Photos to come in next comment.
We've read so much to indicate either way, and we wont necessarily put our hopes in what comes through in the comments as ultimately it will be to the insurance companies, but we'd like to share our experience as it happens in case someone else finds themselves in the same boat. And we would still be very interested in hearing peoples opinions, and shared experiences.
Here's the situation:
- We were turning left (indicator on, have dash cam footage from all angles to show we were 100% driving responsibly and it was night time so you can see the indicator and everything).
- Young buddy it a kitted out (roll cage and all) Totyota Celica (or SC300 or similar) is way behind us, but speeds up like crazy and attempts to overtake us on the left and smashes into our car!
- It hit the front left part of our car. A millisecond more into the turn and my partner who was driving (I was passenger) would have been struck.
- It got towed to a yard, then to a repair shop.
- ICBC and the repair shops initial warnings to us before inspecting it closely were "don't expect it to get totalled. We'll see after the proper assessment.
We are in British Columbia, Canada, insurance here works differently to other provinces and the U.S.
We are hoping that ICBC declares it totalled, as we have third party insurance that would cover the cost of getting a new car and if this one gets repaired, it's going to be greatly devalued. It was only 11 months old. Also, we really don;t feel confident they could repair it and make it whole again, but maybe we are wrong in thinking that.
Anticipating questions, here's some key things about the the car and incident:
1) We've had two repairs on it due to a rear end incident, and an towing accident (mistaken identity, they began towing the wrong car - our car - and didn't use jackpoints so it caused damage to the underside and the rocker panels). Neither incidents were our fault, however likely reduced the cars value.
2) If ICBC decide our car was only worth, say 70k (random guess, no idea right now) before the crash, then the higher the repair bill, the more likely they will declare it a total loss, and no skin off our nose because we have the extra insurance that steps in to top up the change on what it costs to get a new vehicle. The car is 11 months old.
3) The auto body shop said they rarely see Telsa's totalled however, because they are so expensive. Ours had FSD too.
4) Airbags didn't go off due to the angle we were hit at. We likely would have been injured from them though had they of gone off so that's good. We have no serious injuries (just muscular-skeletal stuff that is being cared for by massage, physio, chiro etc and should hopefully resolve soon due to getting immediate care).
5) We were not using autopilot.
6) It was a 60km zone and obviously we were going much slower because we were about to make a turn. Conservative guesses for the speed of the other vehicle has been between 80-120km/h, but likely at he higher end.
Once it's all resolved, we'll share dash cam footage (not sure if we want to expose the other drivers embarrassing mistake just yet, or if it's legal while the case is still open). The other car was totalled. We initially freaked out, thinking he was dead when we saw his car, the whole left side was smashed in. Turns out he was in a right hand drive, and walked away from the incident. I'm pretty sure he's going to have worse muscular-skeletal complications in the future that we will though.
We welcome opinions and comments and will update as we go through the process. Also would like to add that I don't ever want to not be in a Tesla again. The low centre of gravity reduced how far our car got pushed, and the experience with our rental car is reminding us every second how amazing our model 3 is/was.
We've read so much to indicate either way, and we wont necessarily put our hopes in what comes through in the comments as ultimately it will be to the insurance companies, but we'd like to share our experience as it happens in case someone else finds themselves in the same boat. And we would still be very interested in hearing peoples opinions, and shared experiences.
Here's the situation:
- We were turning left (indicator on, have dash cam footage from all angles to show we were 100% driving responsibly and it was night time so you can see the indicator and everything).
- Young buddy it a kitted out (roll cage and all) Totyota Celica (or SC300 or similar) is way behind us, but speeds up like crazy and attempts to overtake us on the left and smashes into our car!
- It hit the front left part of our car. A millisecond more into the turn and my partner who was driving (I was passenger) would have been struck.
- It got towed to a yard, then to a repair shop.
- ICBC and the repair shops initial warnings to us before inspecting it closely were "don't expect it to get totalled. We'll see after the proper assessment.
We are in British Columbia, Canada, insurance here works differently to other provinces and the U.S.
We are hoping that ICBC declares it totalled, as we have third party insurance that would cover the cost of getting a new car and if this one gets repaired, it's going to be greatly devalued. It was only 11 months old. Also, we really don;t feel confident they could repair it and make it whole again, but maybe we are wrong in thinking that.
Anticipating questions, here's some key things about the the car and incident:
1) We've had two repairs on it due to a rear end incident, and an towing accident (mistaken identity, they began towing the wrong car - our car - and didn't use jackpoints so it caused damage to the underside and the rocker panels). Neither incidents were our fault, however likely reduced the cars value.
2) If ICBC decide our car was only worth, say 70k (random guess, no idea right now) before the crash, then the higher the repair bill, the more likely they will declare it a total loss, and no skin off our nose because we have the extra insurance that steps in to top up the change on what it costs to get a new vehicle. The car is 11 months old.
3) The auto body shop said they rarely see Telsa's totalled however, because they are so expensive. Ours had FSD too.
4) Airbags didn't go off due to the angle we were hit at. We likely would have been injured from them though had they of gone off so that's good. We have no serious injuries (just muscular-skeletal stuff that is being cared for by massage, physio, chiro etc and should hopefully resolve soon due to getting immediate care).
5) We were not using autopilot.
6) It was a 60km zone and obviously we were going much slower because we were about to make a turn. Conservative guesses for the speed of the other vehicle has been between 80-120km/h, but likely at he higher end.
Once it's all resolved, we'll share dash cam footage (not sure if we want to expose the other drivers embarrassing mistake just yet, or if it's legal while the case is still open). The other car was totalled. We initially freaked out, thinking he was dead when we saw his car, the whole left side was smashed in. Turns out he was in a right hand drive, and walked away from the incident. I'm pretty sure he's going to have worse muscular-skeletal complications in the future that we will though.
We welcome opinions and comments and will update as we go through the process. Also would like to add that I don't ever want to not be in a Tesla again. The low centre of gravity reduced how far our car got pushed, and the experience with our rental car is reminding us every second how amazing our model 3 is/was.
