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Model S Owner Endures Insurance Woes Over Repairs
A minor accident turned into a major repair headache for this New York based Tesla owner. (Source: Standard Code)
Last month, a Tesla Model S owner documented a small accident in Midtown Manhattan and surprised the TMC discussion board by revealing that his car was to be declared a total-loss by his insurance company, Costco Insurance Agency. The damage occurred to the outside of the wheel-well, the tire and the certified shop also claimed some damage to the suspension, see image above.
From the surface, it looked to be a small amount of work but the total bill after being sent to a certified Tesla repair shop was $30,000, which included $10,000 in parts and $20,000 in labor. The kicker was that Costco Insurance initially decided they’d rather declare the car a total loss than pay $30k+tax for repair.
So the discussion on the board turned to replacement value with his insurance company and this is where the frustration started. The owner documented the back-and-forth with his insurance company and realized that it would be quite a financial hit with the replacement option. The owner originally paid $104,000 for Model S85 and received it in December 2013.
According to the owner, the insurance company had no Kelly Blue Book value to lean on and wielded its own internal formula for the car’s value. The Tesla discussion board and owner calculated a $75,000 replacement value for his year-old car, which included sales tax. The owner, known as standardcode, was not really happy with that amount due to his financing, which had him on the hook for another $70,000 US Bank for the car. There was a lot of discussion on depreciation and commenters felt the depreciate in this case was pretty accurate.
The thread generated many other related topics. Some discussion centered around the owner’s initial frustration with Tesla’s pre-paid service agreement that’s not transferrable to another car or owner. However, the owner said that after talking with Tesla Motors during this process that they would prorate his agreement to his next purchase.
Also, others mentioned on the board that other luxury cars would not have been totaled due to such a small amount of bodywork, but some pointed out that a new Model S means the ability to add recently added features (can you say P85D).
Throughout December 2014, we have been talking with standardcode and found out the ordeal was still fluid and the insurance company was reconsidering (Clean Technica reported it was a done deal). Early this month, standardcode told me that Ameriprise reconsidered and did pay for the repairs that came to $35,000.
In an email to Tesla Motors this month, the owner wrote, “the body shop was obviously good at what they do and they communicated well too. They even sent me pictures of the work constantly. Having said that I still think $35,000 to repair the damage my car had is very high and I do still think that Tesla as a company needs to worry about the full ownership lifecycle including repairs etc.”
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He went on to write, “All in all, I recognize that it was Ameriprise that caused me the headaches here and wasted a lot of my time.”
Standardcode picked up his repaired car in early January and mentioned “the most important lesson I learned is to have better insurance with replacement value. I guess there’s some legal risk to it but I’d have appreciated advice on which insurance is best when I first purchased the car.”
This tale, to me, is all about growing pains for a low-volume automaker. There’s been discussion about the car’s aluminum body as a reason for the high cost for parts and also the lack of certified Tesla body shops at this point for driving up repair costs? In Chicago, there’s only one certified body shop in the metro area.
What about your experiences? What has your experience been like with insurance companies and certified repair shops?
Addendum:
taurusking via the TMC discussion board mentioned that State Farm , AllState and Geico were top rated but the website did not specify by region. I switched from Geico ( was very happy with their customer service ) mainly because Liberty Mutual offers Better Car Replacement pkg.
SpaceX (NASDAQ: SPCX) got an absolutely crazy price target rating from Raymond James after the company experienced a tough first few weeks following its Initial Public Offering (IPO).
Despite the tumultuous start, SpaceX has plenty of believers, and the company’s massively successful Starship launch last Friday, its 13th test flight of the massive rocket, went so smoothly that Raymond James analysts pushed its price target on the company to roughly 7 times its current trading level.
SpaceX Starship just nailed something it’s never done before
The firm officially put a “Strong Buy” rating and an $800 price target on the stock. It currently trades at around $113. Its all-time high is $225.64, reaching this trading level shortly after shares first went public.
Raymond James’ price target is tied to the firm’s confidence after Starship’s 13th test flight. Analysts at the firm said it was an incremental step that reduces engineering risks, citing the widely successful heat shield test that CEO Elon Musk recently detailed, the smooth deployment of Starlink V3 satellites, and a successful in-space engine relight.
SpaceX also managed to see Starship splash down safely in the Indian Ocean, while the Super Heavy Booster fell down to the Gulf of America with no incidents.
It is interesting to see these launches have such a tremendous impact on the stock and what investors think of it. After SpaceX initially delayed the Starship launch last week, shares fell tremendously. Most probably did not realize that the stand-down is a standard practice, especially if everything is not perfect.
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The mission was initially aborted due to an issue with Raptor engines. This was resolved, and Starship launched last Friday after another delay on Thursday, which was caused by weather.
Now that analysts have seen what SpaceX launches are capable of and how impressive the feat is, firms are adjusting their price targets accordingly, making it known that they have high expectations for the space exploration company.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has responded to reports that Volvo is officially discontinuing the LiDAR sensor on two of its cars.
Volvo announced that it would officially scrap LiDAR systems on its EX90 and ES90 vehicles in various markets. In Norway, owners will get a €1,800 compensation for features that will never arrive due to this decision. There will be no option to remove the unit from vehicles, either.
The issue stems from Volvo’s supplier, Luminar, and its bankruptcy filing. Luminar will no longer be able to supply LiDAR units to Volvo for the EX90 and ES90, effectively axing any use the unit has on vehicles. Volvo will phase out the data collection processes via the LiDAR system, and it will not be utilized whatsoever.
Musk saw the story on X and responded, stating:
“I did try to warn them. Humans drive using neural nets and optical sensors. Same is true for robot cars.”
I did try to warn them.
Humans drive using neural nets and optical sensors. Same is true for robot cars.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 29, 2026
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Musk has been publicly vocal about his disdain for LiDAR systems, once calling them “a fool’s errand,” as he has consistently kept the outlook that they are not needed for effective self-driving.
The typical example used as evidence for this by Musk is humans themselves: made with only eyes and memories, humans are capable of navigating a car by using what they can see and what they’ve personally experienced on the road.
Elon Musk argues lidar and radar make self driving cars more dangerous
“Same is true for robot cars,” Musk says, as Teslas have eight exterior cameras that help see everything surrounding the vehicle, and a neural network that analyzes behavior and tendencies with every mile driven.
Tesla is a vision-only self-driving company that ditched sensors and radar several years ago in favor of cameras. Behind this effort, the company has established a reputation for having one of the most robust self-driving platforms in the world.
Musk’s big bet with Tesla on its self-driving program’s strategy has widely paid off. Other companies continue to utilize things like LiDAR, radar, and sensors for effective self-driving, but Tesla has shown that there is more than one way to give consumers a strong and accurate driver assistance suite.
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The real question is: who will be the first company to take Musk’s advice and attempt a self-driving platform based on cameras only, or even license FSD for themselves?
Tesla has started to deploy the 2026 Summer Update to owners across its fleet, and among the biggest changes are improvements to Navigation, a new startup animation for the Model 3 and Model Y, Caraoke scoring, and new capabilities for Grok.
As the update has started making its way to some cars, we can now see a few of the features operating in real-time. We will show you what some of the new features look like in this article, along with some additional details on what changed.
Not all of the new features in the 2026 Summer Update have quite made an appearance, but some of them have, so we’ll show those here:
New Animation Screen for 3/Y
Tesla is rolling out a new startup animation for Tesla Model 3 and Model Y owners. This is present in Launch Edition and Performance Model 3 and Model Y, but other trim levels do not have anything like this.
The new animation screen on Model 3/Y with the 2026 Summer Update
Apparently color will also be customizable: pic.twitter.com/wSdwggtG3S
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 27, 2026
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Owners can adjust the color associated with the startup animation to suit their preferences. It is a surprise that more automakers do not focus on this animation for their vehicles; it can be a great first impression piece and make the car immediately feel more luxurious.
Tesla has included this on more premium trims, but it is nice to see it on the Model 3 and Model Y.
Grok Improvements
Grok can now adjust more things in the car outside of the Navigation system. Now, drivers can adjust anything from climate to driving settings by simply speaking to the AI assistant in the car:
@Tesla‘s AI assistant (Grok) with its new vehicle commands in action.
Set the climate, your destination and vehicle settings all in one go! pic.twitter.com/0bBTqaAk6G
— Not a Tesla App (@NotATeslaApp) July 28, 2026
You don’t even have to push a button, either. Instead, you can just say “Hey, Grok,” if you have it enabled. That feature rolled out with the 2026 Spring Update just a few months back.
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This is a great feature, especially pertinent for the Robotaxi platform, as there will be no buttons inside the Cybercab when it eventually starts giving rides to the public. It also broadens Grok’s capabilities, which were relatively limited in terms of vehicle setting adjustments beforehand.
SpaceX gets an absolutely crazy price target after rough IPO
Elon Musk responds to Volvo’s latest LiDAR decision
