Lost a good one today

I’m from Madison myself and know that area well. Glad you’re ok.

 

My condolences on that beauty. So many good miles left on her. Glad you're well, looks like she did her job and kept you safe.

In my experience, always ask for two quotes from insurance, the total they're giving you back and that number minus buyback amount. It also helps if you have the towtruck take it to your house and not their lot so you can have your own inspection done at your convenience. If it isn't something stupid high, I suggest you buy it back and have your own shop look at it. After that, whether you keep it or sell it/ part it out, you'll save more money than insurance would have paid you for it outright, but again, it starts with the buy back price.

 

If your 2004 double cab came with VSC, that dang “safety” feature has put many people into a ditch or guardrail.

 

Anyone can really answer this, but is there a large enough desire that people would be willing to pay a fair share for shipping? In @shifty` response, he makes a solid point that there are values behind functional parts in good condition.. I can respect that because I had just paid nearly $40 for a new tailgate handle. I wouldn't hate to profit from my disaster, but even if I charged reasonable prices for parts, I know that shipping can be the real bank buster. I have sold a few car parts in the past, and nobody really wanted to pay $40 for a new grille to be shipped in good condition.

 

You’ll have to buy the vehicle back from the insurance company to do this. Salvage value is likely to be $2500 or so. Gotta sell a lot of parts to get your money back. Lots of headache coordinating all of those sales. Have to spend hours dismantling, have to have somewhere to store it.

 

Follow up for future references and closure. 2004 Tundra with 132,000 miles fetched about $10,200 in December of 2024. They did reimbursement for a battery that was replaced about a week before the wreck but not for struts that were replaced about 2 months prior, as they ruled that as general maintenance. After deductible, pay out will be $10,269. Took the cash and will put it towards another Tundra.

 

That hurts. This is my nightmare. Hopefully you can find a replacement that will make you just as happy. When you find it, I would talk to your agent and secure the replacement value for what YOU think it is worth. It's worth the extra couple hundred a year IMO to get full replacement value in real life, rather than the insurances idea. The older the truck, the worse they get you.

 

That's a great payout, congrats. What ins company if you don't mind me asking.

 

I’m shittin on someones desk if they dont give me $50k.

 

I’ve owned a Toyota truck since 1994 and sadly had two Fist Gen tundras totaled. My experience was every negative stereotype of insurance. Maybe since you are dealing with your own insurance they will treat you better. I was fighting with the other driver’s insurance. If you care to fight enough to get anywhere near correct value, you will have a part time job. Here’s a link to a guy with a Land Cruiser and his claim with insurance. They will absolutely try to screw you

https://www.reddit.com/r/Toyota/com...?chainedPosts=t3_13ro0c2,t3_17di8gr&rdt=52707

 

Anyone think about using a classic car insurance company? Probably not cheaper, but probably better pay outs.

 

Like Hagerty, or ?

 

Yeah, when I had my first gen taco, I was looking into it. My insurance company was convinced a truck that I couldn't buy for under 10k, was only worth about 3. I ended up just paying a premium to have them value it where I could replace it honestly, but I was starting to look at classic car insurance companies. I figure if the car is 20-25 years old, they should be open to covering it. Especially with the price of a "pristine" condition one.

 

We have Secura Insurance. It's more of a Midwest company but I see on their website they do cover a variety of states.

 

I’m sure there are companies out there that will offer “stated value” policies. That’s what we have on our boat.