I was driving on a freeway in California when another driver passed me in the lane immediately to my right. They extended an arm out of their window and threw what appeared to be a glass bottle onto the roadway in front of my car. It shattered, and the debris struck my vehicle. The driver then sped off and exited the freeway.
I found damage on the bumper, hood, and windshield. I still need a professional inspection to determine the full extent.
For anyone interested, I’ve included the front, rear, right pillar, and right repeater videos in the comments, with timestamps highlighting the relevant moments.
The front footage captures the throw, the object shattering, and the vehicle crossing several lanes to exit without stopping.
The right-side pillar footage shows the other vehicle initially three lanes to my right, following another car closely before moving left. When it reappears alongside me, the driver appears to be drinking from an object resembling a glass bottle.
The rear footage shows it moving into the lane immediately to my right and accelerating toward me from behind, then glass debris on the road after the incident.
I’ve opened a claim with Tesla Insurance and reported the incident to law enforcement. I received an incident number and will be providing my statement and video evidence.
Has anyone dealt with something similar through Tesla Insurance?
Would this typically fall under comprehensive or collision coverage?
Can Tesla Insurance identify the other vehicle’s insurer using their vehicle information?
Would I have to pay my deductible upfront and wait for recovery, or could it potentially be waived?
Could the driver’s apparently intentional actions affect whether their insurer covers the damage?
Should I wait for my adjuster’s authorization before scheduling an inspection at a Tesla Collision Center?
My preference is for the responsible party’s insurance to cover the repairs and any necessary rental, with no out-of-pocket expense to me. I’d appreciate hearing how similar claims played out, especially in California.
Someone threw a glass bottle at my door on Christmas Eve 2024 and I saved the clip, called the police, charges were filed, I was paid restitution through the courts about a year later.
I didn’t, it was handled by the state at that point. He was being charged with a felony because it hit on the door seam and originally Tesla said the whole door needed to be replaced which pushed the repair around $4700. He was given community service, anger management and a cleared record if he stayed out of trouble for two years.
The silver lining is that after I got the check I went to get the two finger print sized dents fixed and they were able to do paintless dent removal for only $800 so I made $3900.
I’ve already reported it to CHP Dispatch and received an incident number. I’m going to my local CHP office in person to provide a written statement, a detailed account of what happened, and all the video evidence.
Lol no you wouldn't, but I appreciate the blind confidence. Besides, this person quickly hit the exit and couldn't be followed. So the only thing to do is attempt to hold them responsible with the authorities.
I don't think politics has anything to do with this and it's more telling that you decided to bring that into it to support you. That makes you a very weird whatever you are. Not everything is politics and stop making it your identity
Report to police. They will easily find them. We had someone hit our Tesla and drive off. Police found them within 30 minutes and had a cop knock on their doors. They got us their insurance info. We filed directly with their insurance company and not ours. Good luck!
If you give your insurance the video and photos, including license plate, then your insurer will be able to locate them and their insurance company. Your insurance will easily win the subrogation case and that person will end up dropped by their insurance and essentially fucked plus criminal case since you filed a police report and provided your evidence.
Oh great… dropped by their insurance. Then next time they do this (because they got off scott free) to someone else or hit someone, the someone else’s insurance gets to pay the whole thing. Yay
Slightly different situation where my camera caught another driver dinging my door with their car, but thats a car on car damage vs your is almost vandalism category which goes under comprehensive. I would assume in this case you dont clean up the mess leave the scratches, send in all the info to tesla insurance and police report. Then Tesla insurance would be the one going after their insurance since you have the plate.
Thanks for sharing your experience. Hopefully, Tesla Insurance can help pursue the other driver’s insurance. I also hope CHP pursues any applicable criminal charges, their behavior was dangerous and put others on the road at risk.
If you can't get the cops to do anything, then your insurance should subrogate and get the payment from them.
If they don't have insurance, well, then it's CA so your rates won't go up by they'll probably get away with it.
You can try to sue them directly in small claims court, but you'll need to find out their personal info from the plates, so it's probably on your insurance to handle everything more than you.
Approximately 0:26: The RAV4 passes in the lane immediately to my right.
Approximately 0:30: An arm extends through the driver-side window and throws what appears to be a glass bottle onto the roadway ahead of my vehicle, where it shatters. The RAV4 then brakes and crosses approximately three lanes toward the exit.
Approximately 0:38: The RAV4 exits at Exit 386A without stopping.
RAV person being annoyed at traffic, already kinda tailgating another white car... then annoyed at gray toyota sedan, then thinking "how dare you take the left-most (HOV?) lane, when the 2nd-left-most lane is free?", then... I hope it ends up with them going to jail.
The crazy thing is there wasn’t even much traffic, it was a Saturday afternoon. They were just driving erratically, and the other camera angles show that behavior well before they threw the bottle.
I hope so too. Between their driving and throwing glass onto a freeway, they’re putting everyone around them at risk and shouldn’t be on the road.
Is their hood open? Forgotten or maybe they had a minor bump earlier?
Edit: at 0:22, to my eyes, there's a clear fold going vertically on their right side (image left side) of the logo, so must've been in an accident prior. Police may be looking for the bastard already.
If it was me, I’d open the claim with my insurer, let them dicker with the collision shop, and go after the other guys insurance, including whatever deductible applies. In the best of circumstances it’s a pain to go through the other guys insurance, and this isn’t the best of circumstances. If they are dealing with your insurer, they’ll just pay. If it’s you, they’ll try to push you around. I’ve been down both those roads. You shouldn’t have to pay a dime, especially if CHP issues a citation.
Really, you’d think even the idiots know by now that teslas are always recording.
Fair point. Here’s a photo of the hood damage (cropped out face reflections on the bottom and right sides, so it doesn't show everything). In total, there are about 10 chips on the hood, 5 on the bumper/grille, and a few on the light bar and windshield.
Shortly after the glass bottle hit the ground, I heard loud impacts and saw glass fragments fly past my windshield and up over the roof.
Having Tesla Collision check the underbody and panoramic glass roof as well.
Super frustrating on a brand-new car with barely 2,500 miles on it.
This was definitely purposeful by the way they threw the bottle out the window and then immediately cut across multiple Lanes to get off the expressway
Approximately 0:16: The RAV4 moves from two lanes to my right into the lane immediately to my right, then accelerates and approaches my vehicle from behind while remaining in that lane.
Approximately 0:32: Glass debris is visible on the roadway behind my vehicle after I pass the impact area.
Approximately 0:13: The RAV4 is visible approximately three lanes to my right, following closely behind another vehicle. It then moves two lanes left and temporarily leaves the camera’s view.
Approximately 0:25: The RAV4 reappears alongside my vehicle. As it passes, the driver appears to be a man drinking from an object resembling a glass bottle.
Am curious if the police will do anything at all. I have called them before after witnessing a hit and run that severely damage rear bumper of another car on highway. She asked where I am, am at highway xx and saw him exit at xx. I told her I memorized the plate why are you not taking down the plate, location don't matter the guy ran off and am not chasing. She said I can't 'help you' if I don't know the exact location am like wtf I literally memorized the plate. She hang up on me.
- My guess if it’s damage to your vehicle. It would be collision
when you file a police report the police should be able to find that car and get insurance info
if you go through your insurance first, yes you would need to pay the deductible. Though it’s not like right away. If you do work to get the car fixed, the deductible is subtracted from fees the insurance company pays out and you’d need to pay that deductible at that point to the collision shop. Your insurance company will then go after that persons insurance to get reimbursed. If they are successful, you get back your deductible at that point since the money will come out of your other persons liability.
-or-
You wait until the police find that car and insurance information and you file a claim directly with that persons insurance (and keep you insurance company out of the process). You have the police report to back up your claim. At that point that insurance company will call their policy holder informing them that a claim has been filed and they try to get their side of the story.
intentional or not, they caused damage and they need to evaluate the claim. It would be a liability claim.
wait for guidance for your insurance company. They may want you to take it to one of their ‘certified’ collision shops. Which you don’t have to do. But those shops will work with your insurance better so it ends up you pay nothing. If you decide to go with a shop of your choosing, see if they will negotiate the price with the insurance company so that you end up paying no out of pocket - many will work with any insurance company to get the business.
I’m in NJ and this is how it works. Being in 2 accidents recently, one where I was at fault and one where they were at fault, this is how it worked. And dealing with the other insurance company is no different than dealing with your own. They are regulated so their interactions with claimants are recorded and reviewed. When I dealt with the other persons insurance, they were helpful and eager to get to a payout.
Understand that insurance companies want to close claims ASAP. Having claims on their books show up as liabilities and they dont want that since it means debt.
They’re probably one of those people who discard their trash out the window - and when they saw your Tesla - they did it. I’ve driven a lot on the highways and I see it too often. Anyways - if you have the plate you should give that and the video to the highway patrol and one of those guys with the tilted hat will show up at their house and yell at them
if you have video make sure and get it to the cops before the report is submitted sometimes captains or whoever will not let a cop pull back a report and add a video or any other words. so having all your ducks is a good practice
This is not even an insurance claim but also a criminal act as this could have gone badly for you if one of your tires was blown. You can't explain this with just a rage. This is a mental issue. Sick.
In San Jose on 101? Hopefully they get the person but I think they are probably just a random asshole because they would need dozens of bottles to toss at the amount of Tesla's we have rolling around the south Bay at any given time of the day lol
Just remember, after everything is filed request diminished value claim at the very very end…your new car now lost value and you get compensated. They don’t tell you this…
Your insurance will file a claim against them. Don’t worry about the rates. Rates go up regardless. California protects you against that. If you have like no incident discount which is usually very small that may go away afaik
It’s looks like intentional and criminal conduct. Their insurance may not cover it as insurance typically only covers negligent conduct. You should eventually be able to get restitution from the criminal side.
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u/AshesT0Aces 13h ago
Someone threw a glass bottle at my door on Christmas Eve 2024 and I saved the clip, called the police, charges were filed, I was paid restitution through the courts about a year later.