Smashed!

She's fine other than being irritated lol. The 4R is a 2020 and only has 5K miles on it. We take it to the collision center tomorrow for the estimate and hopefully they keep it for repairs since she will be out of town next week and then the kids are out of school the following week. The tail light and bumper will have to get replaced. I'm not sure on the rear hatch though.

 

Good luck OP. My daughter's Tacoma was totaled after this "minor" IMO fender bender.

 

Is it just me or are these Tundra's a little delicate when it comes to accidents like this?

 

I honestly don’t think so…

Take OP as an example, look at the pictures. It seems to that rear end of the truck moved about a foot or maybe even more. Let’s even go with a few inches…that requires a lot of force to move a 6k plus truck. And I would venture to said OP truck is closer to 7k. That’s a helluva of a hit…

 

My last vehicle (Camry) was t boned. It had probably 150k miles. No fault of mine. The other drivers insurance paid for full repairs and got me a rental for the extended period of repair.

The repair looked good, but upon trade in, I learned that the CarFax report made my car worthless.

I’d have been better off if they had totaled.

 

Estimate came back at $2700. They are replacing the tail light, bumper cover, and rear hatch. They said parts are about 30 days out, and repair will take about 10 days. Now the waiting game until mid December to get it in the shop.

 

Depends on the state though. Fl will no longer insure a vehicle with a salvaged title.

 

I know it’s been said before but make sure you also file a diminished value claim, especially with the frame damage. It will come up on a CarFax report. Depending on your state you may need to hire an attorney to do that separately from your insurance company.
Another not so popular option would be to sell the truck right after the repairs. With the crazy high market values these trucks have you could get out of it with some good cash.

 

I don't think so either. This smashed my truck hard! it moved it almost 5 feet sideways! And as Oay12 pointed out, she's a heavy girl!

 

I'm just learning about this diminished valley claim. It. sounds like I'll have to hire a lawyer for that

 

Not to familiar on salvaged titles, but isn’t this the same as rebuilt titles? Have a friend at work that buys at auction rebuilt title vehicles with small damages and repairs and resells them.

 

Yes it is but some states will insure them, some will not. Fl will no longer do it. We just went through this about 6 months ago.

 

Yes. AKA branded titles. My daughter bought a rebuilt/salvage Volvo V70 for $3600 and drove the wheels off it. We were able to insure it for liability coverage. She sold it last year for $2000 with 200k miles on it.

 

Yep, but some states don't do salvage titles and will issue a regular title when a salvage title vehicle is transferred into that state**. Then the title is indistinguishable from a regular title. A lot of shady folks living in those states would go buy totaled/flooded vehicles from other states and then white-wash the title through their state and then sell the vehicles without disclosing their backgrounds. One of the reasons why having a mechanic check used cars is a good idea. There was a big kerfluffle a while back where some car dealer bought a car that had the top cut off and just spot-welded/bondo-ed a new roof on it. Then when the car was in a rollover later on it collapsed and killed some people.

** - at least that is how it worked several years back. Maybe they've made changes since then, but knowing government efficiency I doubt it.

 

If your insurance goes up from one claim that isn't your fault, get a new insurance company. I had yearly claims in West Texas for hail damage . It happened every year like clock work. My rates never went up. I even had an at fault single vehicle accident with a fence pole on a muddy ranch road back in like 07 and didn't increase. That was with farmers ins.

 

Needed to chase diminished value from their insurance.

 

This ^

Once any vehicle has been in an accident, it isn't worth much anymore.

How many people do you know that will buy a vehicle they know was damaged in an accident?

Exactly.

Zero.


I would likely beat the ever living crap out of this person with no insurance and someone else's car.
And pending how they got the car from the owner, they might get an ass whipping too!
They wouldn't have to pay for my truck because the settlement from my assault charge would move than cover it.

What if your wife or kid was standing there?
Or you?
Let alone some random person.

I have ZERO tolerance for dangerous irresponsible morons like this.

Time to start looking for another Tundra, AFTER you strip off all the mods you can.
Do NOT relent until you get the diminished value check, otherwise you got robbed.

 

That might be hyperbole. I sold a Dodge Cummins in four days that incurred 12k in front end damage from hitting a cow. It’s still on the road with over 350k on it.

 

Good work like that guy does is great to see, it takes caring and real skill.

But at the end of the day the vehicle was damaged and glued back together.
It is NEVER the same again, and it is worth MUCH less money.

Get rid of it after diminished value, repairs, suing the driver, and the owner.

Get a nice unwrecked truck and start over with whatever mods you are able to strip off your beloved dead truck.

 

Translation = you may never see a dime, and it will take years most likely.
Uninsured usually = poor, no money.

Can't get blood out of a turnip.

You need to sue them for whatever they own, and lien/garnish on future earnings, plus court costs.
Driver and owner unless they stole the vehicle.

 

I don't mean this to be rude or mean, but it is what it is.

Yes, there are good body shops, for restoration work on antiques and paint color changes.

However, imho nobody can make this "right" unless you mean Toyota manufacturing another truck for the OP.
A wrecked vehicle is a wrecked vehicle, forever.
It will never be the same as it was before it was wrecked and will never get that wrecked damage value loss back.
You can rarely fix it the way it was built at the plant, and in this case, it's impossible to do so.

Once any vehicle I own gets any major accident damage beyond a scratch, it gets sold and replaced for an unwrecked one.
I don't trust it, and I'm not going to make payments on a wrecked vehicle if it's financed.

Some people are ok with a repaired vehicle, I am just not one of them.
Money and vehicles have been WAY too hard to come by in my life.

 

More power to you!

They say, "There's a sucker born every minute" for a reason.

That other person was a fool.

I would NEVER trust that truck in another front-end impact.

 

Or maybe you’re out in the weeds. After all you’re the one who said zero people will buy them.

My Tundra sucks in the snow and I tore my rear bumper off this fall. Time to sell.

 

Pure ignorance on my part- I simply didn’t know or think about it. When the insur co agreed to “pre-loss” repair, I foolishly thought that would result in restored value.

Definitely a mistake that I wouldn't repeat.

 

I live in the suburbs outside Washington DC, my whole life.
There are weeds here, but not the kind you're talking about lol.
I wish I lived out "in the sticks" as we call it round these parts.

I was exaggerating by saying zero, I admit it

A more proper statement is "Zero smart people would buy a vehicle that was previously significantly wrecked and then put themselves or their loved ones in it."

But yes, lots of poor, and/or dumb people will buy wrecked vehicles, or get scammed and not even know it.

It's never a big deal until that rebuilt vehicle fails to protect you or your loved one the next time it is in a significant accident.

To me and many others, it's just not worth it.

Ripping your own bumper off is probably not the type of damage that justifies replacing the truck, but it depends....

When considering damage to an automobile, its ALL about the impact.
What did it hit?
How hard did it hit that?
What is that connected to?
How many things were shifted with how much force?
Can someone even reach to inspect every centimeter of whatever was affected by the impact?

I've seen cars get wrecked, then fixed, and a week later catch on fire from fuel pump wiring pinched in the wreck and not noticed when repaired.

My first fiancé was killed instantly in a head on by a drunk driving illegal alien over 20 years ago.
She had on a seatbelt and had no significant noticeable injuries at all, except a tiny cut to her forehead where it hit the metal beam along the top of the windshield in a convertible mustang.
45mph x2 head on impact, forehead to metal beam.
Zero brain activity.

It's not what I can see that bothers me, it's what you often don't see that was affected.

Sorry to rant, I get passionate sometimes

 

I’m terribly sorry for your loss.

 

Hey guys, heres an update. I got my truck back on December 10th. Overall the repairs are good. to anyone that doesn't know what happened, you'd be hard pressed to tell that it was ever in an accident. Still wrapping up with the insurance company though. I'll make a more thorough post soon with pictures.

 

Thank you.
I wasn't trying to be a downer, but it was more to highlight that there is more at play than what we can see sometimes.

Life happens, it's a deadly game but nobody gets out alive.
She will always live on in my heart.

She was special, she was also born with only 4 fingers on her left hand.
But it was the type of thing that made you do a double take because it looked normal, just missing one digit lol.

Anyway, sorry to derail OP./

I hope insurance totals your truck, and you get a new (to you) unwrecked one
But considering how much they are worth now; they will almost assuredly repair it.

Always do what you think is best.

 

Good to hear you got it back and they did a good job.

Now the fun starts.
Well, if you're going to strip it and sell it for an unwrecked one that is.
Either way let us know what happened and what you doing now with the rebuilt truck