u/Writing_Particular

Location: TN

I was recently involved in a car accident where I was stopped at a 4-way stop sign. A woman approached from the other direction at a high rate of speed, blew through the stop sign, and hit my 3-week-old new car. The car was subsequently declared as being totaled. It had stickered at approximately $60,000.

Police and EMT and local fire were dispatched. Neither of use were hurt. There were no passengers. She admitted to law enforcement that she was distracted via mobile phone and GPS. Her admission is in the official police report.

She had insurance. I had GAP coverage. After all was said and done, it looks like this will cost me about $2,000. Various GAP exclusions, it seems.

I’m very thankful that I was unhurt. Every airbag went off, and not a scratch or a bruise. So I am very appreciative of that. However, I still hate being out this money through no fault of my own!

Given that relatively small amount of money, am I really just going to have to “eat it”?

Is small claims court ever an option for situations like this?

Thanks in advance!

UPDATE: The exclusions the GAP company was referring to were related to sales tax, doc fees, title fees, etc. Turns out that they'd underestimated their earlier settlement amount, so I will not be owing anything out of pocket! Thanks for all the input and snark! LOL

I’m one of those folks who think that keeping pedal assistance to a minimum means that I’ll be working harder, so getting a better workout. I’m doing the work instead of the bike, right?

Well, today it was already in the upper 80’s when I started my ride, so I made a conscious decision to use a bit more assistance than usual. I didn’t want to overdo it, and still thought that it’s better than sitting on my butt. I was OK with having a lighter workout. And I do this area 3-5 times a week, so I’m used to seeing what my workouts look like.

Imagine my surprise to see that my workout turned out to be MORE intense, compared to usual. It’s rare for me to get much time in the Z4 zone, so I was real pleased to see 11 minutes there! And usually, my Z2 is where I spend most of time, with a reasonable amount in Z3.

Graphics courtesy of MapMyRide, paired with my Apple Watch for heartbeat data, and my bike is a Velotric Discover M. I’m a 68 year old man, btw. And a data nerd! 😆

I want to thank whoever had recommended restarting my router if my T5 goes offline.

Earlier today, I was notified that my upstairs T5 had gone offline. First time this one has gone offline. I was able to restart my router using the ATT app (gigabit fiber internet) while out grocery shopping, and moments later, the T5 was back online.

In a perfect world, I’d be able to keep it from going offline, but I’ll take this quick, simple way of getting it back online.

Thanks to this very helpful community!!!

A friend is considering getting a Model Y, so we went for a test drive in mine. I wanted to show him how charging and FSD both work, so, when he took the driver’s seat, I had him activate FSD to direct us to a nearby Supercharger.

FSD did as expected, taking us to the Supercharger, and, then, backing the car into an open spot. He was duly impressed.

Unfortunately, the spot FSD chose didn’t have any charging equipment - it was just a parking space in the middle of the actual charging spaces!

We had to laugh - FSD is still considered “supervised”, after all! 😆 (This didn’t do anything to dampen his enthusiasm!)

New 2026 Model Y AWD Premium. This happened this morning shortly after I arrived home. Has only happened once, but wondering what may have caused it. Any thoughts or ideas?

Picked up my 2026 MY Premium AWD on Saturday. My 4th Tesla, so not a newbie.

I’ve enabled the walk-away door locking, but I’m getting messages that my doors are unlocked after having left my car. If I walk to the car without my phone (just wanted to see if the doors were actually unlocked, or was perhaps the message was in error), the doors are indeed unlocked!

Suggestions of things to try before logging a ticket?

Loving it so far!!!

Is a USB drive included with a new Premium AWD?

Looking for opinions and experiences re going with the standard 19s or the optional 20s on a new Premium AWD.

A fan of the darker finish on the 20s, but do you sacrifice much as far as comfort compared to the 19s? Range isn’t much of a concern for me - 90% of my driving is local.

I have test-driven both, but on a test drive, how much can you really tell in an hour?

I have two T5 in my house, one upstairs and one downstairs. They’ve been working fine for a few months. Last couple of days, the Downstairs unit has gone into this “Updating…” status. Automations seem to be being ignored or having no effect.

The unit still responds when directly controlled by the First Alert app - I guess through acquisitions, that’s who now owns the brand!?!?!

Curious if others have encountered this and might have suggestions as to how to resolve it.

Thanks!

Overall, I’m pretty happy with my HomeKit installation, even if it’s not anything earth-shattering.

But there is one thing that I’ve encountered that, on one hand, did really annoy me, but on the other, it did make me laugh. I have some outdoor lights that cover my backyard. They are on one of a number of Lutron switches and the related Lutron hub. They are spotlights, so I named them, duh, SPOTLIGHTS!

Unfortunately, too many times when I’d tell Siri to turn on the spotlights, I’d get Jennifer Hudson singing Spotlight on my HomePods! 🤣 Renaming them as “SPOTS” solved the problem. #firstworldproblems

Is there really a $100 “installation fee” to simply change the speed of my internet service? I’ve had it for a number of years. I simply want to change my service from gig to 300 M.

I attempted to use the app to get an answer to this, which had me try to use the chat feature. I was already signed in, but it wanted me to sign in again. Then I got the 400 Bad Request error.

Possibly looking at some used Y’s. (Yes, I understand the .9% financing available on new.) Many seem to claim that they’re Launch models. I thought that Launch models would have the rear badging (which I know can be removed), the door jamb saying “Launch”, and the word “Launch” would be on the metal trim under the phone chargers. Maybe something unique on the screen animation?

Is that right? Are there any other clues to determine if something touted as a Launch trim really is? If they don’t have these, could they still be launch models?

I love the red, but not sure I’m brave enough to own it. (Just one of the cars I’m looking at.)

Edit:

1. Would the VIN contain anything that would help? Maybe VIN’s after a certain sequence couldn’t be launch trim?

2. If it has the acceleration boost, is that reflected on the center screen? Where would it show up?

3. This is in the U.S.

Well, got the Aqara camera working and configured in Apple Home. Was able to catch the thieves in the act! 😆A marauding gang, wearing masks!!!! (I think there were teenagers.) To be fair, I did plant a trap - left some peanuts in the shell out for them.

At some point, they must have gotten into a bit of a tussle and actually knocked the camera over.

Guess I’m done leaving anything out on the deck!

Perhaps I’m misunderstanding the spotlight - I thought you could have it on, or have it come on when motion is detected. Is that not the case? I’d like to have it off, unless it detects motion. I turn it off in the Aqara app using the Spotlight button on the Control Panel, but it comes right back on.

Thanks!

I have a deck that is recessed into the back of the house. I bought the Aqara G100 camera to try to catch which of Mother Nature’s “thieves” was somehow climbing up the brick walls, getting through the wrought iron railing, and getting into the bird seed that’s kept there. Pretty inexpensive, supports HKSV, and I could get it quickly via Amazon.

Camera was easy enough to setup - first through the Aqara app, then in Apple Home. Configured it to capture all motion. Somehow, the last image captured last night was of everything intact, and the first image this morning shows that the bandit(s) had struck! No recording of the actual “robbery”! 😆

Any suggestions as to anything special I can do to catch them in the act?