Advice on a battered taco?

A few weeks back someone smashed my parked 2001 regular cab. I don't know much mechanically - any advice about what to do here? The shop I called said the bodywork isn't worth trying to fix, but it's been a great truck, passed down from my cousin and my uncle before him and I don't need it to look fancy (plus it's gotta be affordable since insurance won't cover it). A friend said it isn't too hard to replace the bed/box, but there's damage to the driver's door as well. I can barely squeeze in past the damaged door, but it runs. Advice for what's worth doing and where to start?

 

How many miles?

If it's just cosmetic I'd probably just push out what I could n call it good if it were my truck and keep on driving.

 

Around 286k?

 

Welcome to TW!

How many miles on the truck? I'm guessing you only had liability coverage since insurance won't cover it? The left rear fender on my 2010 RC was damaged beyond repair back in 2015 when a drunk driver ran a stop sign as I was making a left turn, and the whole bed did not have to be replaced. The bed did not even have to come all the way off. The cost of everything, including a brand new fender, brand new bumper, and paint came to $2,200. This was in 2015, I'd had the truck for six years, and it had like 53K miles on it at the time so I'm assuming it was worth maybe $12K at the time.

I had a second accident in February 2022 where an excavator operator at a scrapyard caused an avalanche of scrap metal, which slammed a metal pipe into the side of my truck. The entire door had to be replaced, and since it was a door from a totaled truck of a different color, it had to be repainted. There was also repairable damage to the right rear fender, and the total for everything came to like $3,000. My truck was 12 years old with about 144K miles on it at the time, and it didn't come anywhere near being totaled.

Unfortunately, an insurance company would probably total the truck due to its age and the cost of fully repairing it exceeding the actual cash value. It does not appear to have any frame damage, which is great. The structural integrity of the cab seems to be okay, but I would see about sealing off the exposed area of the lower cab corner so water doesn't get in there. The door seems like it could saved if you don't mind the damage to it, but I feel like it wouldn't shut properly, and it would probably be cheaper to get a door from a totaled truck. The bed panel definitely needs to be replaced, and I REPEAT, the whole bed DOES NOT have to be replaced!

 

@PennSilverTaco I've been a lurker for a while but this has forced me to jump in and make an account. Thank you for the info! Sounds like your truck has been through some things.

I didn't know you could just repair part of the bed, but I will look into it. And you're right that I should keep an eye on the lower cab corner re water damage. Would a new door cover that up a bit better? Anyway it seems like a door wouldn't be too hard to find from a scrapyard... for people who aren't confident doing the actual work, do they usually go source the part and then bring everything to a shop?

 

Take your driver seat out and try to pound that cab back with a big wood block and a maul or something.
A new door isn't going to shut right with that lower cab bent in.

A little cash and some elbow grease beat making 6 yrs of payments.