Body work

Here's an unfortunate situation:

Had this truck 11 months now, taken good care of it, frame is in decent shape for a MN car (still safe to drive), and although I'm planning on selling it for something bigger (Lexus GX maybe?) after I graduate from college this spring and before I move to the west coast, I have been glad to drive this truck and have it in decent shape.

So, like a fool, I ceramic coat it with some cheap $18 Amazon kit, get great results, and the very next day, a family member backs into it and leaves it with a great big dent:

BEFORE







AFTER





Any suggestions on what to do? Super bummed out by this but don't know what to do. Not sure if justifying body work for it is there (considering I only paid 5K for this truck @ 150K miles), and insurance definitely isn't an option (premiums + they would definitely total loss it, right?).

 

With the price of used vehicles the way they are, I don't think they'd total your truck. As for getting it fixed, make your relative pay to fix it. Being family doesn't mean they can back into your truck and not make it right...

I'd say that's about $2,000 job, including paint, if the fender is replaced...

 

I’d talk to a body shop and a PDR guy, they might be able to work some magic on that, especially since the back of the panel is so easy to get to.

 

8 don't think the whole bed needs to be replaced. When I got hit by a drunk driver in 2015, just the damaged panel was replaced.

 

Sell it as is. You won’t get your money back for the damage unless your family member is paying for it. Sell as is and move on…good luck

 

You may be able to find a replacement bed on craigslist or at an auto wrecker. Easy peasy to replace.

 

Used bed or just that side cut behind the wheel well

The expensive part would be the painting.

Comes down to what you can live with pull it out the best you can and call it good!

Up to you unless the person who hit the vehicle had no insurance or drivers license.

 

lots of options....

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-parts-added-11-29-2022.770268/#post-27506548

 

I bought me a small century mig welder......been watching lots of videos.....
.....want to let me practice on your truck.......

Fitzee's Fabrications
Fitzee's Fabrications
130K subscribers

 

You could practice on mine!

 

step #1. Beat that family members ass.
step #2. Beat that family members ass again.
step #3. Have family members insurance pay for repairs.

Just joking about step 1 and 2. but seriously, I had a 1974 honda civic that I let "Family" members borrow from time to time, and everyone of them wrecked it or caused damage. My sister sold her bedroom furniture to pay for the repairs. Did I feel bad about it, yes, but I wasn't going to pay for repairs that someone else did. Then I let my two brothers borrow it one weekend, and they really #@@$@# it up. Told my Dad I wanted them to pay for the repairs, but that never happened. Fixed as best I could and drove it for a couple of more years. It drove just fine, but looked really shitty. Learned my lesson and stopped letting family members drive my vehicles.

 

bang most of the dent out from the inside of the bed. Then slap some body filler on the whole panel and start sanding. You will get high spots and you can hammer those in with a body hammer. Continue to sand/hammer high spots until you get a straight panel. Primer and paint. Obviously you may have to do this a couple of times. If you were in SoCal I would totally do it for you. Good luck

 

I’ve been lightweight messing with auto body and popin out panels and it is pretty fun! I got a “portapower” and man that things the best! You could just do it the cheap and easy way and heat up the damaged area and deflate a basketball and stick it in back off that caved in area then inflate it until it pops! Know it sounds crazy but it works great! It will not make it new but I guarantee it will be better than it was.

 

that's not as bad as you think, push it out from the inside, sand it, bondo, use a sm hammer to get the high spots out, repeat. then give it to a shop for primer and paint. get your family member to pay though.