One-eyed R1T :( Headlight broken by a Jeep

[ohseedee]

I finally made it to Pismo Beach. The Oceana dunes just opened and the CA park rangers are giving cars instructions on how to cross the creek. One of the park rangers is talking to me at my window while I’m in park. To my horror, the jeep wrangler 2 car lengths in front of me begins to quickly back up. The ranger and I scream to stop, but was too late. The mounted spare tire made impact, blinding my 8 week old R1T. Having a law enforment officer as your witness is good, but still going to be a rough ride dealing with USAA. They already sent me on a wild goose chase to a service center that I knew wouldn’t deal with Rivians. I laughed when the guy at the service center said “you are not actually dropping that off here are you?” The truck is completely drivable (will also need some repairs to the bumper and the front end), but the Rivian certified repair center did prepare me for a long drop off and wait period for parts and insurance approvals. I’m more than willing to pay out of pocket to keep my truck with me while we wait then work to get refunded by their or my insurance. Anyone have luck doing something like that? Ultimatley all repairs should be paid by the wrangler’s insurance (AAA) as it’s 0% my fault and the ranger is going to file a report backing that up.

And by the way, because my head light is now exposed, I didn’t risk the creek crossing at pismo beach, so ended up just turning around and heading home while the wrangler continued on with his fun filled day with zero damage.

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[Donald Stanfield]

That sucks. Personally it’s way harder to get reimbursed than it is to have them pay for it. It might take you a little longer but once you pay it’s like getting blood from a stone. I’d let the insurance pay up.

Your insurance might pay and fix it then go after the other insurance.

 

[ohseedee]

That sucks. Personally it’s way harder to get reimbursed than it is to have them pay for it. It might take you a little longer but once you pay it’s like getting blood from a stone. I’d let the insurance pay up.

Your insurance might pay and fix it then go after the other insurance.

Fair point. My hope is I can give some money in advance so the repair shop will place the order on parts, do an estimate, then send that to my insurance company. Then I wait with the truck until parts and approval comes in, then I take it to get the work done. If at a maximum, I pay for the parts in advance, I cant see how USAA would question the price of those parts as it would be easy to verify from RiIvan. After all the months of waiting, I really don‘t want to be truckless for such a dumb reason.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

Fair point. My hope is I can give some money in advance so the repair shop will place the order on parts, do an estimate, then send that to my insurance company. Then I wait with the truck until parts and approval comes in, then I take it to get the work done. If at a maximum, I pay for the parts in advance, I cant see how USAA would question the price of those parts as it would be easy to verify from RiIvan. After all the months of waiting, I really don‘t want to be truckless for such a dumb reason.

yeah I get what you’re saying but if it’s drivable I would just drive it until it gets fixed and they can do the repair when they get the parts.

 

[ohseedee]

yeah I get what you’re saying but if it’s drivable I would just drive it until it gets fixed and they can do the repair when they get the parts.

The service center said they don‘t do “pre-orders” (whatever that means) and that I’d have to leave the truck and wait. The reason being is they could go buy the parts and I’d not come back. So the truck is effectively the collateral that they are getting paid. When I offered to pay for all parts in advance he said something like “that might work. I’d have to talk to my manager after you bring it in.” We shall see.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

The service center said they don‘t do “pre-orders” (whatever that means) and that I’d have to leave the truck and wait. The reason being is they could go buy the parts and I’d not come back. So the truck is effectively the collateral that they are getting paid. When I offered to pay for all parts in advance he said something like “that might work. I’d have to talk to my manager after you bring it in.” We shall see.

Thats stupid. Where else are you going to go? So you’re just supposed to let your truck sit and not have a vehicle? Yeah that wouldn’t work for me.

 

[electruck]

Really sorry to hear this.

I just don't get how someone can be so reckless as to back up 2 car length without any clue as to what is behind them.

 

[electruck]

Thats stupid. Where else are you going to go? So you’re just supposed to let your truck sit and not have a vehicle? Yeah that wouldn’t work for me.

He could be killed by a wreckless jeep driver and never return to complete the repair.

Honestly, this is pretty standard policy for any shop.

 

[COdogman]

Man that sucks. People are just idiots. Find yourself one of these for now:

 

[Donald Stanfield]

He could be killed by a wreckless jeep driver and never return to complete the repair.

Honestly, this is pretty standard policy for any shop.

Then I’d wait until the insurance company cuts the check and give them the parts money up front. There’s no way I’d be out my drivable vehicle for a month just because they don’t see to care about it.

 

[Dark-Fx]

I think you meant ˙(

 

[carmigo]

I finally made it to Pismo Beach. The Oceana dunes just opened and the CA park rangers are giving cars instructions on how to cross the creek. One of the park rangers is talking to me at my window while I’m in park. To my horror, the jeep wrangler 2 car lengths in front of me begins to quickly back up. The ranger and I scream to stop, but was too late. The mounted spare tire made impact, blinding my 8 week old R1T. Having a law enforment officer as your witness is good, but still going to be a rough ride dealing with USAA. They already sent me on a wild goose chase to a service center that I knew wouldn’t deal with Rivians. I laughed when the guy at the service center said “you are not actually dropping that off here are you?” The truck is completely drivable (will also need some repairs to the bumper and the front end), but the Rivian certified repair center did prepare me for a long drop off and wait period for parts and insurance approvals. I’m more than willing to pay out of pocket to keep my truck with me while we wait then work to get refunded by their or my insurance. Anyone have luck doing something like that? Ultimatley all repairs should be paid by the wrangler’s insurance (AAA) as it’s 0% my fault and the ranger is going to file a report backing that up.

And by the way, because my head light is now exposed, I didn’t risk the creek crossing at pismo beach, so ended up just turning around and heading home while the wrangler continued on with his fun filled day with zero damage.

Get it an eyepatch and lean into the one-eye situation.

 

[ohseedee]

Really sorry to hear this.

I just don't get how someone can be so reckless as to back up 2 car length without any clue as to what is behind them.

The real kicker was he jumped out of his car screaming at me “dont be a fucking ass hole! It was just a fucking accident!” My crime was screaming “STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP!” then immediately stoped after impact. Then “ there isnt even any fucking damage” before realzing the extent He then did apologize and offered to shake my hand after I said something to the effect of “I have not said a single word to you since I screamed at you to NOT hit me before you actually did. You hit me AND are the one screaming at me.“ For whatever reason I didn't honk my horn. The park ranger had just finished giving him instructions on the creek crossing 15 second before and walked right behind him. Very possible the park ranger could have gotten crushed if the timing was different. I actually did hear him giving the statment to the ranger saying something like “shouldn’t he have backed up?” and the reply was “NO I was in the middle of talking to him when you hit him.” The park ranger was super nice to both of us.

I have a feeling that if it was not for the park ranger being there, I might be in the middle of a “he rear ended me” situation.

 

[ohseedee]

Honestly, this is pretty standard policy for any shop.

I’ve been driving >25 years and this is luckily (I guess?) my first time having to deal with this, so not sure. My assumption is if I just offer to pay a “deposit” for 100% the value of the parts they’d just do it. I cant see why they wouldn’t as there wouldn’t be any risk, but again, I’m new to this.

Really worried about USAA based on how they’ve been so far + some stuff I’ve read here. I kind of want to calculate the amount I’ve given USAA over ~25 years of auto and home with ZERO point ZERO claims and be like “come on you owe me!”

 

[mikehmb]

The real kicker was he jumped out of his car screaming at me “dont be a fucking ass hole! It was just a fucking accident!” My crime was screaming “STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP!” then immediately stoped after impact. Then “ there isnt even any fucking damage” before realzing the extent He then did apologize and offered to shake my hand after I said something to the effect of “I have not said a single word to you since I screamed at you to NOT hit me before you actually did. You hit me AND are the one screaming at me.“ For whatever reason I didn't honk my horn. The park ranger had just finished giving him instructions on the creek crossing 15 second before and walked right behind him. Very possible the park ranger could have gotten crushed if the timing was different. I actually did hear him giving the statment to the ranger saying something like “shouldn’t he have backed up?” and the reply was “NO I was in the middle of talking to him when you hit him.” The park ranger was super nice to both of us.

I have a feeling that if it was not for the park ranger being there, I might be in the middle of a “he rear ended me” situation.

Sorry you had to deal with this asshat. I’ve gotten bailed out of my own stupidity a number of times by kind strangers in Jeeps. But the turd-birds can really dial it up to 11 sometimes.

Good luck with the repair process. I ended up going with Rivian (Nationwide) solely because I didn’t trust my own insurance to actually know how to get a Rivian fixed. USAA is (generally) pretty amazing for all my friends who use it.

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