my 5 day old '14 taco got backed into.. fix it?

havent even put gas in my new truck myself yet and somebody backed right into it while parked outside my residence - i watched it happen. she was nice enough, which almost made it worse as i was just boiling inside.

her insurance is claiming full liability, I'm going to their shop to get a repair estimate tomorrow, maybe additional estimates afterwards as needed. There is a pic of the bulk of the damage below, though a piece of her light was lodged between fender and bumper that i pulled out so panel gap isnt nearly that bad. the bumper can likely just be repainted (but will the color match?), the scratch in the plastic overfender is likely the most obvious and id think would be replaced. she also minorly scuffed up the skid plate and its mount though i doubt they do anything about that. the bolt holding inner fender to bumper fell out and bolt that holds bumper to chassis mount fell off, but the attachment points on the plastics look to be intact, going to get a better look underneath after work today but nothing seemed torn.

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First, just wanted to see if anyone has any suggestions on things to check for damage that might not be obvious to those less familiar with these trucks - this is a 2014 dual cab short bed 4x4 TRD off road

My guess: repaint bumper ($350), replace overfender ($150), repaint overfender ($75), misc hardware ($25), 2hrs labor ($150) so ~$750? seems like these type of repairs often add up quicker than that so i wouldnt be surprised at ~$1000 (?).


Second, the main reason im posting, should i fix it?
Reasons yes:
- BECAUSE ITS A GOD DAMN BRAND NEW TRUCK
- resale.
- thats pretty much it (?)

Reasons no:
- the risk/battle to avoid getting stuck with ill fitting aftermarket parts.
- the chance that paint wont match or will be done/taped wrong (ie the black plastic center section)
- the damage is bearable for me. im the type who was reluctant to buy a brand new car because i HATE being worried about scuffing paint and dirtying interior. well, the cherry is now popped, and besides the slit in the overfender, its no more noticeable than dirt. also, I could invest the money into the value of the truck in other ways that i was already considering/desiring: front skid plate, front receiver/winch, soft top, color match chrome grill & rear bumper, etc

what would you do?

 

Get it to a body shop and get the free estimate and YES I would have it repaired. Any good shop should have no problem matching brand new paint and it should look like it did prior to the damage or they are a crappy shop.

 

Their insurance is only going to deal with reputable shops, they may have the Toyota dealer in their list of shops anyway. I wouldn't worry about shitty parts or paint not matching, get your brand new truck fixed.

 

sell the truck

 

I feel your pain..My 13' got hit when it was a month old. My best advice is if you take it to a body shop make it a good reputable place. The MGM is very difficult to match right..Best of luck

 

Smash the other side, make it match

 

It is too bad that Ohio still has the law fixed where the person who gets hit gets took. I am originally from Ohio and remember when they passed these laws.
I now live in Texas and we can take it where ever we want and the insurance has to pay the bill. No three estimates and take the lowest one needed. Just take it in and tell them to fix it.

 

dang, not what i expected to hear but very thankful for the input. her insurance (liberty mutual) has been very helpful and forthcoming so far so i have every reason to indeed be confident. if the estimate tomorrow is overwhelmingly confidence inspiring i'll be much more inclined to carry through with it.

thanks again guys.

 

i actually just moved to ohio from texas a year ago. when i asked, the insurance representative on the phone today set it up to come in to their recommended facility to get an estimate. then i basically have three options, they can fix it there, i can get a check and have it fixed where i want or i can get another estimate. so far i'm planning on the third just to have my bases covered.

 

For what it's worth, you are not out anything if their insurance is all in for the repairs. It's all surface, nothing mechanical to worry about. So that is the hidden gem. Fix and drive it like you stole it.

 

i'd get it repaired make sure you are happy with it before leaving body shop. If it makes you feel any better my wife got rear ended in her new honda civic. Of course the other party's insurance paid the whole thing but....the vehicle now has a "claim " on it should we ever try and sell it.

 

Not sure about that. My wife got hit and our insurance (nationwide) sent me to a shitty shop that sourced Chinese parts, not genuine Toyota. I realize that you have to pay more in your insurance for genuine parts, but the guy in the shop did a seriously piss poor job of examining the damage. He basically looked at it, kicked a tire, and came up with a low ball number.

I took the check and bought an ARB.

 

I vote no, I am like you with light damage. Fix it my self cheaply and pocket that cash (could be a nice chunk of change as you estimate). Just did that with my brothers silverado. Pocketed the money and painted the lower valence ourselves and left the other minor scuffs.

Take a clay bar and work out the scuff. Touch up anything that is showing under the paint looks to be very little amount). Pop back in the clips for the liner and pop out the slight crack in the flare and go enjoy a $100 dinner and the rest in the account for later or mods. It is a truck, it will get scuffs and bumps (especially the skid plate and front bumper from road rash). Just have them account for every little detail and have a check written, that will probably feel very good or even better buying a new toy for the truck then having it fixed to factory only to have something else happen to it a little while later.

Tyler

 

id say get it fixed.

i write automotive estimates for a living and it looks like replace bumper, bumper flare and LF fender flare without seeing it in person.

they have a super fine bubble texture to them and you can only paint them once. you will lose the texture if they get repainted and though some shops will try you will never duplicate the factory texture.

the MGM is not a difficult color to match as mentioned above. nearly all colors have a multitude of variants. for example your mgm 1G3 paint code might have 6 or 7 variants of that color. so any competant bodyshop should have sprayout cards made already for the variants and be able to match your paint without issue.

EDT: just read your whole post. pocket the cash and mod that thing. we dont have the option of taking a cheque here in BC. its just choose a bodyshop, go have them estimate it and then we (the bodyshop) deal directly with the insurance company.

just had 2 windows smashed in an attempted theft on my truck and with paint and parts the bill was $3700. would have been nice to pocket that!

 

I'd take a sawzall to it and just cut off all the bad parts! Lol

But seriously I'd get it fixed and hopefully you pocket a little bit of money after all is said and done!

 

If it were me:
>$1,000 keep the cash and "fix" it myself.
<$1,000 get it fixed

 

If you can fix it well enough yourself, yes. Otherwise, damage will proably be about what your deductable is.........

 

What about this, get the check and then buy used parts (Ebay, wrecking yard, TW for sale forums) and put them on yourself. This way you SHOULD be able to get genuine Toyota parts in the correct color and use the labor $ saved to cover shipping or put back in your pocket.

 

awesome, really appreciate all the responses as I'm still on the fence about this.

no deductible for me - my truck was parked, the offending parties insurance is covering all of this, mine doesnt even need to know...

 

very interesting, several points i hadnt considered, i appreciate the input. one question, what do you mean bumper flare?

the inability to repaint is curious, is this a commonly known thing in body shops these days, or am i likely to be trying to convince a brick wall of this fact?

even though i bought a new truck so i wouldnt have to spend time wrenching on it, not allowing a stranger to unnecessarily molest my new truck has some significant value in itself to me. value that adds to the reasons to just pocket the cash...

also my other cars have gotten broken into about 10 times in the last year in this same spot, have been SO glad they dont break windows.. $3700 is a serious chunk of change!