bank ) take his Tesla.

Its a sad state of affairs at this Tesla body shop these days.

Frustration all over the place.

I hope my situation won't turn out like his.

 

[dmurphy]

Just came from the body shop.

Its a shame. There is a guy there in tears because he can no longer pay for the rental and his car note as he has been without his car since January. The insurance companies allotment of car rental days has expired. He has decided to default on his Tesla loan and let them ( his bank ) take his Tesla.

Its a sad state of affairs at this Tesla body shop these days.

Frustration all over the place.

I hope my situation won't turn out like his.

That's horrendous. I wonder if there's anything the Tesla center can do as far as getting him a temporary loaner ... I'd certainly stop in - forget phone or email - and beg and plead with the center manager long before I decided to default.

As for your situation - it WILL be different, if for no other reason than you have all of TMC behind you. There *are* eyeballs out here from the Mothership.

 

[ezevphl]

Try a different body shop and ask for timing on specific parts. All certified body shops are equal, but some are more equal than others. When I needed a new bumper I check with two. One said a month or so, the other got it done in just over a week.

 

[Knightshade]

Just came from the body shop.

Its a shame. There is a guy there in tears because he can no longer pay for the rental and his car note as he has been without his car since January. The insurance companies allotment of car rental days has expired. He has decided to default on his Tesla loan and let them ( his bank ) take his Tesla.

Its a sad state of affairs at this Tesla body shop these days.

Frustration all over the place.

I hope my situation won't turn out like his.

You said the other party was at fault in your case- so it'd be on their insurance to pay for a rental for you as long as it takes for you to get your car back

 

[Garlan Garner]

That's horrendous. I wonder if there's anything the Tesla center can do as far as getting him a temporary loaner ... I'd certainly stop in - forget phone or email - and beg and plead with the center manager long before I decided to default.

As for your situation - it WILL be different, if for no other reason than you have all of TMC behind you. There *are* eyeballs out here from the Mothership.

Thanks @dmurphy

Right now this is the status of day 2 of this...… <------whatever you want to call it.

The lady who hit me is insured by Bristol West Insurance ( a branch of Farmers Insurance ). I provided Bristol a copy of the police report and everything that they needed.
I was going to provide them a video from the car at the point of impact. - Wouldn't you know it...…the packet of video's at the time of the incident are missing from the USB drive.
Are you kidding me? I have recordings from 5 min before the accident and 5 min after the accident. Its just getting worse.

Anyway.....its amazing that the lady who hit me is controlling the show.

 

[timk225]

Tesla ought to just take a day and stamp out lots of body panels and use them to ship to repair shops to fix cars. Fix the parts shortage.

 

[dmurphy]

Thanks @dmurphy

Right now this is the status of day 2 of this...… <------whatever you want to call it.

The lady who hit me is insured by Bristol West Insurance ( a branch of Farmers Insurance ). I provided Bristol a copy of the police report and everything that they needed.
I was going to provide them a video from the car at the point of impact. - Wouldn't you know it...…the packet of video's at the time of the incident are missing from the USB drive.
Are you kidding me? I have recordings from 5 min before the accident and 5 min after the accident. Its just getting worse.

Anyway.....its amazing that the lady who hit me is controlling the show.

So let me ask - did you press the Dashcam button on the display after the accident to tell it to save?

That's a craptastic "feature" of the perennially-beta Dashcam function.
Honestly, in the event of any impact detected, the vehicle should automatically tell the Dashcam to save and flush whatever it's got. Seems easy enough to program in, but I don't exactly have the code.

It is amazing that they're controlling the show... but unfortunately that's also typically how it works. Working with insurance companies is never something anyone wants to do for fun ...

 

[Garlan Garner]

So let me ask - did you press the Dashcam button on the display after the accident to tell it to save?

That's a craptastic "feature" of the perennially-beta Dashcam function.
Honestly, in the event of any impact detected, the vehicle should automatically tell the Dashcam to save and flush whatever it's got. Seems easy enough to program in, but I don't exactly have the code.

It is amazing that they're controlling the show... but unfortunately that's also typically how it works. Working with insurance companies is never something anyone wants to do for fun ...

I did not press the Dashcam button to tell it to save, however I found it extremely interesting that the car started recording again IMEDIATELY after the accident. Thankfully it has turned out that I haven't needed the video as the person who hit me called in and accepted full responsibility.

I'm still interested in why there was the recording gap.

 

[Garlan Garner]

Tesla ought to just take a day and stamp out lots of body panels and use them to ship to repair shops to fix cars. Fix the parts shortage.

I just spoke with Tesla Customer Service twice and received different answers. The first response was " There is nothing that we can do here because we don't have any access to the bodyshop repair group" The second response was "We can help you reach out to the bodyshop repair group if it is ever necessary".

Just like someone posted earlier the email address for them is [email protected]

 

[Garlan Garner]

You said the other party was at fault in your case- so it'd be on their insurance to pay for a rental for you as long as it takes for you to get your car back

Correct. I'm good as I went with getting the other person's insurance to handle it.

The guy in the body shop went with "his own" insurance. <-----mistake IMHO.

Lesson to all - if you ever have to open a Tesla claim and you aren't at fault...open the claim with the person's insurance company who is at fault.

 

[Rojer Lockless]

Just came from the body shop.

Its a shame. There is a guy there in tears because he can no longer pay for the rental and his car note as he has been without his car since January. The insurance companies allotment of car rental days has expired. He has decided to default on his Tesla loan and let them ( his bank ) take his Tesla.

Its a sad state of affairs at this Tesla body shop these days.

Frustration all over the place.

I hope my situation won't turn out like his.

I use USAA and I too had a 30 day rental limit on my car when my Honda got hit. The guy who hit me had Allstate and I told them I wanted to go through USAA. USAA told me not to worry and they would keep me in a rental as long as it took since it was in no way my fault even after I talked to Allstate for something and they said they won't pay for a rental over 2-3 weeks in any case. I'll never change insurance companies after that. They kept me for life or I would have had the same thing happen to me after 4 months without my car.

 

[dmurphy]

I did not press the Dashcam button to tell it to save, however I found it extremely interesting that the car started recording again IMEDIATELY after the accident. Thankfully it has turned out that I haven't needed the video as the person who hit me called in and accepted full responsibility.

I'm still interested in why there was the recording gap.

My guess (and just a guess!) is that it’s related to the 12V battery fault you had. Wonder if there was a short or blip in the 12V power, which would explained the dash cam stop/starting.

So sorry man. Even if (when) the insurance company makes you whole, there’s no upside. It’s just sad.

 

[dmurphy]

I use USAA and I too had a 30 day rental limit on my car when my Honda got hit. The guy who hit me had Allstate and I told them I wanted to go through USAA. USAA told me not to worry and they would keep me in a rental as long as it took since it was in no way my fault even after I talked to Allstate for something and they said they won't pay for a rental over 2-3 weeks in any case. I'll never change insurance companies after that. They kept me for life or I would have had the same thing happen to me after 4 months without my car.

Thank you! You inspired me to go check my policy with State Farm. We have rental coverage at 80% of cost, up to $1,000 maximum.

Given that I’m a frequent renter from Avis, with the credits and such I have with them, that’d buy me a few months’ worth of rentals in the worst case. We’d be OK.

Thanks for the inspiration on checking though! One of those “things you don’t think about till it’s too late to do anything about it ...”