I Dam near totalled my Tacoma

Got into a little accident last week. I was coming off one street and turning right onto another. There were 2 cars both with there blinkers on to turn right onto the street I was coming from. When the 1 car started to make his turn I started to pull out. At the same time a Honda CRV driving down the inside lane made a lane change and clipped my SSO bumper. The damage doesn't look bad but because the SSO bumper is bolted to the frame and took all the impact it bent the frame. $17,000 in damages to my truck. They have to order a frame and have it built 6-12 weeks. In the mean time I have to share the wife's car. I guess it's a good thing that it's not being totalled. I don't think they would have given me close to enough to buy a new one, plus I put $7000 worth of mods into it. It's a year and a half old with 15,000 miles on it. Once I get it back is there anything I should keep an eye out for? I'm also wondering how this will affect the blue book value? I called the dealer that I bought the truck from and they recommended a collision shop that is owned buy the same owners as them and half the other car dealerships in that area.

 

Dam that sucks! Good luck!

 

You can take your Taco to ANY shop you want. I don't like being steered to a shop I don't know.

 

Damn. Glad you're all good man!

 

The car looks like the S.S. Minnow with that gaping hole in the door.

 

Yeah the important thing is that nobody was injured. Kind of made me rethink how much money I've been putting into it and how if something like that happens I won't get that money back. But only for a minute, I ordered a few more things from Meso that will be waiting for my truck when it gets back. I need to check with my insurance policy and see how much I can add for upgrades.

 

Glad you're ok. That's the downside to a steel bumper. I doubt it needs a new frame without it. I'd personally try to get damage loss from the insurance agency if the accident wasn't your fault. I couldn't quite figure out who's fault it was from the post.

I would never even consider a used vehicle with a new frame when looking. So your buyer pool is going to be limited when you do sell. If it was me, I'd press to see if they would total it.

 

wow. $17k and a new frame

 

A significant point that all the 'get a real bumper' fans overlook.

Yes, they offer protection over OE to a point, but after that..........

 

They're pretty good when hitting deer or moving shopping carts out if the way. But after that, but bending frames are their specialty.

 

Sucks, hope it works out for you. Make sure you go see a doctor just in case, even if the impact didn't feel "severe". You never know.

Not sure how insurance works where you are, but for me I totalled my 2016 and my payout was actually slightly more than the price I paid new because I also got paid money for the mods I had (roughly 50% of their worth new). All I'm getting at is I wonder if your bumper may be covered in some way?

I'm not sure how a significant cost impacts the KBB value. I know you need to say it was in an accident when the damage is above a certain amount (not sure what that is though).

 

I got more than I paid new for my 2013 in 2016 when it was totaled as I had all the receipts.

My ARB protected me quite well but borked the frame on my truck which let me get it totaled out.

My accident would have been pretty brutal for me without my bumper, but could they have rebuilt the truck easier? I’ll take my unhurt body than a rebuilt truck (although I’d take a few bumps and bruises to get that truck back as it was pre-accident).

 

I am covered for $1000 in upgrades so my insurance company is going to pay that out to me. So that will cover my SSO bumper if I decide to replace it which I probably will be since if I don't I have to pay for all the parts that I took out and got rid of while installing that bumper

 

Tough to tell.. the way I see it, Toyota spends millions on research to make them safer so they crumple in all the right spots and absorb energy. All that goes out the window with a steel bumper.

 

Make sure insurance takes into consideration the lowered value of a repaired vehicle.. You can totally bargain with them too, btw.

 

Unless you plan on keeping your vehicle and running it into the ground, you just lost any decent resell value. It will show up in a Carfax...it happened to me and it wasn't even my fault. 17K and they want to repair it even though there is frame damage? Isn't frame damage the one thing that totals a car right off the bat? I don't understand..I know insurance companies now allow more % of damage before totaling it because they were totaling too many cars that could be repaired without exceeding resell value, but turned out people working with body shops were inflating cost of repair to not only repair, but make a quick buck. I wouldn't want it back if it is truly frame damage, isn't that a liability issue? Are they really willing to lift the cabin, bed, all the suspension, electrical cabling to replace a frame? I am under impression that frame is the same as chasis, wouldn't that be like a car being built on an assembly line on he factory? If so there is too much involved to reverse engineer it and then put it all back together, it will never be the same. You may experience electrical issues, rattles and so on from things that shouldn't be undone, be removed and reattached. I've been down that road and let me tell you my G35 was never the same...they don't put loctite on screws like the factory and it's rattle galore!

 

Most trucks it would be a total.. but Tacoma's hold value really well. That's why it's not a total Jay.

 

I'm glad that they're replacing the frame and not just bending it back. It was bent too far out of spec for them to just bend it back. It's an authorized repair shop from my insurance company so everything that's done to it will be covered under a warranty. I watched a YouTube video where they just lifted the body off the frame and then took the engine off the frame and swapped it out not sure how much work really goes into it though so I'm wondering if there are things that I should be on the lookout for once I get it back.

 

Damn that sucks to see, hope they get it fixed up as good as new again.

 

Did they tell you if it was going to be marked "rebuilt" on your title? If not, that must be a state by state thing? In Washington they definitely would. And you wouldn't be able to sell to someone that needed a loan because banks give zero loans on rebuilt vehicles in this area.