3rd gen Tacoma Accident with significant damage (not my fault)

Unfortunately I was involved in an accident on my way to work Friday morning. I work at a University and a student was stopped at a stop sign and apparently failed to look both directions before attempting to drive across a busy main street thus T-boning me while I was going about 35. Thankfully she was accelerating from a stop or else it could’ve been much worse. We got out and she was super apologetic admitting fault immediately, I wanted to get the cops on the scene for the sake of a police report for insurance purposes but they refused to show up because no one was injured and we weren’t blocking traffic. She does have insurance and I was able to get a video of her admitting fault although it’s just ten seconds long and me saying “So you do admit that it was your fault right?” and she goes Yeahh. I’m pretty pissed off for this to happen as I have not even owned this tacoma 3 months. As you can see both passenger side door are pretty crumpled and will need replacing (im assuming) and there’s a good sized dent on the rear of the cab as well as beneath the doors where some rock sliders certainly would’ve came in handy. In addition, there’s some minor damage/scuffing to the rear quarter panel. I have AAA insurance and she has Farmers. I’m just wondering what the process will be to get her repaired. Is there anyway I can get a payout and source the doors myself, have somebody install them (if i don’t) then just pay a shop to take care of the rest of the body damage? This whole situation is just BS and i’d feel a lot better if I could walk away from the situation with a little cash in my pocket.

 

Do you have a loan on the vehicle?
If you do, no, you generally won’t be written a check, the bank wants to make sure the vehicle is repaired by a certified shop and isn’t worth less with you pocketing the money.

 

Is that a night shade? Take your wheels off and put the oem back on if you have them. Get the truck repaired by the insurance company trade it on a new one. Buy a lottery ticket

 

i do not, paid in cash

 

night shade? It’s a 2016 limited, I don’t have oem wheels but might be able to source some for cheap.

 

Similar situation, i got cash and repaired it myself. I had to take pictures/have them inspect it so the would still cover it and not pay out twice for the same damage.

 

your 3 month luck at stop signs is better than mine. my car was totaled in a nearly identical situation, but the other driver never saw their stop sign.


first, you and her are going to need to go down to the police station to file a report. insurance won't want to go anywhere without it.

there's really a few ways to go about it after that.
1. contact your insurance, allow them to deal with the process-- you'll be out your deductible until it's all over and/or they can get the other company to admit fault and reimburse them(until the other company assumes fault, your insurance proceeds as if you had damaged the truck and self-filed the claim), and your deductible. the benefit here is that you're dealing with your insurance, so they have skin in the game, and will obviously have a desire to keep you around. disadvantage is that you're out your deductible for an unknown amount of time.

2. you could start getting in touch with her insurance company to file the claim and arrange for an adjuster to come out to look at it. advantage here is that there's no money coming out of your pocket, disadvantage is that you're dealing with a company that has no reason to work in your best interest. you're a thorn in their side, and they want it out as fast and as cheap as possible.

i don't know if they'll allow a simple damage payout if the truck is still financed. if it must go to a body shop, you need to know that you can go to ANY shop you'd like. they'll likely insist on certain shops being 'approved' shops, but it really just means those shops offer decreased prices and sometimes cut-rate services for the insurance company, to save them money. you can legally insist on bringing the truck to any shop of your choosing for the repair.

after all of that, i would also suggest you look into a filing a "diminished value claim". this is where the extra money in your pocket will come from because once the truck was in a wreck, it's obviously worth less. i'm told they cut a check for this, but don't know the process.

 

First thing don’t tell your insurance, only work with the at fault party’s insurance. I had a similar situation where I got a repair estimate at the Toyota dealer. The insurance cut me a check and I took it to a more affordable shop.

 

The other parties insurance has to make you whole. Since there are less involved parties (not your insurance, not your lender, etc) then it’s simpler. They need to compensate you for your damage. Hell, you don’t even need to fix it, they still have to pay you for your loss of value.

That assumes that nothing changes and they accept liability
You will still have to fight them to get fully compensated, and that fight is sometimes easier to let your insurance handle in your place, and have it fixed at a shop

 

Yikes, does anyone actually pay attention while driving??!???!

 

Horrible drivers these days. Definitely try to milk the insurance company and get it repaired for less. They're a bunch of scammers anyways

 

Welcome to the family of abused "New Tacoma Owners recked within a few months". I hear you. I hope by now you have been able to get it all resolved. I have not read the entire thread and follow-up. Just starting here. My 2020 Tacoma was just 4 months old when "it" happened and I was rear ended. In my case the damage looked very miniscule - but it ended up totaled. The frame in the rear right above-before the trailer hitch assembly attachment to the main frame was bent on both sides. The car was totally drivable. In the front- I was pushed into the front car ahead of me and because I did leave - always do - enough room I was able to maneuver my truck to the left out of the way onto an island but still hit the car in front of me but at least only on the side and at least the family inside didn't sustain a lot of injuries etc... We did, my daughter and I - mostly whiplash stuff. I hired an attorney for the medica stuff and compensation - very helpful. But the lawyer can't help with property damage really. So it was a real hassle - the damage report and fix came back at $18,500 plus tax plus car rental at $1,200 a month (a tacoma of course). Frame replacement entails TOTAL DISSASEMBLY and total rebuild. Sucky! You want that done by an authorized Toyota Dealer Shop only. Because the truck was worth over $35K at the time - when you still could afford an Tacoma at least (SR5 model at the time), the insurance insisted in repair..... Accident March 10 2020, Insurance order to repair April 1 2020. Go figure. By then Japan had its factories closed, no frame in the US, already back ordered anyway, and the memo came back to the insurance company by End of April 2020 that it will take them a t least 6 more months, but maybe even a year before they can send the frame, plus shipping time by boat... Go figure, at first I fought endlessly and without any positive end with the insurance about getting my truck totaled instead. By end of April I was so used to my Tacome TRD Sport Rental at a $1,200 monthly rate and not putting any miles on my own truck that i told the insurance company "Let's wait for the frame", and they were going like "No way, the rental alone will cost us probably $15,000...." LOL and any misery on the insurance side is joy on my end. Bastards, right? I got really lucky. I ended up with $39,500 cash, made a $4,500 profit on my SR5 and bought a brand new 2021 TRD Sport for $39,500 Out The Door Februar 23 2021. Really lucky. But I wonder if all the stress and headache was really worth it. My heart goes out to you and I really hope it's resolved well.


well, just got into a very tiny fender bender last saturday and it bugs so much. Win some, lose some. What are you going to do?

 

Got a question, was some work out by our farms and I nicked the side of my truck against the tongue of one of our trailers at low speeds, 5. Mph or less, 7x12 all steel majority on the rear passenger door and cab corner with a little bit on the front. what do you guys suggest in terms of repair? Would prefer PDR over conventional methods. Heads up a portion of the cab corner had paint damage so I primed that and then repainted. It. Still need to work on blending it into the OEM paint and a little bit on the rear passenger door got paint damage so I also primed that and then put touch of paint on it. It's not the best but I really don't care about appearance. I just didn't want to rust out, happened in Fall of 2023 about September or October. Just never got around to repairing it properly. What do you guys suggest? Also, do I need to worry about any structural damage