what would you do in this situation?

got a little damage on my truck a couple weeks ago. clipped a tree stump, it was higher than the sliders so they did not help. only cosmetic damage to the door skins and pushed the bedside in a bit and a wrinkle up by the gas cap.

insurance adjuster came and totaled it up to $4300 in damage, $1,000 deductible so I get a check for $3,300.

I have been searching around online for replacement parts and think that i should be able to get everything fixed for around $3,000 so I shouldnt have to put much out of my pocket.

my only dilema is, since I do wheel this truck it could happen again.

what would you guys do... bang the dents out best they can be (by a body guy for maybe a few hundred). already talked to one and he said he could get it looking pretty good, but not perfect. then i could pocket the check to pay the truck off sooner than planned?

or go through with the repairs???

just looking for some words of wisdom from you fellow taco owners

 

bang them out, use that extra money for some more armor, damage is usually apart of offroading

 

Wouldn't be to difficult to hammer that out.

 

If it was me, I'd get it fixed. It's on the driver's side. So you're gonna see it everyday. The reason of off-roading a lot doesn't justify the possibility of hitting your truck again on another tree stump. The homework you have is to find a place that can do it for the cheapest amount of $$$. If you can keep it under $2K, then you can pocket the rest. Find a junk yard and get the parts repainted and installed. I'm sure you can find alternatives. Good luck

 

Have you gotten a PDR quote yet? Looks like that may be able to be repaired, for not too much $$$

 

the paint is cracked and chipped on some of the corners of the dents. so i dont think pdr would work. i would just fill the chips/cracks in with some touch up paint if i bang the dents out

 

x2

 

$1000 deductable!? you need to change that dude, i voted fix the truck

 

THis^^ Install the doors yourself will save you from some guy doing it for $125 an hour

 

Find some junked truck, get the parts cheap. DONT PUT THEM ON, just touch up the damage with some spray paint, and wheel the piss out of your truck. Now you have replacement parts sitting around and are not worried about banging them up too.

 

yea i know its high. but since i switched to this insurance company a little over a year ago it has already saved me $500 bucks by going with the $1000 over the $500 deductible. so if i never had an isssue it would be saving me money. now that i have an issue, the way i look at it is i saved $500 already by having the $1000 deductible, take the $500 saved from the $1000 and in a way its like $500 again, if that makes any sense. i feel like in the long run its all the same.

 

x2. i have a paint chip on my hood that bothers the mess out of me

 

The next damage you incurr while wheeling may not be in the same spot. I would try PDR and touch up any paint chips.

 

Fix the dents and bedline the bottom quarter instead. That way you don't have to worry about touch up paint.

 

i was thinking about that. are you talking about just banging the dents out then maybe a little filler or something to smooth any wrinkles?

not sure how it would look though. maybe someone with photoshop can help out?

 

Yeah, just maybe add in a little bondo then go over it with bedline. Post the pic on the photoshop thread and see...

 

It's a 2010, I would repair it. If you want something you can beat, repair it sell it and by a older model for cash.

 

Ouch.

If you're worried about saving money, you just lost $4,000 by bashing it up and not fixing it, so paying it off sooner only eliminates your payments sooner but your trade-in or resale value just dove, not to mention rust that will make this look terrible in 10- years.

I would say, if you're certain that this will happen again, bang it out, prime it up and just repaint the bottom portion some easily-rattle-canned color. If you're a little more protective, fix it up right and just proceed down the trail with caution. Maybe with beefier side-bars.

 

i wouldnt fix it, and i dont wheel my truck. line'x or something to lower panels and id put the extra dough toward paying off my truck....

just my 2cents

 

I would fix it...if not another thing would go wrong then another then years later will look like a pile of shit. Just cause you use it for offroad doesnt mean it has to look like shit....doesnt make sense to me