My Tesla Cybertruck Got Totaled After It Was Sideswiped by an E-Scooter. All-in, I paid $198K, but Insurance is Only Offering Me a “Fair Market Value” of $77K. I Still Owe the Bank $171,500
https://www.torquenews.com/11826/my-tesla-cybertruck-got-totaled-after-it-was-sideswiped-e-scooter-all-i-paid-198k-insuranceOpen linkView original on pawb.social
161 replies
I read the article hoping to find out how being sideswiped by an e-scooter could total a truck, but I was left unsatisfied.
Remember that a "totaled" vehicle doesn't mean it can't be used, or even that it is heavily damaged just that insurance has decided that the specific repairs needed would cost more than just paying out the current value.
They don't care if you get your vehicle fixed or replaced, insurance only cares about paying as little as possible using every loophole as possible.
Yeah, I've been on the other side of that, but sideswiped by a scooter? I get that they aren't worth as much as they were, but still...
Cybertrucks are really, really bad for repairability. Consider the fact that on a normal car you can fix a dent by getting the panel most of the way back to the correct shape and then fairing it the rest of the way with Bondo before painting it. But with a Cybertruck, you'd have to metalwork the panel all the way back to perfect and then somehow figure out how to match the surface finish. It's a lot more labor, if it's even possible.
It could be that the insurance doubts that the vehicle can be completely restored to its pre-loss condition at any price.
My dude, have you ever seen a Swastikkkar? Those panels ain't even perfect when they leave the factory.
Thats the hard part, how would a bodyshop mimic the shittyness of the factory look
Step 1: take in damaged Cybertruck.
Step 2: do absolutely fuckall to it.
Step 3: charge owner $6000 for repairs.
Step 4: watch happy owner drive off.
i think insurances are either not covering it, or they double, triple the cost of preniums.
I’m with you. How fast was that scooter going?!
to a cybertruck it might as well go 2mps, 2 miles per second.
It was a made up story posted to reddit. The original reddit post was deleted but people mentioned the pictures were taken directly from this story of a Cybertruck being hit by a Toyota: https://www.electrifiedmag.com/news/tesla-cybertruck-holiday-hiccup-first-reported-accident/
A truck would be fine, but this fragile piece of shit just fell apart.
It doesn't make any sense. eScooters are all plastic lol
Right, but cybertrucks are mostly bovine excrement.
Whoa hey now, that's not true at all.
There's plenty of rust on them after it rains too.
I suspect his story is bullshit. His truck was sideswiped by an e-scooter with enough force to damage the doors, wheels, deploy the airbags, and render the vehicle immobile? How fast/massive was this e-scooter? Did the e-scooter rider survive this incredible impact? None of this passes the sniff test unless there is some misalignment in the understanding of what constitutes an e-scooter or he was hit with a glancing blow by a magnetically launched scooter with a rather large rider.
I feel like I have to address the airbag situation. Airbags don’t deploy upon impact (at least not directly), but rather upon any significant deceleration. Anytime the vehicle decelerates enough that your body is thrown forward with force is when an [front] airbag would deploy. You know the thing where your seatbelt locks up as you’re braking? Same principle, but a higher threshold.
So the father back up your point, I cannot see how an e-scooter, sideswiping or even being hit head-on, could cause enough deceleration that would deploy the airbags.
Then again, it’s the cyber truck, so from a “safety” perspective who knows.
I was imagining the side airbags deploying if it was a sideswipe.
A different set of forces would activate those to be sure. I know rollover forces deploy side airbags.
Again, it’s a cybertruck, so its poor craftsmanship is probably enough to blame.
Good points
Put a crease in the metal down the whole length of any vehicle and the bill wont be gentle.
OP massively overpaid for his cybertruck and now wants to blame someone else.
Insurance is supposed to make you whole back to the situation you were in before the accident. Before the accident he had a cybertruck, and with the insurance payout he can again have an equivalent cybertruck to what he started with. The amount you originally paid for an item has nothing to do with anything
That’s what I don’t understand here. How the hell was his original model almost 200k??? That’s double what they’re going for brand new??
Did you read the article?
Yes??
“After paying a broker 50k over msrp” still leaves 50k on the table that I don’t understand.
The price of the cybertruck has been majorly slashed down from its initial pricing because they weren't being bought. OP bought it when the price was at its highest when they were first put on the market. Further showing that OP is an idiot
$150k sounds about right for the founders edition
Omg that’s insane. I thought the 100k was that founders price.
Like all Cybertruck owners, he's a loser.
Ragrets afterall
How the hell did a scooter do 77k of damage (or more)? Was it fired out of a rail gun? Did the rider survive? Do they need help?
Most likely explanation: had to wait for the cop to do a police report and got caught out in the rain and forgot to activate car wash mode.
Perfectly reasonable and normal for a scooter to destroy a giant pickup. Was the scooter made by space x?
The difference is not the cost in damage. That’s just how much cyber trucks depreciate in value. $77k is the value of a used Cybertruck on the market that is as old as his damaged truck. Insurance never pays out the new car retail value, they pay out market value of the car that’s the same age.
Right? I didn't say anything contradicting this. They total your vehicle when the cost to repair the damage is greater than or equal to the fair market value. If the damage was $50k, the insurance company would pay to repair it instead of replacing it. Because they are giving him the FMV, the damage is more than $77k.
It's a little more complicated than that. They also factor in salvage value, and what it'd be worth after repair. Basically, whatever is cheaper for them. I'm guessing the battery and motors are quite valuable as salvage parts, and the value of a repaired CT is substantially lower.
For instance- my 2017 2 door coupe, and my partners 2019 small SUV were both crushed in hurricane Helene. Adjusters stopped adding repair costs at $12k for my coupe, which they paid me $32k for. Her SUV was basically the same story- $11k in damage was enough to total it, and they paid her $24k.
I always assumed the motors and batteries are paired with the cars the same way iPhone screens and batteries are, making them valueless for scrap unless you’re Tesla and can put in the right code…
The inverters and hvjb could implement those features but you can't really DRM copper windings and nickel cell casings
Wait, what? There's a 'don't die in the rain' mode you have to set?
Worldwide!
Don't forget they try to export it to other places too, drumming up Afd etc.
They export it where?
I'm not sure you could total my S10 with a scooter.
Also the title could be misleading, was a scooter in the lane and he just crushed it against a wall or second lane of traffic? Maybe scooter crushed under the frame punctured battery pack?. A lot off driver vs cyclist collisions often get headlines like Cyclist hits car. When the reality is driver pulled into path of cyclist. Or Driver actually directly hit cyclist by not giving proper lane clearance.
TL;DR: man does not understand how Insurance works; that vehicles are depreciating assets.
What kind of fucking idiot does not understand that a vehicle is a depreciating asset!?
Yeah, the minute you buy a vehicle for $200,000 and you drive it off the lot, it is now worth $135,000.
Furthermore, insurance does not give you back "what you paid" you get "replacement value". So if you were stupid enough to pay $200,000 and it's depreciated to $70,000, that's what you get, because that's what it cost to replace your stupid toy.
Why is this even an article
This is like ragebait mixed with an ad for gap insurance
But it's schadenfreude nonetheless
Because the level of depreciation of the Cybertruck is unusally high compared to other cars.
Because it's designed to make us feel good at the cost of a fool's misfortune.
Just like 50% of the "news" out there.
It was never even worth $200k they paid an extra $50k to get it earlier.
Rage bait. It got you to interact with it
Rage bait? Read like a feel-good story to me.
Righteous-indignation-bait, equally as common. "Breaking news: person you don't like experiences bad thing as result of what you dislike about them; more confirmation bias at 12"
It got me to comment on lemmy, I'm not dumb enough to give them my eyes.
The headline alone is revelatory that it's ignorant and designed to make people stupider while cashing in on negative feelings towards that facist guy.
It's the same thing on the space community. Everyday there's multiple posts about how water is found in space like okay we already fucking know that. But it constantly appeals to uninformed people that want to fantasize about aliens.
Yup i used to sell insurance and so few understand even that basic part
That is the reason GAP insurance coverage exists. Deciding to skimp out on your insurance coverage when buying an expensive vehicle is stupid. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
~~ I wonder if Tesla’s in house insurance even offers gap insurance lol ~~
Edit: article says he has Allstate so never mind
Even if he has Allstate, this is a good question about Tesla's in-house insurance. Or maybe Allstate didn't offer it for the Cybertruck, obviously they shouldn't have if they did. That 100% would have been a losing product and insurance companies don't do that.
Alternatively, it means that the car purchase was done without enough money for the down payment and therefore maybe the buyer couldn't actually afford the car. With a solid down payment, you should never have to be underwater on the auto loan in the first place. You can plan to stay ahead of the depreciation over the life of the loan because you already paid for the drop in value.
With too little down though, gap coverage is a must.
To be fair that is assuming an average amount of depreciation and not over paying for the vehicle to begin with.
Yeah, great point. If I paid $100 for a rock it doesn't make the rock suddenly become worth $100 to the rest of the market.
He might have thought it would actually go up in value due to demand and financed the whole thing.
I'm no expert but treating a car as a financial investment device seems unwise outside of the savviest of classic car owners.
Yeah but it’s on point for the sort of Musk bro who’d pay that much for a Cybertruck.
Think of it like scalping a gaming console.
Down paymeny? No. He had to have rolled over negative equity into the loan.
Buying a 198k car on credit, smh.
Google started recommending this site to me recently, and it's garbage. It's all unverified social media posts told in the first person. Shit is WILD.
I dunno how likely it is to find a peer-reviewed article about this. It’s not like “cybertruck owner made horribly bad financial decision” is breaking news, it’s just the status quo.
200k to blow on a car but doesn't have 30 bucks a month for gap insurance
Came here to say super similar.
Also, since when is gap insurance $30 per month? I want to say I paid a flat $300 for it on my last car (back in 2020, just before the pandemic) for the life of the loan (6 years / 72 months)
That is almost as much as my house which will actually gain value over time rather than lose it immediately
It's crazy it was ever sold for that much even crazier how many broke people were able to acquire one and are now in way over their head like this guy
well he's gonna be paying that off for the rest of his life now :) good investment!
It is likely a fake story.
In a case like this the guy would have insurance over a barrel. He could turn down the total loss and demand repairs for so many reasons; The total loss is financially ruinous He could claim an emotional impact is involved in losing the vehicle and it needs repaired.
If this story is true, no one is dumb enough (except MAGA) to just accept the total loss payout and not sue the insurance company.
MAGA is 70+mil people in the US and intelligence is less of a steep climb after that and more of painful, barely perceptible slope toward eventual mediocrity. As for the E-Scooter, you’d be amazed how easy it is to damage a Cybertruck, and remember that total losses are connected more to repair costs than anything and these heaps of garbage can be very expensive to repair properly. Whether or not the guy challenges them on it I do not doubt that they easily could have declared it a total loss.
I feel like, at this point, if you say “no one could be that dumb” then you are using yourself to prove that they absolutely could be. It could even be fake in the end but you’re not right if you stumbled upon the correct answer using deeply flawed logic and got lucky.
No, I "stumbled" onto the answer because I have 4 years of total loss specialty appraisal experience and know exactly what I'm talking about.
And yet, if you look at my comment, I was specifically talking about how the last decade has been marked by people saying “no one could be that dumb” and then watching them all be that dumb and here you are, repeating history. So, job specific experience not required.
And aside from that I know people with decades of career experience who are dumber than rocks and barely squeak by simply because our society is a farce. I’ll say that’s probably not you, but it’s far from impossible.
Plus I just don't see how a bank would be willing to finance the $50k broker fee. Cars can end up underwater from depreciation, but I've never heard of a bank willingly lending more than the purchase price of a new car, to where it's underwater at the transaction.
Tesla did the financing for a lot of those, and they did finance the crazy delivery fees.
Dumb and wasteful
"After paying a broker $50,000 over MSRP to be one of the first people to own a Cybertruck"
I mean, come on lmao
$198K of stupid banker. $198K of stupid wanker.
I just hope my savings aren't in a bank that "invests" like that.
What a dumbass. Hell no your insurance isn't going to cover the amount you paid somebody to go and find one of these for you, and no, $50K for that service is not reasonable lmao
When was this? Because I read an article today about a Detroit shopping mall fixing to sue over the excess Cybertruck parked in their lot.
"At this point I think I know more about manufacturing than..."
January 2024, per the article. Things changed a lot in the last 16 months...
This piece of shit costs $200k???
No, he paid $200,000 for that piece of shit. Right now a new one should be about $70k, which is still $70k for a turd floating in a punch bowl, but is also $130,000 less than what he paid.
Breaks out world's tiniest violin...
Imagine being destroyed by a fucking scooter lol
So I saw something about this.
Apparently the Cybertruck is way more unibody than most cars, their "gigamold" technology or whatever where the truck is made out of a small number of unusually large parts means a bolt-on bolt-off repair on most cars is "the entire cab is bent, it's done" on the DePlorean.
So they are among their other problems hard to repair even the body panels
I love how Musk will just put "giga" in front of things to make it sound cool. It's sooooo silly and ridiculous, like something a 7 year old would do, or a comic book supervillain.
"Sir we've finished the road to -"
"The gigaroad."
"Er, yes, we finished the gigaroad to the facto-"
"Gigafactory"
"..."
"😎"
Zach at Jerry Rig Everything snapped the hitch and nearby frame off his cybertruck with an excavator (for science!), and Tesla repaired it for him and let him film the repair. They have a really impressive adhesive that lets them replace partial panels. (One neat engineering speck in the sea of Tesla awfulness.)
It might not be that the truck is truly unrepairable, but it's a relatively expensive repair, and insurance weighed the immediate cost plus future liability (the repair will always be blamed for future problems even if it's not really the culprit) and decided totaling was the best decision for their business model.
It's really impressive to stick the tow hitch to the back with glue?
Well when the entire frame is composite...no.
The repair was the frame (the hitch took quite a bit with it), but no, the impressive part was gluing a pair of 2" cylinders, tying a rope to either end, and picking the truck up with it.
Congratulations on being an idiot who bought the most idiotic vehicle ever offered...this side of the Pontiac Aztec.
The Aztec looks dumb as fuck, but it's still functional....
What I want to know is if the poor person who was riding that scooter when he cut them off is OK
Did they not get Gap insurance for their loan?
A rational smart financial decision made from individuals who choose to buy a Tesla Truck? Oh, thou doth jest.
I don't see what the problem is then? Like you take the 77k, buy an identical used truck and are back at where you were before the accident which is the whole point of insurance...
Give the E-Scooter rider a medal. Four more and the person is an Ace.
I don't know who is the biggest moron here the idiot buying a cybertruck or the idiotic banker approving a 200k loan for a cybertruck.
Either way... LMFAO 🤣
Just some free finance advice. Vehicles are a money sink, they only lose you value. If you aren't comfortable with the concept of losing money, DO NOT buy an expensive vehicle. But the cheapest used car you can with cash on hand. Now, that's not possible for everyone. And it's not practical for everyone, it might be in your best interest to lease a vehicle for a monthly fee. Your lease should be with a reputable car dealer that has some kind of agreement to regularly maintain the car, and to trade it in often for another car without increasing your fees. The goal here is to pay as little as you can, and trade in often so you don't ever reach the point of needing serious repairs to the vehicle. Different situations have different needs, no one size solution works. But I'd HIGHLY discourage taking out a large debt in order to buy a new car. Your losing money you don't have. That's a bad idea. Then again, bankruptcy has few downsides when you are already poor.
There's a point where the cheapest used car can end up costing more than a slightly more expensive one. While I agree with your advice generally, I'd instead recommend buying the most reliable used vehicle you can afford.
Having seen how expensive a cheap car can really be (that's all my mom could afford as a kid, and did that come back to bite her regularly), I won't go lower than CPO when doing a purchase. I bought used without a CPO exactly once, and I was very glad it got totaled before I had to put a bunch of money into it (and that insurance said it was worth more than I owed so I got a decent down payment on the next one).
Sidenote: If you work for yourself or have your own business, leasing is a great option.
What’s the problem? He got $77k because that’s what’ll cost him to buy a used Cybertruck, which will put him back to where he was before the accident. The financial loss he’s taken already happened way before the accident.
The Price is Right failure horn
Hard to imagine getting sideswiped by an e-scooter would disable a vehicle that size. Presumably it's still drivable. I would think he'd be better off paying for any truly necessary repairs himself and driving it as-is. But somebody who would pay that much for any car or pickup probably isn't the type to drive anything that doesn't look showroom fresh.
Complaining about the depreciation of that vehicle with extra steps.
This is why you also need gap insurance for anything but the cheapest cars. It exists to prevent this situation.
Or you just don't spend 200K on a cybertruck if you don't have that kind of money. What is a cybertruck going to do for you that a 10K second hand truck can't? Even if your second hand 10K truck burns down after a year, you can still buy a new one every year for 20 years for 200K.
I don't think a $10K secondhand pickup truck exists anymore.-- At least not one with a working engine.
Wut? My current tow vehicle was $3800, and I'm currently shopping for another pickup at <$2000. Cheap trucks still exist. People are getting too picky about how new it needs to be. Or they don't want to turn wrenches.
Gap insurance anyone?
You don’t need GAP insurance if you just buy a vehicle you can afford in the first place.
I like the moneyguy 20/3/8 rule. 20% down in cash, no more than 3 years on the loan, no more than 8% of gross monthly income as your monthly payment.
Sure, and you don't need homeowner's insurance if you don't buy a house.
Why would you pay for insurance that specifically covers the difference of depreciation if you’re never under water on the vehicle?
Note that the original post is from January 26, 2025 (and says the sideswiping took place "last month"), so this happened rather before the backlash against Tesler gianed thrust.
The Cybertruck bring complete garbage was known from the second it was first revealed though.
And Elon was known to be a right wing sociopath for a bit longer than that, he just got less and less subtle about it.
Sure. I was thinking about the offered "fair market value" though, where it is relevant that even such already measly $77K do not yet reflect all the protests, the keying and arson risks, etc.
I got hit in a parking lot by a little old lady cutting acrros the parking lot. They wanted to total my car and I told them no. They subtracted the salvage amount and cut me a check for the rest. A oem fender and some color matched paint cost less than 500. So this story is bullshit.
According to another comment:
By a ebike no less. What a POS those things must be.
And you have a salvage title which has lost most of its resale value and is harder to insure
I don't have a salvage title and I wont have one. Ownership was not transferred to them. Title is still in my name with no changes. I know how a salvage title works. Spent a huge part of my life directly involved in the car business including salvage related vehicles. I refused to let them total it. That is allowed. Like I said, it was dented fender. I'm never going to sell it while its running. Its old enough I can keep it running forever with no proprietary tools. I had just put a import motor in it a few months before. Even with their pathetic salvage offer in the settlement it was less than a third of what the car goes for at any car lot.
imagine spending 200k on a cybertruck and getting totaled by an escooter this guy is a fucking moron
Probably hard to find any recycled parts because there are so few of them on the road, and buying a new part is probably expensive and timely. I'm sure Telsa isn't allowing any LKQ production either. And even if you get a part, you have to go to a shop that can work on the car, which will be expensive because who's going to want to work on a vehicle that rusts when you look at it? Even if it seems fine, once someone is in an accident, every single thing that happens next will be the accident. Rear ended six months ago? Yup, that's why your tire blew, not the nail in it. So that person will keep coming back. The new piece is rusted, the new piece isn't as straight, the new piece buckled. An insurance company will absolutely total a car not just because the repairs are over the costs, but if it seems like it's always going to have issues, they'll make a decision to total it as the cheaper option. They do that with rodent issues all the time. And during all this, depending on his coverage, he's racking up rental. And rental always runs out.
He's complaining about standard insurance practices. They don't owe you the overpriced amount the dealership talked you into, they owe ACV/Actual Cash Value. The moment you leave the lot, it's losing money. It doesn't matter how great you took care of it, or if it's like new. You don't get the brand new, off the lot price, for a vehicle that's no longer brand new, off the lot.
I know you can for houses, but can you insure a vehicle for replacement cost?
Yup. It'll likely be an endorsement and mean increase the premiums, but you can totally do that. Some may have a soft limit, like insurscing replacement costs up to a million or what have you.
Wtf? They paid twice the price of the "value"?
The owner is figuring out what everyone else knew: the swastitruck isn't worth half of the money Melon is asking for it.
Cars depreciate hella quick when you drive off the lot.
Yeah but even if it halved immediately, it should've gone from 100k to 50k. What this is saying, is this mfer paid twice the MSRP for a god damned cyber truck.
Edit: and this is good news. Fuck that guy and everyone like him.
There's nothing saying he didn't overpay in the first place either!
Im not sure how they paid that much. I didn't think even the cyber beast was that expensive.
Read the article, he paid a broker $50k to buy one of the first ones. $150k is still crazy.
Oh noes! You're having difficulty filing an insurance claim for your Swasticar? Woe unto you, the stars weep for your tragedy.
almost forgot the obligatory reply
Good
LOL
Oh no! Anyways.
Holy shit those useless piles of nazi garbage cost 200k???
What the fuck is wrong with US insurance?! This person's poor vehicle choices aside, when I insure my vehicle in Australia, we (the insurance company and I) agree an insured value when I take out the insurance. They set the cost based on that agreed value and a few other things. Then if my car is written off they pay me the agreed value plus any other costs covered. What's this agreed market value nonsense? Why would anyone agree to that for a financed vehicle?
You can get insurance that covers what you owe regardless of the actual value of the vehicle; insurance companies are presumably going to calculate the cost of that insurance based on the difference between the two. Dude presumably decided it was too expensive
I recommend reading Beacon's comment on it.
Good point.
Good.
You bad they didn't get GAP insurance
Gap insurance is a scam in "most" instances. But dropping 100+k driving off the lot... Wait no it's still a scam, he's is just a fucking idiot for buying it in the first place ..
Maybe I got lucky. But I financed half of a car once, got the GAP insurance, and was hit at a red light.
The car was totaled, but I was also upside down on the loan. I ended up walking away with a profit.
It definitely feels like a risk/reward thing. But Im glad I had it when I needed it. I wouldn't say it's necessarily a scam, but I do feel like regular car insurance is.
Every insurance is a scam right up until you need it. Gap is cheap as hell and if you can't budget for it you should have the cash in hand to replace your vehicle.
For what it ACTUALLY pays and how long it lasts, it is extremely expensive. Most people it is good for 3-4 months and that's only if they don't put ANYTHING down. Trade in a car? Put money down? GAP is useless.
And every month you go without totaling your car it is worth much less.
And if a car/truck depreciates enough driving off the lot for GAP to make sense. You're paying too much for new and should buy used if you want that particular model.
Yes every month I don't use it. The month I did use it I'll be pretty happy won't I.
You "won" the lotto, good for you?
Did the scooter fall from a building on it?
As someone who has totaled like 4 cars, its never been nearly enough to buy a replacement for that same car.
Time to swipe some "trucks".
Fake fucking news. Why is everyone latching on to this like it was real?
77k + 171k = 198k. This guy should not own anything.
I think he owes 171 on a 198 loan, the insurance scumbags offered him 77, leaving him with 94
Like others have said, $77k gets him into a used Cybertruck equivalent to what he had before. Insurance is systemically bad for so many reasons but it absolutely makes sense if it weren’t so morally corrupt and this is the part that makes sense. If I crashed my 2015 BRZ today I wouldn’t expect the full $25k I paid for it in 2018(although with the way used prices have been, I might actually get close to that, but that does not disagree with my point).
Admittedly I don't know how insurance works beyond the 10k ft view of "exploiting people for profit" and I've never totaled a vehicle
Well, out of the three replies I’ve recieved in different conversations this morning you’re the first to admit that you aren’t a turbo super genius(and boy, were others obviously wrong about the topic) so despite not knowing stuff you’re still coming out way far ahead haha