What would you do

Well I picked up this rig a few weeks ago. Today was snowy and icy on my driveway. Long story short I backed up and slid into the lift gate of a delivery truck.
What would you guys do. Part of me is thinking to just bring it somewhere to get painted so it doesn’t get rusted out and leave the dent.

 

Ouch! My OCD would never allow that to stay like that but it’s your truck and money! If you leave it like that it will reduce the value when it comes time to sell it obviously.

 

I would get it repaired. I would in my case have to look at that the rest of my life.

 

I’d pay your insurance deductible, get it fixed and be done with it. Nothing worse than walking out to your new truck everyday to see a big dent on the side of it.

 

It’s nearly new, I assume you have insurance? Get it fixed. Leave the dents for trucks 5+ years old.

 

OP, sorry that happened to you. Argh. I know how you feel.

Call insurance and get it taken care of properly. Of course, it is not going to be inexpensive. I bet that is $3K worth of damage. With a gash that deep on the right quarter panel they are going to have to replace the whole panel and then paint it. I hate to say it but it happened to me, too. Except someone hit me and ran. Damage was $3,700 and it was just a little ding.

I feel for you ...

 

Yeah I’m planning on keeping for a long time. Will prob wait until the snow melts to get it fixed.
Question for those who have had body work done. How much do they actually raise your rates after a claim like this?

 

I’ve made claims 6 times over 21 years of being on my own insurance. The most recent was in 2019. With State Farm and some others they have accident forgiveness and don’t raise your rate for one claim if it doesn’t involve a reckless driving charge.

 

What’s the cost of a whole use bed ? Junkyards?
Just wondering..
Aloha,

 

Put a flatbed on it.

 

If you have either leased or financed it, check the requirements of your contract. Most require you to repair damage to maintain the value of their equity through the lien, I believe.

 

Ouch. Same here

 

Run it through your insurance or payout of pocket for repair. I paid a lot for my truck and want the best resale possible

 

You can call them with a hypothetical

 

It’s called being anal retentive which means excessively neat, organized, precise not obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) which means repeating the same behavior.

 

Tailgate fixed and repainted shouldn't be more then $500-600, most likely they will have to paint most of the rear quarter panel to blend it and fix that dent. It shouldn't be more then $1500. Its not that bad from the pic.

 

If the truck were 5 years old or older I'd drive it. On a 2019 I'd have to get it repaired. I actually had something similar happen to my truck when it was about 5 years old. My daughter and her husband borrowed it to move some stuff and baked into something with the tailgate down. It was a small dent on the top of the tailgate.

That was 7-8 years ago and I hardly notice it anymore. But if the truck had been any newer I'd have paid to get it fixed. I actually looked around for a while for one in a scrapyard that was the right color so I'd not have to get it painted. Gave up after a few months.

 

Your insurance won't go through the roof if you don't have many claims over the years. So go get it fixed. Nothing would bother me like a new vehicle with a nasty dent.

I would be careful with filing too many insurance claims in three years or less. I had a run of I guess bad luck. Had all this happen to one vehicle
1. Small parking lot accident where me and other driver back out of spaces and collided. No damages to me but to theirs and insurance said both had 50% fault. $1100 damage total to the other car.
2. Tree fell on it.. $6000 comprehensive claim
3. Hit an animal $2700 comprensive claim

All that in 2.5 years. Erie insurance reviewed my policy and cancelled me at renewal for too many claims/cost of claims. Took me three years bouncing around with other companies that cost a lot more plus lost a $250 multiple policy discount on my home owners insurance.
I learned to pay smaller damages out of pocket to avoid that bs.

 

Doesn’t matter what you call it, I’d shit a brick every time I walked by the tailgate!

 

Get it fixed , as long as your a safe driver no claims on your insurance I doubt they will even affect it.