Need Advice on repairing my 2002 4door

Hello,

I f'd up pretty bad this morning and rear ended a cargo van, both airbags deployed and the front end is toast. I love this truck and am willing to go pretty far lengths to get it back on the road. I never had any intention of selling it so I don't care about a salvage title. I'm fairly certain my insurance company will be writing it off considering it's a 23 year old truck with 300,000km, it can be difficult to explain to a non Toyota person why something like this is worth saving lol. most likely I'll end up buying it back from the insurance company

I got it towed to a friends yard, we're going to start taking a look at how extensive the damage is this week. Long term I wanted to put a beefy ARP bumper on it so I honestly don't care if it looks ghetto in the meantime, just trying to do whatever it takes to get it back on the road legally.

Based on the pictures (I plan to post more later in the week) how f***** am I? what do you foresee me having to replace? I found a 2003 extended cab at a scrapeyard near me that I'm hopping to pull a lot of parts from. I also heard some 4runner front end stuff can be made to work on the Tacomas. Right now it seems like air bags will be the annoying thing to track down

 

Thats going to require alot of work my friend. I run a fairly large collision shop and I can assume the ins co will total that truck. In my neck of the woods, finding a shop to repair a salvaged vehicle is tough, legalities and all that.

That truck will probably require a frame, or some extensive frame pulls, a radiator support, apron repairs, along with all the front end parts. Your right on the airbags, junk yards usually dont sell those. Probably dealer only if that are still available. You could be out $8-$10k to get that back on the road, if you can find someone to repair it. Might want to look for another one and let the ins co total it and pay you out on it.

 

Airbags aren't required in my 1970 VW beetle....
I'd say rebuild it. I am. I could never wrap my mind around the whole insurance buy back thing. Either you take money from them or you don't, right? If you don't submit a claim then why do you have to buy it back? ahh whatever.
I guess it depends on what state you live in and what you have to replace. Here in Michigan that is one thing that hasn't been taken over by the communists. If I don't want to replace that air bag I don't have to. If I want a 6X6 wood bumper I can.

 

There had to be a claim submitted due to rear ending that van.

 

ah yes. Probably not no-fault in canada. insurance isn't my thing. I try to avoid needing it and pay out the butt for it

 

Update 9 days later: Insurance said 'JD Power & Associates an independent market research company has evaluated your vehicles value at $10,178.08 including tax' . That's $7,089.03 USD at the time of writing this. I wrote back and said how much to buy it back if i accept your offer.

i will keep posting updates

 

Lmao they got back to me, here's what they said:

'The cost of repair is too high for the retain. If you decide to keep the vehicle, you would receive around $5,709.34 ($3,982.26 USD). this may be a risk for you as cost of repairs are higher than that and you may have to spend out of pocket. Another reason for not recommending to retain a total loss vehicle is you may spend money on continuous repairs and maintenance'

Sounds to me like they know they'll make more money if I let them take it and they sell it to a junkyard lol. 'you may spend money on continuous repairs and maintenance' buddy shes a 23 year old truck... I've BEEN spending money on repairs and maintenance.

I'm putting this thing back on the road, I will post again when I know the repairs I have to do

 

That buy back amount does seem high. It seems like it has typically been closer to 20% of the initial payout. This is over 50%.

Either the initial payout is too low or their retain amount is too high. I would consider disputing the amounts with them. Nothing to lose really.

 

My buddy's truck was damaged similarly a few years back in a head-on at low speed. The front part of the frame was bent, radiator support needed to be replaced, some other small things, plus the obvious grill/headlights/hood/quarter panel. Really not that bad of a fix if you can cut, weld, and use a torch and some force to straighten metal out. I'd dispute their payout amounts and fix it.

 

I just posted in the ‘tree fell on my taco’ thread

in a nutshell our trucks fetch well over 40% salvage value
As for yours with AB’s deployed and FE impact…..50% does seem a bit high thou

Dave your exactly right
Ins WANTS the wrecked truck……so they can make $$

i would ask them for exactly how they determined salv value
Bet you $10, they included quotes from RE impacts(higher value…runs drives) or rollover/tree fell on roof(WAY higher values….runs drives)

Salv value should be for yours…..
FE impact/non drive/AB deployment
40% or just under expected