WARNING: Liberty Mutual, Tesla's "partner," is terrible, denied part of my claim

[NewCow]

I know all claims are different and vary widely from state to state, but here's what happened to me.

I switched to Liberty Mutual within the past year after Tesla referred me there, which is why this situation is so ridiculous. Tesla's own "partner" nitpicked me on the specialty rate for Teslas. Had some some hail damage, took my S to the shop that Tesla referred me to, and get the repair work going. The shop charges $78 per hour for body work, which Liberty Mutual disputes and argues is an above-market rate, even for a specialty vehicle. The most that LM is willing to pay is $52 per hour, so $26/hr less.

I try to have the shop and insurance company work it out, but when I go to pick up my car nothing is resolved so I'm forced to pay ~$350 out of pocket on top of my $500 deductible. I had a major repair for a rear end back in 2016, and I have the documentation that shows that body shop charged the *exact* same rate of $78/hr for body work.

I realize I should have refused to pay the extra, but I needed my car back so was kind of forced into a tough spot when I got there to pick the car up, and now I have to fight with the insurance company over a few hundred dollars. Regardless, it makes no sense that Tesla's own insurance partner would nitpick and refuse to pay specialty Tesla labor rates, so I just want to warn other Tesla owners of what a terrible experience I've had with them. I already cancelled my policy and went back to Esurance.

 

[mattack4000]

Contact your department of insurance, that will get their attention

 

[jelloslug]

Contact your department of insurance, that will get their attention

This.
I once had a claim that was being dragged out for weeks suddenly get resolved in a matter of hours after a phone call to my states insurance commission.

 

[mattack4000]

I would drop liberty as soon as this is done for pulling a stunt like this too. It’s not like they have low premium.

 

[cpa]

My wife worked in insurance for decades. We are in California. Many companies (and Liberty Mutual is among them) have endorsements above their standard policy verbiage. So, you may have purchased their "standard" policy which limits the hourly labor rate or had exclusions for certain vehicles. You would have needed to have purchased an endorsement to cover more expensive labor or parts. I am not defending Liberty Mutual--she hates them--but the answer may very well be buried in the fine print on page 8 of your policy.

And policies vary from state to state, so what is sold here may not be what is sold in Colorado.

 

[Vitold]

Paint less dent removal labor cost is usually cheaper than labor for body work.

 

[jjanov79]

I just had my quarter panel replaced and there is only one certified Tesla shop in Austin so they basically get to name their price. The rates you paid are cheap by comparison. It was just over $15k total when it was all said and done... luckily the guy who hit me had Farmers which didn’t fight the rates.

 

[jjanov79]

 

[slainla]

Wow, $15k fo that...ridiculous.

 

[dbldwn02]

Wow, $15k fo that...ridiculous.

I had similar damage...albeit much much smaller. $10k in Denver.