Fear, loathing & denial. I think my Tacoma is totaled

On another note - I'm really not familiar with the 3rd gens at all, what are the primary reasons people don't like them? I've heard reliability on the '16-'17s wan't great, is that it?

 

Are they going to put you in a rental vehicle for a month while you look for another truck? I've never been in your situation, so I'm curious.

 

Not sure yet, that's my next question.

 

Sorry to see this Sam. Hope you’re none too worse for wear.

 

I haggled a little more with the insurance company this afternoon (I'm not a good negotiator, they were actually just nice people) and they agreed to $28,800 + $200 for "loss of use" which is in lieu of requesting a rental car. I'm also keeping my bed cover, roof rack, lift kit, and AT tires which I will either put onto the next truck or sell to recoup some cost (they agreed to this). The offer doesn't expire, so I can keep driving my truck until I find a replacement, I'm sure this isn't indefinite but they agreed to at least 3-4 weeks of shopping around.

I'm glad I hadn't sold my OEM suspension yet, I'll be putting that back on this weekend along with the original street tires.

All in all, it could have been a lot worse - still wish I could get a little more out of the deal but I don't feel completely screwed over aside from the complete inconvenience of the whole situation.

 

I would sell out for that amount get my added on's off put back to OEM as much as possible and let em have it because even parting it out you would be very hard pressed to get that much after you put your time in it and looking at the way it is bent at img_1197 I am willing to bet that there is also a strong possibility of frame twist besides being bent, if it was a single hit just from the back end OK good chance of fixing up but front and read sandwich type damage has higher risk of twisting the frame and that leads to many down the road issues that can cause failure in the drive train. Yes you can find good Tacoma's in that price range or the 28K certainly can make a hell of a good Down payment on a 36K truck also

 

WOW! You got $28,800 and got to keep all your goodies? That's awesome! You might want to get that in writing. I can just see them saying, "Where's all the aftermarket stuff? That $28,800 was for the truck as it sat. We never said you could take stuff off."

 

Never heard such a thing I'm running a 3rd gen now and it is awesome

 

Same here only thing my truck has seen a service bay was for the oil changes 30k miles strong.

 

Go online and find trucks as close to yours as you can and show it to your insurance company. Tell them you need more because its costing you more than $28,800 to get into the same truck.

Also remind them the NEGLIGENT PARTY’S INSURANCE should be paying for this and they need to fight for a higher value.

 

Yeah, that's a good point. The big ticket for me is the lift, which they didn't even use in the original evaluation. The tires, rack, and everything else I had them take off the evaluation but they kept the quote the same.

 

I'm actually dealing with the negligent party's insurance right now - before I lock anything down I'm going to see if my insurance will give me a second evaluation. They might be higher / easier to deal with, but I could (but highly unlikely) lose my deductible.

 

That doesn't seem worth it to me.

 

Hah, I meant $5k

 

A friend’s son recently bought a 2015 four door SR5 4 wheel drive 4.0 v6 with auto and around 46k miles Tacoma for 15 k. It was a theft recovery (no damage during the theft) with a salvage title in central California.

 

The only time you lose your deductible is when you file a claim against your own insurance. Never do that. You don’t want to see what happens to your rates after a total loss.

 

My thoughts... I'd keep it. Mechanically, its still all there. Obviously you'll have to straighten out the ends of the frame, but that really isn't a difficult process given where the frame is damaged. Just needs to be heated up and hammered back into shape. The rest is just cosmetic -- dents and a little bit of plastic. You could easily take care of *most* of the entire job for $1000, at which point it would be like having bought the truck for $9,000, leaving $20,000 in your pocket.

This isn't like buying a random truck from a salvage auction. You know what its history and condition is.

If you don't want to keep it, then you could make some money out of it too, fix it up like new for probably around $2000 (or lets say $5000 just to give you a heap of flexibility), and that brings it up to $14,000 cost. Do you think you could sell it for more than $14,000 if it was completely fixed up (even with a salvaged title)? Because that's HALF its book value.

Look at it this way;
If you can get $20,000 for it, then you're at $36,000 in your pocket ($21,000 buyout - $5,000 repair cost + $20,000 sale).

 

I don't know about North Carolina but in NM, 15's go a LOT higher, 30k maybe more depending on options with that mileage. Lawyer up. Stop screwing around with insurance people.
They are there to make money ONLY.Not for helping you.

 

Know I 40 all to well Here in NC . Rush hours where your at is crazy !! Glad you weren't hurt . If you get time look on Carfax and Cargurus . Some nice ones up around your area . I have been looking lol. Id get things changed over to the stock equipment and get the truck to the insurance company asap . Know they say no hurry but there is a limitation to it I am sure .

Just read a later post . If you can live with the 21,000 and don't mind a savaged title then id stick the $9500 in a new frame and have the truck repaired at a good dealership !! If you like it then go for it

 

More updates soon: still in negoatiation with insurance today. I did a more thorough market evaluation on my own last night and quantified exactly how much money it’s gonna cost me to find/buy an equal truck, including tax, title, dealer fees, distance to pick-up, loss of use, etc. Their offer was roughly $1,800 short of my number, so I’m asking for more.

These things we drive sure aren’t cheap.