NY - Long Island - Is this totaled or Not?

[razmataz]

IMHO, you have the right of way as you are driving down the street. They should have yielded as they were entering the street. But not an expert on NY traffic laws.

Agree and found out since based on section 1143 NY law the Jeep driver should have gotten a ticket. Now wait for the police report.

§ 1143. Vehicle entering roadway. The driver of a vehicle about to
enter or cross a roadway from any place other than another roadway shall yield the right of way to all vehicles approaching on the roadway to be entered or crossed.

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[NY_Rob]

I am getting back from the closet Rivian certified body shop and the owner tells me the cost estimate to replace, paint and refinish the rear quarter panel/wheel plastic trim is ~$8K (verbal), which is a wildly lower figure than what I had prepared myself for. can you help rationalize this number? sounds too good to be true!

Verbal is one thing, let's see it in writing. Even with that, they often "bait" the ins co into authorizing a repair at a low price then come in later with a "hidden/concealed damage" add-on invoice that's 2X-3X higher then the original invoice. At that point the ins co has already invested XX$ so they reluctantly pay to complete the job.

That exact scenario played out for us when our 2017 i3 got rear-ended a few years back.. the original written estimate was for $6k which I thought was very reasonable given the amount of damage. Allstate then sent a check for $6K to the body shop so they started the repairs. Soon after they sent out a second invoice to Allstate for "concealed damage" for an additional $12K. Being they already cashed the $6K check, Allstate was invested and ended up paying the additional $12K which brought the total to $18K for a vehicle I paid $21K for two years before the accident. If the body shop had written the original estimate for $18K, Allstate would have certainly totaled the vehicle and the body shop would have made zero dollars other than maybe a few hundred for the estimate. It's a game they play when they think they can get away with it....

 

[razmataz]

Verbal is one thing, let's see it in writing. Even with that, they often "bait" the ins co into authorizing a repair at a low price then come in later with a "hidden/concealed damage" add-on invoice that's 2X-3X higher then the original invoice. At that point the ins co has already invested XX$ so they reluctantly pay to complete the job.

That exact scenario played out for us when our 2017 i3 got rear-ended a few years back.. the original written estimate was for $6k which I thought was very reasonable given the amount of damage. Allstate then sent a check for $6K to the body shop so they started the repairs. Soon after they sent out a second invoice to Allstate for "concealed damage" for an additional $12K. Being they already cashed the $6K check, Allstate was invested and ended up paying the additional $12K which brought the total to $18K for a vehicle I paid $21K for two years before the accident. If the body shop had written the original estimate for $18K, Allstate would have certainly totaled the vehicle and the body shop would have made zero dollars other than maybe a few hundred for the estimate. It's a game they play when they think they can get away with it....

Thank you for sharing and that is unfortunate as I feel Allstate is going to pass it along. And I feel that level of repair by a body shop to any EV is not going to bring it back to the new factory fabricated product. I plan to reach out to the body shop for a written estimate and then try to get a second written estimate before closing the loop with the adjuster.

 

[NY_Rob]

Thank you for sharing and that is unfortunate as I feel Allstate is going to pass it along. And I feel that level of repair by a body shop to any EV is not going to bring it back to the new factory fabricated product. I plan to reach out to the body shop for a written estimate and then try to get a second written estimate before closing the loop with the adjuster.

You can always hire your own independent adjuster- it's a good way to double check on the shop and the ins co adjuster in case they try to lowball the payout. Make sure you save that video clip in a safe place so in a few years when Allstate increases your rate due to the accident you can just forward the clip to them again to remind them who was at fault. We had to do that!

 

[Time2Roll]

I am getting back from the closet Rivian certified body shop and the owner tells me the cost estimate to replace, paint and refinish the rear quarter panel/wheel plastic trim is ~$8K (verbal), which is a wildly lower figure than what I had prepared myself for. can you help rationalize this number? sounds too good to be true!

Smooth it off with Bondo and give it some paint. This is how vehicles used to get fixed. Now we all want them re-manufactured identical to original.

 

[NY_Rob]

Smooth it off with Bondo and give it some paint. This is how vehicles used to get fixed. Now we all want them re-manufactured identical to original.

The "re-manufactured identical to original" IMO is mostly due to the manufacturers now publishing their guidelines on how to restore accident damage to factory specs. I don't think those guidelines were available in the past (although I could be wrong about that) but in this age of liability all around, no one wants to do anything that could even remotely expose them.

For example...
Last year we found a small ding in our Model 3 driver door from a piece of road debris that got kicked up and impacted the door at highway speeds. The ding was the diameter of a pencil eraser and maybe 3mm deep, it didn't penetrate the door skin or hit the door in any area with concealed electronics, reinforced beams, nothing.. just part of the door skin period. Very minor and easily fixable using filler and a door respray. After looking at it, the body shop said the door must be completely replaced due to Tesla requirements/the door being aluminum. No filler allowed, even for a tiny non-penetrating 1/4" ding in the middle of the door. That repair was going to run $2,500- $3,000 because of the labor involved moving the mirror/locks/electronics to a new door which still needed to be painted. That's what you're up against nowadays with modern vehicles and advanced materials like aluminum body parts. Not repairable, only replaceable

 

[razmataz]

You can always hire your own independent adjuster- it's a good way to double check on the shop and the ins co adjuster in case they try to lowball the payout. Make sure you save that video clip in a safe place so in a few years when Allstate increases your rate due to the accident you can just forward the clip to them again to remind them who was at fault. We had to do that!

Great idea and after some googling I see a lot of independent adjusters but unsure if there are portals that can help localize to my zip code.

The "re-manufactured identical to original" IMO is mostly due to the manufacturers now publishing their guidelines on how to restore accident damage to factory specs. I don't think those guidelines were available in the past (although I could be wrong about that) but in this age of liability all around, no one wants to do anything that could even remotely expose them.

For example...
Last year we found a small ding in our Model 3 driver door from a piece of road debris that got kicked up and impacted the door at highway speeds. The ding was the diameter of a pencil eraser and maybe 3mm deep, it didn't penetrate the door skin or hit the door in any area with concealed electronics, reinforced beams, nothing.. just part of the door skin period. Very minor and easily fixable using filler and a door respray. After looking at it, the body shop said the door must be completely replaced due to Tesla requirements/the door being aluminum. No filler allowed, even for a tiny non-penetrating 1/4" ding in the middle of the door. That repair was going to run $2,500- $3,000 because of the labor involved moving the mirror/locks/electronics to a new door which still needed to be painted. That's what you're up against nowadays with modern vehicles and advanced materials like aluminum body parts. Not repairable, only replaceable

After digging deeper in to the specifics of Rivian Repair guide, Yes, according to the Rivian R1S Material Matrix, conventional steel panels can be repaired. While the outer side skin is a single massive piece, the guide explicitly recommends repairing it whenever possible to avoid the complexity of a full component replacement. Take a look and lmk if I missed took somethings.

 

[NY_Rob]

^ that's good news for you! On the R1T, IIRC that area where you were hit is some sort of mostly aluminum alloy metal and repairs were not allowed (back when the vehicle first came out). There were several documented cases here where a volleyball size dent in that rear quarter panel was something like a $44K repair because they were basically cutting off and welding a whole new side back on the truck.

Here's a pretty famous $41K (estimate) one from Youtube:

 

[computertom]

And folks wonder why R1’s are so expensive to repair. I really hope the R2 is a significantly more modular and as such, repairable car.

 

[razmataz]

Driving down the local street and driver backs out of her driveway without looking and hits me. Is it totaled? and any one has recommendation for a proper body shop at the east end of Long Island NY that know how to deal with Rivians?

Any thoughts on how to approach this with insurance, body shop, etc, as the R1S is cared for meticulously and did not have a scratch on it.

Thanks,

Today's Update: I got the estimate from insurance and confirmed by body shop that they are going forward with the repairs. Total cost over $25K, which is mostly labor($17,224.91) ! following is the only major part being replaced!

 

[razmataz]

Well after several weeks the R1S is back and looks and drives like new. Impressed by the Rivian Certified body shop as all is working as expected. They said, it should take 2-3 weeks but were on hold for the Rivian parts. Evidently there are no 3rd party part suppliers and all have to come out of Rivian factory.

 

[SolartoEV]

Looks great!

 

[FuzzyBeanBag]

Looks great! Sasquatch aka Viv the Riv is currently in the shop; dropped off yesterday. I cannot wait as I am driving a craptastic Polestar 2 rental :'(

 

[Blitzjb]

Where are you located on

 

[Count Orlok]

I just found out that the other driver is with the same insurance company/Progressive, feels like there is a conflict of interest!

also, here is a quick video clip that almost captures the event and feels like its clear who is at fault?

not a conflict. The Royal R1S was hit by a day drinking octogenarian with the same insurance (State Farm). SF's policy is if the at fault driver is also their customer you get 100% of your deductible back. So The Count was out nothing but time and swear words.

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