Entrepreneur Jörg Minnebusch was very lucky and then unlucky in quick succession: last week he was one of the customers who directly by Tesla CEO Elon Musk one of the 30 first Model Y from the new Gigafactory handed over in Grünheide near Berlin – “GIGA 012” was written on the license plate before it was replaced by a short-term license plate for the journey home. Minnebusch was still on the road with it two days later – and then his early German Tesla Model Y was severely damaged by the CEO by another careless driver.
Mercedes pushes Audi against Tesla
Minnebusch reported this last Thursday, initially dismayed on Facebook. “MYP less than 2 days old and someone is already driving me at the red light in Giga 0012,” he wrote. In the meantime, however, he is in a good mood again, as was evident in a telephone conversation with teslamag.de on Monday. That could have contributed to this his premiere Tesla is still drivable despite rear damage is. Immediately after the accident he was in a body shop, where only external damage was found. Secured with strong black tape, Minnebusch can continue driving his Model Y Performance pending repairs, he said.
He also made dashcam recordings of the accident on Tuesday in Oberhausen available to teslamag.de. It can be seen that the situation was a bit more complex than described in his Facebook post. The Tesla Model Y is in stop and go on a multi-lane city street. The car behind him leaves a gap for an Audi turning off a side street. However, its driver does not line up behind the Model Y, but wants to go straight on to the left-turn lane. There, however, a Mercedes van drives up and rams the left turn in front. This pushes the Audi forward a bit so that its right front hits the Tesla on the left side of the rear.
He also showed these recordings to the police, Minnebusch reported, and for them the question of guilt was clear. So he will at least not sit on the damage. He briefly considered whether he should ask the opposing insurance company for a new car instead of a repair, the entrepreneur said. In the meantime, however, it is clear: “I’ll keep it.” Because the damage can be repaired, and he would definitely not get such a special electric car again. So Giga 012 stays with Minnebusch. The necessary parts have already been ordered, he said on Monday, and confirmed that the cost of the repair was estimated at around 20,000 euros. Among other things, the large tailgate must be replaced.
Model Y should not remain patched for long
Contrary to some reports, the owner shouldn’t have to wait weeks for it. That would have been entirely conceivable. Because the Spare parts supply at Tesla can be problematic, as some of those affected report, and there is still no experience with electric cars from the German Gigafactory. In this special case, however, even the European top of the company is interested, as teslamag.de learned from his environment. The repair of Model Y No. 12 from Grünheide was said to have top priority: Tesla certainly didn’t want any reports that one of the first customers had to drive around for weeks with a car patched with duct tape due to a lack of spare parts.