Rear Ended Yesterday

[P85DBeast]

:cursing: Yesterday my 18 Year Old son was out in my MS (Went to run errands) And was on the phone with me connected over Bluetooth and he was telling me how a girl was tailgating him the entire time. And so as my son says "dad im at the stoplight turning down our street now" and as soon as those words left his mouth he said What the f*** and said dad I've just been rear ended by the girl that was tailgating me so. He said "im gonna get out and give her a piece of my mind" I simply said ok so he got out the car and I heard him screaming " REALLY!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU" So while he is saying all of this whats running through my mind is my car ok. So a couple minutes later after my son is finished screaming his head off I ask him is the damage really serious he says " No just scratches at the bottom of the bumper" I say ok just let her go if its nothing but scratches its fine its just a car. So he let the girl go and I hung up on him to let him drive in peace so he gets home and I look at the car nothing to bad you cant really even see it unless your actually looking for it. So later on that day I tell him to go pick up dinner and he says "NO IM TOO TRAUMATIZED TO DRIVE YOUR CAR EVER AGAIN I JUST DONT WANT TO EVEN DRIVE ANYMORE IM JUST SO SHAKEN BECAUSE IT WAS SO SUDDEN"

 

[JenniferQ]

Poor guy. I'm sorry. It seems a lot of us on this site are rear-ended. I wonder if it's unusual? I wonder how common rear-end accidents are in general? I've read so much on here about them that I must admit I am now very paranoid when I drive and make sure to watch behind me when stopping or using regen aggressively. I also leave much more space in front of me when stopped than is probably necessary. Is it just all the distracted driving, texting, etc. I wonder?

I'm sorry for your son. Maybe you can at least convince him that he's safer in the Tesla than anything else in the event of an accident?

 

[PTADO]

As I always say with car accidents, because that's my industry, I'm glad he's okay. Period. Regardless of the impact. Cars and car parts are so disposable when it comes to crashing it's just broken plastic and aluminum. It sounds minor from what you said, so that's the very best result from something so entirely out of your control. End of the day, get your son back behind the wheel and confident again, makes sure he knows how to pick himself back up.

 

[jaguar36]

Did he let her go before getting the insurance info?

Getting rear ended is very common, even before cell phones. I've been in 6 accidents in my lifetime, 5 of them were being rear ended. Worst one was a guy on his cellphone, the rest were all before that time though.

 

[HeavyAaron]

The story sounds just a little too convenient. He called you to say he was being tailgated despite being already near home? Why bother? And just then gets rear-ended? What are the odds?

How about this for a plausible alternative story:

Kid accidentally scratches the rear bumper by reversing over or into something minor. He's 18, knows it's an expensive car and panics. So, he concocts a plan to pretend he was rear-ended instead. So, he calls dad to say he's being tail-gated, the setup for the bigger lie. Then pretend to be rear-ended while on the call, pull over. Pretend to chew out the "other driver" who is actually an empty lot, and then come home.

The honest part would be him too shaken to drive the car again. Not because of the potential for tailgaters. Those occur with any car, but because he's afraid of a minor slip-up (or worse) of his own in an expensive car in the future that he can't dodge. And of course lying through a story and the guilt of the accident itself will add to the shakiness.

Of course, I don't know this person. Perhaps he's a fine person. It's just a theory. But to me, the given story is implausible.

 

[2krazykats]

Poor guy. I'm sorry. It seems a lot of us on this site are rear-ended. I wonder if it's unusual? I wonder how common rear-end accidents are in general? I've read so much on here about them that I must admit I am now very paranoid when I drive and make sure to watch behind me when stopping or using regen aggressively. I also leave much more space in front of me when stopped than is probably necessary. Is it just all the distracted driving, texting, etc. I wonder?

I was thinking the same thing ...I wonder if people are trying to get a closer look at it, too. They maybe tailgating to get a better look and not paying attention to when the Tesla has stopped.

Similarly, I try to park in Siberia when I'm in a parking lot but sure enough, when I come out, there's a car parked right next to me even though there are plenty of other spaces away from me that are not occupied. Granted, I have a purple Tesla which is pretty eye-catching.

Of course, this "phenomena" could just be like when the news reports on certain events and you hear about it and it seems like there's a "rash" of it going on just because you hear about it. If you don't hear about it, it doesn't become a phenomena (to you).

 

[Max*]

Pics or it didn't happen.

 

[byan1232]

@aaron haha so pessimistic but seriously though you have a good point. I would have done something similar to what you said when I was 18 and that was only 5 years ago haha

 

[bradhs]

Good book: The Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Childs Developing Mind: Daniel J. Siegel, Tina Payne Bryson: 9780553386691: Amazon.com: Books

Probably wondering why I posted this here? Read it, it will help you make sure your son doesn't have issues with what just happened.

 

[Fanatic1]

Glad to hear he's ok. Sounds like the car is ok too. One of the reasons I had a 2 channel dash cam installed in my MS. It even records cabin sound.

 

[Marylala]

Safety is more important than any thing.

 

[chargedcowboy]

!

The story sounds just a little too convenient. He called you to say he was being tailgated despite being already near home? Why bother? And just then gets rear-ended? What are the odds?

How about this for a plausible alternative story:

Kid accidentally scratches the rear bumper by reversing over or into something minor. He's 18, knows it's an expensive car and panics. So, he concocts a plan to pretend he was rear-ended instead. So, he calls dad to say he's being tail-gated, the setup for the bigger lie. Then pretend to be rear-ended while on the call, pull over. Pretend to chew out the "other driver" who is actually an empty lot, and then come home.

The honest part would be him too shaken to drive the car again. Not because of the potential for tailgaters. Those occur with any car, but because he's afraid of a minor slip-up (or worse) of his own in an expensive car in the future that he can't dodge. And of course lying through a story and the guilt of the accident itself will add to the shakiness.

Of course, I don't know this person. Perhaps he's a fine person. It's just a theory. But to me, the given story is implausible.

I can smell the BS from here. I'm with HeavyAaron on this one. The "I'm too traumatized to drive it again." line was the tip off. You may be better off keeping him to his pledge to not drive it again.