Tacoma was hit after first 6th month oil change.

I'm also interested about e depreciation that will accrue due to now having a crash and a unclean carfax. Will I be compensated for that? If I tried to dump it after it's fixed I will not be able to sell it for top dollar like I could had it not been hit.[/QUOTE]

Yes you can be compensated for that I got rear ended in my Lexus right after I bought it it was bad I told the guys insurance company I didn't think the car was worth as much now that it had been wrecked we went back and forth a couple times and they gave me like 6k for depreciation. I traded the car in right after that,, the repair looked perfect but after seeing the trunk of the car hit so hard that the back seat needed to be replaced I didn't feel safe driving it anymore it was my first and last small car. When I took it to the dealer to trade it in they pulled carfax and said it didn't show any accidents (yet) so it must have just been cosmetic and they gave me full value for trade in. I told them how bad it was but they said it was ok so I stopped arguing. I actually got a few bucks more than I paid if you count the depreciation from the insurance company.

 

IF YOU WANT TO TOTAL YOUR TRUCK, TAKE IT TO THE LOCAL FERRARI/ASTON MARTIN/LOTUS/BENTLEY RECOMMENDED BODY SHOP. THE INSURANCE COMPANY WOULD RATHER TOTAL IT THAN GO BACK 5X FOR SUPPLEMENTS AND BS LITTLE THINGS HERE AND THERE.

 

Hey bro,
5 years insurance adjuster experience, doesn't look too bad, but you never know.... any bags pop?
The insurance company may/may not replace with OEM parts, depends on the policy. Whatever they tell you, get it in writing pertaining to the OEM parts. They'll tell you one thing and be flat out lying to you, check your policy. If you don't get the right answer, consider going thru the other party's insurance company, if they can expeditite it and move it along quickly enough.

PM me if you have any questions. IF YOU WANT TO TOTAL YOUR TRUCK, TAKE IT TO THE LOCAL FERRARI/ASTON MARTIN/LOTUS/BENTLEY RECOMMENDED BODY SHOP. THE INSURANCE COMPANY WOULD RATHER TOTAL IT THAN GO BACK 5X FOR SUPPLEMENTS AND BS LITTLE THINGS HERE AND THERE.

 

You made this post a few days ago so you may have found this out by now, but USAA does employ adjusters that come out and perform their own assessments, they don't just go off of what the body shop estimates.

I'm also insured with USAA and just went through the total loss process 5 months ago, and it wasn't my first time going through it with them. Each time a USAA adjuster has gone to the body shop to examine my vehicle to estimate damages and repair cost.

You asked about depreciation in another post as well. If the truck doesn't get totaled you will want to look into what is called Diminished Value. It's going to be a tough fight for you though with USAA, but worth it if you can get it. I have family that works in the auto adjusting business and deals with DV claims on a daily basis, and USAA is one of the worst about fighting DV claims.

Oh BTW, I should add that none of this will really matter if you weren't at fault, as USAA won't be the one handling the claim as they aren't paying for it, so everything will be handled by the other driver's insurance company. That could be a good thing if you do end up going after DV.

 

Hey,

Time for the update. You guys were right about USAA, they still do send an adjuster out. That is scheduled for today. So I should have the estimate soon. I let the truck sit at the wreckers for a few days before deciding where to send it. I ultimately ended up sending it to the shop that does the work for all the higher end cars around here. I looked at a lot of shops and asked to see some examples of their work. I am familiar with paint and body work as a hobby so I know enough to be dangerous, although I would not call myself an expert by any means. I was quite unsatisfied by a lot of the companies I looked and and couldn't believe they were trying to pass that quality of work off. At the shop that I decided to go with I could not tell what had been repaired vs what was original. That is the first step in determining if a job is done well.

We got the police report and it was marked that my wife did nothing wrong and that the other driver ran the red light. The other driver was not issued a ticket though. The police officer said that since they didn't see it they could not issue a ticket.

As for the diminished value of my truck I talked to USAA and they said that I will have to get that from the other persons insurance company. They said that is dealt with after the truck as been repaired. I am not sure about that. I was thinking that if the cost to repair+diminished value = 80% of the trucks value that they might total the truck. If I talked to them about that afterwords they might look at it as two separate checks and ultimately end up paying out over 80% of the value of the truck. Although my thought process behind that could be completely false.

So right now its a waiting game. I talked to the shop manager where I want it fixed and explained my concerns. He seemed very receptive to what I had to say. I wanted to make sure they knew that a quality job was more important to me than getting my truck back soon. I rather they take their time and have their best people work on it then rush it out the door.

So now its just a waiting game... I'll keep you guys up to date. I also plan to take more pictures once they start tearing into it.

 

USAA is right about DV being handled post-repair. This is because there is no guarantee you'll get DV, and it is based off of what it cost to repair the vehicle. I would make it clear that if it is repaired, you'll be pursuing DV, and you just might be able to convince them to factor that in to the repair cost in advance. I have no idea how that will come out, but it may be worthwhile.

Unfortunately that is the logical solution, and you would be shocked at how illogical insurance companies policies can be on things like that. Who is the other insurer?

 

Fink

 

The other company is General Insurance Company of America. I just talked with USAA's adjuster and he seemed to be on top of it and quite nice to deal with. He said he has done an initial look and doesn't want to continue until they open up the truck and take the hood, fenders, front grill, and bumper to asses the damage that is hidden beneath the sheet metal.

 

Oh no

 

So long time no update...... This is going nice and slow

I got the original estimate to fix the truck right at $16,000 assuming there was no frame damage and no hidden mechanical damage.

They started opening the truck up more so they can get it on rollers to put it on a frame machine(they took it across the metro area to their other shop b/c their frame guy at this shop is out on medical leave and didn't want to leave it to his apprentice). I just got word back yesterday that the frame is in fact damaged and will have to be replaced. So we are looking at adding the additional cost of the frame and 40-50 more shop hours(@80/hr). They said the frames are in pretty short supply their contact at toyota had a hard time even finding one and it will take 6-8 weeks to get it here.

Im really at a loss of what to do now.... With a guess that the frame is about $5000, we are looking at 16,000+5,000+(40-50 hours)@80/hr = $24K-25k to repair. That doesn't count two more months(already had a rental for one month) of rental car and then throw the depreciated value on top of that. I have a feeling they are going to pay out more then what I paid for the tacoma.

On the other hand since they are replacing the frame I would hope I won't have to deal with the "this truck will never bee the same" issue. I planned on keeping the car for 10 years and if I do the fact that it has had a wreak won't affect the resale value as much then if i planned on selling it in 2-3.

I feel if I push to total it I am going to end up losing more. No matter what happens I know I will end up getting screwed i am just trying to get screwed the least.....


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P.S. If they do a frame swap I'll try to get pictures

 

24k+ that truck should be totaled. Ask for depreciated value on top of loss.

 

X2

 

Update in first post. Frame Just came in!

 

There is no way in HELL I would take that truck back.
Way too much to go wrong swapping all the parts between frames, not to mention all the rattles you will have the rest of your ownership.
Just my 2 cents.......

 

Wow. Amazing it's not totaled. I guess that's a mechanics dream right there....or nightmare!