Taco vs Tree

Big boom...thought it was my redneck neighbors with their explosives last night. Went out to yell at them and found my truck was attacked by a rogue tree. Freshly waxed and fluid filmed too. Not sure if this is a totaling incident

 

That sucks. Hey, the frame is OK, so just work to be done!

 

unfortunately, it appears that the tree won

 

Does anybody have experience or advice on selling such a damaged vehicle? Home policy just told me they do not cover it, it would be a comp issue for car insurance...and guess who only has collision. FML

 

oh man... that S U C K S

 

Home policy may say they do not cover it, but I would dig and make sure. Better believe if that tree fell on the vehicle of a person visiting your house, their insurance company would be pushing the hell out of yours to get a claim paid.

Whose tree? On your property?

I would talk to some frame guys - looks to me like you fix a pillar, a door and the windshield framing and you are good to go. I imagine there are many who would buy that thing in a heartbeat to make a crawler out of it no sweat.

 

Local to me there are a couple of places that sell repairable wrecks. I've seen before pics and after in person and the results aren't too bad. Since you are "the insurance company" you get to decide if it's totaled or not. Based on what I've seen your truck is fixable.

 

looks toast to me.

 

Home owners wont cover it? WTF? What if it would have hit the house? Fucking insurance companies.

 

only liability? man...

 

i know every state has different insurance regulations, but in california in order to have collison you must also carry comprehensive... on the other hand you can have comprehensive without collison.

 

No insurance involved, they are the ones who make "changes" to titles. Nothing needs to be done or changed on title, that's why it'll be an easy sell because it holds a clear title and won't have any damage history.

OP, I would rent a hydraulic ram set, put on safety glasses and push that damage out. Become a member of Copart auction (its free) and search for similar trucks in the area. Track the selling prices for a couple weeks. List yours for MORE and sell it locally and hold firm. Tacoma's are popular trucks everywhere, itll sell. Somebody will be very excited to have that truck. If I was within 500 miles I'd make a deal and buy it straight up myself because that damage is not bad, I've repaired much worse.

 

no they wont cover your car... they will cover the things IN your car.
its not the insurance companies fault. those guide lines are pretty clearly spelled out.

was the tree on your property?

 

It's pretty standard that damage from falling trees is a comprehensive car insurance issue, NOT a homeowner's insurance issue.

As for the example you stated, in that case it would most likely still be a comprehensive insurane coverage claim for that person, unless the insurance company determined (or you proved) that the tree fell due to negligence of the property owner. But a healthy tree knocked down due a storm or something is going to be a comprehensvie auto claim.

Sorry for your luck OP - I do agree that you could probably clean it up a little, maybe pull the roof and doors up as best as possible, and sell it to someone looking for a work or off-road truck.

 

Dang, that sucks. Sorry to see that OP.
Regarding home owners policy, I would say try them again. Their first reaction would be to say no, but that might be just because that's how they do business. Home owners policy does not just cover the house, it's everything on your yard. Even though the truck is not covered, the tree is on your yard and caused the damage. (If the tree was from the neighbor's yard then they should be involved)

If nothing else works, make a convertible out of it.

 

Thanks all for your kind words, I'm still in a little shock

Learn from my mistake: If you love your Tacoma, even if it's 10 yrs old, spend a coupla bucks for comp

 

The damage doesn't look too bad. My buddy has fixed worse. I drive a rebuilt 99 4runner, was a rollover with less than 2000 miles on the ODO. Had to do a new front clip and new rear clip, joined at the A pillar. I've driven it for 14 years and now have 182,000 miles. Been a great truck. Your Tacoma would be cheaper to repair than trying to fine another truck that's in as good a shape as yours. Good Luck

 

sorry to hear your bad luck, call a body shop and ask them to give you a price to locate and replace the cab and door, I bet it wont be as high as you would think and 70% of it will be labor.

all you need is a new cab for it so its a very simple, although not an easy repair to put it back on the road and with time and a few friends to help (and lots of beer) you can do this yourself to save money. assuming that is, that the frame wasn't bent which it probably isn't.

sell it like it is with "tree damage" or part it out peace meal and you should get your trade-in book value back out of it

if I were anywhere near you, I would be running to your house with a fist full of cash and a tool box ready to start removing all kinds of parts I need lol

find someone who got rear ended with frame damage and buy their cab section to get yours back on the road, these trucks are worth saving and you sure as hell cant buy anything new that is built anywhere near as good as these first gen trucks.

 

Had a tree branch fall on a neighbors camry at my last place. Looked bad and covered most the car. Started cutting it off and realized no glass had broken yet. Got it all off and only had small scratches/dents (like small hail damage size) I told him it looked better than before. Sad to hear your luck wasn't so good. Go talk to some body shops. I bet someone could fix that.

 

Have you considered combing some junkyards for tacos with rotted frames and just buying the cab? It would be a decent amount of work, but if the replacement cab isn't damaged, you wouldn't have to worry about the structural integrity of a welding a new roof or pillar or anything with fixing it that way.