Repair cost for 1794

Thank Just got my 1794 2 months ago. Brand new 2022 was hit by a car when it was parked on the street. It did some damage to the body and software. The impact pushed the truck onto the curb hitting a mailbox. There’s minor front damage. The bed of the truck may have shifted. At the moment my Smokey is at the repair shop waiting to get looked at. The driver at faults insurance was 2 days expired. They sent a proof of renew of their insurance a few days later. We were estimating it may be 15-20k in repair cost.

 

Sorry to see that - that sucks. At least they stopped and eventually provided insurance… could have easily been a hit and run of there was no one there attending the parked vehicle…

 

Sorry to hear this.

 

Wow, I hate to see that and hear about it! Good luck and I hope they make you whole.

 

This

 

Hate to see brand new truck like this. People don't care on street

 

So they hit you when they had expired insurance and then got insurance after the accident? That's not how insurance works.

 

Many insurer have a reasonable grace period on payments. If the OP is lucky, the at fault driver’s insurance offers this.

 

This truck will forever crab walk down the freeway. Watch your tire ware once all the repairs are done. Make sure they check the frame for squareness and parallelism!!!

 

I thought anything frame-related on a new truck will total it.

 

Dude...so sorry. That sucks. Be super suspicious of the frame with the shop...make sure that it isn't impacted at all...again, so sorry.

 

Really hard to tell without some tear down photos.

As to the rear - obviously bumper assembly and lt rear wheel liner and flare - nothing too big. The tailgate again - not major. Bedside panel is hard to say.

It’s the frame that’s the obvious concern - but based on the appearance of the hit - I’m not too worried. It’s sway that concerns me (side hit) - this appears to be a mash - and it doesn’t appear to have reached ends of the rail (the bumper too majority of the force - as it’s designed to for example in a tear end loss).

Fixable - absolutely.
Would I want it back - in a word no.

Do you have a choice - probably not unfortunately.


As to why I wouldn’t want it back - it’s simple - resale. Even if you have no plans to ever resell - any resale in the next 5-7 years just took a hit. You would lose 10-15% selling today - probably closer to 5% at the end of that 5-7 year range - but a loss is a loss. Doesn’t mean it can’t be as good as before - just means someone will pay you less and not being at fault - it’s unfair for you to suffer a loss.

Now as to why you are likely screwed when it comes to this. Let’s say it cost 12k to repair (my ballpark guess with a new bed panel - stuff is expensive for these trucks). That’s like 20% of the value - no insurance company is likely to total a truck at 20% without a very good reason - and if it’s your insurance the 2 best reasons (cost of a rental due to extended repairs and parts shortages as well as a diminished value claim) just got tossed. With your insurance- you typically are limited on rental to 30 days and 40-75 a day. Even if it takes 4 months to repair - your rental is limited to 30 days. A few give more - but not many. So what COULD have been a 5-7k rental bill may be limited to 1200. If the decision is pay you 60k and resell the truck for 30k (reasonable salvage on a new Tundra like this) - it’s a proposal most companies would at least consider. It gives them an end point of a 30k loss - and with a 12k estimate in hand and knowing they are looking at 5-7k in rental - with potentially more cost - they will opt to take the worst case and be done (or at least I would). Especially knowing no collision center WANTS this thankless repair job.

Then there’s that diminished value claim - again - think proving 5-7k is pretty possible. If your the 3rd party (other guys) insurance - there is no contract between you and them - so DOV (diminishment of value) is fair game. Yes - burden of proof is on you as owner - but it’s doable. BUT - if using your own coverage (outside of GA - Georgia is different) - you are likely barred from these claims - even in a uninsured motorist claim. Your policy doesn’t have language that says “if not at fault - then this” - it simply says if coverage is used - these are our limits and what we as the company can opt to do. If that’s off the table - again another 5-7k you miss out on. Reality is you likely miss out on more than you might collect here.

Now not all is lost - just because you cannot collect from YOUR insurance doesn’t mean you can’t collect at all - just that your recourse is versus the at fault driver and the owner of the car they were driving (if different than driver) - but again - if they can’t pay insurance - what are the odds they have a fat savings account? Most likely - it would be getting blood from a stone and one who can discharge your debt easily in a chapter 7 filing.

 

That sucks!!!

 

100% this. Especially since the truck is so new.

Almost 10 years ago my 2012 4Runner got hit pretty bad. The difference between their insurance's preferred repair shop and the certified Toyota body shop estimate was pretty dramatic. Several thousand dollars difference actually. I had to fight a little to make sure their insurance would cover 100% of Toyota's repair estimate.

It got nasty enough that I had to make a phone call to my insurance agent to step in. My local agent basically had to threaten to cover 100% of the damages through my personal policy and then take them to court to recoup the damages. After that phone call, it was no problem.

Hopefully, your experience isn't as rough.

 

Sorry to see OP

 

I agree. I got into an accident with my 1794, and after the adjuster reviewed the damage USAA totaled my truck. I received 10k more than I paid for the tundra. if there is damage the the frame, expect the same outcome.

 

Time will tell. Good luck and keep us updated. Wreckage pictures are always deceiving of how bad or not how had the damage is until you get in there.

 

Honestly - the “Toyota Certified” shop certification is a bit of a misnomer - as with many manufacturers and their “certifications”

Look up Assured Performance Networks -
https://assuredperformance.net/

They are the ones who “certify” shops that post that little certificate.

In my personal experience - that certification is less evidence of the technical skill of a shop and more evidence of their advertising budget. Each certification is $10k per year. What do you get for that 10k - access to manufacture data - absolutely - but is that the ONLY way to get that info - absolutely not. If your a Toyota franchisee for example - your getting that info already. Not a Toyota dealer - no problem, there are several other services who provide these updates and tech bulletins on a subscription basis.

So what DO you get as a “certified” repair facility. Well - you get access to plenty of video training for your techs, you get a pretty certificate to hang and a prominent listing on the manufacturer website as a “certified” repair facility and most importantly you get advised on SEO (search engine optimization) and how to stand out on Google. Yep - that training is less about fixing a car and more about driving business to your shop and selling them off m repairing with you.

Toyota - or any other manufacturer in general doesn’t have anything specialized about their builds. Yes - some components are unique and some panels are made of different metals - but overall a good and experienced tech is going to be able to do bodywork to ANY model. Doesn’t matter if it’s a classic, a daily driver or a new high end vehicle.

I used to hear this constantly from Tesla owners …and again certain repairs SHOULD be taken to a qualified shop and not your local chain body shop. But at the same time - expecting higher quality out of these shops blindly is foolish. Just like sales and service in big dealerships - some spend more on advertising their body shop and less on the techs they employ. The certification means jack shit if the tech working on it has no idea what he’s doing! Worse - because of these programs - those online reviews you read are likely scrubbed hard - or completely made up.

So how do you know if a shop is good - personal recommendations from friends/forums are certainly a good starting point. Asking your insurance agent/claims rep possibly will yield results - but again I see bias at times and this does you zero good when the rep handling your claim is a call center rep and not a local person.

Check BBB and check out the shop PRIOR to giving them your vehicle. Does it look organized ? Are there 400 cars sitting disassembled and look like they have been sitting there months ? Does the estimator feel more like a used car salesman looking to get you to sign and less like someone who can explain what’s damaged and how they repair it ? These are all things I recommend people look at in a shop.

Kind of reminds me of place I used to visit semi regularly - low end shade tree mechanic/body person who specialized in the non English speaking community. Had a nice sign out front for “Uzed tyres - breaks fex cheep - mekanik” I have zero idea why anyone trusted this person with a car they would be driving - and more scary to me - the amount of cars he worked on that were in the road. I have no idea how many accidents he probably caused with his “fexes”.

 

One day I was at the dealer and I drove my new truck 2023 Platinum. When my wife and I came out to leave, this guy approached me as I was about to get into my truck. He told me he backed into my truck and my heart dropped. We went around to the back of my truck and I couldn't see anything but a little paint on my trailer hitch. When he backed up, he hit my truck right on the trailer hitch and there was zero damage. I looked it over real good and I even looked under the truck when I got home. He was driving a Toyota Avalon and it really did a lot of damage to the rear panel and bumper. I guess I was lucky!!!

 

GAP should cover this right?

 

Guaranteed Asset Protection (or GAP) is a coverage for your bank - not you so much.

it basically guarantees the loan will be paid off should a vehicle be deemed a total loss by insurance. Otherwise a bank is left holding a unsecured loan with nothing backing it for the balance.

Of course reasonable and responsible people who are concerned about their credit and such don’t want to leave a bank holding a worthless loan - and it does serve their interest paying for GAP - but it’s primarily for the banks benefit.

What it won’t do is help when your vehicle is repairable - or when you are “positive” equity (owe less than the value of your vehicle).

Remember - most banks will loan 115-125% of the value of a new car (taxes/accessories/upsell) - so it’s useful when your buying a new vehicle and have nothing down or are losing equity on a trade. But if your doing a 5 year note - by year 3 most people are positive unless they bought a really poor resale vehicle - non Ram/high level trim Fords you might be good year 2 in normal times. For a 7 year note - add a year or so to that timeline.

 

Welcome!

Sorry this happened, I hope it works out.

 

I would take it straight from the body shop when it was finished to the dealership and trade it.