Leave your receiver hitch on gents

I got rear ended on friday. I'm so glad I had my receiver on as I tore up dudes car and both our cars stick together. He wasnt paying attention as we were all stop on the freeway and he prob hit us at about 20 or 30mph. His car prob totalled. So please leave your receiver on. My damage will be to replace rear bumper, small amount of paint on tailgate and right side q panel where the bumper touched the q panel, and the whole hitch and receiver. I got real lucky. Dude said he wasnt paying attentio . Fucker

 

Dang! Sorry this happened to you! Hope all are ok, and that you're back on the road!!

 

I have to buy one right away

 

Thankx. I put it in the shop yesterday so hopefully they only have the parts in stock. Paintwork is very minor so I'm very very happy about that

 

Ouch. Glad to hear you are all safe. The tundra took that like a champ

Tundra 1 - Other guy 0

 

Just be careful it hasn't bent your frame. I had someone rear end me and there was practically no damage but as the tow was attached to the frame it had bent the frame where it was connected. Had to be put on a frame rack and straightened out.

 

Ouch! Never fun. Had to replace the driver's side rear quarter panel as well when i got rear ended. Good excuse for rear bumper aftermarket upgrade!

 

This is the only reason I want to put a trailer hitch on my Tacoma!

 

Same thing happened to me in a 1st gen tacoma. Dude jumps out of his truck after rubber necking and ramming into me at warp speed... his front end was mangled and pissing every color of fluid... he takes one look at my tacoma, which was only mildly damaged thanks to hitch, and says: “ sorry man. Holy shit, my next truck is gonna be a tacoma” i just looked at his poor truck thinking the same thing.

 

This is the reason I always keep mine on! Only shitty part is when someone walks into it

 

Keeps the dudes from backing up and trying to make a run for it. So many uninsured and under insured here in South Texas

 

Wow..glad yall are ok..I keep mine on at all times..and yes I bang my knees on too

 

In some states it is illegal to keep it in the receiver when not in use. Just saying. I leave mine in though.

Or leave it out of you want a new rear bumper.

 

Instant tow lol

Just put the four ways on.

Glad everyone is good though including the idiot driver.

 

Make sure you check your frame rails. They tend to be a bit bendy.

 

Back in April 2000 when we were living in Virginia Beach, this idiot in a 1989-1990ish Chevy 1500 slammed on his brakes at a green light, purely because he saw a police car and acted on reflex. I was with my mom in my dad’s 1990 Mazda B2600 4x4, and there was literally nothing she could do. The Mazda was a stick shift, so it stalled on impact, and my Slurpee spilled everywhere. I remember asking mom “Did this really just happen?” and then getting out of the truck to inspect the damage. To give you an idea of how sudden and unexpected this was, every vehicle behind us had locked up its brakes trying avoid rear-ending the vehicle in front of it. There was literally nothing my mom could have done to avoid a collision. The older hispanic guy driving the Chevy claimed that he’d seen the light turn yellow, and he saw the cop car and slammed on his brakes out of reflex because he’d been pulled over recently for going through a yellow light. My mom tells me she remembers the light being green.

Either way, the Chevy had no damage and the Mazda’s front bumper was bent clean in half in the middle, because the Chevy had a trailer hitch.

The cop that the Chevy driver had seen turned out to be this nice woman in her thirties. She checked everyone’s license and insurance, and after the man determined his Chevy was undamaged we both went our separate ways.

The Mazda was ten years old and worth barely five grand by the time the new millennium began, so my dad only had liability insurance. He paid about $500 out of pocket to replace the bumper. There was no damage to the frame, A/C condenser, or radiator.

 

Almost fifteen years later, I got rear-ended by a texting driver in a 2006 Toyota Highlander. No reportable damage to Highlander, but about $1,200 to my Tacoma; My Tacoma did not and still does not have a trailer hitch.

 

Don't sign off on anything until you are damn sure you didn't suffer whiplash.

 

Mines on

 

WOW, man that's crazy how bad his car is messed up compared to yours. Glad nobody was hurt.

 

I guess I'll be the dissenting opinion here. That thing is totaled. While protecting your car, the tow hitches cause the other car to take way more damage than it should have. Thus insurance rates go up.

With that said, I should get something bigger than a recovery point on my tow hitch...

 

I would caution this. I know someone that drove around with their hitch on all the time and they got hit and it bent their frame and totaled their truck.

While it seems like a good idea the rear hitch isn't designed to take an impact whereas the bumper, etc. is. Yes, it "looks" like less damage but can actually cause much more.

 

I think I can see a little shin skin on that thing

 

It looks like our receivers are pretty even with the bumper. They're going to hit it either way

 

yep. seen that many times. the tow hitch transferred the forces to the frame vs the bumper doing its job and getting crushed.

 

A bunch of them in DFW too. The only time mine comes out is when I need to switch to a 3-1/2" drop to hook up the utility trailer. Rear end collisions are a real problem around here. I see several every week. I learned something about illegal immigrants from a wreck my wife had 2 years ago. After the wreck they hired one of the top law firms in the state. They ran a red light and hit the back 1/4 panel of a car that I had to transfer to my ex as part of divorce settlement. The officer at the scene switched the cars on the report and my ex did not catch it. She learned the hard way that a LEO will not change a report. Before this incident I had no idea that a illegal undocumented immigrant with no license and no insurance can sue over an auto wreck in Tx.. She is still fighting this because Progressive reconstructed the wreck and is not paying. The lady passenger is making up medical issues and claiming all kinds of crap.

 

I lived in Santa Maria for a decade. I was hit 4 times by illegals. One time hit both my cars in my driveway. It's like living with 40 year old teenagers drinking and driving everywhere and smashing on it from every light

 

Not me but the Mrs 3x

 

Glad everyone is ok. I'll dissent as well. Rather have a bumper to replace than a bent frame, a bumper, and skinned shins. And not hook to the car that rear ended me.

 

I did tell them to make sure today that they checked out the frame when the adjuster called. I dont trust anyone especially the adjuster that's not there for me