hit and run. take the money and run

If the truck is paid off (which OP hasn't mentioned yet) he can do whatever the hell he wants with the money.

 

Not even something I'd consider on a new truck. Hell my Jeep Liberty got hit 3 days before my Tacoma was to come in to the dealership. $1400 from an unlicensed driver. I still fixed a 14 year old Jeep because insurance was paying (hopefully the other vehicle owners but that's still not settled since August) and because it harder to private sell something that has body damage.

What I would do is take any OEM parts that need replacing in the repair and upgrade them from stock parts if I wanted.

 

Report to insurance will raise your annual premium for 3 years...could be a couple thousand if you report.

 

As a former auto damage adjuster, I would recommend getting it fixed. One thing to consider is, the true cost to repair that bedside. It may be much more expensive than you realize, and some hidden damage may be present. Looks like a healthy dent above the flare, and whatever is beneath the flare too. Painting of the entire bedside, new decal, etc. Plus if you do go to get rid of the vehicle, having the damage present will hurt the value significantly. In the vehicle was 10+ years old with 200k, I could see not caring much about the damage. On a new truck, I'd already have the repair scheduled.

 

Is there supposed to be a second picture? We can't see it because the URL is from your Outlook email.

Since you already have a bunch of mods, if you plan on getting a rear high-clearance bumper in the future, the damaged area will be cut away anyway:

 

Fix it. No one likes crunchy TACOS

 

What's the bed damage, I don't see a pic of that.

Probably fix it anyway, but especially if the bed has damage. I had bed damage on my truck and it wasn't repairable once they dug into it though to the untrained eye it looked minimal at best, had to replace it

 

Looks like the paints not damaged. PDR the dent, replace the flare. No insurance headaches. The deductible is likely only a hundred or so bucks less than the repair

 

Meh, i'd leave it.

 

Actually, it is fraud is you take the insurance money on a vehicle you don't own (ie, lien on it) and NOT fix the damage. Gotta read the fine print in those lease/loan documents you signed ;-)

If the OP owns the truck he can do whatever he wants with the insurance money.

Insurance pays to fix the collateral (the truck) that TFS owns and lent you the $$ for. That is why you can't drive off the dealers lot without collision and comprehensive insurance naming the lien holder (TFS) as the " loss payee" and not "joe blow, the owner" ;-)

 

Good to know, thanks.

So OP, source a bedside and flare and call it good.

 

fix it. nothing is worse than a new car with damage

 

The second picture didnt load, all I see in the first picture is the fender flare got scraped (the same thing actually happened to my 2020 Off-Road, someone opened their door too wide and scraped the fender flare before I got my rock sliders). I plan on changing the fender flare down the road on mine but those suckers are like $300 each at the dealership so ill do it down the road after some more important mods are done on my truck.

This is the scrape on my truck:



Its small but its an eyesore to see a big scratch on a brand new truck that I havent even had for a year yet.

 

I feel like I am living in bizarro world when I see comments about not seeing the fender damage, or the chipped paint.

It's that blue or gold dress shit all over again.

Dent in big box.
Chipped paint in small box.

 

Totalled.

 

it's a $500 dollar deductible. almost 4 grand to repair as they did scrape up the front a bit and the repair shop will have to remove the canopy that was installed by a leer dealer and gooed down with a lot of silicone that still leaks. The good news is that the repair shop will be installing new factory painted replaceable panels.

 

I’ll say it since no one else did.
if You have plans to do any serious off-roading in the future, I wouldn’t worry about it. It will get trail damage and pinstripes. It’s not a Mercedes.

if it’s a pavement only vehicle that you want to look slick and shiny then fix it