Frame damage

Anyone had a frame replaced on a 3rd gen Tacoma? Someone ran into me last week and did quite a bit of damage to the frame. Truck is new with 4k miles. Or is truck totaled?

 

Sadly, this is what happens to the frame when our Tacomas are rear ended. Common weak point where the hitch is mounted.

2 months ago this happened to my 2nd gen and the quote to repair was $15k, so insurance totalled it. The rest of the truck was in perfect condition. Insurance paid me out $21k. Granted a new Tacoma is worth more so they may try to fix it.

 

She's likely totalled.

 

This may be a totally outlandish concept, but perhaps your insurance adjuster would be the one to ask? Anything we tell you is a WAG (wild ass guess).

 

This isn't 1987. A bent frame doesn't mean a total loss. The frame will be replaced. It is pretty common.

 

I hope everyone is okay when you were hit. If insurance wants to repair it, be ready to ask for diminished value. If insurance says it is totaled, be ready to shop for another vehicle.

 

I'd agree with you if it was a front end hit but this is not the case here. That frame is toast. Hop on Copart if you don't believe me and see for yourself. Lightly rear ended Tacoma's are frequent flyers for a reason.

 

Again, this isn't 1987. A frame replacement is not uncommon. Especially on a brand new truck. While it isn't impossible to total a truck, a rear end collision doesn't mean a total loss. If this is just the frame and the bed, it will be a frame swap. If this were a 4 year old truck with 80k miles, sure it it would probably be a total. Just because you see trucks on copart doesn't mean that everyone that gets rear ended is totaled.

 

Trying to get an estimate for the repairs now. Just looking for feedback if anyone had a frame replaced how did it go? How long did it take? Did the Dealer do the repairs or a bodyshop?

 

^Dealer for sure. Your truck will basically be disassembled by Kevin the Mechanic and put back together again. All it takes is one bent connector pin or pinched wire (out of the ~50 or so disconnected) for you to have electrical gremlins forever. Find one with experience doing frame replacement for the rust campaign. Actual job takes some 4 days with mechanics who have done it before. You might be waiting half a year to get a frame though, and that may influence the insurance co.'s decision.

 

So, any Toyota tech?

 

^Maybe one-third of them. The other two-thirds of Toyota techs are in California and Hawaii

 

Toyota has replaced thousands of frames due to rust, and the trucks are usually fine. You'll need a new bed as well, bet the repair bill would be close to $20,000 or more

 

This looks like a severe hit (40+ mph). Better the frame than the OP's spine. Just sayin'

 

Okay bud

 

Companies dont straighten frames anymore?

 

Hey Bud,

Maybe since you are the expert, you can show me all these Tacomas that were totaled with just rear damage on Copart? Just did a search on 2021 and up and didn't see this plethora of trucks out there. Looks to me that the ones with damage had pretty severe damage that extended into the body.

Maybe you can tell this guy that his truck was totaled - https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...2020-trd-off-road.752959/page-2#post-27225431

Again, not saying that trucks cannot be totaled, but there is criteria for that and a bent frame is not an automatic condition that will trigger the total loss flag.

 

Had the same thing. Insurance was actually going to pay for a frame swap (>$30K), but couldn't source a frame. Best "guesstimate" was minimum one year wait, likely quite a bit longer. It was written off.

 

Shade tree shops will still do it, but you won't find any reputable shops doing so because Toyota says no.

 

correct and by design, when repairing humans; you look at the quote, you can roll the decimal over 2-3 positions.