Accident Saga

Sorry to see this my PA brother. I hope it all works out in the end in your favor. You may want to consult an attorney re diminished value option and best way to pursue. Even though PA is a diminished value state, I understand it can be a long process, particularly if their insurance co will not pay or offer a reasonable amount.

 

Thanks man. Yeah it looks like that could get messy. Going to be an interesting week...

 

Just my two cents....I wouldn’t hire an attorney yet. It costs too much unless they end up paying your attorney fees. I would file a complaint with http://www.insurance.pa.gov/Coverage/Pages/Auto.aspx When my wife wrecked the insurance company did a similar thing. We filed a complaint (in a different state) and within two weeks we had a check that we were happy with. The Attorney General in your state may have a complaint process as well as the Bureau of Insurance in the above link.

 

Don't forget to let them know you will hire an expensive attorney and go to trial then make them pay all expenses incurred as well as time off for work, mental anguish, etc.

 

Thank you!!!

 

If it gets totaled and you get possession of it, yank the engine/tranny and stick 'em in a late model Tacoma

Dan

 

These expenses and mental anguish is generally not allowed to be claimed in a civil trial involving only property damage. So insurance adjusters don’t break a sweat with those threats (mostly they laugh).
Here’s the thing, I work with adjusters and insurance companies as a profession. My clients are mostly businesses and rely on me to help them when bad things happen. I have found that I can get to fair resolutions 95% of the time by being cordial, factual and honest. The other 5% I use pressure and aggression. But I always try nice first.

 

Oh I agree. I am using honey before any vinegar that’s for sure. I hope they see the situation they way I do.

 

The insurance company sent someone to look at it Monday. Nothing heard back yet. Three weeks since it got hit. This is not a fast process...

 

Don’t let them wear you down. They will try with the hope you’ll settle for less than they are prepared to pay.

 

In my personal opinion, most insurance adjusters work from home or satellite office ( usually from an auto body shop) and so, therefore most adjusters ends up favoring the auto body.
They do business like this : They visually assess the damage at a lower rate so the insurance company is forced to agrees to repair the damage. The math here is simple. If the cost of repair is lower than the value of the vehicle the insurance company will approve for the repair work. Thereafter once the autobody starts repairing they start adding the extra cost stating that after opening this body part or that part they discovered a lot more was damaged. At this point, the insurance company has no choice but to continue the repair work since they've already paid out almost half the money. This is win/win for both the adjuster and auto body. The adjuster does his work done, the auto body gets the money. The only person who loses is the owner of the car. I have a friend of mine whose car was worth 7k and the payout damage ended after repairs were 12 K.

The above is my personal opinion and just how I see it.

 

I used to work for an insurance company and for a while, I did some internal investigations/QA on adjusters. While what @G10dra opines is sometimes true, it is a very small percentage of the whole. Mostly, adjusters are held to only writing damage that they can physically see and identify. They are instructed to verify "hidden damage" once it is found by body shops during tear down. And rightfully, they adjust their estimates accordingly. There are some situations where the adjuster and bodyshop are working together to inflate damage (adjuster gets a kickback from the shop), but again these are in the minority. Out of every 50 potential fraud cases I investigated, I may have verified 1. Keep in mind that there are thousands of auto claims settled to even flag 50 potential cases. I'm sure there are people that have heard about a "bad egg" out there which I believe are true. But when you consider the millions of auto claims filed each year, the instance of wrongdoing is pretty small. I'm pretty sure that insurance companies do not want to end up paying 12k in repairs for a car only worth 7k. This is not the way their business model is set up to make money.

OP - you should call the adjuster and see what the hold up is. Keep in mind, that you are going through the other driver's insurance so you are a "third party" to them. They have absolutely no incentive to work fast or favorably to you. However, each state has insurance regulations that the companies must follow which includes general guidelines for "fair claims practice" and timelines to adjust the claim. Your own agent should be able to give you an idea of what these regulations say. They cannot draw this out too long or they risk violating the state's regulations, which could result in a monetary fine to the insurance company.

Also, you can file a complaint with the state department of insurance (sometimes called the department of finance) if you find that they have exceeded the allowable time to prepare an estimate/offer to you or if you feel that they have not included a fair offer. I would recommend that you take your vehicle to a good reputable shop and have them prepare a written estimate for repairs so you have a comparison. This should be a shop that you will have the repairs done if it were not totaled out.

My opinion - and this is just based on 1 photo, there does not appear to be enough damage to total the vehicle unless there is a surprising amount of damage that cannot be seen in your photo. Just my opinion though.

 

Wish i had the time to build a crazy mud Tundra.

https://www.iaai.com/Search?url=g5m...|make:Toyota|model:Tundra&keyword=&msrch=true

 

I bought my truck back in 2015. A few months later we had the hail storm of the century in HOT ASS AZ! 10K worth of damage. The insurance company estimate was way less. I took it to the dealership collision center and they found everything that was damaged and told me the insurance companies try to get away with paying the least amount as possible. Toyota said that there are some parts, if damaged need to be replaced not "fixed". The insurance wanted them fixed to cut costs. My advice is to make sure it gets done right if anything. Just MO

 

Sorry to hear that man. That sucks to no end. I wouldn't settle for nothing other than a complete total. Good luck

 

I took my truck to one of the largest Toyota dealers in the area with one one the largest body shops. They are the ones that did the quote of $26K.

The insurance company had someone meet the body shop Monday morning to review the estimate and still nothing. Has been bad weather so we shall see.

There is apparently a ton of damage including the frame rails. I just don’t want to live with a truck that has issues for 10 years as a result of needing almost $30k in repairs. Makes me nervous is all.

 

So the third party service came and someone got the estimate down from $26K to $22K. If that sticks, there is no way it gets written off. Maybe they will fix my driver door rock chip while they are spraying the fender....

 

All new frame for Betty White it seems. Parts are ordered. Going to be a couple more weeks. Too bad they don't do exhaust work while the frame is off, lol.

 

That's good it will drive almost like a new truck again...they will replace the section of the frame under the bed.

 

If the body shop says the frame is damaged, then it is totaled. A very close friend of mine had a similar thing. Some lady ran the stop sign and crashed into his 1st gen. It looks like she only dented the front bumper but because of the angle, frame was damaged. Geico totaled the car and gave him money and he ended up being even on the car after years of use.

There is a huge difference between 6k and 24k. As far as I know, and this is not the law, a car with a frame damage is totaled. What the insurance company is doing to is bs. I would not settle unless it is a new truck. Insurance is looking after themselves which is not surprising. I'd totally lawyer up. It would not hurt to ask at least. I know in my town couple of lawyers will even cut their fees when they are defending someone getting screwed by the insurance companies. I'd check avvo and look for a good lawyer that deals with your case.

 

Get it fixed and dump it ASAP.

 

Not with these trucks. The whole frame gets replaced. They literally take the truck off the old frame and put it onto the new one. They would not straighten it, these frames ate not meant to be heated and bent. This is the Toyota dealer, that guarantees the work for life, which is nice. I don't like the fact it will show as damaged either, but I plan to keep it for a decade, and not resell. The damage is $15K off of its value, so I don't think a letter will do it. I spoke to my insurance company to get their opinion and they say the same thing. If it is repairable, it gets repaired.

I was hoping it was going to total out, but now I just want the work done right....

 

Actually the 3rd gen have a frame that consist of 3 separate sections, front and rear are the "softer" sections meant to deform on impact and help with the ride quality while the center section is the stiffer one. In your case they will probably remove the bed, rear axle and components, replace the rear section of the frame and damaged components.

I got no doubt that after the repairs you will not notice much difference, and since is gonna be done by a Toyota dealer you have the warranty that the job will be perform to factory specs and using OEM parts, only thing is the resale value will go down since now it will appear as damaged on the DMV files and Carfax, but since you plan to keep the truck for many years I would not be concern about that.

 

Weird, he actually told me they will be replacing the entire frame. Taking the entire body off, engine out, everything. They will tie up 2 bays for 2 days because of it. Good thing that guy isn't the one doing the work then!! Yeah the resell pisses me off, but will be a motivator to actually keep it until it croaks instead of buying something I don't need!

I need to just stop prying and let them just make it right....

 

I could be wrong, but to be honest $15k won't cover a full frame replacement plus labor at a Toyota dealer. Anyway it will be fixed right.

 

This isn't true in Tennesse at least. I have a friend that owns a body shop and does most of the dealer fixes in my area. And he has a big ole frame straightener in one of his garage bays. Here, it comes down to cost to fix compared to value of the car. And if the fix includes straightening or replacing the frame, then that is what's done. It's not automatically totaled due to a bent frame.

 

Sorry that it didn't get totaled out. Did you find out if your state recognizes diminished value? If so, you can go back to the insurance adjuster (I recall that this is being handled by the other party's insurance right?) and ask for an adjustment for diminished value. They will write you a check separately for that and you can put that towards a mod (maybe the exhaust you wanted to do). I'm trying to look for the silver lining. Good luck.

 

Most cars now days are of the uni-body (sheet metal) type frames, the frames in our trucks are separate from the body and made of hi strength steel to reduce weight. The only way they start replacing frames is that it can not be straitened within reason. With that said, within reason means that if a frame horn(s) is so crumpled up or would have to use hi heat to get it back within tolerances. Using hi heat weakens the integrity/strength of the frame. By looking at your truck a good frame tec will be able put back with no problem. When you see Joe Blow crabing sideways down the highway, it's from someone trying to get by cheaply using two trees, tape measure and beer. Best of luck with your truck and hope it turns out as good as new.

 

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Yeah they said they would not straighten the frame. It is replace only. That is good news. I am
Working with a lawyer friend now on the diminished value idea.

 

Frame wasn't coming in until 5/11. They just decided to total it. Ugh. I had that truck special built with my exact specifications I wanted.