The four cameras saved me $1000 and my driving record...

[Richwcarr]

I had an accident in the two-lane exit road from a parking lot. A car in the left lane tried to get around traffic by using the right lane, which I already occupied. His right front impacted my left rear.

The other driver told his insurance company that I turned into him. There were no witnesses, but I had the model 3 cameras! I sent the below message to both insurance companies and his insurance company quickly accepted liability for repairing my model 3. So, I don't have to pay the $1000 deductible or have it cont as an accident claim on my insurance. (Note that the insurance company asked my to upload the video to YouTube; this eliminates them worrying that my files might contain a virus or malware.)

Here are three YouTube videos showing the accident. They are automatically captured by the Tesla Model 3 cameras. The impact occurs at 00:05 in each video.
We are in a line of vehicles moving to exit the parking lots of Del Monte Center. The other vehicle (V2) is in front and moves to the left lane. He is intending to turn left at the end of the exit lanes. My vehicle (V1) continues in the open right lane to turn right at the end.
V2 decides to pass the other left-turning vehicles and drives right into my lane, impacting my left rear side.

Front View

https://youtu.be/KeiC1q_X-to
shows V2 moving completely into the left lane while V1 continues straight in the middle of the right lane.

Back View

https://youtu.be/2gze94YoKTI
V1 is passing V2. V2 tries to move into the right lane, impacting V1.

Left View

https://youtu.be/uJtIdad6zFI
shows the impact of the front of V2 into the rear of V1. V2 has clearly crossed the traffic lane lines to impact V1.

 

[Dre78]

TeslaCam to the rescue!

Glad you're safe and it wasn't a serious accident. Full-self-driving car culture in US cannot come soon enough.

 

[Tam]

...There were no witnesses...

I am glad that TeslaCam is your witness!

It looks like the other driver didn't pay for an Auto Lane Change feature like the one in Tesla has and the blindspot was not manually managed by the human driver in that car.

 

[CuriousG]

Person never even signaled so that's another ding for them.

 

[Rockster]

I decided a few years ago that there’s a very strong correlation between bad drivers and people who lie about driving badly. I vowed then to have a dash cam in every car I own.

 

[Pied]

I wonder how high the other drivers rates will go up

 

[hamtonp]

Just want to say the other driver is a bonafide asshole. After he hits you, he has to lie about it. The person already did damage to your car and wants to put blame on you so you can pay for his mistake. What a shitty person. I think we need a law that doubles the penalty when a person is caught in a lie like this.

 

[RayK]

Maybe that guy's insurance company will supply the karma...

 

[MrMassTransit]

Sorry about the accident but glad you had the footage. I previously worked for a bus company and the cameras on our vehicles made all the difference when accidents occurred. You can clearly see this guy not only collided with you, he failed to signal which is a huge pet peeve of mine. Glad to hear his insurance will be paying up. If he had used a signal you would have still had the right of way but that might have been enough warning to slow down and avoid a collision. How bad was the damage to your car?

 

[MP3Mike]

Are my eyes deceiving me or did he actually hit you twice? Once as you passed, and then again when you stopped as he continued to go forward...

 

[127.0.0.0]

I think so too he hit him twice ..

 

[afty]

I wish there was some kind of penalty for lying to your insurance like this guy did. Glad you had this evidence to refute his claim.

 

[Wizard2416]

Don't forget to file for diminishing value if possible.

Additionally, go to doctor for a full check up just in case.

 

[Ol'Blue]

Hope the car is alright, glad you had Cam setup!

 

[SD_Engnr]

Ouch. Definitely looks like he hit you twice. It also appears as though he was looking down at something, so even more evidence that he was at fault. SMH.
Glad your cams were working, and that the files weren't corrupt!

 

[TKOGUY]

Yup, got hit twice.

 

[drtimhill]

Just want to say the other driver is a bonafide asshole. After he hits you, he has to lie about it. The person already did damage to your car and wants to put blame on you so you can pay for his mistake. What a shitty person. I think we need a law that doubles the penalty when a person is caught in a lie like this.

Agreed. I can forgive ppl the odd bump .. even the best drivers make mistakes. But denying it and trying to shift the blame is a scummy thing to do.

 

[adrianp89]

Guy is an asshole for sure - the cameras are awesome. However I can't help but to think you could have easily avoided this... the guy was already over the line when you went to pass him. A little patience would have saved a lot of headache.

 

[Rothgarr]

Sentry mode also made a hit-and-run driver not only pay to fix my parked car that he hit but he also got fined. (His insurance immediately accepted responsibility and the police fined him)

I freakin LOVE sentry mode. Thank you, Tesla.

 

[MattUNI]

Guy is an asshole for sure - the cameras are awesome. However I can't help but to think you could have easily avoided this... the guy was already over the line when you went to pass him. A little patience would have saved a lot of headache.

I thought the same. Although it is DEFINITELY 100% the other guy's fault - no question - it was clear that he was a boneheaded driver that was already starting to straddle the line. I'm not saying it was 100% avoidable, but I likely would have had extreme caution to the point where I would have been predicting him to do something as dumb as what he did - assuming I myself wasn't distracted or didn't have my focus elsewhere.

Again - not your fault - definitely his fault - but I did think, "Wow, the signs were all there that he was a horrid driver who could do something ridiculous at any point - especially when side-by-side with him."

I will also point out it is easy to state this while having all the time in the world to review the video from the leisure of my chair - lol - which of course is a different environment than things happening live.