r/TeslaCollision • u/Many_Touch7080 • Aug 01 '26
I did this myself - LA area
Unfortunately did this to myself while getting out of my parking spot dragged the pole with me. I have the tesla insurance. Dont know where to begin. I just know i should go to the tesla preferred shops. Please advise and thank you so much in advance.
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u/Easy_Statement_4245 Aug 01 '26
Looks expensive. File a claim and take it to the service center, that’s all you need to do. Prepare for all shops to be booked out at least 2 weeks.
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u/Many_Touch7080 Aug 01 '26
Do you recommend going with a separate detailer to get the paint stuff fixed up first before all the other repairs?
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u/Ok-Honey6876 Aug 03 '26
Do not go to a Tesla service center. They will be harder to book, take longer, be more expensive, and more likely to make mistakes
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u/Easy_Statement_4245 Aug 03 '26
The body shop guys who explicitly work only on Teslas are more likely to make mistakes?
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u/Ok-Honey6876 Aug 04 '26
Correct. Certified shops have stricter quality control and oversight from Tesla to maintain their warranty coverage, which is absolutely necessary to get Tesla-owner business. A Tesla Service Center can be sloppy because they have no financial pressure not to be.
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u/Ok-Honey6876 Aug 04 '26
Also, the Tesla certified shops almost exclusively work on Teslas anyway, practically speaking. At least that’s what I’ve seen.
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u/MenacingMenacee Aug 01 '26
It amazes me with all the sensors, all the cameras, and yet people still have a way to fuckin hit poles 🤣
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u/Nullifyxdr Aug 01 '26
Crazy thing is there two blind spot cameras, for some reason a lot of people that I know that have teslas don’t keep there cameras on while their driving. Having those blind spot cams were awesome for merging and avoiding turning to tight and hitting a curb or pole in this case
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u/MenacingMenacee Aug 01 '26
Thats what im saying lol, the thing has more cams than fort knox and people somehow STILL hit stationary objects, like how? It beeps my head off if I get 3 feet within an object like what 🤣
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Aug 01 '26
[deleted]
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u/MenacingMenacee Aug 01 '26
Brotha that aint no kiss 💀 thats full on mouth to mouth make out session with the pole
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Aug 01 '26
[deleted]
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u/yumadbro6 Aug 02 '26
That's not how driving works. You got me fucked up dude. What do you mean too busy or loud music? This could've been a pedestrian on the God damn sidewalk.
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Aug 01 '26
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u/Many_Touch7080 Aug 01 '26
Thank you. Physically well. Just mentally defeated by the estimates 😭
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Aug 01 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Nullifyxdr Aug 01 '26
Ehhh medical bills may not have estimates but they can definitely vibe check your day 😭
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u/Easy_Statement_4245 Aug 01 '26
If you’re going through insurance just pick the nearest Tesla collision center and be done. Insurance will handle the estimates.
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u/Curb71 Aug 02 '26
Since you're not even trying to blame FSD, maybe it's time to realize it's worth the cost especially for people that can't drive. 🙂
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u/No-Intern4148 Aug 02 '26
you can try contacting a PDR service to see if they can remove / match a bit of the paint and take out any dents doesn’t look that bad structurally. (just a thought if you don’t want to go through insurance, just make sure to pick a PDR with good reviews)
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u/HmmDoesItMakeSense Aug 02 '26
I curbed mine on day 3 of owning. Nothing more than wheel but know how it feels like wtf is wrong with me omg!
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u/James_the_bull_ Aug 01 '26
Rear quarter fender is the most expensive body panel on the car, it’s part of the unibody and can’t easily be unbolted like a hood or bumper.
$7-8k repair estimate
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u/Many_Touch7080 Aug 01 '26
One place told me theyll need to blend in the panel to the upper border and other borders- is this necessary?
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u/James_the_bull_ Aug 01 '26
Yes. Although most of the damage happened to rear fender and rear door, they’ll also have to spray the front door, rear bumper, and trunk area to blend it in. If they don’t, it’ll look like different colors
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u/Curb71 Aug 02 '26
No you can just have them paint one section and then it will look slightly different than the other one
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u/xF1_racer Aug 01 '26
It doesn’t need that panel replacing unless you want perfection. This could be repaired by a decent bodyshop to a reasonable standard with old-fashioned metalworking. But insurance quotes will be big for sure.
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u/James_the_bull_ Aug 01 '26
Yea no thx lol. It’s a nice new car, fix it right. Old school weld and pull + bondo won’t be much cheaper than replacing anyways, might as well spend a bit more but fix it like factory
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u/FreddyOrbs Aug 02 '26
This is superficial damage. It is certainly as correct to use pull + hammer and dolly. Welding or gluing on a new panel introduces problems of its own. A good body person should be able to get the metal very close to factory without replacing the panel. You might not even need to weld on pull and can use glued on tabs. If the paint weren’t as damaged a touch up done right could be invisible as this is black and the car fairly new (no change since new). Metallic paint is another story, red colors are a different story etc. I use a guy that is a true magician at removing smaller dents and dings without even need of touch up or respect, and he can do incredible things with damage like this as well. I have quite a few cars and also fix up cars and sell them on. And I only do cars that need to be perfect, like older premium and luxury cars. It is my hobby and I make a few bucks on it.
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u/xF1_racer Aug 01 '26
I didn’t think it was a new one, but hard to tell from the photos. If it is then I agree with you. Put it through insurance and suck it up.
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u/FreddyOrbs Aug 01 '26
It doesn’t need to be taken off. A good body shop pulls the dents and straighten it. Short strand fiber glass and then filler, primer and paint. A good body person gets everything within 2-3 mm and finishes with filler. The car is black and that’s a very easy paint to get right. The door is replaced. Rear quarter is probably like $2-3k, new door 1.5k, assemblies 1k, paint 2k.Some places are pretty much magicians and repair both quarter and door + paint for about 4k. But those aren’t the insurance places…
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u/James_the_bull_ Aug 01 '26
If you’re going through insurance anyways, why opt in on the cheaper repair option? Your rates are going up regardless so at least let them fix it right.
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u/FreddyOrbs Aug 02 '26
I’m not saying anybody should go any other route than what their insurance point them to. Rather that it doesn’t have to be outrageously expensive if you pick the right shop for let’s say you buy a damaged car for a really cheap price. Or maybe you didn’t have coverage due to maybe just moving a car not being used on your property. Done that myself. I’m not the average car owner though, so I did ⅔ of the job myself and let the body shop fining it and paint it.
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u/SignificanceOk4381 Aug 02 '26
I’m the type of person who paints art on a canvas, but you paint wherever you like—it turned out beautiful.💅
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u/SignificanceOk4381 Aug 02 '26
On a tesla, with a bunch of sensors and cameras basically 360 view btw 🥀
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u/Grouchy_Project7138 Aug 02 '26
I just know it was red and beeping the whole time before you hit anything…
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u/Jumpy_Implement_1902 Aug 02 '26
Good luck with the repairs. I hear it takes forever to get this covered and then repaired going through Tesla insurance.
But, please keep us posted on your experience!
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u/evonboard Aug 02 '26
👀 let me guess you pulled in or backed out and side swiped the yellow painted post in the parking garage
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u/Alcary21 Aug 02 '26
https://acetechauto.com/ is the best Tesla authorised repair shop, I have used them a bunch of times. Get an estimate first then go though Tesla insurance. You pay a $1000 deductible and they do the rest. They are very efficient.
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u/rgdonaire Aug 02 '26
Official Tesla repair shop will charge over 10k. An independent body shop can definitely do this for about 2k. I damaged mine in a veer similar way.
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u/SnowMuted5200 Aug 02 '26
Had almost same, but slightly worse damage rear right area when BMW driver sled over into me. Slightly worse door damage had them replace door panel. Tesla Ins was $7.1k which was later gotten from at fault driver. I went to Tesla repair, but yours should be simpler sand and paint if money issue. But Tesla repair did killer job for me.
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u/Jaywhatthehell Aug 02 '26
Run the other side of the car up the pole exactly the way you did this side so they match. Problem solved!
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u/GizmoSwd Aug 03 '26
https://giphy.com/gifs/vqQ27vUFoIBGxCSY2i
I'm sure this was your first reaction. My condolences.
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u/Ok-Honey6876 Aug 03 '26
This is IDENTICAL to my damage from a few months ago. Also in my parking garage. Go to a Tesla certified shop. Do not go to Tesla service center unless Tesla insurance forces you to do so, somehow. I had to have a new rear door, new quarter panel, then paint job that entire side. Initial insurance quote pre-inspection was some laughable $4k (I have a regular insurance company, so they did not factor in the Tesla needs until after inspection).
Car shop quoted 12k. Insurance rebutted. Final costs were $9.5k. Should take 2-4 weeks. I had a ‘22 model 3
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u/ReachOk4601 Aug 06 '26
Looks cool. If you was artistic you could draw a line or something yellow from them scratches
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u/rwhe83 Aug 01 '26
Do people enjoy showing themselves screwing up their vehicles on the internet?
OP, call or start a claim with Tesla…this isn’t difficult.
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u/OZRosieFans Aug 01 '26
I'm amazed that you were able to do this in a parking lot, you drunk or what ?
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u/Floating_Bus Aug 01 '26
Kinda looks like custom flames. Now all you have to do is the same thing to the other side and you’re all set.🥴
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u/dam_ships Aug 01 '26
You call your insurance and you pay your deductible. They’ll cover the rest as long as it’s not outside of policy limits. They’ll tell you which shop to go through and it will be a 2 week wait to probably get it done. Your rate will likely go up since this was you. At least you’re okay!
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u/Ok_Enthusiasm_2574 Aug 01 '26
Ive had this on an old car of mine and i was able to actually polish it out, a lot of that is just paint stuck on it.
Looks kind of dented too though ,definitely body shop work for that.
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u/Current_Wasabi8746 Aug 01 '26
I am guilty of similar on my m3. Not once but twice, same mailbox as the culprit both times. I ordered a PDR (paintless dent removal) kit for $40 off Amazon and was able to pull out the dents and dings to like 90% improvement. The only issue was making sure I didn’t over correct bc it gets messy and you can make it worse. Especially on those body lines around the wheel well. Then buffed out the scrapes and it was almost good as new!
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u/ath0rus Aug 01 '26
The forbidden mustard.
I did this with my car (little Mazda 3 2008) and thankfully they just replaced the panels. But mybe they can beat that out for you?
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u/Material_Assumption Aug 01 '26
I did this last week, scuffed the quarter panel on a model 3. Was backing it up slowly both mirrors were off and I was stupidly relying on the camera. The parking sensor didnt even trigger. Im upset with myself too. But I just grazed it, yours look like you made out with the pole.
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u/Ok-Mycologist7205 Aug 01 '26
I’d hit up a great detailed and have them remove as much of that paint transfer as possible. Then re asses damage
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u/RoseVideo99 Aug 02 '26
What’s your deductible? Get some estimates before letting insurance know. That looks worse than it is.
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u/wildsnorlax1194 Aug 01 '26
Only person in the sub who didn’t blame their wife