Rear ended :(

[moswissa]

Hey guys,

today we were parked at a light and some idiot wasn’t paying attention and rear ended me and my wife. Luckily no one was injured. I’m really upset though because I know I’m screwed either way since I owe about $60,000 on the car and surprisingly I’ve seen cars with Little damage get insurance totaled. If not totaled I’m sure it’s never going to be the same again. The car still drives like normal, no error messages and the lift gate works but doesn’t close unless you force it closed.I wanted some advice on which body shop to take it to or any other insight on best way to manage this.

thanks

 

[Cybermoose]

The best thing to do is get their insurance information and get a Tesla service center to fix absolutely anything wrong with it at their expense. I'm hoping you got their insurance information, anytime anyone makes enough contact with my vehicle to even nudge it, I get the information.

 

[Y_NOT]

Where are you located?

 

[moswissa]

The best thing to do is get their insurance information and get a Tesla service center to fix absolutely anything wrong with it at their expense. I'm hoping you got their insurance information, anytime anyone makes enough contact with my vehicle to even nudge it, I get the information.

oh I went beyond that, I called police and got a report with their statement and their information just in case they try to twist things later on. They seemed respectful and upset about it esp since I had my kids in the car. Whatever, mistakes happen. I just hope it’s not a total because I don’t have gap insurance

 

[moswissa]

Where are you located?

Los Angeles, why?

 

[Cybermoose]

oh I went beyond that, I called police and got a report with their statement and their information just in case they try to twist things later on. They seemed respectful and upset about it esp since I had my kids in the car. Whatever, mistakes happen. I just hope it’s not a total because I don’t have gap insurance

This won't help in this situation, but next time you buy a vehicle, while the dealership might want to charge a lot for gap insurance, your insurance might add it for a fraction of that cost. For example, I bought a new Cadillac and I financed most of it because I keep the majority of my money invested. The dealership offered me gap insurance for $1300, my insurance just added $60 to my premium. I'm a safe driver but $5 a month is definitely worth it to me.

 

[StephenF]

Oh my... I can't imagine how that must feel. Waiting for your dream car to have it hit when still nearly brand new. Ouch.

 

[moswissa]

This won't help in this situation, but next time you buy a vehicle, while the dealership might want to charge a lot for gap insurance, your insurance might add it for a fraction of that cost. For example, I bought a new Cadillac and I financed most of it because I keep the majority of my money invested. The dealership offered me gap insurance for $1300, my insurance just added $60 to my premium. I'm a safe driver but $5 a month is definitely worth it to me.

actually it will help the situation. Police report is important. When I was 18 I was rear ended, and didn’t get a police report. The other driver admitted fault at the scene but changed their story during the claim so it was my word against theirs. But If I had gotten a police report, they use that as it’s the most credible.

As for gap insurance, sure I probably should have purchased it but hopefully it’s not totaled. We should know by their week. Worst case, I’ll have it totaled and buy the car back cheaper, I’ve had a friend do that

 

[Cybermoose]

Oh my... I can't imagine how that must feel. Waiting for your dream car to have it hit when still nearly brand new. Ouch.

Not sure if you were replying to me, but my Cadillac is fine, I was just mentioning that I got the gap insurance for next to nothing compared to the extremely expensive dealership price. I hate Dealership scams, thank god Tesla doesn't sell out of dealerships

actually it will help the situation. Police report is important. When I was 18 I was rear ended, and didn’t get a police report. The other driver admitted fault at the scene but changed their story during the claim so it was my word against theirs. But If I had gotten a police report, they use that as it’s the most credible.

As for gap insurance, sure I probably should have purchased it but hopefully it’s not totaled. We should know by their week. Worst case, I’ll have it totaled and buy the car back cheaper, I’ve had a friend do that

I wasn't saying that the police report won't help, although it really doesn't actually add anything if you have the video from the accident saved. My ex girlfriend in university actually was at fault because of a police report. She was going through an intersection with a green light, someone turned left and we hit them. Without any witnesses, it was almost certainly going to be put at their fault, but some people drove up about a 3-5 minutes after the accident, talked with them first and claimed to the police that they were waiting in the middle of the intersection and turned after it changed to red, that we ran the red and hit them. I'm assuming they were friends with the other driver but there was no way to prove that and the police report had their statement on it. Since then, I like my cameras and having cameras on every side of the vehicle is better than any police report.

 

[moswissa]

Not sure if you were replying to me, but my Cadillac is fine, I was just mentioning that I got the gap insurance for next to nothing compared to the extremely expensive dealership price. I hate Dealership scams, thank god Tesla doesn't sell out of dealerships



I wasn't saying that the police report won't help, although it really doesn't actually add anything if you have the video from the accident saved. My ex girlfriend in university actually was at fault because of a police report. She was going through an intersection with a green light, someone turned left and we hit them. Without any witnesses, it was almost certainly going to be put at their fault, but some people drove up about a 3-5 minutes after the accident, talked with them first and claimed to the police that they were waiting in the middle of the intersection and turned after it changed to red, that we ran the red and hit them. I'm assuming they were friends with the other driver but there was no way to prove that and the police report had their statement on it. Since then, I like my cameras and having cameras on every side of the vehicle is better than any police report.

Ah that suck ! – Cams are the best unfortunately I didn’t have a memory card installed

 

[kev1n]

post some pictures and update us on the repairs. im curious because a lot of people were complaining about the rear design how the rear bumper and the hatch would both get damaged easily in a rear end accident and that also can translate to broken hinges/mount on the hatch which will drive up the cost

 

[moswissa]

post some pictures and update us on the repairs. im curious because a lot of people were complaining about the rear design how the rear bumper and the hatch would both get damaged easily in a rear end accident and that also can translate to broken hinges/mount on the hatch which will drive up the cost

Yeah I read that. My hatch is definitely ruined, and the bumper has minor damaged that can probably be touched up. Surprisingly the lift gate still works like normal but doesn’t close all the way. Hopefully the cost doesn’t exceed whatever formula this insurance company uses. Otherwise I’ll be *sugar* out of luck, upside down and no Model y. No wonder ppl sue

 

[Lounanne]

Glad you and the family are okay.

 

[kpinthebay]

Los Angeles, why?

You did ask for body shop recommendations. Wouldn't do you any good to have east coast shops.
Glad you guys are okay man.

 

[RoBoRaT]

@moswissa, We had an accident last Feb - someone going higher speed over 25 mph at school zone (where traffic is at slow due to morning school drop-off) hit our X with wife and 2 kids in it. No one needed emergency care, the police came to the scene and took report.

I called Tesla and USAA from the scene of accident and had flat-bedded the car to a Tesla authorized body repair shop. USAA worked with the shop for repair/valuation.

USAA deemed the car total loss - but only valued the X about 55K, and we owe 89K. This was a 6 month old car at less than 5K miles. I reviewed the valuation report and pointed out several missteps like options/features not accounted for, and wrong battery/model config. And that the valuation was low due to comparing it to recent sale but the wrong model/trim. They even had mileage at 15K - I proved it wrong by showing what the Tesla App had.

They came back with about 89K, enough that my Gap Covarage was not even needed.

So for us it worked out having the car deemed a total loss. Just make sure they provide a just valuation for the car.

 

[jeffbco]

You did ask for body shop recommendations. Wouldn't do you any good to have east coast shops.
Glad you guys are okay man.

Location info to the left - yours says SF Bay Area, his said Los Angeles. Not very specific but it does tell you general area.

 

[moswissa]

@moswissa, We had an accident last Feb - someone going higher speed over 25 mph at school zone (where traffic is at slow due to morning school drop-off) hit our X with wife and 2 kids in it. No one needed emergency care, the police came to the scene and took report.

I called Tesla and USAA from the scene of accident and had flat-bedded the car to a Tesla authorized body repair shop. USAA worked with the shop for repair/valuation.

USAA deemed the car total loss - but only valued the X about 55K, and we owe 89K. This was a 6 month old car at less than 5K miles. I reviewed the valuation report and pointed out several missteps like options/features not accounted for, and wrong battery/model config. And that the valuation was low due to comparing it to recent sale but the wrong model/trim. They even had mileage at 15K - I proved it wrong by showing what the Tesla App had.

They came back with about 89K, enough that my Gap Covarage was not even needed.

So for us it worked out having the car deemed a total loss. Just make sure they provide a just valuation for the car.

well glad that worked out for you. How bad was the damage, can you show me a pic?

I don’t have gap insurance, so hopefully I won’t have to go there. Also, I know insurance companies will ALWAYS low ball the car so I’ll be on the lookout for that.

 

[TomServo]

At this juncture, my biggest fear would be parts availability from Tesla. This always seems to be a weak spot with new Tesla models. Good luck.

 

[Pilot1226]

Don’t forget about a Diminished Value claim. In the event it is repaired, it will never be worth “market value” in the future. So if you would have been able to sell it for 40k but it’s only valued at 30k because of said accident, you have means towards that 10k difference.

 

[ftmaybe]

Don’t forget about a Diminished Value claim. In the event it is repaired, it will never be worth “market value” in the future. So if you would have been able to sell it for 40k but it’s only valued at 30k because of said accident, you have means towards that 10k difference.

My wife's model 3 was just totaled recently and this was our primary concern. It didn't even seem like that much damage to me but luckily they totaled the car so we didn't have to worry about it.

Still - it had to be towed out of town because nobody where we are can fix teslas, and the first tesla shop we sent it to couldn't get to it for two months or something.

We made out pretty good though, given the absurd used market for model 3s inflating the "replacement cost" for our insurance claim. I daresay these idiots that hit and run our car actually did us a favor financially...