Just got my 5000 mile service and now it might be totaled

Sorry to hear a bout the accident and the possible loss of your truck, but it's great to know you walked away from the wreck.

On a side note what roof rack is installed on the truck?

 

good god almighty......glad to see your ok. any air bags go off in your truck?

 

Glad to hear you're ok that is the main thing. I would say it is totaled as well. Thats quite a bit of damage, and I know here in my area they will announce a vehicle totaled at the smallest things.

A buddy of mine drove a 2000 Cummins (lifted on 35's) and his front and back tire went over here hood while trying to change lanes, said on scene her car was totaled. Complete BS I thought. I saw most of it, couldn't have done much more than $2,000 in damage.

 

That's the OEM rack.

http://www.toyota.com/tacoma/accessories.html (bottom right)

 

You sure it was LA? We don't have many illegals here.

 

Sorry to hear about your accident. If your injuries are just soft tissue you should heal fine. Time usually is what fixes soft tissue injuries. It is unfortunate that some here believe that you need an attorney. Since you already retained an attorney I will just make some comments for others who think this is the way to go..lawyer up as another said. The reason they have so many commercials is they make a lot of money on auto accidents and they don't do anything that you cannot do yourself. This is not about "suing" someone. Injury accidents that end up in suit and court are less than 3%. Attorneys take 33% of your settlement, so I can tell you that you end up with less money having an attorney send in your medical bills and negotiate for you that you would just sending them in and negotiating yourself. This is a fact backed up with 20 years of experience. Lets say your claim settles for 6000 with your attorney, you end up with 4000. If you owned an insurance company, (yes it is a business) would you rather write a check to an attorney for 6000. or write a check to the injured person for 5000.?
I am not saying you never need an attorney. In severe cases involving permanancy, death, or disability you may need one in order to assist in navigating the claims process and calculating life expectancy etc. In your case I think you should consult an attorney for advice but not hire him to take 33% of your settlement. (again this is only my opinion). I am not anti attorney, I have friends that are attorneys who also would be very happy to have 33% of your settlement.
Based on the photos I agree your truck is a total loss. Sorry you have to go through this. If the person who hit you has minimum limits you may have to present a claim through your own carrier for your truck and have them subrogate the woman's company as they will have to pro-rate each loss if her policy does not cover all of the damage.
Someone else thinks you can be a millionare from this. Sickening to me that anyone thinks this is winning the lottery. You have been injured, inconvienced, and need to be put back where you were prior to the accident not be turned into a mega millions winner.
Regarding the extras on your truck, usually you can remove aftermarket items and it won't devalue the salvage, but it depends on the insurance company. Some companies won't allow it at all, others will allow it if a mechanic removes the item, not you, but you have to replace the a/m item that was removed with the oem. So the roof rack removed you would have to put the moulding back. Other companies only allow you to buy the entire salvage vehicle, which in your case is not worth buying as the salvage value is very high. I have been rear ended twice, and healed in 8-12 weeks. No need to rush your settlement on your injury, make sure that you are OK first. Good luck and I hope you feel better.

 

Yeah I'd say that truck is totaled. its fubar on both ends

 

Holy crap man sorry to hear I'm glad your ok, and I hope its totaled too that's a lot work to repair

 

The reason people advise the OP to retain a lawyer is simple, insurance comanies are in the business of making money and as such pay out as little as possible. The insurance company also has lawyers that will use any thing they can to limit what they pay and their total liability. It is sad that when a person is injured that the insurance company will try to hose them but it happens. Retaining a lawyer is an unfortunate neccesity in a situation like this.

 

I understand I don't need an attorney and that I could do this myself but the fact of the matter is I've never been in a wreck before. This is uncharted territory and I don't want to say or do something that will come back to bite me in the ass.

I'm not looking to sue and get millions, and I didn't hire an attorney that has a history of doing that. I could have gotten "The Hammer" or any number of lawyers with a nickname and tough talking radio and tv ads, but that's not the route I went.

And being that I don't have intentions of getting rich off this I'll gladly give up the 33% to get what I want, which is a new truck like I had, and my medical bills and missed work paid for.

 

I formally disagree, this is a giant game and you need someone who knows it aka legal representation.. plus you get more when your represented

 

You disagree with me? Or the other guy? I have an attorney. I'm just saying I didn't go out and get one of those pit bull lawyers who will go after everyone involved and their families.

 

I formally disagree with self representation.. so wherever that falls lol

 

Yeah, It's better for a shadetree judicial analyst to go into court vs trained professionals. why not try your hand at surgery while your at it.. hell, space travel isnt that hard

*edit: saw you're Canadian, strike that space thing, WHAT YOU KNOW ABOUT SPACE CANADA.

 

wow looking at that in slow mo it is crazy how a big of a roll seat belts are in even a semi low speed collision like this. watching the guy in the challenger if he didnt have it on his face would have plowed into the steering wheel. and the driver of the f150 is a complete dumbass. poor challenger

 

You're also dealing with an entirely different legal system then OP

 

That....and this isn't just traffic court stuff...we're talking insurance companies...I wouldn't begin to venture into negotiations with them on something of this nature without representation by a professional who knows not only the law but also the network of crap that has to be navigated.

IMO he's better off with representation that does this type of thing on a daily basis. And that's based on personal experience; ours was 18 years ago, but I expect the system is more complicated now, not less.

My 2 cents FWIW.

 

Just talked to the body shop, the adjuster came by and he said it's borderline totaled. The body shop guy wasn't sure which way they were going to go with it. I asked what the total damage amount the adjuster came up with and he said it was around $17000 which isn't nearly enough to have it totaled. I haven't heard from the adjuster or the insurance company yet but I'm already getting pissed.

If they don't total it I'm going to appeal and talk to the lawyer. It's bullshit to be sitting at a light and get slammed into by a drunken driver and have to drive around in a brand new truck with almost $20,000 in repairs and only 5000 miles. Damn I need a drink now.

 

take it to toyota for the estimate not a body shop.. you want to get the highest repair cost possible.. its a new truck like you said, it shouldn't be "like new" it should be "new"

 

My sister had a Mustang put into a shop and it wound up costing almost the value to fix it once the car rental was added. We never understood why this car was fixed. I felt as if the body shop had some sort of influence on it being repaired. It seemed to me that they wanted to fix it and wanted the business and influenced the insurance co. The car was about 2 yrs old with low milage, book value was like 15k and if I remember correctly, with car rental added wound up being like 12k, wtf? We of course wanted it totaled but no luck. She wound up trading it right after collecting the deminished value check. Good luck!