The Death of my 1999 Tacoma

Hey guys, I really hate seeing these posts on here, since it means one less Tacoma is on the road, but it happened to me.













I was driving down the left lane in a main thoroughfare at 35 mph, obeying all traffic laws, when suddenly I see a red car (Pontiac Grand Prix) come screaming out from a side road on the right. I estimate that it must have been traveling at 25 mph, but it was hard on its brakes, as smoke was pouring from the front wheels. I swerved to the left to try and avoid it, but there was another (gold Mercury Sable) car in the right lane adjacent to mine. The red car struck the gold car's front end, which rammed into my right side, in-between my cab and bed, which caused my rear end to fishtail violently into oncoming traffic. My rear end left side struck a White SUV (GMC Envoy), causing my truck to spin 180 degrees, and finally come to a stop, facing left on the road.

Nobody was injured at the time of the crash, though it is now 2 days later, and my neck is quite sore. I was wearing a seatbelt. I went to the ER the same day to get checked out, and was prescribed muscle relaxers and pain killers.

The story for the driver at fault:
The car was full of 4 adults - 2 Female, 2 Male. The female claims to have been driving. Though immediately following the collision, one guy came up to my window and asked if I was hurt, and then immediately took off running with the other guy when I said I was okay. Which was very sketchy. They had apparently just received a call from their son's elementary school saying that their son was missing (he did not show up to class). Their son was found about an hour later in the wrong classroom. As you can see from the length of the skid marks leading up to the main road I was on, they are more than 100 ft in length, and they must have been driving probably 60 mph on the 25 mph residential street before braking.



Here is where I could use some advice

The party at fault was insured through State Farm. I, like many of you here, have a significant amount of mods on my truck. What can I do to ensure I get the most money out of this claim? I got a call last night from State Farm, saying that to estimate damages, they need to transport the vehicle to their Total Loss Unit Yard, which is going to be 200+ miles from me. I first need to release it to State Farm from the tow yard where it's at now.

Should I take mods out of the truck at the Tow Yard? (Winch, Sound System, etc). Or should I let them have the truck as is?

How does the buyback work? The truck will be hundreds of miles away if I wanted it back. I have a 2.7L with 180k miles, runs strong, new clutch with <2k miles on it, transmission, axles, t-case, diff, etc still all probably good. Anybody have an estimate on what I could part out the drivetrain for?

I'm sure they'll try to give me a pittance for the truck.

They offered $1000 for pain and suffering, but I haven't accepted.

It's going to be very hard to replace that truck. I feel like I've lost a part of me. Even if I get a substantial amount of money from them, it still doesn't repay the time I put into it. But it still runs and drives, though! Gotta love Toyota.

 

Let your insurance deal with theirs and only say the minimum (i.e. nothing since they may try to say you are partly at fault if not fully at fault) until you see the police report. Insurance company adjusters are pretty scummy, especially the other parties, kind of like dealing with used car salesmen or attorneys.

Hopefully things work out for you.

 

Sorry about your luck. I was in your exact shoes a little over a year ago. I wanted to be armed with the knowledge to deal with the situation so I downloaded the pdf in the link below. It isn't free but well worth the small cost IMO.

http://claimbuster.com/?hop=78050

 

I'm sorry for your loss, but glad to hear you're OK.

I recommend removing the mods you can sell before releasing it to the insurance company. In my (admittedly limited) experience, you're unlikely to be reimbursed for most of them. Insurance companies tend to operate on "book value", unless you've got some kind of specified value coverage. With that in mind, they'll look to pay for a '99 Tacoma, not a '99 Tacoma + whatever you've added to it. Even if they give you credit for mods, it will likely be based on some kind of depreciation model.

 

It always hurt when your baby gets hit...Just glad your okay...now the grief and aggravation begins with the insurance...hope everything works out in your favor...

 

It's just a truck, your life is more important. Glad your ok.

 

+1

 

Oh wow, I'm glad you got over it. I'm not feeling nearly as bad as I thought I would from losing mine. $9k seems like a pretty decent compensation for that truck, except for maybe the paint job - I'm sure that wasn't cheap.

Yeah, I know to watch out for them. I made sure not to make a recorded statement, too. Haven't seen the police report yet, but the party at fault was issued a ticket at the scene. Didn't ask what it was, but I'm hoping negligent driving, because that's what I'd define it as.

Thanks for the tip. The website looks pretty sketchy, and I probably would stay away had I googled it myself, but I'll take a TW member's word for it.


I just tallied up my mods, and I had over $6k into that truck in add-ons. Not to mention year-old tires and a 3 month old clutch. I think I'm going to demand they send an estimator down here to value the truck, rather than ship the thing back. If they screw me on the value, at least I can buy it back and part it out.

 

speaking from experience State Farm and then Allstate are the worst. do some google searches on them. State Farm plays the waiting game. And all they will do is send you that same damn check for 1000.00. No matter what. I should know I was helping a friend who was rebuilding a old house one nice Sunday by going to Lowes and helping him load lumber. I lived in Salisbury NC at the time (2002) now all he was paying attention to was bitching about his old lady, and when we left lowes center he did not STOP

 

I was rear ended by a driver with State Farm. They paid me very well for the car (99 Jetta) and for shipping (Alaska State Law, if they get the average value of a car including vehicles from the lower 48 then the insurance company must pay shipping too!) and 2,000 for pain and suffering in addition to covering all chiropractic costs. Also to speed the process up demand a free rental car from State Farm. That will make them hurry up. Oh, and my car was inspected and then I was told to take my nice stereo out and put the soda spilled junky one back in. I would take off any and all mods to the truck if they are salvageable beforehand. In short, 1. Demand Chiropractic for pains and such 2. Demand more than 1k (Take this only after all medical is taken care of, you will sign a release liability to get the check) 3. Demand a rental/replacement until they get you a check for a total loss 4. Take all mods off beforehand in in good shape

EDIT mine wasn't near as bad as yours either

 

I rolled my old truck (00 Ford Ranger with 100K on it) and received close to $5k for it. They gave me more money because of the "front hitch, lift, and wheels". I was surprised. Maybe just ask your insurance agent and see? I took the battery, entire stereo system, and rear hitch off the truck in the tow yard.

 

speaking from experience State Farm and then Allstate are the worst. do some google searches on them. State Farm plays the waiting game. And all they will do is send you that same damn check for 1000.00. No matter what. I should know I was helping a friend who was rebuilding a old house one nice Sunday by going to Lowes and helping him load lumber. I lived in Salisbury NC at the time (2002) now all he was paying attention to was bitching about his old lady, and when we left lowes center he did not STOP at the stop sign and i was yelling, he just flew out right in front of a old Topaz. he had the airbag and seatbelt i just had the seatbelt. it spun the van around and backwards into a pole. I was the only serious injury. all i wanted to do was to get out of that van but i could not breath. I had a complete blood bruise across my chest and all ribs were bruised. and i had just sold my house and was moving to chicago in 3 weeks to start a new job. important later but this was one time that i was without health insurance. a nice police woman helped me out of the van and when she saw how hard i was trying to breath she thought i had a punched lung and she called for serious medical backup. spent 8 hours on a SUNDAY at Rowan Hospital and after everything was said and done had a bill for a little over 11,000 plus ambulance. my uncle came to the crash told me that Ken had lied about something to the police and had really pissed them off and they wrote him 3 tickets. Now in NC the statute of limitations is 3 years from the date of accident. so that is when the time game starts. They will shuffle you and your claim around. and no matter how much paperwork you send them they will keep sending the 1000 dollar offer. you get mad and call them and they fight back that it is not their fought that I was not carrying any health insurance. now get this since I have full coverage through Geico they told me I should file a claim UNDER them to get my hospital bills paid. Then they had the nerve to ask me why I called for a ambulance! they have a range of tacties to wear you down, to discourage you from pursuing your claim. they figure in your age, if you are young and single you have a short attention span and will forget about it and move on, if you are old, hey you might die before a court date, and middle age, just too damn busy and you will take the check and run. I moved to chicago to do a sourcing and quality control job in china, so i was spending 75% of my time over there. I really let time slip up and they would not budge. I wanted a total of 20,000 for EVERYTHING and i am sorry but for over 2 months it hurt to take a good grunt on the toilet. so instead of being nice and civil i had to hire a lawyer back home and start a lawsuit my buddy got served papers, he sort of got pissed, and it still took 2 more years and 2 months to get the firm court date and the fuckers called and settled my amount the day before. Dateline and 20/20 both did a show about this. and they will go as far as to tell you that that they don't believe that the check that was sent out was for a total settlement but just a "down payment" and the whole settlement. Lawyer talk for SUCKER! read the very, fine print on that check, sign and cash it and you are done. I know people think i am a nut to go one about this but those bloodsuckers make me furious that I had to spend so much of my time not to mention hurting my credit ratings for something that is so clear cut. And for those who think I was trying to squeeze then NC law give a person up to and to average 3X the total hospital and other expenses totaled. and if anyone is worried about them losing money dont. they are allowed to take out "business" life insurance since it is business on you, so when you die, they will get some money back. at least get some advise from a legal minded person. remember, you are not at fault. it was someone's stupid mistake. why should you be out your truck and the work you put into it. NO MATTER WHAT THEY SAY YOUR TIME IS WORTH AS MUCH AS THEIRS. I hope everything works out.

 

Holy shit, man. That is quite the story. I'm very lucky to have walked away with as little injuries as I did. I didn't know the $1000 offer applied to injuries as serious as yours; that's just ridiculous. But I will definitely be diligent. I might be young, but I am very patient when it comes to receiving my money, and I will always wait it out to get more money, if given the chance.

I'm taking the advice of some of my friends, and SnowroxKT, and I picked up a fully loaded rental 2015 Chevy Tahoe from Enterprise yesterday under State Farm's dime. They tried to stiff me by offering a sub compact car, which would have been acceptable, had I been driving a car and not a truck. So the more they try to dawdle, the more $150/day rental payments they have to make.

 

Hey,
Beware of the rental , I found out in this state long ago they only have to pay for 30 days. Now mind you my Ex was at fault for blowing a stop sign so that may play into why only 30 days. Yes you may win in the end on making them pay as long as it took to settle but you might be forced to pony up at the end of 30 days like I did for 3 extra days. Check your state laws and insurance etc.

Cypher

 

Wow, I'm really only expecting to have to drive the rental for a week or so. $1000 a week for the rental would be a lot of money for them to lose over fighting about a few thousand dollars. So I'm hoping that persuades them into giving me a decent offer off the bat. Either way, my family has a spare car I'm welcome to borrow indefinitely, and I also have a work car I can use, so I'm fine with waiting.

On a side note - I just drove the rental Tahoe, and it gave me a 4WD service warning message. I can tell that it's in 4WD, even though I have never engaged it, as I'm getting some bad axle windup while pulling in and out of parking spots. 1300 miles and it's already broken. I miss my Toyota.

 

Dang I'm sorry this happened. I'm glad you came out in one piece though.

I don't have much advice as far as insurance and stuff goes, but to me, your truck is far from dead. I'd buy it back once everything is figured out, chop off the back, tube it out and make a truggy. I'd actually like to find a wrecked Tacoma (in the rear) in the future and do such. And if my truck ever meets such a fate, that's my plan.

 

Well, I knew they were going to screw me from the get-go, and here it is. I'm pretty pissed right now, not only because they placed ridiculous values on my aftermarket parts, but also didn't account for half of them, either. It's great to know that my $500 steel tube bumper is worth $25, and the digital clock is worth $10.

They said they'll get an appraiser out there next week to get another quote. Oh, and all vehicles in the collision were deemed totalled.

 

Sorry dude. A fear of mine for sure - mod it up, make it pur, and some ass-clown plows it under and the blood suckers offer next to nothing for it.

 

Did they present 5 or so compatible vehicles in the area to determine the base value? In my case the insurance co. found 5 vehicles similar to mine, or so they claimed. What they came up with for vehicles similar to mine currently for sale was beyond laughable...it really pissed me off. They wanted to compare 5 lugger POS things to my 4x4. I had to leverage the fact they were replacing a V6, regular cab which are very hard to find for sale, especially five in my area for sale. Typically a nationwide search might yield one maybe two. Long story short make sure they are using vehicles very similar to yours and let them know you are willing to wait for a long time. Did you download the pdf I suggested?

 

they suck! I don't bring her up often like this but my mom, who still is working has been in insurance for 45 years in Charlotte, right after she had me, she is a office manager now, but I have heard some wild stories over the years, but when I was in that accident she said, I hate State Farm, and I have nothing to do with them, you better just get a lawyer. take my advise. seek some legal help.


oh when I settled with them, they called me and wanted to get the paperwork for me to sign, and I said ok, but do it fast I am leaving for China in 4 days, and will be gone for 6 weeks. they fed ex the paperwork to me, I signed it fedex it back, and the next day they fedex my check minus 150 special mailing charges. I called them back and said I will see you in court before I take that check. called the lawyer, raised holy hell, and I got 125.000 back....