Replacing Your Totaled Elio

[RUCRAYZE]

I can't see that it would be a big deal, but I suppose in all fairness, it is not the next person in line who totaled your car, (unless it WAS the next person! Jealous SOB!), or anyone after him, so making them wait 'cause you already broke yours wouldn't be 'fair', taken to the extremity of the concept. The root issue as I see it, is that the Elio in the early days will be a limited production vehicle, as evidenced by the fact you can't just go buy one. You don't go to Ferrari and ask them to hand craft another car ahead of everyone else on the list 'cause yours didn't fare well against grandma's Continental.
Besides, the availability of body parts and major components, and even those annoying little clips that hold everything together these days, might all be a problem for ANY situation that necessitates even a minor repair. Just make sure and get replacement cost coverage so if anything happens you can tell them to cut a check for the replacement cost..... Today, not next year. Besides, I'm sure a FEW of those reservations are for people who fully intend to sell the Elio at auction or something to someone who can't wait and will pay a serious premium.

Ah! but you can buy more than one, I've seen posts with members with more than one 1k all in # or as another member mentioned, CYA and put refundable deposit of 1,000, AND $100, and see how it plays out

 

[Jeff Porter]

I just wanted to share the response that I received from the Elio Team today from my question about replacing a totaled Elio:

Q: Let's say I have a first year Elio, and in the 1st week of ownership, I am side-swiped hard enough that an insurance company has determined that my Elio is totaled. To get my replacement vehicle do I go to the back of the reservation line? Or will some percentage of Elios that roll out of production be built to fulfill replacement requests?

A:
"Hello!
Thanks for your email.
Wow, that is a fantastic question! It's not every day that we get a question that has not come in before.
Strategically, we did not account for this scenario in our build plan and we do not have planned vehicles set aside for replacement. But, your email will certainly create some conversations, and we will work on a strategy. As it stands today, you will most likely have to wait a year, but we will keep you updated if things change.
Thanks again!

Best,
The Elio Team"

It wasn't the response I was hoping for, since there may be a tendency for insurance companies to classify these as totaled because of their price point. I hope they have a solution by the time they roll out vehicle #1.

Very good question. I would not like the answer of waiting for a year, I'd be on my insurance company to get me another make and model of vehicle. I guess we'll have to be as careful as possible for those first several months, until production is up to several hundred vehicles per day.

 

[LockMD]

I'd be on my insurance company to get me another make and model of vehicle.

But they couldn't find anything else for that price.

 

[CompTrex]

But they couldn't find anything else for that price.

I have a 2001 Solara that I'd let go for that!

 

[Roberto Benitez]

I had thought about this, and had been my assumption I would have to wait.

I started looking at after market safety systems--but they seem to be geared toward avoiding hitting something--not avoid being hit. The infinity sky's option seems to offer the best solition--if one can constantly scan the camera feeds--but if that requires getting an iPhone or iPad--I will take my chances.

 

[Jeff Porter]

But they couldn't find anything else for that price.

I hear ya, I was thinking used vehicle when I typed that. I'd take a 10-yr-old Cadillac with 104k miles on it. :-)

 

[imageon]

With them cranking these out the rate of 500 a day It won't be long till they exceed the demand I would think. Then there would be one sitting around for them to replace it.
You would probably only have to wait a few months if you were the first in line.
MK

 

[ks6c]

<snip> I can't see that it would be a big deal, but I suppose in all fairness, it is not the next person in line who totaled your car, (unless it WAS the next person! Jealous SOB!), or anyone after him, so making them wait 'cause you already broke yours wouldn't be 'fair', taken to the extremity of the concept...<snip>

With a couple hundred being made each day, you'd only be pushing folks back a few minutes - and I doubt they'd notice! In fact, as production ramps up, even if a couple hundred of us lost our beloved Elios, letting those folks back in line would only push the rest of us back a day. Don't really think I'd notice that, either. I'd be willing to do that for members of the Elio family.

Since the early adopters aren't getting stock options <grin>, maybe this could be a perk for supporting EM early on...

 

[Jay3wheel]

I absolutely love EM's response. It's refreshing to hear a company respond, with a big "I don't know, we don't have any provisions for that situation." No bull, no politically correct answer. Love that honesty. Makes me feel more confident that Elio is coming and it's coming soon!

Yes, it will be interesting to see how they answer this question. I do hope they tell the person to play more safely with the next one, if you break this one no desert for you.

 

[Dusty921]

I absolutely love EM's response. It's refreshing to hear a company respond, with a big "I don't know, we don't have any provisions for that situation." No bull, no politically correct answer. Love that honesty. Makes me feel more confident that Elio is coming and it's coming soon!

TCO,
Me too! A big Gold Star to the EM staff member that responded.
I'm all "politically corrected" out!! It's a shame honesty's not mandatory for politicians, from the top down!!!

Aw crap, I did it again, well... at least Wayne would be proud. ...I really miss him!