She's Totaled - What I learned about having an electric car when you get in an accident

[melissphillips]

I had the new 2024 MachE for about 2 weeks (having traded in the 2021) when I was rammed from behind by a driver going about 70 MPH. I was driving at 45 the speed limit on a local 5 lane road. The woman who hit me was having some type of mental crisis and never hit her breaks just rammed into my car. It destroyed her car and she never tried to stop and would have kept going if her car would have let her.

The good news we were fine, my brother and I were shook up and unsteady, sore and scared for days but we didn't die.

Then came the fun part. I have State Farm and as friendly as Jake and friends were - they do not have a good process for dealing with electric vehicles that need to be accessed for damage and or body work. They kept trying to set up appointments at collision shops on their lists that would immediately call me and say don't let the tow truck bring it here. Finally after 5 times of this I called the dealer and they did have one place across town that was located behind a Ford dealer and worked in partnership with the. The car was towed there a week after the accident and it took more than a week for the State Farm adjuster to come and inspect the car and declare it a total loss. So if you have an accidently go ahead and call the dealer to find out your options, State Farm won't have the right information in their systems regarding electric repairs.

In case you're wondering - yeas the whole you can't open the doors because the battery and system is now messed up made it extra special hard for the tow truck and the collision center and the adjuster lady. Ford you gotta figure something out on that one.

So now I'm in the market again, and sad my really good deal on a 24 went to waste. Wondering I should look around at other models? What other EVs are you guys considering next?

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[AtomicInternet]

I'm confused, the employee pricing deal on 25s isn't good?

 

[davegram]

I had the new 2024 MachE for about 2 weeks (having traded in the 2021) when I was rammed from behind by a driver going about 70 MPH. I was driving at 45 the speed limit on a local 5 lane road. The woman who hit me was having some type of mental crisis and never hit her breaks just rammed into my car. It destroyed her car and she never tried to stop and would have kept going if her car would have let her.

The good news we were fine, my brother and I were shook up and unsteady, sore and scared for days but we didn't die.

Then came the fun part. I have State Farm and as friendly as Jake and friends were - they do not have a good process for dealing with electric vehicles that need to be accessed for damage and or body work. They kept trying to set up appointments at collision shops on their lists that would immediately call me and say don't let the tow truck bring it here. Finally after 5 times of this I called the dealer and they did have one place across town that was located behind a Ford dealer and worked in partnership with the. The car was towed there a week after the accident and it took more than a week for the State Farm adjuster to come and inspect the car and declare it a total loss. So if you have an accidently go ahead and call the dealer to find out your options, State Farm won't have the right information in their systems regarding electric repairs.

In case you're wondering - yeas the whole you can't open the doors because the battery and system is now messed up made it extra special hard for the tow truck and the collision center and the adjuster lady. Ford you gotta figure something out on that one.

So now I'm in the market again, and sad my really good deal on a 24 went to waste. Wondering I should look around at other models? What other EVs are you guys considering next?

First, very glad you guys are ok
If the MME is a little rich for you right now, have you considered the Equinox ev? It's well-regarded as a strong value. Lots of solid features.

 

[dan_meh]

Glad you are ok.
When I bought my Mach e, I also had a deposit on the equinox. I really liked the equinox and the lower starting price was great.

I also looked into the Kona EV. Totally different idea of an EV, but we considered it as a town car. A neighbor ended up buying one and he travels locally with it and likes it.

 

[MonkeyNutz]

I'm confused, the employee pricing deal on 25s isn't good?

The "employee pricing" is somewhat non-specific and up to dealerships how to proceed with that one, but you should be able to get roughly 5% off MSRP from most of the pricing I have been seeing. Additionally, Ford Credit has good rates now for the '25 Mach-E that they just started last week and are good thru June 2nd. I don't know what kind of amazing deal OP got on his '24, but 5% off a '25 Premium is like $6K off of MSRP on a '24 Premium due to the lower MSRP.

Anyway OP, if you were happy with the Mach-E, take another look. The '25s are finally trickling onto lots now.

 

[GreaseMonkey]

I don’t like anything else on the market. Got another Mach-e five months ago and canceled my reservation on a Rivian R2. I think the GM lineup looks like shit and are very slow. That is a dealbreaker for me.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

I don’t like anything else on the market. Got another Mach-e five months ago and canceled my reservation on a Rivian R2. I think the GM lineup looks like shit and are very slow. That is a dealbreaker for me.

For all my complaining about the ‘25 frunk, I’d likely end up with another Mach-e if this happened to me. @melissphillips, let us know how your search goes, what you end up with and how you like it please. That whole “experience” just stinks, glad you’re ok.

 

[Tomm]

Glad you are well. There are likely some 24’s around at a good price

 

[DaleL]

Melissa, thanks for your post and all the pictures. As others have written, I'm glad no one was injured.

I don't have a Mach-e, but I do have State Farm. My wife's car insurance, on her Acura, has dropped as the car has gotten older. In contrast, the insurance on my EV has gradually gone up. I had a close encounter of the potentially bad kind last February this year. The Lexus ahead of me had to stop quickly. The GMC pickup behind me almost slammed into my vehicle. Fortunately the driver was able to swerve and miss my car. The cameras on my car recorded the entire incident. I have combined the videos into one with the front camera, side camera, and finally the rear camera.

The incident made me realize how much I love my EV and really do not want to have to replace it. Good luck on your search for a new EV.

 

[Mach1E]

Sad that happened.

Looking at the damage, I am kinda shocked our EV insurance rates haven’t skyrocketed.

It’s waaay too easy to total our cars.

That same accident would be a few grand to fix in a gas car and ours are totaled.

I’m sure much higher rates are coming as the data makes it to the insurance companies unfortunately.

The only reason I can figure my 2021 is t crazy expensive to insure is that the resale value is so low, “totaling” it wouldn’t be that expensive.

 

[ipca204]

Glad you are well. There are likely some 24’s around at a good price

AND still qualify for the 0% financing if I recall correctly, the 2025's do NOT

 

[NH_Pony_Boy]

That is an amazingly low amount of damage for what is a 25 mph hit.

 

[Shepherd]

Good to hear you and your brother are OK. Sorry about your car. Like DaleL, I dread having to replace my beloved Mach-E and deal with my insurance company after a total loss. Thanks for the advice to call the dealer before towing in that event!

 

[GreaseMonkey]

That is an amazingly low amount of damage for what is a 25 mph hit.

You read that the car was totaled, right?

 

[NH_Pony_Boy]

You read that the car was totaled, right?

I did. That doesn't take away from the fact that I was expecting much more damage when I read the description. I backed into a tree with my 2016 Model S a couple of years ago. Just a tiny crease in the aluminum rear deck lid and it cost 1/2 the value of the car to fix it. $8,000.

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