Lets see those wrecked tacos!

I guess ill start.......got cut off on the interstate on the way to work. Somehow I was still about $5k away from totaling it out. Sad day in Birmingham, AL.

 

That's crazy ^

 

How frickin fast was he going? damn..

I got rear ended the other day by an Explorer. She was down to about 15 when she hit me. Luckily the only thing touched on my truck was the tow hitch. No damage to my truck. Her front bumper was about to fall off though.

 

I remember that. It was a 16 year old girl that did that?... probably texting.

 

I should have mine back in a couple of weeks. Don't have any pics with me but will post some up later. A guy pulled out infront of the wife. No damage to the wife. New grill, bumper, hood and 2 fenders. No frame damage at all.

 

Destroyed.

 

I don't like seeing wrecked taco's. I've seen two recently. Both red. Sad.. ha and a random stranger crashed his red taco on my street. Maybe red is a bad color to get...

 

Joking or?

 

45mph? Where you rolling or stopped?

 

Bent frame for you and airbags for her (and her able to drive away) I'd say both vehicles held up amazingly well.

 

^^^ This.

 

Some non driver thought it was a good idea to pull out in front of me. Sorry no picks of his car but it was much worse than mine. Down side airbags deployed and it was over 100k so they totaled it. On the plus side it I went from an 06 to a fully loaded 14 plus 16k in the bank, down side I have payments again.

 

Oh, hahaha, you couldn't just put it in 4x4 and have front pull you? Lol, I know nothin I guess.

 

This scenario goes beyond 4WD.

 

Haha, alright, I'll keep that in mind for the future

 

Back in March 2015, I got rear-ended at a traffic light by a woman in a 2006 Toyota Highlander. I was driving home from my Grandma's house and was almost home. I was sitting at a red light, first in line, and just chilling while listening to Billy Joel. I looked down to either adjust the heat or the radio (I forget what specifically I was doing), but I looked down right before the light turned green. The light turned green, and the woman in the Highlander saw it turn green. She assumed I would be going too, looked down while accelerating, and inevitably crashed right into the back of my truck.

Damage was virtually nonexistent on her vehicle, and my truck had about $1,200 in damage. She was very nice, and since she was 100% at fault, her insurance company picked up the tab. The damage really isn't all that noticeable, but that bumper and one of the mounting brackets had to be replaced, and some minor paint touch-up work was required in the area under the left taillight where the bumper was pushed in. I have a trusted body guy who fixed my truck in less than 24 hours (though I didn't end up getting it fixed until almost 2 months after the accident occurred), and it worked out well, because as you can see my bumper was just beat up from everyday wear-and-tear.

After seeing the damage to the black 2008 Taco from Alabama, I don't think I'm gonna complain about anything that has happened to my truck. The damage isn't that impressive, but I still figured it was worth sharing...

 

I was involved in three accidents in 2015, two of which were NOT my fault! The third one resulted in the most severe damage...

Actually, most severe isn't the right word. It was definitely the MOST EXPENSIVE fix.

UPDATE (May/June 2016): I found out from the prosecutor that the alcoholic scumbag who hit my truck is a repeat offender. Turns out he KILLED somebody while driving drunk in the 1980s. Obviously he didn't learn his lesson. He was sentenced to 40 days in jail, lost his driver's license for a year, had to pay a fine and court costs, and also had to pay me restitution. I was NOT injured, but even though my truck was fixed it still has "scars." The gap between the tailgate and the rear fender is wider on the left side than it is on the right.

I DO NOT regret jumping out of the truck and swearing at the guy immediately after the accident!

UPDATE (April/May 2016): I got called into court at the end of May to give a statement in the other driver's DUI trial. Truck has obviously since been fixed, but my insurance company had to pay to fix it because the drunk guy's insurance refused to due to our stories differing (he said I ran a stop sign). On May 12, my dad noticed that the gap between the tailgate and the rear fender is wider on the right than it is on the left. I can only assume that something is bent ever so slightly. I already had to bring the truck back to the body shop because the bumper was sagging to the left (they stood behind their work and fixed it for free). I am kind of upset that my beloved Taco will probably never be 100% again, but I am glad that I was not hurt in the wreck, and that my truck was not badly damaged or totaled.

Original story (November 2015): A drunk driver ran a stop sign and hit my truck! I had just left work at about 9pm on Wednesday, October 28, 2015. I stopped a 3-way stop. It was pouring rain with high wind. I was on a one-way street, and the other driver was on a two-way street. I stopped at the stop sign, checked both ways, found the intersection to be clear, and proceeded to make a left turn. It was then that I saw the 2002 Mercedes E320, beige or silver in color. He then proceeded through the intersection before I had completed the turn and I knew he was going to hit me before he actually did. For the amount of damage, the impact did not rattle me one bit. The driver of the Benz was a 70-year old man. He claimed I ran my stop sign and initially said something along the lines of "we don't need to call the police, do we?" I wasn't about to take responsibility for the accident and I knew we weren't going to agree on whose fault it was, so I insisted on calling the police. Ironically HE called the cops. The cops ran both of our licenses and information and wound up taking him to the local hospital for a blood test. The responding officer asked if I'd been drinking, and of course I hadn't, so my answer was "nope." After asking if I was hurt, asking if I was wearing my seatbelt (which I ALWAYS do), and having me show him the damage to my truck, he focused on the other guy. The cop didn't ask ME any further questions. The old man had a BAC in excess of .10! Estimate to repair my truck is almost $2,600. It's actually probably going to be slightly more because I had the bumper removed by my body guy so I could use the tailgate (see newer post) and I discovered some minor damage to the bed. My insurance company is going after his for 100% of the blame.

The car that hit me was a 2002 Mercedes-Benz E320. The damage to the Benz was a broken driver's side headlamp, damage to the left side of the front bumper, and damage to the left front fender. The old man also claimed to have trouble opening his door, which auto body experts would say is indicative of frame damage. The Benz was drivable after the accident, with no airbag deployment or leaking fluids, but due to it being more than 10 years old I wouldn't be surprised if it got written off as a total loss. My truck on the other hand, was only 6 years old and had less than 55K miles at the time of the accident, with less than $2,600 in damage.

And also, it's worth noting that this accident occurred about 7 months after I got the damage repaired from the woman rear-ending me. My new bumper was almost ripped off the back of the truck by that Mercedes, and now it is twisted beyond repair and will have to be replaced.

The obvious moral of the story here is DO NOT DRINK AND DRIVE!



UPDATE: Here are some pictures of previously unseen damage discovered when the rear bumper was removed...









A more up-close look at the fender damage:


An inside view of the fender damage with the bumper removed: