Should I be worried about any frame/bed damage?

Body shop is a body shop. I've seen dealership bodyshops do shitty work. They are in it for the money. Always go by reputation.

 

I put this on my new Tacoma. Not sure if it would help if I was rear ended hard enough, but I also wanted protection in parking lots.

 

Would make things worse. You're taking impact energy and diverting straight to the frame and around the bumper which is designed to fold in light impacts and even gave it more leverage to help.

OP: my money is on a tweaked frame. These trucks have a lot of crumple zone built in for safety and odds are the truck will be totaled by insurance since Toyota says the frame can not be repaired and few insurance companies will pony up the cash for a frame replacement. Yes it absolutely sucks but remember a tweaked frame and totaled truck is much much better than a permanently tweaked spine and neck.

 

The OP is lucky the "SUV" (first in line) took off. There may have been damage there as well and to the front of the Op's taco (he needs to look close up front!. Guessing here this guy/gal did not want to be around when the law showed up, because they may have had something to hide?? In these type of situations the insurance co's sometimes divide up the fault percentages. this one will be interesting, I hope he keeps us posted!?

 

By divide the fault percentages you're talking among all 3 cars left? Or just the #3 and #4 cars? And since the SUV left the scene because they decided no damage they can still claim anything? They don't have any information nor are they on the police report

 

If they left the scene of the accident, they could be in some trouble, and they can’t claim anything. You should get a copy of the police report, and go after the Honda drivers insurance. Worst case, either get a lawyer to get them to cover your truck or use your insurance, and your insurance will then go after their insurance for reimbursement.
I have used my dealer body shop when my car was hit by someone else, and their insurance covered it. I had to stay on top of them and called them out on a lie by an adjuster, but finally they ponied up, paid for me a rental, and got to buy Toyota parts for my car. If you use a dealership shop, they automatically use all oem parts and negotiate with the insurance to cover the cost. A private shop may or may not use oem parts, so that may make a difference to you. Also, the dealership shop has a warranty on repairs and paint too.

 

100% frame damage.. my 2010 was totaled just like this.. the spare pushed up cracked the bed and the cab and bed no longer aligned right.

 

you should we worried and you should seek a professional qualified opinion...not a forum.

 

I'm looking for information to better well informed. Wait that's what a forum is for right? I'm assuming that's why you're here too? Gaining information and helping others when they have questions?

 

While that's true, this forum likes to gloom and doom a lot. It's like a damn pity party sometimes. A thread like this is no different, it'll just raise your blood pressure for no reason. Anything posted here is purely speculation and isn't going to be too helpful for this sort of issue.

A reputable shop, dealership or otherwise, will give you a definite answer. There's so many factors in an accident that there's really no way to look at a few pictures and conclude what will happen with your Taco. That's the bottom line.


Furthermore, everyone here is going to have different opinions on whether to go to a dealership or local body shop, extent of damage, etc. As an example:

I don't think a standalone body shop or dealer body shop inherently knows more or less. It's all about personal experience.

My personal experience is standalone bodyshops in the suburbs I live in are garbage. My wife was sideswipped in her Honda about a decade ago. We took it to the best rated local body shop, and they did a shitty job and took a week. The doors howled. The paint had orange peel. There was overspray. It was something I'd expect from MAACO. We ended up having to take it to the local dealership, whose body shop fixed it by redoing all the work in way less time. It was a far better experience. Furthermore, the dealership had escalation to Honda corporate if everything went to shit. We had to dispute the charge from the independent bodyshop because the manager was unwilling to fix his company's poor work.

But again, all body shops are different. Everyone's experience is different. Everyone lives in different regions. It's all subjective, irrelevant, and really not helpful at all to @jkh .

 

As someone who worked for Honda corporate they would laugh at any call regarding insurance body repair. Dealerships and bodyshops are all independently owned and operated. Corporate doesn't flex muscle when it comes to how dealers operate unless it violates their franchise agreement.

Also have worked for largest auto insurance provider and dealt with this day in and out. I can tell you there are dealer attached bodyshops that are an Absolute joke. Your insurance company should have went to bat and recouped the costs for the shitty repair. Heads up Don't ever move to Miami.

It does all depend on your personal experience. You are right all bodyshops are different. I have a bodyshop for repairs or an estimate should god forbid anything ever happen. Done that after each move I've made to a new location. It's not a commercial location or attached to a dealership.

 

You have provided nothing of value to this thread, just like every other time you pipe up in a thread about someone having a collision.

Most dealership collision centers are trained and certified by the manufacturer to provide safe and proper repairs to their vehicles...to their specifications. In most cases they are the only ones in the area qualified to do so.
Manufacturers absolutely reccomend that you have their vehicles repaired there, that is why they have invested so much into certification programs.
Since you love to pull your I worked for Honda corporate card, why don’t you ask Gary Ledoux what he thinks.

Stating you worked for an insurance company lends even less credibility to anything you have to say, as insurance companies are all about mitigating their losses and claim exposure. A referral to an insurance company direct repair shop is simply preferring you take your vehicle to be fixed somwhere they have negotiated the largest possible discount, saving them money.
They are looking out for their best interests, not yours.
No one should ever take their Vehicle to an insurance recommended shop, weather ins your own insurance or the insurance of the company that hit you.

OP, I can’t tell from the dark pictures you posted if your truck has frame damage or the extent, but based on the bumper reinforcement on the car that hit you, it look a like the hitch took a direct impact, and it’s a possibility.
If you want to crawl under there and take some more, I’ll gladly give my you my thoughts.

Regardless, you should have the repairs performed by a local Toyota certified collision center.

You can find one here

https://www.toyota.com/owners/parts-service/collision-center

 

This just happened to me last month but I was driving my wife’s Rav4. A Camry hit me when I was stopped and bumped me into a Solara. My damage looked much less than yours, and we still had over $5k in damage.
Just got the check the other day, a full 4 weeks after it happened.
Lessons learned: at the scene insist the police issue a citation. The girl admitted fault many times, but they did not give her a ticket, therefore insurance wanted to challenge fault.
Also go through the at fault parties insurance. Keep yours out of it unless you really aren’t able to work with at fault insurance. Because of the citation issue, the at fault parties insurance chose to pay out 100%, but called it a good faith payment but weren’t accepting full liability. My insurance couldn’t say 100% that my premiums wouldn’t increase. They suggested dropping the claim through them and proceeding through the at fault.
We also learned if you are looking to take the payout and not repair or repair yourself (what we did) you may not be able to do that very easily if the vehicle is financed and you go through your insurance. If we took a check through our insurance company it would have been made out to our finance company, this is something that is probably in your contract fine print with your insurance. The finance companies want to make sure vehicles are maintained in case they need to be repo’d. With another insurance company they don’t know who your finance company is or if you own the truck free and clear, so the check just goes to you in your name. In the end we are using the check to pay down the loan anyway, but something we learned in the process.
Good luck, if it is like my case you are in for a lot of unreturned phone calls, stupid questions and a long wait.

 

The bumper gap is larger towards the top so just guessing that the Frame is tweaked downward, body shop can figure out best way to repair.

 

I think you must've mistaken me with someone else. It's apparent by your posts that you've drank the Corp koolaide. I hope you enjoy your time working there.

I know what my time was like working at these locations and deff don't consider myself naive to their motivations. There are 2 sides to eveycoin as they say.

The OP is best in asking word of mouth and doing his own research in who might he be comfortable with doing an estimate and repairs if it isn't seemed non-repairable.

 

True....but in CA if you're illegal you can kill people and get acquitted and qualify for a free donkey ride with Gerry Brown.