I recently attended a conference in California, and decided to drive my S (why? because Tesla) the entire way instead of doing the sensible thing like, oh, flying from New Mexico to San Jose.
Anyway, I drive all the way out there, staying overnight in Mojave, CA near the supercharger there, and get to the hotel in Santa Cruz where the conference is happening, park the car, enter the lobby, check in, get my room key, and walk back to car.
That is when things got weird. As I am walking back I see some lady standing next to my car, writing on a sheet of paper. IMMEDIATELY I thought, oh crap, she's leaving a note for the owner of the Model S she just hit. Oh crap oh crap oh crap. So I ran over and went up to her and said, hi, um, leaving a note for me? And she apologized and said she just hit my car while parking her big Nissan Pathfinder ICEmobile.
Long story short, she hit the right rear corner of the car, both the bumper and side panel. Lots of scraping and scratches, no dents.
Here's the photos I took immediately (note the car was really dirty after a 1200-mile drive through snow, road salt, dirt, rain, sleet, slush, mud, etc):
In this next photo, the finger is pointing to a "pit", a hole in the plastic or whatever the bumper is made of, that is new and caused by the impact of the scrape with the Nissan Pathfinder:
This is the parking lot at the hotel where I parked. You'd think it'd be easy enough for anyone to navigate. Nope.
This is the diagram I created for the other driver's insurance company, with whom I immediately filed a claim (I'm the blue car):
Now, in New Mexico, there is only one body shop in the entire state that is certified by Tesla, and it's one in Albuquerque, an hour away. I've tried for days to set up an appointment for an estimate and got nowhere, no replies, no return emails, nothing. So I emailed the CEO of the company and he replied saying someone will be in touch on Monday. We'll see.
I'm curious: what do people think? Is this a buff-the-surface-and-all-will-be-well kind of job, or do they have to put on new bumpers and side panels?
Anyway, I drive all the way out there, staying overnight in Mojave, CA near the supercharger there, and get to the hotel in Santa Cruz where the conference is happening, park the car, enter the lobby, check in, get my room key, and walk back to car.
That is when things got weird. As I am walking back I see some lady standing next to my car, writing on a sheet of paper. IMMEDIATELY I thought, oh crap, she's leaving a note for the owner of the Model S she just hit. Oh crap oh crap oh crap. So I ran over and went up to her and said, hi, um, leaving a note for me? And she apologized and said she just hit my car while parking her big Nissan Pathfinder ICEmobile.
Long story short, she hit the right rear corner of the car, both the bumper and side panel. Lots of scraping and scratches, no dents.
Here's the photos I took immediately (note the car was really dirty after a 1200-mile drive through snow, road salt, dirt, rain, sleet, slush, mud, etc):
In this next photo, the finger is pointing to a "pit", a hole in the plastic or whatever the bumper is made of, that is new and caused by the impact of the scrape with the Nissan Pathfinder:
This is the parking lot at the hotel where I parked. You'd think it'd be easy enough for anyone to navigate. Nope.
This is the diagram I created for the other driver's insurance company, with whom I immediately filed a claim (I'm the blue car):
Now, in New Mexico, there is only one body shop in the entire state that is certified by Tesla, and it's one in Albuquerque, an hour away. I've tried for days to set up an appointment for an estimate and got nowhere, no replies, no return emails, nothing. So I emailed the CEO of the company and he replied saying someone will be in touch on Monday. We'll see.
I'm curious: what do people think? Is this a buff-the-surface-and-all-will-be-well kind of job, or do they have to put on new bumpers and side panels?