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I am glad I took the car to a Tesla-approved shop. It took a while but the adjuster and the shop agreed on an estimate of nearly $20,000 to fix my car!
Now, how on earth does "paint damage" add up to that, you ask? The answer is, the tires of the truck seem to have pulled and ripped more stuff than was immediately, externally visible -- even though the actual body damage was largely in fact paint only. They're basically removing and reinstalling every component on the right side and much of the front to do the work. Even the windshield has to come out and go back in. Sounds more like what you'd expect if you got sideswiped by a concrete truck, right?
The front bumper and its sensors as well as all nearby trim (underbody, hood, etc.) will require replacement as will various components at the rear; a mirror, one wheel, etc. The parts bill is really pretty reasonable as is the "body labor" -- even though a rivet into what I assume is the frame aluminum is involved -- but the amount of work to remove and reinstall all the other vehicle components that have to come off and go back on in order to make the replacements and match the paint is huge, with "misc labor" at over $9K. Looking at the detailed estimate, it's easy to see how they get there: half an hour for this, half an hour for that but when you are looking at "this and that" covering the front and one entire side of the vehicle...it adds up.
So I've learned my lesson: yes, you do want a high-end body shop familiar with your vehicle advocating for you even when it looks like the damage is very minor. If I'd let them do the estimate at the "GEICO Express" shop I would have ended up with, at best, a protracted renegotiation when I took it to a real shop, or at worst, a check that only covered spraying some paint when, to fix the bumper, mirror, sensor, and other damage I couldn't see, much more was required.
A valuable learning experience. In the end, I do not think the bill's unreasonable or unfair -- after all, a truck scraped its way all the down one side of a $100K+ car, $20K to put it back just right should not be so surprising -- and since I'm not at fault, hopefully GEICO won't whack me on my rate. But, I guess we'll see.
Now, how on earth does "paint damage" add up to that, you ask? The answer is, the tires of the truck seem to have pulled and ripped more stuff than was immediately, externally visible -- even though the actual body damage was largely in fact paint only. They're basically removing and reinstalling every component on the right side and much of the front to do the work. Even the windshield has to come out and go back in. Sounds more like what you'd expect if you got sideswiped by a concrete truck, right?
The front bumper and its sensors as well as all nearby trim (underbody, hood, etc.) will require replacement as will various components at the rear; a mirror, one wheel, etc. The parts bill is really pretty reasonable as is the "body labor" -- even though a rivet into what I assume is the frame aluminum is involved -- but the amount of work to remove and reinstall all the other vehicle components that have to come off and go back on in order to make the replacements and match the paint is huge, with "misc labor" at over $9K. Looking at the detailed estimate, it's easy to see how they get there: half an hour for this, half an hour for that but when you are looking at "this and that" covering the front and one entire side of the vehicle...it adds up.
So I've learned my lesson: yes, you do want a high-end body shop familiar with your vehicle advocating for you even when it looks like the damage is very minor. If I'd let them do the estimate at the "GEICO Express" shop I would have ended up with, at best, a protracted renegotiation when I took it to a real shop, or at worst, a check that only covered spraying some paint when, to fix the bumper, mirror, sensor, and other damage I couldn't see, much more was required.
A valuable learning experience. In the end, I do not think the bill's unreasonable or unfair -- after all, a truck scraped its way all the down one side of a $100K+ car, $20K to put it back just right should not be so surprising -- and since I'm not at fault, hopefully GEICO won't whack me on my rate. But, I guess we'll see.
I was wondering about that. I might have to recover it from the other party's insurer, if I understand correctly?
Correct.
It really depends on how much you're willing to fight.
It could be as easy as you calling their insurance, asking for a diminished value claim, they give you a $5k check, and you say "eh, not worth the fight" and move on.
It could be as hard as getting a lawyer, or threatening to get a lawyer, and trying to recoup the true diminished value out of the car (someone here posted estimates of $1 in damage = $1 in diminished value), so $20k.
I went the former route, but then again, I had a small dent, and my repairs were a fraction of yours --> Door ding
In this case, there are signs the other (at-fault) party may be effectively self-insured -- their insurance card shows an "insurer" with a name suspiciously similar to the vehicle owner's corporate name, with a mailing address "care of" a large carrier that does a lot of reinsurance business. I would expect a pretty good fight. There must be some simple way to pay someone else to have the fight for me -- maybe I should look into that.
For regular repairs? Hell yeah, the insurance company better help me out if the at-fault insurer isn't paying my bill.
For diminished value? I think that's up to you to reclaim. The insurance company gets nothing from you getting a check.
green1
Active Member
For a regular claim, you talk to your insurance company, they talk to the other one, you get your money from your company, they get reimbursed from the other one. I'm not sure how this is different?
The question is, does my policy cover (or, for that matter, exclude) diminished value. I don't know, and that's clearly on my list of things to figure out.
I've never had occasion to file a diminished value claim before -- the only previous time in my 30+ years of driving where there was "big" damage to my vehicle (I was T-boned by someone turning suddenly from a public street across a mall parking lot's service road) I was a kid, I'd bought my car used at a very attractive price due to already-repaired damage from an earlier accident, and though the question of the effect on resale value did cross my mind, clearly it wouldn't be much so I didn't bother. Six or seven years later I gave that car to a friend, so clearly, no harm no foul.
Obviously this is different. The damage to my Model S is far less severe than what happened to that old Volvo when I got T-boned way back then, but with all the labor involved to fix it, the cost does seem to cross a threshold where some future buyer might take a look and offer me considerably less money. And this car's just worth enough more that -- unless I hit the Lotto sometime in the next few years -- the odds I'd give it away gratis are pretty darned slim. To quote someone's mean parent, "This is why we can't have nice things." Sure does sting when they get broken!
You're thinking, if I have them to show any future buyer, that might head off a problem?
The adjuster took some really good ones (I assume he didn't want any trouble justifying the estimate to his boss!). I'm not eager to post them here since many include personal info (license plate, full VIN, vehicle contents, etc.) but if I were selling the car, yeah, I think I could use them to show what is clearly the case -- that there was no big whack to anything, but little scratches all over the place and some broken plastic resulted in having to remove/reinstall all over that side of the car.
Still having a little trouble getting used to that one, but there it is.
Would probably be good to have, if in the future someone were in inquire about the damage (especially after seeing a $20k repair pop up!), you could go "Here are photos of the actual damage...wasn't bad at all, just some expensive labor + parts".
I was more curious as to how bad the physical damage looked though more than anything.
Because that's not how it works for a regular claim...?
For a regular claim, you tell your insurance company they tell you "involve us if you need to, otherwise you got this!". The other insurance company calls you, pays you/your shop, you get your car repaired, and you're done.
ETA: I guess that only works if the other party admits 100% fault, which in this case the other party did.
Here's an example -- you can see how the truck's mudflap/tire just slithered their way down the side of the car, messing up the paint finish wherever they touched, and dinging some of the chrome, plastic, etc. so those require replacement. Remember, concrete truck -- the tire's as tall as me. The grease pencil is the adjuster's, indicating what's got to be done. With the time allocations written right on the car, you can get some idea how it adds up quick -- what you can't see are any of the notes for interior trim that has to come out to do the work, for example on that little window that's marked "R&I", since obviously they aren't going to grease-pencil the interior!
I am confident this shop will put everything back in better than it was done at the factory. That's a nice feeling to have. I would definitely not have had that feeling with the GEICO Express shop.
Here's an example -- you can see how the truck's mudflap/tire just slithered their way down the side of the car, messing up the paint finish wherever they touched, and dinging some of the chrome, plastic, etc. so those require replacement. Remember, concrete truck -- the tire's as tall as me. The grease pencil is the adjuster's, indicating what's got to be done. With the time allocations written right on the car, you can get some idea how it adds up quick -- what you can't see are any of the notes for interior trim that has to come out to do the work, for example on that little window that's marked "R&I", since obviously they aren't going to grease-pencil the interior!
I am confident this shop will put everything back in better than it was done at the factory. That's a nice feeling to have. I would definitely not have had that feeling with the GEICO Express shop.
Wow, crazy that is $20k in damage. Aluminum panels + Tesla labor rates + parts aren't cheap!
Gives me yet another reason to invest in a dashcam. Fortunately the other party admitted fault in your case.
I think it's more a matter of the scrapes going all the way down the side of the car. From my reading of the detailed estimate, no damaged aluminum is coming off (meaning, as I read the estimate, there's not any) and it doesn't look like there's dent repair. But a lot of exterior trim has to be replaced and there's the bumper, mirror, and some sensors to replace. Actual parts cost is only $2K.
It's just a crazy thing to have happen, having a dirty piece of rubber dragged all the way down the side of your car. I feel pretty lucky the metal fender or deck of the truck didn't hit me.
To their credit, GEICO took care of all that. I do not have the police report yet but to my knowledge, the truck driver did not admit fault at the scene.
green1
Active Member
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