Minor body damage from a parking valet on a new Tacoma

I'll spoil the end of this story up front by telling you that the parking company was super cool about it, the valet fessed up, they have admitted fault, and told me that their claims department will be in touch asking me to get 2 bids on a repair cost which they will be covering.

Yesterday morning upon arriving at my parking garage downtown I noticed we had a new valet attendant because our guy was sick. And new dude was STRUGGLING. trying to fit cars into spots they shouldn't go, had a few diagonal SUVs taking up multiple spots he couldn't figure out how to configure, the car line to access the garage was building up, etc. It was a shit show. I should have ignored his BS and parked my truck myself but I didn't want to add more complication to this home boy's morning. Even the other employees for whom the company buys parking were like "what the f**k is going on with that dude down there".

Then last night I took the elevator back down to my parking garage and noticed that my truck was backed up into a spot that it usually wasn't in, and that the back of the cab was awfully close to a water pipe. Given that plus the morning "experience" i was alarmed enough to snap a picture with my phone. Apologies for the crappy picture, it was dark and there was no room to operate on either side of the truck. What you're looking at is a picture from the side across the bed, with the cab on the left. That water pipe is basically a few inches from being pressed against the bed light.



There was literally not enough room to get around and take a better picture. So i get home and think "i should take a better look". Sure enough...



SON OF A BITCH. I have had my truck less than a month! Three years parking in this garage with no issues before.

First of all i can't believe he hit the pipe hard enough to cause that dent. How fast was the dude backing up? This is a small, tight garage. Second of all, i'm surprised the pipe didn't break off of the brackets.

Here's another shot of the damage from the back of the truck. Look to the right of the bed light.



You can also see some brown rust dust on my tonneau that clearly fell off the pipe , likely from impact.

Anyway, after a few phone calls and a "regional supervisor" coming to the garage this morning to verify my story and make sure the height matches up, etc -- and then asking yesterday's temporary attendant about it, who fessed up -- they've already submitted and approved a claim, and I need to get a couple of bids to fix it. Given how sketchy this industry can be I just assumed it would be painful but they were extremely nice and apologetic. No cost to me other than a hard lesson learned (dont let a new attendant park my ride in a tight garage) and some pain in the ass time to get a few bids.

So. Question for the group: do you think they'll be able to "fix" that back to 100% pre-damage level or should I insist on a new roof panel? What do i need to know / ask about when i get these bids, given what you can tell from this small dent? This is my first truck so I'm not as familiar with how all these pieces and panels work together. There are a couple of premium body shops around here that I trust to do excellent work.

Apologies for the lack of brevity and thanks in advance for the advice.

 

Quite frankly that's a hell of a trick he pulled, denting the sheet metal WITHOUT cracking the light! Must have caught a mounting bracket or a pipe joint section just right...

 

Bad enough he did it and 100 times worse he didn't tell you at first . Watch getting advice in here , you need to talk to a body shop .

 

Good report, dang your truck is so shiny I had trouble seeing where the smack was at first but knew it did not look right. Good thing you snapped a pic. That was a fire sprinkler too. Wonder about their "fix" [pull the dent out do it right or skip out and just do filler? I would hate to have this problem. Many more knowledgable owners here than me, I am sure several will give you good info.

 

Sorry this happened to you. I know how I would feel if it happened to me. I know it is repairable without replacing the roof based on my own experience. The issue is finding a good body shop. I have always asked my insurance company for recommendations and haven’t been disappointed. I have never and will never hand my vehicle over to a valet. I park myself.

 

The skin on these trucks are super thin. It’s real easy to dent them without going too fast.

 

At least they owned up to it and are going to pay for repairs, hopefully things are not tweaked to cause a water leak around the 3rd brake light.

 

I would leave the dent then you can tell the valet next time you park....Hey put this in a good spot all this shit happened last time I was here.

 

Might be able to find a good body shop that could just bang that out for cheap.

 

Lucky he didn’t break the sprinkler main. Would’ve flooded the whole parking garage until they turned off the main

 

100% body filler. It's not even possible to "pull" that piece.
Sorry, that sounded very douchey, wasn't meant to be.

 

But it is possible to drop the headliner and work it from the inside. Doesn’t necessarily have to be “pulled”..

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxWmdQwacMo

 

I've seen worse on a '19 Accord, and paintless dent remover made it look like nothing happen.

 

I never valet. I'll just give the guy extra tip to tell me where to park and get it myself. Too many horror stories.
My friends new 2018 vette got scratched from valet . The valet guy of course denied it. ..until the dash cam showed it.

 

Really? That little teeny dent? Cmon man. Take it offroad once. Take the $300 check, go buy something that makes you relax.

 

Same, it'll be a cold day in hell before I ever let a valet near my truck. Stickshift, supercharger, 4wd, taller than the height limit on most city garages...too many variables I don't trust a valet with.

I have a hard enough time giving the keys to the service guys at a shop if I need to get work done on it I can't do myself. Watched a kid at a tire shop smoke my clutch just trying to pull it into the bay once, that hurt.

 

My truck is 9 years old and I would never valet

 

THAT wouldn't bother you on a new truck ????
It's an eye sore.

 

Try a PDR guy first. They can work wonders.