PDR & Body Shop recommendations (Front Range)

We'll see how it all plays out. I don't expect to be able to anything with the truck that I wanted to this summer.

 

Gotta start calling shops. Insurance adjuster quoted a ridiculously low price of less than $11K total

 

Called Carstar, not accepting repairs until mid June. Called Wreck Effects and had a really good chat with them, but not available until late July...

 

Yep, same story from all the shops I've been calling.

Also same story with Geico's initial estimate of $11,389. They didn't list ANYTHING past the outer plastics/bumper/crash bar/headlights. The inner fenders, radiator core support, radiator, airbox are visibly ruined from my quick viewing and no telling how much damage to the hybrid system because the airbag sensor is preventing Stevinson Toyota West from diagnosing any further. It is easily $25-30k in total once they start fixing the body, go back and forth between Toyota and body shop, storage fees and the diminished value claim. It would be in Geico's best interest to declare this RAV4 a total loss right now.

 

I was gonna try to move it out of the road, but my brake caliper that got hit appears to be seized, and my pedal is stuck in fully depressed mode. Brake Override Malfunction warning on the dash. googling says that it could happen if the tail lights aren't plugged in and cause an Open Circuit. One fix says to replace a fuse under the steering wheel, but they all look fine

 

Yeah, Geico wants to drop the broken RAV off at our place and have us park it on the street... with weekly street cleaning... Just cause they don't want to pay for storage for multiple months.

 

I'm just waiting for my notice from Aurora...I swear, we have like a city wide HOA or something. Can't park my trailer in the street for more than 24hr. OK, pull it into the side of my house on the grass. Nope, get another notice that it can't be parked on grass, has to be a legit concrete driveway (ok tbh i parked it out there out of spite! lol). Moved trailer into backyard behind closed fence.

But also you can't have a wrecked vehicle parked in the street in front of your house either.

I've pulled the bumper off, some of the side fender supports, and put the spare tire back on. Plan is to take the bed off myself, but I gotta get the truck started first! The brake pedal is stuck fully depressed, and I got a Brake Override Malfunction error on the dash, won't even let the truck try to crank. Apparently not having taillights plugged in can cause this. Only one of my sockets got pulled out by the wires and can't even find the plug. Gonna have to replace that harness and bulbs before moving the truck

 

Found blown STOP fuse in smaller fuse box under drivers side dash. Forgot to clamp the transmission lines after removing the Setrab Trans Cooler...but it's out of the road and in my driveway!

 

So Carstar denied my truck saying they're only doing smaller jobs due to wait on parts. Wrench Effects can't even get to call me back to schedule a visit, I've called them 5 seperate days but apparently one one person there can work the schedule and they've been out.

State farm only has 3 preferred shops within 75 miles of Denver. Two of them won't accept my truck since it's technically not in safe driving condition.

I got on the schedule for the third one, Prime Time Auto Repair for Mid September....and then I'll still have to wait on part
s.

 

Yep, a bunch of shops won’t accept the rav4 prime because it is completely undrivable with the airbag sensors broken, causing an airbag system fault, disabling the hybrid system. The gas engine can be started, but the radiator is cracked (and empty) and airbox is crushed, so that’s not acceptable to me for the engine to be run. And the front passenger spindle is bent…

so it’s not drivable. But the insurance won’t total it. But nobody will take it… basically, we’re screwed and wasting hours every day when we need to be working to call body shops to find someone to work on it.

 

@scootter82 you may want to try the edge of the radius down in the springs to see if you can find a less busy shop. Denver metro is apparently the busiest area.

 

Such shi

Oh what a funky filter State Farm uses....on their site when i search for shops, it only pulled up three. then you have to click More Shops for it to display the next three (first three disappear). So on and so forth. So guess I have more shops to call. I was thinking they only had three total within 75 miles...

 

You don’t have to use State Farm “preferred” shops, it’s Colorado Law that we are allowed to use whomever we want. They just have shops they have pre-negotiated using cheap replacement parts of “LKQ” (Like-Kind Quality), which means they will only pay the body shop for the average price of pulling a used bed side from a junkyard and skimp on the quote for labor and paint to actually refurbish that used part to go onto your truck… The more I learn about this process, the more I plan to just sell the Rav4 prime with dirty record and aftermarket parts that the body shop will be forced to use unless I can get it into a premium shop that will only use OEM parts… Then I’m on the hook for the extra costs that the insurance won’t pay for… Then I’ll have to file a diminished value claim to try and recoup some of those costs … and then sell it at a loss. This whole process does not protect the consumer/owner of the vehicle NOT-AT-FAULT.

 

That's exactly what I plan to do also. I was trying to go with non-preferred shops that use OEM quality parts, but it's been a struggle trying to get any of those to even put me on the schedule.

As soon as this truck gets repaired, it's getting traded in.

 

called around and Caliper Collision at 7360 S Fraser St, Centennial, CO 80112 can do an estimate next week, and schedule for repairs by end of May. So that's better. But I had to go through the preferred network for State Farm.

 

I had a good experience with Caliber Collision in Longmont after an accident last summer. The bodywork and paint match came out perfectly.

 

@scootter82 and @JasonLee Damn boys, that sucks hearing about your issues with body shops. That sucks. I know of a couple shops in Springs if you guys need another option, PM me.

 

Shop said these trucks (Tundra) are too valuable to total out lol, dang it. I should know a better eta tomorrow after he does the parts research and ordering. But said the work will take about a month to complete. Who knows how long to wait for the parts

 

Same with the Rav4 Prime, but if they can’t get parts and can’t fix it in a reasonable amount of time… :shrug:

 

fuuuuuuuuck

"driver's side front door and driver's side rear cab panel is on national backorder and no ETA"