My Tundra Got Totaled

Sorry for your loss. I’m upset for you. Especially since a drunk hit you. Can’t believe that totaled the truck.

 

Yeah I didn’t honestly think it was that bad at first. But it ended up needing a total frame replacement because the hitch torqued the frame so bad.

 

Sorry dude. Hopefully yours will be ok!

 

Yep, $26k worth of damage.

 

I had to do that with my 2005.
I traded it in on my 2014 while the 2005 was still in the body shop...

I'd certainly get a 2020 or 2021 instead of a Gen 3..
Good luck

 

How the hell is that $26k in damage? Looks like a fender bender. Your airbags didn't even deploy.

 

My bed was pretty effed up. And the frame was done. The guy was going at least 40 when he hit me. The fact that I wasn’t even sore the next morning is a testament to the toughness of these trucks, IMO.

 

Yeah I’m sticking with a Gen 2.5.

 

Probably not what you'd want to do, but I bet that can be made fully functional for a hell of a lot less than than the price they are quoting. Any way you or someone else could grab it cheap and fix that after you've been paid? What do insurance companies do with their totalled vehicles?

 

Just thinking... new takeoff or good condition beds can be had for a lot less than factory ones. Or do a flatbed.

The frame is bent, but the way the Tundra is designed the rear section is by far the weakest... so it's probably pretty isolated there. It's also C channel which is a lot easier to deal with than a bent boxed frame. It could maybe be bent back well enough and reinforcements added.

 

The bright side here is that you’re close enough to 2021 still that the 2.5 gens are still out there with super low miles. If this had to happen, better now than 5 years from now

 

Man I feel your pain. I totaled my dream truck back in 2005 and it really made me realize that these are just tools and are basically disposable. All that time and money put into mods gone in a matter of seconds. For the next 15 years, I really didn’t mod my vehicles much at all.

 

That’s true. However I was so close to paying my truck off. So I’m looking for something that’ll put me close to what I owed on the truck that got totaled with the insurance payout. All the 21’s I’ve looked at so far are over that price range.

 

That’s why I’m basically looking for a sport because that’ll have the led heads and fogs and color matched body. So the only other upgrades I’ll need to do are the head unit (which I salvaged from my totaled truck), wheels and tires (again I salvaged from my old truck), and some cosmetic stuff on the interior, ie blacking everything out.

 

Thanks for posting the picture. I was expecting more visible damage for it being totaled, but it doesn’t take much anymore.

I hope you find a awesome truck!

 

Trust me, I thought about it. But the amount of work I’d have to do on it was just too much for me to handle.

The $26k estimate was without knowing how long the frame would take to get here and not knowing what else they would find.

 

So are they only paying you 26k for the truck???

 

No I got a good payout, but I still owed some in the loan.

 

Very sorry about your truck, VERY HAPPY you were not injured by some idiot's decision to drive drunk! I sincerely hope they were charged! The back of your truck could have just as easily been someone's child!

So I always leave my ball hitch in my receiver figuring its more protection for a rear end collision, I'm thinking maybe this isn't such a good Idea now. Maybe I'm just increasing the chances of damage to the frame?

 

I always thought the same thing too. But the way he hit me it pretty much drove my ball downwards and I think that’s gotta be what screwed up the frame.

 

Wow, what an eye opener. Your trucks demise may save countless others who do the same practice of running with a loaded hitch.

Makes sense, high impact, hitting vehicle goes up over hitch, hitch forcibly rotates downward, frame rails bend.

 

Sorry that happened, good luck finding the next truck!

 

My 07 got rear-ended like yours. No air bags going off. $8K damage. Hitch wasn't loaded. Most likely would've been totalled if it the hitch had been loaded.

 

The hitch is a honkin' piece of metal even without the ball. Seems a lot sturdier than the rear of the frame... and it hangs down low and puts a lot of torque on the frame if it gets hit.

 

Pretty sure I read somewhere that hitch in is worse because it acts as a lever and twists the frame downwards when rear-ended. Personally, I just keep a rubber plug in my hitch and the hitch itself under the back seat.

 

The insurance will probably sell it to a salvage company, and they may auction to someone else who wants to fix it up and re-license it... or it will be picked apart.

If the rear part of the frame is all that's tweaked I wouldn't have any qualms about fixing it up.

I'm very curious about how this process works. It sounds like you've already been paid or at least a number has been set... ? You mentioned scavenging parts... have you already agreed on the value of these with the company?

 

Hate that happened OP. So just to add my 2 cents on the rear end collision/hitch discussion. My 14' was rear ended by a guy doing 65, I was rolling about 25mph in construction zone. He was in a 2008 ram 1500. His bumper hit my hitch, caved in thru the radiator into the front of engine. My hitch curled up into a 90degree angle. The ram emblem hit my tailgate and made a medium dent into tailgate. The body shop explained my bolts on my reciever system took the main force of energy and warped as did the hitch. The frame was fine, they cut the bolts out. New receiver system/bolts and tail gate I was good to go. One thing I've learned from seeing wrecks or my friends stories of wreck calls, nothing about wrecks is predetermined. You could do the same accident over 10 times and get several different outcomes.

 

I’m my experience, it is never feasible to buy your car back after insurance totals it. They also usually don’t allow you to take parts off it.

 

My thought was that... if the OP knows his rig was in great condition and well maintained before the accident, it might be a good opportunity for a forum member (or someone) to pick it up and restore it. But maybe insurance doesn't do that? Do you need a license to buy salvage or bid on auctions?

 

I mean, I’m sure it’s theoretically possible. But they don’t make it easy. Once the insurance company totals it out, it is just a number and gets stuck into their massive salvage/auction machine (if you will). They basically get shipped off, never to be seen or heard from again.