A couple things up front.
i) Our 2013 Tesla Model S is totaled.
ii) Please consider buying gap insurance for when you have a total loss and the balance on your loan is much higher than the depreciation on your expensive car. We do not have gap insurance. No need to taunt, but instead internalize and take our lesson learned.
iii) Jennifer and the two kids were in the car (I was not). She is in a soft cast with what the podiatrist suggests is a second grade or third grade sprain of her ankle, and her wrists are recovering from being swollen/bruised due to the impact of the airbag.
BLUF: Jennifer was driving with the two kids in the car and was within a few blocks of home. Someone cut in front of her, and both cars are a total loss. She was brought to the hospital by ambulance but is recovering fine. The other driver is 24, has an international driver's license, was driving a rental car (Sentra), and listed a hotel as his home address. Both drivers claim they had a solid green light, there were no witnesses who say they saw the signal lights, there are no cameras at the intersection, so the police have said that it is a "no-fault" accident and that the insurance companies can work it out on their own. Our insurance (USAA) says that they might do some sort of investigation to see if they can determine if the other driver is at fault. Whether they try to do that or not, I don't think they will be able to prove anything, as it now is a "he said she said" thing. Additionally, our insurance has already told me that in the event of a "no fault" accident, our deductible will be waived, and the accident will not reflect at all poorly on our driving record on our policy. If you look at the current value of the car and the current balance of our loan, we will likely have to pull $10k-$15k our of our pocket to cover the delta, and we will no longer have our car.
Advice requested: What things can I do to help better reflect what I have in the car? Here are some things I'm gathering receipts for. First, the original invoice that reflects that our car was a fully loaded P85 with all the options (except the "plus" option at the time, or the 21" wheels). Second, I have about $5k into a multi-stage paint correction at the time we bought it, Suntek film to protect the paint (it didn't have a single rock chip before this accident), Modesta coating (so that the car was always protected from water spots and always looked freshly waxed). I have a receipt for over $900 for having Photosync window tint installed on all the interior glass. I have used up my $7500 federal tax credit for buying an electric vehicle (a one-time thing) so I'd have to add that onto a new purchase (not sure if this counts for anything). I had a separate electrical circuit and Tesla High Power Wall Connecter installed at home when we bought the car (totals over $2k), and now I have no use for it. I had Tesla upgrade our original 3G cellular radio to LTE ($500). I was recently invited and participated in the Classics on the Green car show as one of the "trendsetting" feature cars. I've requested (with George Parker's assistance) the judging sheets from that day. The car was truly in showroom condition, even better after the paint correction actually. I had purchased special equipment to clean and dry the car fully hands-free (several hundreds of dollars) with a power washer (which is possible due to the Modesta coating). Now that stuff is pretty much useless.
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