What is it with all these rear-end accidents? Here's my footage.

[Hota]

I was in stop and go traffic last week on the freeway. Autopilot stopped but the Ford F250 box van behind me didn't quite make it.

Luckily I had a front and rear dashcam...or so I thought.

I offered it to the police officer. He said, "I don't need it."
I told the insurance adjuster of the F250 that I could email her the video and she said, "That won't be necessary."

No one wants/needs to look at my footage (the driver took full responsibility for everything) so I'm posting it here so it won't go to waste!

The video makes the impact look minor but his insurance quoted $4500 of visible damage right off the bat. I'm guessing it's going to go up to $6000+ once the labor adjustment is added and the structure underneath is inspected. Plus I have a rear bumper Xpel, rear-facing jumpseats and ceramic paint protection which will be taken care of afterwards.

 

[PhilDavid]

Yikes! Hope you are not injured in any way.

Make sure you file for a diminished value claim (likely over $6,000) in addition to the repair bill. Your car is now worth less due to the accident and the Ford's insurance company needs to make you whole for that loss.

They also need to provide you with a comparable rental car at likely ~ $200/day X number of days it takes to fix your car.

Unfortunately this repair may take a month or two. Good thing you had the dash cam as that might have played a role in the Ford driver accepting responsibility.

 

[Pinot.Noir]

Dont forget to report that the 3 carat flawless diamonds at all 4 corners of your license plate frame have "gone missing" due to the impact.

Sorry to hear about this. You dont even have your plates yet?

 

[Hota]

Yikes! Hope you are not injured in any way.

Make sure you file for a diminished value claim (likely over $6,000) in addition to the repair bill. Your car is now worth less due to the accident and the Ford's insurance company needs to make you whole for that loss.

They also need to provide you with a comparable rental car at likely ~ $200/day X number of days it takes to fix your car.

Unfortunately this repair may take a month or two. Good thing you had the dash cam as that might have played a role in the Ford driver accepting responsibility.

Thanks! I'm perfectly fine and I'll file a diminished value claim. Hopefully I won't have to lawyer up to get that taken care of.

The good thing is that my car is fully driveable in its current condition so the body shop is going to spend a few hours taking it apart so they can inspect and order all the parts at once. Once everything comes in, then the repair should only take a week or so. I'd still much rather drive my smashed Model S than any rental they would give me.

The big question is how long it's going to take to get everything in - including a new liftgate.

 

[Hota]

Sorry to hear about this. You dont even have your plates yet?

Just erased for privacy....although if you're in New England be sure to wave if you see me in my smashed Model S driving around for the time being.

 

[Pinot.Noir]

Just erased for privacy....although if you're in New England be sure to wave if you see me in my smashed Model S driving around for the time being

Gotcha. In Cali, but will keep you in my thoughts. My worst nightmare is some asshat screwing up "The Precious"

 

[bonnie]

The video makes the impact look minor but his insurance quoted $4500 of visible damage right off the bat. I'm guessing it's going to go up to $6000+ once the labor adjustment is added and the structure underneath is inspected. Plus I have a rear bumper Xpel, rear-facing jumpseats and ceramic paint protection which will be taken care of afterwards.
]

I was rear ended a few months ago & the total (with Xpel also) came to just under $5k. However, looking at your damage, vs. mine ... well, you're going to come in a lot higher than $6k methinks.

My damage consisted of a broken reflector, popped bumper that needed replacement, a couple of very minor dents, plus repainting the back, and then Xpel. Not anything near your damage.

 

[Canuck]

Don't worry. The Xpel is self-healing. By morning, it'll be fine.

 

[artsci]

Looks very similar to the damage done to my car in a rear ender. The lift gate had to be replaced and there was damage to a section of the rear frame, which also had to be replaced. If I recall, my total came to about $13,000.

 

[RogerHScott]

Ouch! From the video, this doesn't really appear to have much to do with your stopping -- he just drove right into you.
The driver behind is always at fault, no matter what, so it is unsurprising they didn't need any "evidence".
Good luck with the repairs! Based on my own recent experience, you need a larger multiplier between the initial estimate and the final cost.

 

[MP3Mike]

The driver behind is always at fault, no matter what, so it is unsurprising they didn't need any "evidence".

Not true. The driver behind is not at fault if you roll back into them, or shift into reverse and back in to them. (I have friends that have had rear-enders make those claims to try to avoid the hit on their insurance.)

 

[ibdb]

@Hota -- Sorry to see that. I was hit in a similar way. Stopped (in my case for a red light AND an ambulance crossing in front of me with lights and sirens on) when I was rear ended by a Ford Ranger. Initial damage estimates were about $5k. Final total to repair was closer to $15K. Filed a diminished value claim and was awarded $4k.

Expect to see your estimate move significantly higher.

20170120_150119_LI

• ibdb
• Jun 4, 2018

$5k initial estimate -- more like $15K when done

 

[markb1]

Not true. The driver behind is not at fault if you roll back into them, or shift into reverse and back in to them. (I have friends that have had rear-enders make those claims to try to avoid the hit on their insurance.)

I have literally had a car that was stopped in front of me shift into reverse and back into me... on two occasions! (Both a long time ago in a different car.)

 

[Hota]

Ouch! From the video, this doesn't really appear to have much to do with your stopping -- he just drove right into you.
The driver behind is always at fault, no matter what, so it is unsurprising they didn't need any "evidence".
Good luck with the repairs! Based on my own recent experience, you need a larger multiplier between the initial estimate and the final cost.

Yeah, my coworkers after seeing the damage joked, "Well, it's obvious it wasn't your fault. Was it the car's fault?! "

 

[Kant.Ing]

Or, was AP on?

 

[Cosmacelf]

It would be interesting to enhance that video to try to figure out what the driver was doing. Probably looking at his phone....

 

[RogerHScott]

Not true. The driver behind is not at fault if you roll back into them, or shift into reverse and back in to them. (I have friends that have had rear-enders make those claims to try to avoid the hit on their insurance.)

Sure, and if you turn around and fire a gun at him, too. I'm talking about when the driver in front is moving at a non-negative forward speed, for whatever reason.

 

[phaduman]

Sorry to hear about the damage - you must have been furious. The curse of tesla - repair durations..hopefully you can drive around until all your parts have arrived!

Here was mine. Thankfully, his bumper hit mine and paint protection (suntek) took all the scratch out except for two license screw imprints from his bumper into mine. We settled outside. No warning or sensor issues.

 

[Cosmacelf]

So, I tried to enhance the video, but there just wasn't enough video information to see into the cab. Or, at least, I couldn't make it work.

 

[Xenoilphobe]

I was able to enhance the video and add the audio too... minutes before the impact...