Tim is a Cybertruck owner and says he was recently involved in a minor accident where a woman driving a minivan backed up onto his Cybertruck.
Tim says that even though he was honking the horn the whole time, the lady failed to notice it and ended up crashing into his Cybertruck.
This is definitely a frustrating situation; however, now Tim is conflicted about whether or not to report the accident.
Tim is clearly not at fault here; however, his biggest fear is that if he reports the damage, his Cybertruck will be sent to a Tesla service center, where it may spend weeks before it’s returned to him.
Elaborating his concern further, Tim adds, “If I won’t have my beloved Cybertruck for weeks, I’ll be sad.”
The conflicted Cybertruck owner shared his story on the Cybertruck Owners Club forum.
He writes…
“Should I report this accident? If I won’t have my beloved Cybertruck for weeks, I’ll be sad.
A lady in a minivan backed up at a very low speed into the mirror, which folded in with no damage, and hit the front fender, causing the panel gap shown in the photo.
While she was backing up, I laid on the horn (the fire truck sound), but she kept coming.
At first glance, it looked like no one could tell the damage if I didn’t pinpoint it: no dents, only minor scrapes that will rub out. My neighbor couldn’t see it even though I told him where to look.
Her car had big mars/scrape marks that should be able to be rubbed/painted.
Questions:
Can that panel gap be pulled out without taking it to Tesla?
What is behind the steel panels? A support is probably buckled about 1/4 inch.
Should I ignore it and report only major dings?
Why was no footage saved, even though the video clip setting was on “Auto” (not on horn)? I laid on the horn three seconds prior to the hit.
Below his post, Tim shared a picture of the damage to his Cybertruck. Like he said, the damage is pretty minimal, but looking at the picture he shared closely, you can see the panel gaps around his Cybertruck’s driver side door have widened.
To be honest, we have seen some Cybertrucks straight from the factory that had bigger panel gaps than this.
Looking at the comments, fellow Cybertruck owners sympathized with Tim’s situation, and several expressed their support.
In addition, Cybertruck owners instructed Tim on how to retrieve the accident footage following the incident.
A fellow Cybertruck owner, Trevor, writes…
“Oof, that sucks! I'm so sorry that happened to you. If you laid on the horn prior to the accident, it may not have been saved in the normal area, but it still may exist in the continuous recording section (until it eventually gets overwritten).
I would report any and all dangerous drivers, regardless of the damage. If you have video proof of the hit, I would pursue them out of spite, personally.”
Other Cybertruck owners expressed their belief that Tim should report the accident. Many voiced their concern that, despite the damage appearing minor from the outside, there could be significant internal damage that may be expensive to repair.
A fellow Cybertruck owner, Nathan, writes…
“I would report it. You never know how much this might cost, and you don’t want to be responsible for it if someone else caused it. I hope it all works out!”
Another Cybertruck owner from Colorado writes…
“Of course, you should report it. Do you want to pay that deductible? Report it and claim it on her insurance, and nothing comes out of your pocket.”
This seems to be sound advice, especially since we have seen Cybertrucks in minor fender benders with only superficial damage, yet the owners faced repair costs exceeding $10,000.
Having said that, it’s still interesting to see how much Tim loves his Cybertruck and the extent to which he’s willing to go not to be away from his vehicle.
However, please let me know what you think in the comments. Share your ideas by clicking the RED “Add new comment” button below. Also, be sure to visit our site, torquenews.com/Tesla, regularly for the latest updates.
Image 2: Screenshot from Tim’s Cybertruck Owners Club post; reposted under fair use copyright rule
Tinsae Aregay has been following Tesla and the evolution of the EV space daily for several years. He covers everything about Tesla, from the cars to Elon Musk, the energy business, and autonomy. Follow Tinsae on Twitter at @TinsaeAregay for daily Tesla news.