Drive unit damaged after driving in heavy rain -- SC won't cover under warranty

[cunningham1981]

Go ahead and make an insurance claim. It would be a comprehensive loss. The insurance company can do the investigating and take legal action if they want their money back.

Has anyone had success making an insurance claim like this for the drive unit? I'm about to give it a try since they found water in my DU.

 

[Gixx1300R]

Most likely a coolant leak inside the motor instead of driving through water. Well known problem with older Teslas

 

[cunningham1981]

UPDATE: They did find that it was water ingress. I filed a comprehensive claim with my insurance (Tesla Insurance). They came back and said it would be filed as an at fault incident since I drove through the water. So all I had to to do is pay my $500 deductible. Much better than $7000.

On a side note, I've had a really good experience with Tesla Insurance so far. If you're a safe driver, it was the best policy for the money I could find.

 

[blodg1]

UPDATE: They did find that it was water ingress. I filed a comprehensive claim with my insurance (Tesla Insurance). They came back and said it would be filed as an at fault incident since I drove through the water. So all I had to to do is pay my $500 deductible. Much better than $7000.

On a side note, I've had a really good experience with Tesla Insurance so far. If you're a safe driver, it was the best policy for the money I could find.

At fault? So a collision rather than comprehensive claim?

 

[MP3Mike]

At fault? So a collision rather than comprehensive claim?

Yep. Crashing through standing water is considered a collision. (You failed to avoid a road hazard that was just "sitting" there.) If it was a toolbox in mid-air that fell off of a truck that would be comprehensive. (But if the toolbox had stopped moving and was just sitting the road that would be collision.)

 

[blodg1]

Yep. Crashing through standing water is considered a collision. (You failed to avoid a road hazard that was just "sitting" there.) If it was a toolbox in mid-air that fell off of a truck that would be comprehensive. (But if the toolbox had stopped moving and was just sitting the road that would be collision.)

I fully understand comp vs. collision and have to explain this to my customers daily but @cunningham1981 said at-fault & comprehensive. Probably doesn't matter but seems odd to say a comp loss is at-fault.

 

[MP3Mike]

I fully understand comp vs. collision and have to explain this to my customers daily but @cunningham1981 said at-fault & comprehensive. Probably doesn't matter but seems odd to say a comp loss is at-fault.

I interpreted what they said as they filed a comp claim, but the insurance company said no, it is an at-fault collision claim. So converted their claim, or filed a new one for that.

 

[BMWM3Man]

UPDATE: They did find that it was water ingress. I filed a comprehensive claim with my insurance (Tesla Insurance). They came back and said it would be filed as an at fault incident since I drove through the water. So all I had to to do is pay my $500 deductible. Much better than $7000.

On a side note, I've had a really good experience with Tesla Insurance so far. If you're a safe driver, it was the best policy for the money I could find.

Let us know how much your policy goes up at next renewal.

 

[silverstreak23]

If that is the case, what about washing the undercarriage? I’m sure the kind of force you normally use trying to get a power washer under there is at least as great or greater than driving through a puddle. I live in the north, salt corrosion is a real problem if you risk voiding the warranty by washing it

 

[TLLMRRJ]

If that is the case, what about washing the undercarriage? I’m sure the kind of force you normally use trying to get a power washer under there is at least as great or greater than driving through a puddle. I live in the north, salt corrosion is a real problem if you risk voiding the warranty by washing it

You can't drive in the rain unless you want to pay for a new battery and drive units, so you sure as heck can't wash your car!

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[plusplusjames]

I had a 2014 Model S and drove it from New Jersey to my office in Massachusetts the day after Labor Day 2022. As you may recall, there was a huge nor’easter that day. Wet interstate and driving rains. I never drove through open water, just the deluge of a standard heavy rainstorm.

That evening after work, the car issued 5 serious faults and would not drive. It was flatbedded away with the diagnosis of water egress in the main battery through the junction box. $15,000 to replace the battery and Tesla service would not budge.

I coughed up the 15 large and sold the car right away on eBay. Ive never had a car die because of standard wet roads. In my opinion this is a design flaw and needs to be addressed. In the meantime, I am very happy driving my 2023 Kia Stinger GT2 at half the price.

My insurance declined to cover.

I’m still annoyed. If anyone wants to do a class action suit, please include me.

 

[SO16]

Yeah unfortunately there were definitely some glaring design flaws early on. Like having the AC drain on top of the battery. It seems many are sorted out now. One of the problems with being an early adopter I guess.

Tesla should have done more to cover that issue though.

If one day I need to pay for my 2017 model S battery, I still would probably do it and keep the car even with the 112k miles. The rest of the car seems to be holding up well. I save about 2k per year in gas and certainly enjoy the performance and utility of my model S over any gas car I can think of.

 

[1windy]

I had a 2014 Model S and drove it from New Jersey to my office in Massachusetts the day after Labor Day 2022. As you may recall, there was a huge nor’easter that day. Wet interstate and driving rains. I never drove through open water, just the deluge of a standard heavy rainstorm.

That evening after work, the car issued 5 serious faults and would not drive. It was flatbedded away with the diagnosis of water egress in the main battery through the junction box. $15,000 to replace the battery and Tesla service would not budge.

I coughed up the 15 large and sold the car right away on eBay. Ive never had a car die because of standard wet roads. In my opinion this is a design flaw and needs to be addressed. In the meantime, I am very happy driving my 2023 Kia Stinger GT2 at half the price.

My insurance declined to cover.

I’m still annoyed. If anyone wants to do a class action suit, please include me.

Let's see how your Kia holds up to a nor'easter in 8 years.

 

[terranx]

Let's see how your Kia holds up to a nor'easter in 8 years.

...Probably fine like most cars?

 

[legendsk]

I had a 2014 Model S and drove it from New Jersey to my office in Massachusetts the day after Labor Day 2022. As you may recall, there was a huge nor’easter that day. Wet interstate and driving rains. I never drove through open water, just the deluge of a standard heavy rainstorm.

That evening after work, the car issued 5 serious faults and would not drive. It was flatbedded away with the diagnosis of water egress in the main battery through the junction box. $15,000 to replace the battery and Tesla service would not budge.

I coughed up the 15 large and sold the car right away on eBay. Ive never had a car die because of standard wet roads. In my opinion this is a design flaw and needs to be addressed. In the meantime, I am very happy driving my 2023 Kia Stinger GT2 at half the price.

My insurance declined to cover.

I’m still annoyed. If anyone wants to do a class action suit, please include me.

I feel your pain. Traded my Kia Stinger GT2 {best car I had ever had}, for my Model YLR. Sure miss the comfort, reliability, consistency and dependability. Long term the Tesla will be lower cost of ownership and as long as I don't need any service or customer support, I think it's going to be okay.

 

[blodg1]

I had a 2014 Model S and drove it from New Jersey to my office in Massachusetts the day after Labor Day 2022. As you may recall, there was a huge nor’easter that day. Wet interstate and driving rains. I never drove through open water, just the deluge of a standard heavy rainstorm.

That evening after work, the car issued 5 serious faults and would not drive. It was flatbedded away with the diagnosis of water egress in the main battery through the junction box. $15,000 to replace the battery and Tesla service would not budge.

I coughed up the 15 large and sold the car right away on eBay. Ive never had a car die because of standard wet roads. In my opinion this is a design flaw and needs to be addressed. In the meantime, I am very happy driving my 2023 Kia Stinger GT2 at half the price.

My insurance declined to cover.

I’m still annoyed. If anyone wants to do a class action suit, please include me.

That is flood damage and covered by comprehensive insurance coverage. I have personally handled claims like this. Did you not have comprehensive coverage on your policy?

 

[TLLMRRJ]

Long term the Tesla will be lower cost of ownership and as long as I don't need any service or customer support, I think it's going to be okay.

I think it clear that it will be the opposite. Out of warranty repairs are proving to be much more painful with EV's and their $7K drive units (often x2 or x3) and $10-20K batteries.

 

[kpanda17]

My MS has been at the Service Center for a week now after I had to get it towed when it shut off completely while driving.

It turns out the drive unit had water damage from driving through the rain. The car never went through deep water or was flooded, but the tech at the service center is saying if I went through a puddle at speed it could have pushed it into the drive unit. I drove the car for a week after this rainstorm and had no issues and the car was garaged when not driving.

The service center is not budging at all after I argued that this should be covered under warranty (it's under 8 years old/150k miles).

My main issue here is that a Model S should be able to drive through rain, even heavy rain, and not incur damage like this. If there's an issue with the seals or any of the components that protect the drive unit, which I've heard is an issue in older MS's, shouldn't that be covered under warranty?

think the reaction by an ICEv manufacturer would be the same
driving though water/puddles and receiving damage is subjective on who is responsible
you can escalate as we would have to do with any business, get a lawyer
dont think you will win, tough, but lesson learned, do not drive through water more than 2" deep, and always go slow

 

[plusplusjames]

Let's see how your Kia holds up to a nor'easter in 8 years.

I've never had a car NOT survive a rain storm, except for Tesla.

 

[plusplusjames]

That is flood damage and covered by comprehensive insurance coverage. I have personally handled claims like this. Did you not have comprehensive coverage on your policy?

I had comprehensive and coverage was declined.