Someone hit my parked tesla...looking for advice

[eyespii]

So as much as it really sucks that my baby got a small chunk taken out of its front bumper, I consider myself extremely fortunate for several reasons. The person that hit me was a county employee in a county car on county business, obviously has full county insurance coverage, notified me of the incident right away, and the damage to my car seems relatively minor. The police were notified and a report was written up saying it was the other persons fault for "unsafe backing".

The county is self insured, and it was on their recommendation that I file a claim through my own insurance policy (geico), pay the deductible, and then have the insurance company seek reimbursement from them. This suggestion was made supposedly to minimize my own hassle of dealing with negotiating with the county liability claims department, and after thinking it over and speaking to geico, I went ahead and opened a claim with them. I have a repair scheduled at a tesla authorized body shop for next Friday (Chris Amato's body werks in Oceanside, CA), and geico is going to send their own appraiser there to meet me as well.

Anyone go through a repair of their tesla that has any tips for how to make sure I'm "made whole?" I've read a bit about diminished value - what exactly is it and how do I get the max possible amount? Any experience with the particular body shop I've picked? I also have aftermarket paint protection on the car - can I get reimbursed for that as well?

Thanks in advance for the advice!

 

[CHG-ON]

That sucks. I don't know why you would have to pay a deductible when they admitted fault. I would go after them to cover all costs, including deductible. Local gov't agencies will cave pretty quickly on this stuff. They reserve for self insured issues. There is no reason whatsoever that you should have to pay a dime when they admitted it and you have a police report. Except perhaps, when they see how incomprehensibly expensive it will be for you get a whole new bumper, which is what you deserve.

I'm sorry to hear about your hassle.

 

[FranKim]

Not sure what part of OC you are in but perhaps Oceanside is a bit out of the way for you?
There are two Tesla certified shops in OC, European (55Fwy and Dyer Road) and Spectrum (Irvine Spectrum area). The Tesla costa mesa SC recommends either but seems to prefer the long standing reputation of European.
I had a parked hit and run on my Model S and European made it completely new. European in very busy and therefore rather slow.
There was another thread on here that showed amazing paintless dent repair in OC via "Auto Recon Express" -- search the forum for it. The thread name is (sorry dont know how to attach a link):
Tesla dent repair: Paintless dent extraction

 

[eyespii]

The idea is that even though I'd pay the deductible, eventually i would get that back from geico after they get reimbursed from the county.

 

[brantse]

In no way would I let that fall on my insurance, regardless of reimbursement for the deductible. That will absolutely hit your insurance rating and will very likely cost you on increased premiums in the future.

 

[eyespii]

Not sure what part of OC you are in but perhaps Oceanside is a bit out of the way for you?
There are two Tesla certified shops in OC, European (55Fwy and Dyer Road) and Spectrum (Irvine Spectrum area). The Tesla costa mesa SC recommends either but seems to prefer the long standing reputation of European.
I had a parked hit and run on my Model S and European made it completely new. European in very busy and therefore rather slow.
There was another thread on here that showed amazing paintless dent repair in OC via "Auto Recon Express" -- search the forum for it. The thread name is (sorry dont know how to attach a link):
Tesla dent repair: Paintless dent extraction

I checked with European Motor Car Works, but their first appointment isn't until July!

Anyone have any experience with getting diminished value? What do I ask for, and how do I get the most out of it?

 

[demundus]

So as much as it really sucks that my baby got a small chunk taken out of its front bumper, I consider myself extremely fortunate for several reasons. The person that hit me was a county employee in a county car on county business, obviously has full county insurance coverage, notified me of the incident right away, and the damage to my car seems relatively minor. The police were notified and a report was written up saying it was the other persons fault for "unsafe backing".

The county is self insured, and it was on their recommendation that I file a claim through my own insurance policy (geico), pay the deductible, and then have the insurance company seek reimbursement from them. This suggestion was made supposedly to minimize my own hassle of dealing with negotiating with the county liability claims department, and after thinking it over and speaking to geico, I went ahead and opened a claim with them. I have a repair scheduled at a tesla authorized body shop for next Friday (Chris Amato's body werks in Oceanside, CA), and geico is going to send their own appraiser there to meet me as well.

Anyone go through a repair of their tesla that has any tips for how to make sure I'm "made whole?" I've read a bit about diminished value - what exactly is it and how do I get the max possible amount? Any experience with the particular body shop I've picked? I also have aftermarket paint protection on the car - can I get reimbursed for that as well?

Thanks in advance for the advice!

Sorry that happened! But today I learned there's a Tesla body shop down the street from me, thanks for the info! Hopefully they return your Tesla to better than new condition

 

[EcoHeliGuy]

Only have a couple suggestions as I live in a totally different jurisdiction.

1) Get the car independently inspected and a qoute. You'll be surprised at the variances. But they may find alignment issues. If you weren't there your unsure how much force was absorbed.

2) I always get a qoute for a non insurance paid repair with OEM parts, as in cash. keep this qoute in your back pocket. Often insurance companies provide the repair shop with the price, not the other way around.

3) if insurance pays for the work, your car is accident repaired. If you pay for the work, the car isn't accident repaired unless the airbags are set off.

4) Remember that once insurance is involved with paying, they basically own your car while the claim is open. Just like when you use insurance to pay for a tow truck. At that moment the car is no longer your property.

5) even if it does take awhile I would always go through the persons at fault insurance. The municipality is off loading workload and paperwork trails. Your insurance company gets paid either way. And your stuck with out of pocket.


Where I live, insurance sets the repair rates. Had a Jeep Cherokee that needed a windshield, and I priced out just paying for it myself. The insurance set a flat rate of $250+ my deductible of $100 for the whole province for that particular jeep. My out of pocket for an OEM windshield parts and labour was $190. In that case the the windshield would not show up on the DMV database, because I paid for it.

I have a Subaru Crosstrek that was subject to a hit and run in the parking lot. As it was a Hit and Run I wasn't at fault, but had to pay the deductible because there wasn't a know at fault driver. They replaced the front quarter panel and drives door with OEM prepainted parts, next to no labour. Had we not gotten OEM parts they would have reformed the panels and painted, costing more and default preference of insurance. In the end my 6 week old car shows up on the database as accident repaired. But for the life of the car it has OEM parts and won't rust in those areas in the future.

 

[BrandonR22]

I work in Auto / Home insurance... It's called subrogation . The insurance company will 'subgrate' and get their money back from the other persons insurance.

For the one who talked about the glass claim... Depending on where you live and what insurance provider you have you COULD have Full Glass coverage. What full glass cvg is when the whole windshield needs to be replaced, you don't have to pay your comprehensive deductible. Fun fact: did you know most insurnace carriers have a MINIMUM set dollar amount before it becomes a 'surchargeable accident' Liberty Mutual and Geico have a 750 dollar amount minimum. (Obviously your bodily injury and property damage cause to someone else will be over 750). If you have a glass claim and the whole windshield is under 750, it usually won't raise your rates (surcharable accidnet)

If they subrogate AND get their money back (plus deductible) it WILL show on your MVR (Motor vehicle report) but will NOT be surchargeable by your insurance carrier if they get their money back. Also, I would of totally gone directly to their Liability. If someone ever hits you and they flee (most states define this as an IDENTIFIABLE driver- no deductible) you should have uninsured motorist/ uninsured motorist property damage)

Hopefully this helps.. Now time for bed and to explain this to 30 people tomorrow

 

[EcoHeliGuy]

I work in Auto / Home insurance... It's called subrogation . The insurance company will 'subgrate' and get their money back from the other persons insurance.

For the one who talked about the glass claim... Depending on where you live and what insurance provider you have you COULD have Full Glass coverage. What full glass cvg is when the whole windshield needs to be replaced, you don't have to pay your comprehensive deductible. Fun fact: did you know most insurnace carriers have a MINIMUM set dollar amount before it becomes a 'surchargeable accident' Liberty Mutual and Geico have a 750 dollar amount minimum. (Obviously your bodily injury and property damage cause to someone else will be over 750). If you have a glass claim and the whole windshield is under 750, it usually won't raise your rates (surcharable accidnet)

If they subrogate AND get their money back (plus deductible) it WILL show on your MVR (Motor vehicle report) but will NOT be surchargeable by your insurance carrier if they get their money back. Also, I would of totally gone directly to their Liability. If someone ever hits you and they flee (most states define this as an IDENTIFIABLE driver- no deductible) you should have uninsured motorist/ uninsured motorist property damage)

Hopefully this helps.. Now time for bed and to explain this to 30 people tomorrow

Effecting your insurance premiums and showing up as a accident repaired car are different things as far as the OP is concerned about residual value.

 

[Edmond]

If someone ever hits you and they flee (most states define this as an IDENTIFIABLE driver- no deductible) you should have uninsured motorist/ uninsured motorist property damage)

But won't a claim on this affect your rates as well?

 

[eyespii]

Geico has told me that since I wasn't at fault, my rates shouldn't be affected. We'll see...

 

[BrandonR22]

If they file a claim with their own insurance company and their insurance companies able to subrogate and get all of their money back including the deductible the incident surcharge will show applied?: NO. That's how it reads for Liberty Mutual, as far as other insurance companies their subrogation process could be different

 

[BrandonR22]

See! Told you. Only AT fault accidents will show ( and be surcharable), any company who runs your MVR will see it but (not) be surcharable. Just my 2cents on insurance

 

[MDMGSO47]

In no way would I let that fall on my insurance, regardless of reimbursement for the deductible. That will absolutely hit your insurance rating and will very likely cost you on increased premiums in the future.

Exactly correct. Never file a claim against your insurance when the other driver is at fault.

 

[SamCoffey]

If you are having trouble with a diminished value claim or the other guy's insurance company is "low balling" you can always hire an attorney. I am a practicing attorney in Florida and I handle a lot of diminished value cases in Florida and across the country. Every state's law are different so the advice below may not apply to every situation.


If your car is damaged I an accident and it is worth lees because of the accident then you have a right to make a claim for third party diminished value in California which means making a claim against the other driver's insurer. The measure of damages is the fair market value of the car before the accident compared to the value after all repairs are made adjusted for mileage and vehicle condition. I have seen diminished value claims that exceed $10,000.00.


(Certain states like Washington and Georgia actually let you make a claim for diminished value against your own insurer if you crash your own car.)


Don't stop at merely making a diminished value claim. In addition to diminished value you are most likely entitled to recover for loss of use measured by the number of days that you are without the car times to rate that it would cost to rent that type of car in the open market. This can and several thousand dollars to the value of a claim in addition to the diminished value claim.


We handle most cases on a contingency fee basis and advance the costs of experts and litigation if necessary. If you ever want free advice concerning handling a diminished value claim shoot a post and we can discuss on the telephone. Good Luck!


Sam Coffey, Esq.

 

[mmccord]

Yes, you can get them to pay for your paint protection film if it was damaged. Mine got hit in the quarter panel and the door, bumper, and hatch all had to be repainted. The body shop also accidentally pulled off the film from the other qp. It was about 2k worth of xpel with labor. I insisted they have the same guy do the ppf that did it originally. I paid him cash and the insurance company cut me a check.

This was in September and I'm still fighting with them about DV. Don't give up.

 

[SamCoffey]

Just spoke to another member about his diminished value claim. Not a lot of damage, but his car may be in the shop for a while. I saw on an enterprise website that they rent Model S at some locations for $399.00 plus tax per day. This can be accessed through the Enterprise exotic car website, but you have to call about pricing. I suggest that anybody that is presenting a diminished value claim on their own include a loss of use claim as well bc that can significantly boost the value of the claim.

I'm in the business of presenting DV claims to insurance companies at my law firm and I'm always glad to provide free legal advice for those owners that want to do it themselves. Good Luck!!

Sam Coffey
(954) 541-3194

 

[sorka]

I've never had to pay my deductible even up front when it was clear cut that it was the other drivers fault. But yes, just file with your insurance company and let them do the rest.

 

[sorka]

You can also pursue a DV claim in small claims if the DV is not much more than $10K. In your case I'm sure it isn't. If you go that route and get a judgment against the insured, their insurance company must pay it out at that point. Only go this route if your insurance company won't go to bat for you. In my experience your own insurance company doesn't give a damn about DV and won't pursue it for you.

If you go after it yourself, you will need to obtain appraisals of the vehicle's value that show the deduction for the value of the car with the *repaired* damage taken into consideration. There are companies that specialize in vehicle appraisals for things like this. You can also go to car dealers (preferably of the brand of vehicle you own and at least two different dealers) and ask them to provide you value appraisals. I have no idea what Tesla would do and if they'd provide you with appraisals like a regular dealer will.

I'm speaking from experience having helped my sister with a DV claim on her brand new Acura that had less than 1K miles on it when someone backed into her in a parking lot.