Repair Advice

@willmann817 do you live in Maine? I see that you scratched your license plate number but i see that green on the corner and I would bet it is from Maine.. am i correct?

About the repair, I would say it is best to replace hole piece... try junk yard..

 

@Claudiomartinof Its actually Tennessee but it does look similar to Maine when it is scratched out now that you mention it!

 

i say bang it back into to shape with what Gotsand18 posted and get it working again. Then replace at your leisure

 

"Just gotta persuade on 'er a little."

 

Looks like an official Toyota tool.

 

lol I feel like I will do more damage just in case the body shop is somehow able to professionally remove the bends in the metal and return it back to normal.

 

get a free estimate. chances are there will be more money in fixing what you have than replacing the shell. skilled labor is expensive.

Taking the tonya harding to it wll get you a working tailgate in the meantime

 

Well my deductible is $1000 and I am fortunate enough that I am in a position to be able to afford that. If a body shop can restore to like new condition then I am willing to pay that price. I have looked in junkyards locally and checked online but could not find a red tailgate in that good of condition so it would cost money to paint. Also a bumper is like 700 bucks. So I will be taking it in this week to see what the shop says and USAA has been very good to me in the past however this is my first auto claim with them so we will see.

 

because they'll drop you after too many quotes. My mom has a bad reputation of backing into people and when I was on my parents plan back in college I had my first fender bender and they dropped us all due to claims. Plus they will raise your rates for at fault claims too. I mean if you aren't a bad driver (like my dear mother) probably not an issue XD


Op that isn't something you can fix yourself to be honest...a body shop MIGHT be able to. Price a used/junk yard tailgate or one off a website and having it painted and see which is cheaper. Up to you whether or not to use insurance...if you have a good driving history I would if the repairs are over 1000, if a used or unpainted tailgate (plus painting) is under 1000 I wouldn't use insurance

 

@Bcjammerx I definitely will check out of the price of the tailgate but I also want the bumper fixed too. So hopefully they can replace that piece of plastic rather than replace the whole bumper too. I will definitely be keeping an eye out around the local junk yards. Thanks for the input!