Tundra Stolen. Waiting on Insurance.....

Truck was stolen from in front of my house 2 weeks ago in Los Angeles, Ca 90026.
Filed the report with my Insurance and Police. Haven't heard anything and also haven't found any parts of the truck being sold off on any of the resale marketplaces.

I have AAA insurance with MORE than full coverage since I was still making payments on the truck. Payoff would have been in Sept of this year (2021).
Truck was modified with TC UCA, RCI Skid, KING OEM 2.5 front/rear with ADJs, AMP Research Steps, Spyder Auto Headlights, Rigid Fog Lights, 2021 Honeycomb grill with TSS Sensor/emblem,

$435 Firestone 2445 Firestone 07-09TOY Tundra

Firestone 2445 airbags, Daystar Cradles, coachbuilder +2 shackles, OEM Toyota Tow Mirrors, RBP 20x9 Assassin Wheels, Falken Wildpeak 305/55/20r A/T3, ESP rear underseat storage bins.
Truck started as an SR5 4X4 when i bought it.
I submitted photos to insurance showing the modifications and such and a list of the modification/add ons.

I am nervous as to what the insurance is going to want to give me for the truck, thinking they are going to pay for the base truck and ignore the modifications. Also, I didn't have GAP insurance so i still need to pay off the loan before i can even go out and buy a new truck which is hard due to my local dealers in LA County not having Tundras in stock.

Anyone have any experience with going through a "complete loss" and getting paid out by insurance?

 

curious to know

 

Holy shite, man. Sorry to hear that.

 

Yeah, the insurance company will lowball you first and see if you take it. Don’t take the first offer.

 

Just show insurance what trade in for your truck is/would be. The cost of Tundras is ridiculously high. So in theory you should have a good return. As for the mods, unsure if you will get reimbursed. When mine was in a collision mods were covered.

If you were a few months from paying off the tundra, you shouldn't need gap insurance as I am sure you owed less than the value of the tundra. Only when you owe more than the truck is worth would gap insurance be beneficial.

 

Yea insurance knew about mods. I've had the mods on the truck since i started using them as my insurance carrier so they have pics with the modded truck prior to the loss.

The gap insurance would have helped because I am still responsible for paying off the balance of the car. And if i want to go buy a replacement truck, I'll need to close that old loan out. Pay in a lump sum from the settlement just so I go into the new truck with a higher credit score. Toyota wants between 3.5-4.5% in APR for a new truck.

 

If you provided the insurance with all of the invoices for the aftermarket parts it will add value. fyi though you will never receive dollar for dollar for the parts that were added on to the truck as most aftermarket parts installed on vehicles are personal preference and don't always add as much value as we think they do. The insurance provider will pay off the loan and issue you the remaining balance.

 

^2nd this. Run your truck through Carvana for an offer to sell it to them. Takes only a few minutes and you get an instant offer. Tundras are fetching huge trade in prices right now.

 

Yea that's what I am hoping for.
No invoices for anything due to buying everything cash from swapmeets, offerup, vilmont Market's Instagram page, and here on tundras.com

 

AAA is pretty good at payouts for this.. I got 10k for my Celica 10 years ago, and it was discontinued at the time... they look at Tundras for sale around your area and will give you a mean value based on their results.. I also told them of mods after the fact and was asked for receipts.. I got pennies on the dollar for mods FYI.. I bought it back for 700 so total payout was 10.7k... I'd suggest start looking at the market and get an idea on model and mileage

 

You can usually get better financing (if going that route) through local credit unions.
As mentioned, don't accept the first offer from insurance. Base value on the truck right now will be an easy argument (market on them is high), but they will try to lowball the modifications and you'll have to fight with them. If you have receipts (including installation), that may help. What a crappy thing to have to deal with, and so close to paying it off.

I guess in some way, this might be another reason to have a build thread - document each thing you've done and when you did it. At least to some extent it might be useful for piecing together what you've done to the truck.

 

Be ready for some disappointment in regards to the added parts very difficult to get any substantial reimbursement when there is not proof of how much you paid for them good. When they call you with the settlement ask them for a copy of the evaluation report so that you can look up the comps they use and the breakdown of how much you are getting for each part. If you do not agree with the value you may have a clause in your policy where you may be able to hire your own appraiser review and provide you with a value. Just remember this would be an out of pocket expense the insurance company would to the same and hire a moderator to review both report to see if they are coming in to low on the value.

 

I just customized my Insurance yesterday and the max was $5,000. Shocks don’t count but wheels, lights and bumper do. Submitted all my receipts also. Extra $25 a month well spent but unfortunately still does not cover how much I have into it.

 

Yea might go through my credit union. Just tell them what i want and let them look for the truck in stock. I have a build thread on here. All the work was done by myself and brother. It wasn't crazy modded but everything served a purposes since the mods were done for camping and to to make trailer towing easier.

 

Loan amount > truck worth get gap
Loan amount< truck worth don't need gap

Gap covers new vehicles that a loan is taken out for but depreciation makes truck worth less than the loan amount.

Did I miss something? You'll get money from insurance. That will pay off the loan. What's left goes into your pocket. You won't get full amount from insurance if you still owe on it.

 

Communicate with your insurance company daily as to the status of your claim. A long wait from the insurance company usually means that they are setting you up to take a low ball payout. I would start sending them links for comparable Tundras that are for sale in your area so they are aware that you are informed of it's value. I would also buy a beater car, if you do not already have one, so that you are prepared for a long battle.

If they do offer you a low number, ask them to find you a replacement for that value. Put the ball back in their court.

 

Put your VIN in Carvana right now and get an offer for them to purchase. It’s your best shot at a fair price since Caravan seems to be offering top dollar. How many miles did it have?

 

Edit-I see now that you did tell insurance in advance about the mods. If that's the case, they should take care of you.



I posted a PSA about this I'm going to share again.

https://www.tundras.com/threads/psa-insurance-with-truck-modifications.50856/

 

Also compile a list of similar trucks currently for sale color, engine, trim! They won’t negotiate emotions so your best option is facts.

 

What sucks the most is that what you worked for someone else took for free. #killem’all

 

This. If you were scheduled to pay it off in Sept gap coverage would provide zero benefit.

 

I added extra coverage to my truck insurance but it still does not cover all mods. Hopefully you get some of it back.

 

If you have receipts, they’ll typically give you SOME money on the mods. When my 4runner was totaled I had the pro wheels, katzkin seats and a bunch of other smaller stuff. Here is what they told me - the payout that you receive if for an sr5 equipped 4runner of same mileage, condition, etc. When we pay you out, that is assuming it comes with the stock wheels which cost x amount of money. You put the trd pro wheels and you have a receipt....so we will give you SOME of the difference in actual cost bit no labor. So I ended up getting like $500 more for all of the mods that I had. It was pretty depressing

 

Sorry to hear on your situation, hope it gets figured out.

 

Sorry to hear that, Hopefully you get more in return.

 

Theifs suck...

 

Dammnnnn this sucks. The worst part is that you’re gonna have a hard time finding one to replace it with right now.

 

Very sorry to hear that! I would be laying awake at night pissed, thinking bad thoughts for a long time. The sooner you get a new truck the better - start busting balls with insurance.
Do you mind sharing with us how it was stolen? Maybe we can prevent another one.

 

Is it cheaper to buy LoJack or just hide an old cell enabled iPhone somewhere inside the trim pieces lol.