Insuring your Taco

I am really considering all of the pros and cons of my mods and how far I should go (i.e. +2" LCA vs stock length) and something that popped into my head after researching endlessly is INSURANCE.

I think insurance companies would probably love that your additional $10,000+ worth of aftermarket parts installed on it, isn't covered, just the stock components or current market value.

For example: I know USAA overs an additional 20% on top of the CMV of the truck if its totaled... but what if you just got into a fender bender and your $3,000 IFS upgrade is toast because the components are bent in? Would insurance just cover the cost to replace with stock parts?

I know its a personal question, but on the surface would anyone care to share how you insure all of the money your investing into these awesome trucks? Any experience out there with this?

 

You can document mods and send it to you insurance and request an additional rider.

 

I have full comprehensive coverage on my truck from USAA right now (collision, uninsured motorist, etc)...

The only thing on my truck right now in terms of exterior mods is a @HomerTaco ToyWerx grille. I know from past experience that a stock grille is about $300, and I paid $15 more the ToyWerx Satoshi-style grille. If I was involved in an accident where my grille was damaged beyond repair, I'd take the insurance money and just pay the extra $15 for a new ToyWerx grille.

One thing I am really worried about, however, is my $325 Pioneer touch-screen head unit. If my head unit got stolen, would USAA pay to replace it?

 

I specifically called my insurance (Farmers) on this question a few weeks ago. It's an additional coverage which was an additional $173.78/year, or $14.48/month. I currently have comprehensive coverage and $1000 deductible. They said that in the event of an accident, any damaged aftermarket parts I would need to provide the MSRP of the item and my purchase receipt, and they will cover the replacement cost.

 

State Farm covered all my mods and required no receipts, proof of purchase, or anything other than a photo of the part installed on my vehicle (and I didn’t have to submit them to SF, I just was told to keep them).

When my truck got totaled, I got paid for everything and didn’t even submit a picture. I wrote down what parts were on it, sent links to those parts to purchase them if I didn’t have a receipt on hand. They took retail price, pro rated it on my stated age (I installed XX 3 months ago), and paid me out. My $24k truck was 4 years old and had 58k miles.. and my check was $30k. Covered all my mods, and every dollar I spent on them.

 

Silly question again here, but what about damaging your truck off-road.

 

As long as you weren't doing something blatantly stupid, like imitating something you saw on a Dukes of Hazzard rerun, I'd think they'd cover it...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKQdlXvbWSU

 

Exactly...

Just because you could, doesn't mean you should!

 

So basically request additional coverage from your insurance company. I hate sharing information with insurance. Less info is better I thought, but that's probably just senseless paranoia on my part...

 

Policies vary from company to company. Some are more pragmatic than others. When you purchase the additional rider, make sure you understand if you are being covered for replacement cost or for depreciated value. Your insurer may consider your $3000 IFS upgrade to be worth $1500 after 1 year, and $0 after 3 years. Mods and accessories depreciate much faster than the truck. I realized this when I used Toyota's online lease calculator, and saw adding a tonneau didn't alter the lease residual compared to stock, meaning Toyota's bookies value the tonneau at $0 after 3 years.

My insurer has a standard form intended for sound system upgrades. I purchased additional coverage for all my truck mods with that form, and sent over all the receipts.