Just got rear ended....

Stumped. You were smacked in the ass by another vehicle. Call insurance. Are you a police Officer?

 

In Texas like most states getting rear ended is usually always an open and shut case in that the driver doing the rear ending is at fault. If it was a non injury acident there really isnt a need for a lawyer less their was issue with a no insurance or drunk / criminal neg driver. If the other driver was cited and or admited fault to the leo you should be ok imo. Re; who repairs your truck........ ill share what hapen to me back in 98 i was in a similar situation exept it was a hit and run and i had allstate thank god. So when it came time to pick what shop was gona do the repairs i was so convinced that since it was a mustang only a ford shop could do the best job.. Boy was i fukin wrong.. 3 shops 3 months and a qaurter panel later i accepted my car back yes i was given a rental total fukin nightmare for a 27 year old. ( Now the most important part ) when deciding who would work on my car i was so gona select the shop but im glad i didnt simply cause if i would have after the first and second shop fucked it up i would have been on my own with respect to doing the leg work and bitchin out the shop mgr to fix it right and my car rental etc. allstate would have just given me a check and said good luck however the agent advise i go with one of their pro shops and the work is garaunteed as long as i own the car. Shure enuff 3 years later the joint on the roof started to buble and they fixed it & provided a rental . This has

hapened 3 times since out the shop
the last time was 2007 and they always repair it and provide a rental . And i droped allstate in 99 ! Its a give and take i guess . To think i would have to be payin out of my pocket. A loose loose situation most people would say oh well it gets driven every day with
no leaks. My 09 taco got rear ended halloween 2011 rear bumper got smashed down 45 degree angle bed got moved sideways a bit small crumple on rear driver qaurter panel it was repaired relatively fast and correctly so relax as long as you dont have any damage underneath u should be alright. And the 20 year old girl that hit me in her new 2012 lexus was texting and looked at me like i ruined her party night nevermind i had my dirtbike and pitbull in the bed. Go figure.

 

Most places deputy sheriff's don't handle traffic accidents. The state highway patrol handles them in the county areas. Deputies will show up, call an ambulance, etc. but then they scoot before they have to take a traffic report.

OP You are off to a good start by using your insurance company to handle it. Also a good idea to get your own estimate from a good shop so you know what the estimate should be without relying on either insurance company. Look long and hard at the damage. It is the stuff you don't see at first that gets expensive.

 

I don't know what they do in CA where you live, but here where I live the SO is the law traffic included. OP never stated he was a SOD. hmm

 

Here in my county as a Deputy Sheriff, we do not do traffic investigations. That is left up to Highway Patrol. Like a previous member posted above...we arrive on scene and render aid to a motorist and call for medical help, direct traffic, etc. if I had wanted the headache of doing wreck reports I would have become a Police Officer. Vehicle accidents in the county are taken care of by Highway Patrol; accidents in city limits are taken care of by city Police Departments. My accident happened out of my county about 30 miles from home. Like I said this is my first accident so I was a little unsure what was the best way to handle this to avoid getting screwed.

To update everyone...my estimate was approximately $1300 to fix my truck. They said that it could vary a bit but that's what I'm looking at. I found a very good shop through a friend who is prior law enforcement and has his own Bail Bonding company now so he met me at the shop and asked the guy to take care of me. Now I'm just waiting for Progressive to contact me.

Thanks everyone for all the tips and help, it's appreciated very much.

 

1300? No way man. The bumper itself is almost that. If the bedside got hit, and got pushed in, there's another couple grand. Also, you said you had a hitch, which means the tow hitch took the brunt of the impact ad could have easily done damage you can't see. Like one poster said, take it to an expensive body shop, they will find every little thing wrong with it.

 

When I got hit in the front bumper I filed with my insurance, and called his insurance. The officer cited him for failure to yield. After I told my insurance I had called his and was working with them, my insurance company said it was up to me, I could either keep dealing with his insurance or deal with my own, pay my deductible and they would go after his insurance. His insurance was awesome to deal with, it was 2 days later and the adjuster was out to look at my truck, 4 days later I had a check in my hand. I was able to cancel my claim through my insurance, which was nice. And with the money I bought my relentless bumper.

 

A paper server..lmao.. good luck on the truck.

 

you should be alright, your insurance agency will give you a list of shops to go to, pick the best. it doesn't matter what the agent apprises your damage at, if the shop says it will cost more they will get it from the insurance company. you should be able to get a rental at his insurances expense

 

Actually No, not a paper server....we have a civil division for that. I am on patrol...but thanks for assuming you know everything I do in LE being that you live in Maryland, I believe? I would ask you what you do for a living but I won't for two reasons...1. I don't give a ****, and 2. You might claim to be in LE yourself and have the "I am better than you attitude" that I have seen some have with a badge on their chest....in which case it's not worth having this thread end up in a shit storm like many of them do just for asking a question and asking for some help.

I posted this on this forum for some advice about my truck just as others do. I may not be as active as some on here but almost everyday I get on here whether I log in or not. If it wasn't for the fact that there is a multitude of great info and pictures on here I would probably never go to this site just because of all the smart ass comments some on here can't seem to go without making. I feel like I had a legitimate post asking for advice.

I'm thinking you must know a little about LE since you mentioned being a "paper server". I have many friends who have been in every division of a sheriff office...who are now what you call a paper server and work in the civil division. They have a dangerous job just like the rest of us. You never know what's going to happen when someone opens that door after you knock to serve a piece of paper, answer a call, or are trying to serve a warrant.

The way I see it, whether you are a detention officer, police officer, on patrol, deputy sheriff, state highway patrol, jailer, etc....most of us got into this line of work for the same reasons. No job is less important than the other...even if we all have jokes about what others do sometimes.

Thanks for your good luck wishes on my truck...but if all you had to do was creep around on my thread and try to come up with something useless to say about what you thought I did in my job, you could have just clicked another thread or not left a comment at all.

 

U show is right im not in le but i figure if your job requires u to carry some steel on your side theres probably a dam good reason for it. And yes just the act of knocking on the wrong persons door for any reason is enuff to get u blasted to hell. I respect and appreciate what cops do thank god for order. As for me there aint enuff $$$$ to do what they do. Stay up 1stgenpre.

.

 

I didn't read through it all but if he hit you from behind, he should have been ticketed. If so, and you're not hurt, don't sweat the small stuff. Report it to your insurance, go get an estimate and get it fixed. done deal.

$1300 is cheap. My wife just got her car back from hitting a small deer at 40 mph - $4000 in damage.

 

Nice post. Let shit like his comment roll off you.

 

i would have
A) gotten a police report and his info
B) gotten an estiamte and seen if the guy wanted to pay out of his pocket to fix it. im all about avoiding insurance and records.

I had my truck evaluated for a trade in and the guy comes back with "oh, it was hit in the front?, that changes things (carfax)" I was like "WTF?!" the bumper was scraped by some clown while i was parked at like 5 mph. Just needed repainting. He says "well, its on the carfax as hit in the front". tried to play it like it was worth $4k less than KBB because of $500 in repaint


But that guys Jeep insurance company should send someone to you to get you an estimate. they employ people who do that all day. its not like 1982 where you can claim $3,000 in dmage for something that would cost $750 to fix and you pocket the rest. you can get other opinons, but if they have been pretty good with factory vehicles in my 1st/2nd hand experience.

No clue about the other driver, but if you think he is the type to rather just hand you $1,000 cash to have it fixed take it, make it 1500 for extra damage (nudge nudge wink wink) go that route. the carfax on your truck being hit from behind will suck. but if he is poor nothing you can do.

 

I would got to a Toyota Dealership and get a quote from them. They normally charge the most for parts and labor. Then take that cash and upgrade or replace parts with OEM.

 

ive heard someone insurance companies issuing checks in a final total amount to a qualified repair shop.
so unless you work out a deal with the shop to get some kind of kick back or extra work done, you get what they pay for.

 

Diminished value... There are threads about people seeking compensation from insurance companies for this. I'm surprised it wasn't brought up earlier.

OP, This will most likely show up on the carfox or autocheck when you decide to sell it and it will hurt the retail value of the truck. No one will pay the same amount for a previously wrecked truck when the one sitting next to it for the same price was never in a wreck or so carfox/autocheck say. Go to the dealerships and get in writing how much depreciation it is. It's normally i think 20% of the cars value and tell the insurance company you want the difference.

I had a accident in 2009 in my old BMW (driverside hood, bumper and fender) and when I tried to trade it in for a X-Runner the trade in for the BMW was $1000 because of the prior accident showing up on carfox.

 

OP, as suggested before, when the insurence ppl come to look at the truck, they will go threw it and stare at it like a peice of meat, but in the end they will tell you to take it to and autobody shop to see if its worth fixing and to get a damage quote. Thus picking a more....how do i word this right, expensive shop to get your funds/truck back. As far as im concerned, hes got whats commin to him... if someone hit my truck i would probly be ready to kill, until i got out and notice it was a civic that nailed my plate armour Buwahahahahaha!

 

Thanks all...I was shocked that the estimate was so low coming from a shop with a great reputation. I plan on asking some more questions as to exactly why it is so low. I will definitely look into taking it to Toyota and getting a quote as well as asking some questions about depreciation...I didn't think that was possible so thanks for the tip.

I am probably more worried about the frame being tweaked than anything right now...I hope it isn't. I plan on keeping this truck for many, many years so selling it with a hit on the carfax isn't a huge concern but things could change so I'm becoming more and more concerned about that now that you guys have mentioned it. Definitely will be looking into your suggestions...thanks all.

I will let you know how it all turns out.