Hi All, a terriable crash happened yesterday when I was driving on the moutain road as usually to pickup my daughter from school. I faced a car coming towards me but very fast, I was a bit scared and steered a bit too much and fell to the valley but bounced back to the road and hit the mountain. I thought I was going to die. All airbags opened and there was smoke, but I survived. Police came and issued a crash card and towed car away. The car lost the suspension and one wheel and most people on spot said it's totalled. I am filing insurance (Telsa insurance) via app
1. It asks me do I need the roadside serivce, shall i put the towing company address?
2. it also asked me whether I will use telsa insurance deductable to cover this roadside service?
The towing company that the police used said Tesla has to call them and schedule pickup and I wonder the longer it may cost more.
Tesla insurance line is not possible to get through, I will try to go ahead to file on Tesla app.
3. How about the coverage for renting car and as I read it will take a long time to settle everything.
Thank you so much for your great support.
My car was hit in a two-car accident six months ago, the first time I'd been involved in a major accident as well. But I think my experience was typical and can address some of your questions, I agree it's a bit confusing until you get through it. You don't really need to worry about most of the details, as the insurance will walk through most of it - though Tesla insurance sounds slow to respond so you're stuck wondering for the time being.
The main thing you (and I) learned is that when the police are on scene, they'll generally do an accident report, and call third-party tow trucks rather than wait for you or your insurance to do it. If you have coverage there shouldn't be any additional cost impact on you, since you're already well past your deductible, for the towing or the storage fees.
1. You don't need roadside service from Tesla, as your car has already been towed from the road/accident scene.
2. Everything including the repair, valuation, third-party tow/storage will be covered by your collision (or maybe for you it's comp, not sure) deductible first, and then the rest is paid by insurance. You're likely well past the deductible, so you don't need to worry about the cost of tow/storage fees.
The crash card probably has the police phone number and accident report number, that's how your insurance will identify the towing company, and reach the third-party tow company to find out where your car is, and arrange a tow to the insurance company's lot or adjuster. You basically don't have to deal with the third-party tow company directly, except maybe to authorize release of the car to your insurance or retrieve your personal items.
Since your insurance coverage is bearing the cost of the third-party tow and the storage fees, they'll likely want to get the car released ASAP to them. But given how slow Tesla Insurance seems to be, they may be somewhat inefficient and slow about this. But it shouldn't be any direct cost to you, including the additional tow to the insurer's lot.
3. If there was another party involved and at-fault, they would have to pay for a rental for you during the repair period, if your car is not totaled. But since you were the sole party and at fault, it is whatever rental car coverage was included or opted in on your Tesla policy. I'm not familiar with Tesla Insurance, but for most others it's really not more than 30 days at something like $40-50/day, if you opted in for it at all. So I wouldn't be in any rush on this as you'll blow through any coverage quickly, regardless of when you start it.
EDIT:; Just re-read the original post about the airbags deploying. If like mine, all the other damage is fairly irrelevant, car will be totaled without really looking it over. Rather than towing it to a repair center or adjuster, they'll tow it straight to an insurance/salvage auction lot...
