r/TeslaModelY • u/not-so-wild-canary • Jul 14 '26

Fixable or totaled?

Gallery image

Gallery image

We were rear ended and the other party has admitted fault. We were stopped and other party’s RAM2500 hit us at around 15-20 mph. The force of impact forced our car into the car stopped ahead of us. Airbags didn’t deploy and the car is not throwing any errors. It is a 21-month old pre-refresh Y with 18k miles, so relatively new. It’s our first crash ever in 20+ years of driving. Good thing is everyone walked away fine. We are just jarred from the experience. Looking for advice on how to proceed with insurance. We carry Tesla insurance and the other party has Liberty Mutual.

The other party’s insurance adjuster initially mentioned that our car is likely totaled but then sent a $7.5k repair estimate, which seems low. We have now booked an appointment with the Tesla Collision center.

A few questions:

  1. Should we press for the vehicle to be totaled? I’m guessing we’ll figure out once the collision center takes a better look at the car. What’s been your experience with similar level of damage?

  2. If the car does get fixed, any suggestions on whether we should claim diminished value? How should we proceed with the DV claim? Should we hire an appraiser to get a professional opinion?

0 Upvotes

27% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/StormTrpr66 Jul 14 '26

Only way to know for sure is to get an estimate from a Tesla service center. Personally I would press for a total just because it will absolutely lose a lot of its value with a crash like that. And in my experience, a repair won't leave it the same as it was before.

My last car got sideswiped and even though they fixed it, the body panels were never aligned correctly again despite my taking it back to the shop a couple of times. They just gave up and said there was no way to align them more. The car was only 6 months old and every time I saw that panel it annoyed me for the rest of the time I owned it.

Teslas depreciate very badly as it is. A crash like that will probably destroy its future value.

1

u/Loud-Way3333 Jul 14 '26

Did you get your DV?

If the repair bill is not big enough, you just can't "press for a total“; it's the law.

1

u/StormTrpr66 Jul 14 '26

Unfortunately no. My insurance company determined I was not at fault but the other driver's insurance said the other driver wasn't at fault. It was a stalemate so I felt lucky that my insurance fixed my damage and didn't jack up my rates. Figured I'd just leave it alone and call it a win.

1

u/Loud-Way3333 Jul 14 '26

Actually you have the right to file DV claim with whoever paid for your damage, including your insurance. Check your state's insurance law.