Need Advice-accident yesterday in 08 TRD Pro DC. not sure if insurance will be totaling it, etc

And if you are like me and never plan to sell your truck the salvage title impact on your resale value is irrelevant.

 

If you investigate this route, don't forget to factor in insurance for the salvage and repaired vehicle. It may be more expensive to insure a salvaged title vehicle or some insurance companies may not insure it at all depending on what type of damage it had. Also, your state may require some sort of inspection of the repairs done before they will issue registration which would be another cost.

Depending on your state, none of these things may be an issue or even relevant.

 

Being it’s an 08 IF they go total. Buy it back rebuild drop insurance to liability with un insured and drive it until the next one. Keep it for a beater truck and be done. I told my wife with mine I’ll buy it back and make it a dedicated off road rig for fun and then use the rest as new truck money.

 

Ha yeah I mean my deductible is only $250 @Muddinfun
@Crosis that’s how I feel basically lol. I was planning on keeping this one even after buying my 4Runner in approx 2 years. Planning on keeping this One till the end if possible

 

hey guys quick question, if they happen to not total it out and want to repair it. or even if they don't and i buy it back, how would I go about possibly upgrading the armor like a steel aftermarket bumper or something ? is that something the body shop won't do since the insurance company is having them just do the basic repair back to original form? just looking for some advice here as I've been wanting something more armor like and protective on that front bumper if this can be an opportunity to achieve that. do you know of any options that would be feasible in such circumstances? i have stock suspension for the TRD sport. thanks

 

It's your truck, if you tell your adjuster you want to forego the OE bumper, they would credit you those parts and you are free to negotiate with the body shop to add the aftermarket bumper. I could see some adjusters being a dick, but I needed tires once and told the adjuster to forget buying me one new one, since I was replacing all 4 soon after a wreck with my 1st gen

 

You can also get a quote or two and just ask them to cut you a check. My corolla was a piece if shit. Got hit a few times and just collected the checks at about a grand each. Once you get the check, you could just pay the cash for the items you want repaired and use the rest toward your bumper.

 

When I got rear ended I just declined having the shop do the work and they cut me a check. Used that to buy a plate bumper.

 

I had an open claim with SF after someone backed into me in a parking lot 6 months prior to when my 09 was totaled. I used their pocket app to scan that damage from the copart lot after they front end loaded my truck to the front of their yard to get an additional $1200 before I settled with my insurance

 

What was the verdict?

 

Hey man thanks for checking back in. Well guys after dragging feet for awhile my truck is finally at the body shop and I’m going tomorrow morning to sign something before they begin their process and I’m guessing the estimation and breakdown. Any advice on what i should say or do? I’ve been reaching out to vendors on here to try and see what’s available on the 2nd gen bumper scene and it’s kinda tough. Some things available but the problem is not Exactly what I want. And I know I’ll be biting myself If I go the easy and available route and now is prob not the time to be picky. I really like the looks of the front bumper options by C4 and BAMF fabrications but I’m sure others are too. I really like the front LED light bar cutouts that I just haven’t seen on some of the other ones. There’s a deal going on TJM ones and I also saw an someone listing the Chassisunlimited Octane bumper too. Anyone got any input or advice ? Man I’ve been going nuts researching all this and it’s a whole new area for me

 

I dont know anything about aftermarket bumpers, I guess just tell then you would like to provide your own and ask how that would work with estimate and deductible?

I just happened to be going through deleting old watched threads and saw this. Hopefully a couple of bump posts will get you to the top to someone else who can answer that.

 

well of course COVID would find a way to try and put a kink in things for me. I went to the ServiceKing collision center today to sign some paperwork before they start taking apart my truck to assess damage and evaluate and I don't get to go inside like normal and have to call the office and someone comes outside with a tablet and I have to sign the forms there. When I make a remark that I'd like to have an aftermarket bumper option she says oh yeah since the truck is old we're most definitely going to be going aftermarket.. I knew what she meant (non OEM) and tried to explain it in other terms which isn't easy given that's the common adjective I use for something custom (off road, etc). she says the manager is in a meeting and they normally never do anything like that but she would tell him and he'd give me a call. any advice ? theyve had my truck for over 2 weeks and of course it's getting frustrating, but it's not my fault. also the long lead times for bumpers is absurd making it almost impossible to do this on a short time frame when the truck is your daily driver. maybe I should just let them go ahead and do things as Is normal and just replace the bumper down the road myself the right way with the one I want ? just hate to miss the opportunity to utilize some of the hard earned insurance premium that I've been paying into for years. this is a head scratcher...thanks guys for any advice in advance.

 

@prone2xl, I'm no insurance whiz but I may be able to help you pick a front bumper. ARB bumpers have integrated crush cans, which act as sacrificial components to replicate the stock crush rate (so airbags trigger correctly) and have the side benefit of protecting the frame in low/mid-speed collisions. Might be worth a look, especially since there shouldn't be any lead time other than packing and shipping. They are pretty expensive and add about 130 lbs, so you'll need to beef up the front-end suspension to support it.

 

Personally, for trying to do something like that, I wouldnt use a big chain like that or caliber collision. Less of a chance of them trying to work with you.

 

Probably a good call. Maybe it’s just not meant to be. Oh well. I just hope now that they don’t total it out and I’ll just have to look into armor options on my next ride Seeing as this one is 12 years old .

I just wanna enjoy the new upgrades I recently made such as upgraded sound system with wireless carplay, sub, ambient lighting, etc.

 

The aftermarket bumper they will quote to the insurance is about $100 bucks. So it will not make that big a difference towards your beefy bumper you want. Let them fix it and find the bumper you want down the road.

 

Provide all the receipts to the insurance for your upgrades should they total.

 

Call your insurance agent and express your frustration. The repair facility doesn't care (as much anyway) about a vehicle owner that has few, if any,option as far as when/how/where the vehicle is repaired/totaled. If the insurance company calls them, asking what the holdup is, that might light a bit of a fire on their end to get things rolling. I was in a similar situation in early april, when things here in Michigan were ramping up to the peak as far as covid goes, and the repair facility had a valuation for me and my insurance co 48 hrs after they received it. Also, if they deem it a total loss, cross shop the valuation they give you with what similar vehicles (year/mileage/trim level) are priced at and sell for. I was able to add over $1k to my payout on my 1st gen by doing that. The valuation is done by a 3rd party company in most cases, and I would think that they have some incentive, explicit or not, to undervalue or stick to the low end of the range. Lastly, some insurance companies will have policy options to repair with only new OEM parts if available, which can make a big difference when it comes to things like plastic trim pieces, facias, etc. This cost the buyer a slight increase in premium every month, but its a tiny amount overall.

 

I was told by someone who may or may not have any idea, that providing your insurance company with evidence that your vehicle was operating on public roads with parts approved for off-road use only may not be a good idea. They said, depending on what was damaged and what caused the accident/etc, that something like having aftermarket control arms, for example, could bite you in the ass. Say the driver lost control of the vehicle because of road conditions, and the insurance company found out they had aftermarket suspension parts that are "for off road use only", they could claim that they may have played a part in the accident. I don't think that would hold up in litigation, but few would be willing to push it that far.