Tesla Crunched in San Francisco: Carbon Fiber is Expensive!

Steve says:

Sadly, after likely having waited for over a year to get his new electric supercar, this unlucky San Francisco Tesla owner reportedly crashed only hours after taking delivery. While there were no reports of injuries, that carbon fiber bodywork won't be cheap to fix.

This crash actually happened right outside of my friend's apartment building in San Francisco, though he is reportedly upset that he wasn't there to gloat.

This is also only one of 8 Tesla roadsters on the road and a good test for the service department at the newly opened Tesla dealership in Menlo Park.

Michelle says:

Poor person! (We all pretty much know that the owner must be a guy but in the effort to be fair, lets stay gender neutral.) Certainly this will cause him to be the butt of a lot of jokes and I sure wouldn't want to hear it when the pocketbook is almost as pained as the ego. For example, already overheard was this comment:

Seems the lack of emissions is outweighed by the inflated egos of the people who drive them [Teslas].

Okay- I admit, I LOL-ed when I heard that.

The question I have is about insurance rates and statistics so I called my trusty State Farm friend, Jim Seilsopour and he pulled a quote on what it would cost me (as the good driver that I am) to insure a Tesla. Have to tell you- I was surprised that my quote came in at only $1200 every 6 months. I pay about $1200 a year for a '2001 Kia and a '99 BMW so, I dunno, but that sounds really cheap! Seems that the way that State Farm deals with specialty cars (high performance and/or handmade) is to lump them all together as a category. Many mainstream companies would not insure a Tesla (think AAA or Mercury) because a total loss wouldn't mean that a client with pockets that medium-deep would be insuring something else while their new car is being made and smaller agencies wouldn't either because a $110,000 loss could make the difference between a profitable year or not.

Being made of carbon fiber and only the number 6 car (yep, I am disagreeing with Steve) is also an issue for most insurers because it means that the owner will have to wait for parts from a manufacturer that already has a production backlog.

The good news is that there are now 13 Tesla's on the road with only one sadly sitting in a garage waiting for it's carbon bits and other parts to be ready. So- please be kind to this landmark Tesla owner. He gets the honor of being an early Tesla owner/investor despite being a pioneer crashing one of the most dynamic cars of our generation.

Stumble It!

Fun at the LA Auto Show

The 2007 Los Angeles Auto Show is over for this year. Like so many LA events, it was beyond crowded and Black Friday was a busy day at Staple’s Center. Just finding parking was a feat in itself. After driving in circles trying to find a lot with open spaces that wasn’t in West Hollywood, I spied a valet lot while at an intersection where I couldn’t do a U-turn. I asked the traffic cop how to get to the valet and he proceeded to give me very complicated directions on how to get to the valley. Deciding that I really did want to go to the auto show, I turned left, closely followed by a young couple on a Hog-styled Honda. I went to do the right/right/right turn to head back to the valet and they pulled up behind a cargo van in the left lane. Closely. The cargo van, for no apparent reason decided to back into them and smashed the front end their bike. As I watched the young woman scream obscenities she was parroting from her boyfriend, I was reminded of why my Grandmother said that women should not cuss. It is most unattractive and looked silly.

So the valet story is almost over- I promise- but I have to write down all of this because it is probably more interesting than anything I saw inside Staple’s Center. As I pulled into the valet lot, the attendant looked briefly at me then pointedly looked at my first edition 1999 Z3 Coupe, glanced over at the row of fancy-parked Lamborghinis, Mercedes and a sweet M5 and told me that I should have washed my car first. I paid $30 for the privilege of being told to wash my car! He took my keys and then hid it in the back of the lot so that no one would see my shame.

Once inside after paying 1/3rd of the valet cost to enter, the first car I saw was that Tesla that keeps getting trotted out for events. I guess that being 2 years behind in production led them to understand that lending the old showgirl to Yokohama tires was better than paying thousands for a booth. The interior was still the concept version with bits of exposed wires connecting the starter and I wondered if I plugged it into an onion if it would start.

On the main floor, the first thing that grabbed me was the Ford Flex. It let go of me pretty fast after staring at it for a bout 30 seconds so I decided to have a look at the Mazda RX-8 with its “freestyle” doors. Yes, that is correct. Suicide is officially a Very Bad Thing and will henceforth be referred to as Freestyle. It makes sense in the automotive world. A brave driver in a souped up tuner would never consider themselves to be suicidal but would probably like to think that the interpretive dance called drifting that is all the rage is Freestylin’. It’s just like Bob Fosse on wheels!

On to the concept cars, which were tiny, and will never be produced as seen at the show. Kia, VW and Chevy all made almost the exact same versions of the Mini and I wish that I could have put every one of them in my pocket and taken them home. I especially like the Chevy BEAT because the badge font made it look like it is called the BERT. VW did give me a little car to put in my pocket and take home. It is made of recycled plastic and it is a blue SUV and has a little hole on top to put, um, a pencil? A single pencil. Wow. It sort of seems like a waste of recycled plastic but maybe it will sell a lot of those Touregs for them. It was about this time that I overheard a kid tell his buddy that Ferrari is better than Lexus.

In the dungeon-like lower level, there were throngs of people looking at the auto accessories for sale and I even peeked at the big bubble that I could zip around my car to protect it from that shameful dust. I think that they will only work when you are starting in a clean zone and my parking space is a dust bowl so I moved on. The one vendor that I bet was bored out of his gourd was the guy selling something to help you get ice off of your windshield. Did no one tell him that the bus was stopping in Los Angeles, California?

In all it was an eye-glazing overload of people and cars and just further cemented in my mind that I am happy with my dirty little Z3 until I find that next little used car that doesn't mind being dusty and I can’t live without.

Stumble It!