Small accident

[S4WRXTTCS]

(that ultimately sped up).

I hate it when people do that.

I'll be sitting on TACC the entire time doing the same speed, and throughout some long drive I'll pass a person multiple times because they do the whole speed up and slow down thing.

Where I'm like "would you go away already"

FYI - You probably already know this, but if you use TACC only you can easily hit the accelerator to pass someone then let off. You never have to remove it out of TACC unless you have to brake.

 

[varla]

Does Tesla always record? I definitely would want this activated all the time.

I've never checked my footage from my M3. I know someone had swung open their door in a parking lot once and hit my car, but when checking the footage for Tesla Sentry mode never even started to record. Not sure why the sentry mode seems very random.

I too would like to know how you got this recording.
I'm so glad for you, it's infuriating that the dude would try to do you like that.
I would def see if there's anyway you can hold him accountable.
Glad everyone is ok also!

 

[mvotb]

Simple. Since he tried to pull that, get your car fixed at his expense. He deserves it and I can see the dent in your car, no reason for you to eat that.

 

[kornelyus]

Make sure you have a flash drive installed for video recordings, and enable "save clips on honk".
New v10.2 feature: Save Clips on Honk
Tesla Sentry Mode & Tesla Dashcam USB Step by Step Setup and Guide

 

[rsg123]

These people should 100% be charged with insurance fraud. The fines will at least recoup some of the extra $$$ we all pay in our insurance bill because of this kind of fraud.

 

[Oldguy76]

Glad you’re OK. Some people buy phones but I think the phone ends up owning them!

 

[mark95476]

The type of person who'll drive irresponsibly is the same type that'll lie when they get into an accident.

I had a dashcam for years just for these situations. I'm glad my Tesla has one built in.

I would report it and let them fix it for you as someone else posted. You can get an estimate from a shop, send it to their insurance, and get it fixed whenever (or never).

I was involved in a small accident this week. The damage to my vehicle was very small. I have about 8,000km on the car and was frustrated with what happened. I decided not to report it because I only sustained a small dent and it's barely visible.

My insurance company called me. The other driver reported it, and said I side swiped him!!!

I shared this video with the insurance agent and he started laughing. How does he think you hit him he asked? The agent said he will share the video with the other company. Needless to say the agent agreed it was not my fault.

Good thing it was recording otherwise it would have been my word against his. Now I hope he gets in trouble for his BS.

 

[Dariushd]

I do hope you claim against their insurance and get your car fixed. It’s very nice of you to not go after them in the first place, but now that they’re trying to defraud your insurance, I would definitely claim against them for sure.
Best of luck and thank goodness it was not a worse accident.

 

[jeffbco]

I do hope you claim against their insurance and get your car fixed. It’s very nice of you to not go after them in the first place, but now that they’re trying to defraud your insurance, I would definitely claim against them for sure.
Best of luck and thank goodness it was not a worse accident.

How do we go from "The other driver reported it, and said I side swiped him!!!" to insurance fraud? The insurance companies will sort it out and the correct party will pay especially after seeing the video.

 

[CurtDawgMY]

why the big 1 minute it should be starting from 00:51

I kind of liked that it showed the moment the van entered the highway up to the point of the collision.

 

[RachH]

Does Tesla always record? I definitely would want this activated all the time.

I've never checked my footage from my M3. I know someone had swung open their door in a parking lot once and hit my car, but when checking the footage for Tesla Sentry mode never even started to record. Not sure why the sentry mode seems very random.

I'm sure someone already replied to you but just in case....

As for it 'always recording'- it does just that if you have a USB installed however it doesn't save it unless you hit the 'camera' looking thing on your screen. This is ideal after an accident driving because it says the last 20 seconds or so that was recorded.

Sentry is a whole other thing. Ii is supposed to record everything while in sentry mode and store it.

If it doesn't record, then something is wrong with your USB. Make sure there is a green dot, not a gray dot, next to your camera icon on your screen.

Hope that helps!

 

[RachH]

I just wanted to say that you ALWAYS want to report an accident because Teslas are REALLY expensive to repair. You don't want to have to pay out of pocket believe me. I got a really small dent, that you can hardly see, on one of my side panels and it was $1500 to repair. It gets super complicated if they have to take off the tires, match the paint, etc, etc.

I got sideswiped as well a few months after getting my car in 2018. It was about $7500 and it wasn't bad either. AND it took months to get it into the shop to fix. Crazy. Luckily insurance covered it.

 

[ChrisOtt]

I would say the op is clearly not at fault — regardless of his speed the person merging should have only done so when safe.

Glad no one was hurt.

 

[monteitis]

People get way too excited about insurance fraud. I investigate high-exposure auto losses in the LA area for a major carrier, and we have quite a lot of them. Very few claims go by without some degree of misrep, whether it's on the liability end or trying to get the entire car fixed up under one claim. In my years of experience, I have never once seen a case escalated to the justice system aside from large-loss crime ring activity. Dashcam/Teslacam videos are INVALUABLE.

In the OP's case, the other insurance carrier will likely fight liability because of these factors:

1) The other vehicle was mostly in front of the OP when impact occurred, so they will say he failed to maintain proper lookout.
2) The OP didn't appear to take any significant evasive action.
3) Every driver has a responsibility to be a "reasonably prudent" driver. Lots open to interpretation there.

Granted the sideswipe happens quickly.. but this is likely the other carrier's argument.

That said, the other driver was clearly the proximate cause of the accident...

 

[jeffbco]

Dashcam/Teslacam videos are INVALUABLE.

I always avoid discussing accident issues on the internet too - no reason to nor any reason for the "world" to have access to the video.