Tesla CEO Elon Musk once said that if the Cybertruck was "ever in an argument with another car," it "will win." Unfortunately, that sentiment hasn't kept totaled trucks out of the shop after accidents or, in some cases, even the salvage auction.
Recently, totaled-out Tesla Cybertrucks have been hitting salvage auctions. As pointed out by Electrek, at least two trucks have recently been posted online to Insurance Auto Auctions Inc, a company that provides automotive salvage auction services. And while there might only be two examples of wrecked trucks up for auction at this point, we must admit that these damages don't look all that bad.
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Cybertruck Repairs Are Costly
With the Tesla parts catalog quoting $550 for a fender, $1,900 for a windshield, and $2,845 for a front trunk assembly just a few months ago, replacing parts on the Cybertruck won't be cheap—but perhaps it's more affordable than the cost to prep and paint a brand new panel on other vehicles. Auto body shops know just how expensive Tesla body parts can be, and with the Cybertruck's stainless steel exterior making simple dent repair even more difficult, body panel replacement could become even more commonplace for the stainless steel trapezoid.
Now, only one of these trucks was actually in a collision. In that example, the front trunk is pushed up, the driver's side fender is crumpled, and a number of other minor components also appear to be damaged. It looks like any other run-of-the-mill fender bender, at least without assessing the underlying structural components of the truck.
Still, it seems like it would take a lot more damage to total out a $120,000 truck, especially with under 4,000 miles on the odometer.
Gallery: Totaled Tesla Cybertruck (Crash)
The second truck looks brand new. As it should, considering it has even fewer miles on the odometer—26, to be exact.
This truck is labeled a flood vehicle, which makes even less sense when you see the flood line indicator below the door sill. Like other Tesla vehicles, the Cybertruck places the battery pack underneath the cabin. However, Musk also claimed that the truck would be "waterproof enough to serve briefly as a boat, so it can cross rivers, lakes, and even seas that aren’t too choppy."
The Cybertruck even has a built-in "wade mode" to ford water up to 31 inches deep, which is just over 40% of the truck's overall height. It would seem that the water didn't get that high. In wade mode, the truck protects its battery by pressurizing the pack using air from the truck's pneumatic suspension, however, it's only rated for up to 30 minutes of protection. It's unclear if the truck sat in water for longer than that time, or if the truck was even delivered to a customer before it was flooded.
Gallery: Flooded Cybertruck
To make matters worse, trucks that go in for repairs can take quite a bit of time before being returned to owners. One owner who crashed their truck just a few hours after taking delivery, reportedly due to brakes failing to respond, said that Tesla quoted a year for parts availability. Other owners have reported their trucks being at the service center for weeks or months ,waiting on parts or even estimates.
It's not clear if the backlog is due to actual part constraints or if it might be due to Tesla's global workforce layoffs earlier this year.
Body shops expected the Cybertruck to be an insurance nightmare from day one. In fact, one shop told InsideEV's Kevin Williams that repairing stainless steel is "a novelty." And even though the truck might be able to withstand some bullets, it can't defy physics during a crash.
It's only a matter of time before we start seeing more of these trucks hit the auction block, especially as they become more popular and are produced in higher numbers. Teslas already have an exceptionally high insurance rate due to the cost of repairing them after an accident, but we've only seen the start of what it could cost to fix the Cybertruck, especially if panel replacements become a regular occurrence or if it takes a large amount of labor to reshape metal.
