Just like the title, I got into a 3 car accident. I was stopped at the red light. Car B behind me stopped too. And then car C hit them which pushed them to rear end my car. I have Geico. Car B also has Geico. Car C has Tesla insurance.
Now, Tesla denied liability for my car. They said they didn’t hit me directly. Car B which is Geico also said they wasn’t at fault so they can’t take responsibility for my car either.
My rear bumper is slightly damaged, just popped out but still driveable though. I think the estimate to repair it would be around $1k. I didn’t have collision coverage, so my insurance can’t do anything about it. I thought I would save some money by doing that since this is just an old 2014 Toyota Camry, but now I know it’s a big mistake to not have full coverage.
Tesla insurance is the worst. Can’t get a hold of their adjuster. Called his number, he didn’t pick up and mailbox is full.
What should I do now? Do I just try my best to go after them? A lesson for me to get full coverage after this.
Got into a 3 car accident. I was at the front. Other insurances deny liability.
byu/Fantastic_Database66 inInsurance
Posted by Fantastic_Database66
23 Comments
Anecdote 5,993 why Tesla Insurance sucks. This is ludicrous unless they’re saying Car B was in motion when hit by their driver.
Your best option is to sue the Tesla driver and the driver of Car B. You should be able to do that pretty easily, and the judge will sort it out. And hopefully yell at the Tesla adjuster.
Sounds more like C is blaming B, saying they hit you first. If the accident happened as you described, C would obviously be at fault for the damages to both vehicles. Since you don’t have coverage with your insurance to help, your recourse is to sue both drivers and try to win in court.
Appeal their decision. The police report and pictures would present enough evidence and maybe any citations issued could help (driving too closely, failure to yield at a red light or stop sign, etc). I’m just glad you haven’t gotten the “that’s what you get for not having the right coverage, dummy” comments like I got on my similar post. I hope you get assistance and a resolution that is in your favor.
If you are hit from behind, that’s almost a guaranteed winning case. Especially if you have some neck or back pain from being hit, however minor. The insurance company will almost never negotiate with the driver. Once an injury lawyer gets involved, they will straighten their act up REAL fast. I know this because it’s what i do for a living, haha.
Just file with your insurance and let them handle it. Your premiums pay then to do this.
There is a reason car accident lawyers have jobs. Spoiler alert, it’s because insurance companies suck. Often times the only way to get them to do what they should do is to file a lawsuit.
The Tesla is 100% at fault. If they had hit something that hit you, they’re still at fault. Doesn’t matter if it’s a car
Getting into admit it is something else. That’s why you need a lawyer. Your own lawyer. It’s unfortunate your neck is extremely sore, your back may be permanently injured, and if you go into any credible chiropractor that’s used to dealing with accidents, they’ll know who to refer you to for you to get a significant claim against the person who instigated the accident. Go Google this, or ask Gemini or something else if you don’t believe me. People don’t blow this up because normally the insurance companies while bad aren’t awful. This one is awful. Time to go nuclear
Insurance companies and ALL of their staff are dogs. Sorry if you are such a low life you’d work for them then you’re a dog – get a proper job
Let your insurance handle it. That’s what you’re paying for.
File a complaint at the state level
Sue the Tesla driver personally.
Tesla insurance is top 10 god awful insurance. File small claims against the person driving the Tesla, they’ll magically return your phone calls
Had this happen to my wife and the two other parties never admitted fault. Thankfully we had full coverage and live in a state where they can’t raise premiums for not-at-fault claims.
Text the Tesla guy, it might be a cell phone..
I got one word for you: DMV accident report, will probably cost you like 10 bucks to get it but if the officer reported that it happened the way you’re saying, it will all be there every detail. Try it
It’s car C’s fault, they created the accident. You have to go after them. Lawyer if necessary, they’ll pick up the phone then.
Don’t accept that as the result. You can report them to the state department of insurance (or insurance commission, whatever it is called in your state) – both the car behind you and the Tesla – because there is no circumstance under which they won’t have to pay for your car.
Highly unlikely that an attorney will take a case over a $1,000 damaged bumper. Most Personal Injury lawyers just handle the bodily injury cases. Having said that, you do have some options here: you can sue the driver of car C in small claims court, and you probably won’t need an attorney to represent you. I would also contact your state insurance commissioner’s office about the lack of response from the Tesla adjustor. Before you go that route, make sure you can document as much as possible regarding number of times you’ve tried to reach him, dates and times, and any other pertinent information. The state investigators get a lot of complaints, and the ones with good documentation usually get the best results.
It sounds like driver B is not responsible for your damage, unless he/she was right on your rear bumper before the accident. From what I’ve read, driver C started the whole thing.
Best of luck to you.
Get a lawyer and sue. Also go to the chiropractor because you never know what you may have hurt.
I’m sorry but did you not give them a statement? Usually in a multi car accident, they ask about how many impacts you had. Either way, you need to make a fuss at one of these insurance companies, get it escalated, see if they can come to an agreement to split it in half to repair your damage, the one with 0% liability.
So the new scam by insurance companies in multi car collisions is to try and take multiple excesses so the car in the middle will be blamed for the accident, they say there wasn’t enough distance left between the vehicles, however if you fight it they will lose as you only need to reference accidents where parked vehicles are moved upwards of 20 meters in accidents.
In your case you will need to get a quote for repair of your vehicle and send a letter of demand stating that if the letter is not met legal avenues will be explored and that you seek to claim additional legal costs in addition to repair costs, I would send this to the insurance company/ person in the car that hit you, make this an issue between the two insurance companies and not yourself, your best bet is to force the innocent parties insurance to force telsa’s insurance into payment.
Other avenues you can follow are companies that provide a loan car for not at fault accidents, if your car is unroadworthy due to accident damage such as a cracked taillight or a bumper bar that isn’t properly secured you can apply to these companies for a loan vehicle and they will chase payment from the insurance company on your behalf and whoever they find liable will be stuck with the additional costs, this lights a fire under the insurance companies ass because every day they will also be paying for a loan vehicle, be careful some companies can put costs back on you if they’re not successful however it seems uncommon.
B is at fault for hitting you.
C is at fault for hitting B.
Is there a police report?