Rear Ended - Frame bent - need advice !!!

Tell me you didn't read the OP without telling me you didn't read the OP.

 

This is not correct. 50 years ago, frame straightening was common.

 

Really. I didn't know that. I bet it was easier to do

 

It was done by brute force and crude measurements, but it worked. Back then you did not automatically total a car if the frame was bent, you fixed it. There were more than one car rolling "a little sideways" down the road back then.

 

You do see those cars every now and then.

 

Up until the mid to late '70s, cars were body on frame. There were a few cars with the unibody design before the '70s (Corvair, VW Beetle/Bus/Fastback, Saab) but the idea didn't take off until the gas shortages of the '70s got manufacturers thinking of making cars lighter. So yeah, frame straightening was a thing.

 

Plenty of Tacomas for sale in Los Angeles that I have a feeling probably roll a little sideways. There are some shade tree mechanic type shops doing a steady trade in fixing up salvage title Tacomas to look like new. If I could trust them to show me honest pictures of the damage and the price was right I honestly wouldn't have an issue buying some of them.

 

I read it just fine. You also didn't read the thread. Hope this helps.

 

I have literally totalled thousands of cars. I have been in the industry for almost a decade.

An in-network shop that is required to guarantee repairs for life is not going to do a shitty job knowing they will have to do the work again. They're going to be on the hook for rental while they redo the work as well.

If you took it to your shop of of choice sure you might run into that but that's on you. If you have a crappy insurance company that doesn't have guarantees like that, also on you.

In most states you will not get OEM parts without an OEM endorsement unless there are no aftermarket parts available. You may get used OEM parts as well if the aftermarket parts are known to take a lot of work to fit well. Shops and insurance do discuss this type of stuff and will allow exceptions when it makes sense.

 

I too can read just fine. OP asked for ideas on his bent frame. Three pages of people went on and on about how things work in the states until @Sungod pointed out that insurance rules are different in Canada. Then you keyboard cowboyed your way in and belittled him for pointing this out. And here we are, bless your heart.

 

i literally gave examples of how it can differ state to state and said he needs to ask his adjuster what the rules are in his province. the rules aren't different in the US vs canada, they're literally different in each state, so there is probably not one solid rule the entire country of canada goes by.

thank you for coming to my ted talk.

 

Is the estimate for frame replacement or straightening on a rack? $6k would be suspiciously low for frame replacement - labor alone is ~40 hrs book time so ~$5k.

 

Yes automakers are using higher and higher strength grades of steel for each new generation to keep weight down, those are harder to straighten and lose more of their strength in the process. It'll be interesting to see if @BigAirGar's frame can survive towing 6500lb after the repair.

 

It’s amazing to me this is 4 pages of people just arguing and almost 0 posts of people providing any valuable input to OP

all I can say is I found a super low mileage 15 Tacoma that had damage just like that but not nearly as bad. They totaled the truck. I was going to buy it but a Toyota tech talked me out of it. Said I would have issues with suspension and rear alignment issues. Also it pushed the bed forward into the cab some. I didn’t even notice but he did.

 

UPDATE ! Truck has been re-appraised as a total loss. Body shops in Canada are no longer allowed to apply heat to a frame to relax and straighten it (RIDICULOUS) !!! Anyway they gave me the option to buy it out for 16k and fix it myself. Title and getting insurance after words are on me to figure out which means likely no collision coverage.

I have opted to take their offer of 31k and move on!

I have to say this rattled me and I'm very sad to see it go after almost 10 years together, its been a wonderful truck and a ton of fun to drive and mod.

I also wanted to thank members of this forum for their insights and expertise, i learnt a lot of cool sh*t here !

So long little RED i will miss you...

 

Haa, nice try. Tell me you are a not a fool without telling me that you are not a fool. Way to play it off. (yes I know it was a month ago, but just now seeing your stupid posts.

 

31k is a nice chunk towards something new.

 

That is $22,500 US dollars so not as good as one would initially think.