Totaled? Love some opinions.

I'm guessing you might have USAA for insurance since you might be military. I also had an accident a few years ago (my first also). A semi rear ended me while at a dead stop and crushed me and several cars in front of me. My airbags didn't deploy because the vehicle's nose took a dive and the bumper crushed upward. The airbag sensor is actually on the lower end of the bumper according to the insurance adjuster (he said he see's this all the time). Semi, and vehicle in front of me were disabled and unable to get off the highway. I just drove mine off to the side. The state trooper said if I was in anything less they would've been cutting me out. The suspension, frame, skids and bumpers took all the energy because the vehicle in front was half the size of what it was (fortunately no one was hurt).
I straight up asked the body shop what their thoughts were and they said to total it due to future gremlins. They estimated my FJ repairs to be 18k (had 150k miles). So they totaled it. The insurance company paid me 15k for the FJ. Kinda sucks because I'd rather have it back. I'm personally hoping you get yours totaled because it's a lot less pain to deal with the insurance companies and body shops if you're in a new truck!
Lastly, I inquired about buying it back to just make it a dedicated off road vehicle and the offered it to me for $6k! Crazy!!

 

Wow! That’s wild super glad you’re alright. I also really appreciate the input. Do you feel like the ACV was appropriate for the FJ? Besides that imagine if you still had it! Those things are hard to come by these days!

 

Looking back on it I don't think the estimate was correct. I had a trail teams and they (USAA) did not recognize it as being special. They also didn't consider all the mods I had done to it, which really angered me. pic coming! I honestly felt that I should've received around 20k. But, I took my losses and moved on. Money isn't everything.

 

Body shops do get paid for totaled vehicles. It isn't as much as they might make repairing, but looking at the snow on the ground, they probably are not hurting for business. They don't have a say in the fix/repair decision. If they get into it and spend money and time to repair and they find additional damage that they have to file a supplemental claim that pushes it over the repair threshold, the insurance company will total it and the shop is out what they put into it. There are balances between the shop and the insurance company to keep both sides from taking advantage of the situation.

 

thanks so much sungod. I wasn’t aware of this. I really appreciate the input and advice. This is relative to my situation and a I greatly appreciate it. I just assumed once the repair was started that’s it. It’s getting repaired.

 

So all my energies have been playing building my taco. You will be better off moving on to a new truck my friend. Apologies in advance for the pics. Just trying to show you that you have choices that could be good!
-supercharged
-fuel rail
-toytec lift on fox shocks
-total chaos upper and lower
-Exp one bumper
-superwinch
-everything meso
-uptop racks and snorkel
Etc, etc etc. Lol

 

New vehicles are also infinitely safer than the tanks from the 60's, you know, with crumple zones and all. A 25mph crash like this could be fatal in those old steel death boxes where all of the energy is transferred to the occupants. I'll take the thin sheet metal all day, every day.

 

If they do repair it, make sure you ask the insurance company for a diminished value check. It really won't cover what you lose, but it is better than nothing.

 

I am so sorry. First dibs on the dash

 

part out yet

 

If attorneys get involved I wonder if OP could be sued for that bumper. That's likely a modification that could be argued could cause damage to other vehicles since it's not designed as part of crash safety by Toyota.

The more damage the car takes the less energy the occupants take and vice versa.

 

Other thing to note is it's always worth getting full replacement coverage on cars under 3 years old. In case of a write off you get your full refund on the price you paid.

 

It looks terrible but looking at the red SUV, maybe the damage isn't as terrible as it looks?