My parked Tesla Model 3 has bin hit badly by another driver who got charged under DUI. His insurance gave an initial estimate of $10k and provided me a Camry as rental car from enterprise. I have an appointment with the body shop next week to get the final estimate of the repairs. Is there a way I could get my car totaled,
Yes, torch it, or commit some other form of insurance fraud.
I see relatively superficial damage to one quarter panel. $10K to repair seams about right, might even be high.
if not what are my options to get the depreciation value claim filed so that I don’t have to bear any losses.
Research how your state handles DV claims. Some make it easy, others impossible, to collect on DV.
I plan on selling the car the very next day if it is repaired and sent back to me. The damage is more than it looks in the photographs attached.
How so?
I get the reluctance to own a car that had frame damage, but this is FAR from that. The repair should be simple and straight forward.
And quick (under a week), if Tesla was cooperating with and selling parts to all normal body shops. Since Tesla doesn't do that, and there is excessive demand on the few shops that are "Tesla authorized", be prepared for the repair cycle to be measured in months.
State: Oregon, Other person’s insurance: Geico
Geico is one of, if not, THE WORST insurance company to deal with during accident repairs.
They will deny, delay, and dispute (DDD) everything your body shop will be attempting to do to fix the car right.
I haven’t filed anything from my insurance company, don’t want it on my records only to bring my insurance up (that’s what I think).
Your car will have the accident history associated with the VIN regardless of what insurance company handles the claim.
There will be zero negative impacts to your insurance history or rates for no-fault accident that is being covered by the at-fault party.
What you gain by going through your insurance company is an advocate on your behalf to handle Geico, and an option to take the repairs to any body shop of your choice, not Geico's.
The comprehensive I would pay to my insurance would also take another 3-4 months to be settled as I am not at fault here.
The above statement applies to ONLY the deductible.
If you can't float the deductible amount for 3-12 months the repair and subrogation process will take, you probably should have picked a lower deductible amount. Or should not have been driving at all. In other words, it should not be a consideration.
HTH,
a