They destroyed my 2 month old taco

Agreed with this fact. Note that it is also important to make sure that you don’t get screwed by the finance company when you go to turn it in (parts used have to be compatible or OEM).

 

Late to the party, but sorry to see OP.

I was in a similar boat (and still am I suppose) with my 4 day old 2021. Literally fresh off of the assembly line. Lady slid into the back passenger corner in an icy parking lot at our local snowboarding/skiing mountain here in town. She attempted to flee, but the security in the parking lot caught her. He pulled a report and gave it to me, as I was not at the vehicle when it was hit.

This happened on a Friday, immediately filed a claim Monday morning. That was over 40 days ago now. Truck is still damaged as the lady who hit it has not responded to her insurance agent (or at least that's what they tell me) and they 'can't move my claim forward'. They are super happy to tell me to just pay for it myself though! Which can straight up fuck all happen over my dead body.

I wish you the best. Unfortunately you aren't the only one.

 

Sorry to hear you went through that. Some really shitty people out there. At least the people in my car responded to their insurance and made claims. So what do you do then if you don’t pay through your insurance ?

 

OP,

What is your deductible?

 

At this point in time my claim with her insurance is still active, they just have to go through many extra hoops (recorded personal statements, video footage, etc.) because she won't simply admit to it.

I've had the argument with them that her failure to respond is not my problem, but getting mad and yelling at someone on the phone is not my style, nor does it correct their companies poor standard operating procedures. It's frustrating, to say the least, but there is little I can do apart from giving them what they ask for. I haven't had an accident or repairs on my insurance in 15 years and I intend to keep it that way for 15 more.

 

$1000

 

I just got this truck with my own insurance and already a claim on it although it wasn’t my fault and I was just a bystander, freaking sucks.

 

Okay. Got it. That is worth fighting for.

The position I would take is stop talking to the other insurance companies. I would focus on your insurance company and ask them what is their plan to recoup your deductible?

I got hit by someone and it clipped my rear quarter panel. Pain in the ass! It was investigated and determined to be not my fault. My insurance company (GEICO) is going after recouping the cost to repair ($3,000) from the other person's insurance company. That will include my $1,000 deductible. I've been told I am looking at 9 to 12 months for that process to play out. I only communicate with my insurance company and they have an open case file on the pursuit. Still waiting ... and probably have no hope of getting it back, to be honest. But since there is nothing I have to do at this point I just wait ... if it comes it will be a bonus ...

I would contact your insurance company and ask them the pointed question ... what do you need to do in order to recoup your deductible? See what they come back with as far as process.

 

Totally feel you. Yelling will get you nowhere. These companies are design, built, managed and operate on process. And their process is indeed maddening. All you can do is understand their process and keep asking them what it takes to move to the next step. I feel for you ...

 

So what my insurance told me was that I can wait so that the other parties figure out who is at fault and that way I am able to use their insurance to fix my car and for them to pay for my deductible, but since we still don’t know who is at fault and they are figuring that out it’s going to take some time for the other parties insurance to pay for me. My representative told me that the best thing that I could do is pay for my deductible and once my car is fixed they will go after the other insurances so that my insurance could make their money back and within that money there’s going to be my deductible that I spent on my car.

 

My representative told me that there isn’t enough money between all the policies to pay for the damage caused. So it is best to just go through my insurance and then after my car is fixed they will hunt down the other insurances to get their money, and then I will be paid back

 

Hopefully that’s how it works-out, however if the person(s) who hit you has no money or assets then if you sue them then you won’t get anything more than a judgment which can’t be enforced because there is nothing to go after. That happened to me two years ago when someone smashed into the rear of my F-550 at speed on the freeway. The person who was driving the car who hit me didn’t own the car, the insurance on it was minimal and the damage extensive (their car was totaled, my truck had $15K of damage and took two months to repair). I lost a couple thousand dollars in lost work (mostly OT) which I could have sued over, but a quick background check showed that in my case, it wasn’t worth the time, effort or aggravation since neither the driver of the car, nor the owner of the car who hit me had any notable assets. Hopefully your situation is different but in any event, I would pay the deductible so that you can get your truck into a body shop and get into a rental which you can treat like a red-headed step child LOL!

Good luck!

 

Here an unpaid judgement can allow the courts to put a lien on any personal or land property.

 

Isn't there a police report that specifies that? There should be nothing to 'figure out'. The police were called to scene, correct? That report should be filed with the carriers of all involved parties. Doesn't matter if the charge person 'doesn't respond', the carrier sees the name, vehicle and charges, so they can begin processing.

Hogwash.

The insurance carrier for the charged party should be funding your rental car until your truck is repaired. By them.

In the meantime, if the charged party is uninsured or underinsured, your own insurance should foot the bill or the difference via your 'uninsured motorist' section. Surely you have that clause on a leased vehicle?

 

Having been in plenty of accidents myself, including leased vehicles, you're getting some bad info here OP. The reality is the vehicle is leased, all you need to do is turn it back in to Toyota in the same condition you leased it in. That means OEM, no fault lights, good tires and brakes. You can wreck the truck, get it fixed with non-OEM parts and there wouldn't be an issue upon turning it back in, that's the good part of leasing. Financially it never makes sense to purchase a leased vehicle anyways at the end of your lease. You're paying for the first 3-4 years, then you'll take out a used car loan for another 60 months at a higher APR than a new car loan. In the end you'll finally own the truck in 7 - 8 years having paid more than if you just purchased a new one.
Accidents are also a prime example of why you should never put money down on a lease, if you total the vehicle, all that money is gone. In any accident you better have video of the accident or a 3rd party witness, if not, the other driver can easily state it wasn't their fault and their insurance won't pay 100% since it can't be proven they were totally at fault. No matter how obvious the accident is, without video evidence or a witness, you're SOL with another insurance company taking 100% fault.
Diminished value claims don't work well with leased vehicles. Since you don't own it, Toyota is entitled to the diminished value since they are the ones who own the truck and are losing value.
Accidents that don't involve injuries are a waste of time for lawyers. Simple everyday accidents are taken care of between insurance companies, without injury, a lawyer has no skin in the game so they have no reason to take the case on.
Accidents suck, but the they are part of the risk of driving. You can only control certain aspects, the others are already pre-determined by state laws and insurance companies. That is why they are called accidents, unless there was negligence and/or injury you won't have any legal repercussions. You'll get a repaired truck and get sent on your way. A totaled vehicle isn't always better, especially with new vehicles. Insurance companies just need to pay the market or auction value for the vehicle, not the amount you paid for it new, with taxes. When brand new, market/auction value is usually less than the owed amount when purchasing, so you'll end up underwater with the vehicle. This is almost always the case with leased vehicles, hence gap insurance. Count yourself lucky that it doesn't appear to be totaled. Enjoy the rest of your lease with the repaired truck, you won't even remember a year from now it was even in an accident.

 

Police reports are pretty much worthless nowadays. Unless the officer actually witnesses the accident, they won't put anyone at fault. They just document the involved parties info and let the insurance companies fight it out. If there are no injuries, the police don't even show up, at least that's how it is in CA.

 

It works that way in Ca. too. In my case though the person who hit me had nothing I could have gone after. The one asset they owned was now destroyed, they lived in a converted garage which they didn’t own. The guy did have a rather handsome Cowboy hat I could have used, but my GF said it wasn’t a good look on me.

All Kidding aside at the time I was pretty heated about the whole thing, especially since the Driver initially made several statements trying to put blame on me for him running into the back of my truck. Thankfully all were quickly proven false, but it added to my frustration. Once I set the emotions aside though it was easier to make a rational choice.

 

This has been my point all along. Your insurance company will be the only one who can do this for you. And it will take forever -- which is a huge bummer. And there is no guarantee they will be able to collect.

Sorry this has happened to you ... but, sadly, it is what it is ...

I am still waiting on my deductible reimbursement as the accident was no fault of mine at all.That was six to eight months ago. No news ...

 

Anyone with a lease ending these days should try and buy it out, or at least trade it in. (At least non wrecked ones, sorry OP). There is equity there to be realized. Residuals that were set 3-4 years ago are likely many many thousands lower than current market values. The reality is that used prices have gone up big time lately.

I always make sure I have enough to pay out the residual without a loan before I start a lease just for these type of scenarios. You can buy it out and quickly sell it yourself for a bit of a "profit" at the end.

 

Definitely even before the pandemic I never did a lease return on any of my leases. Unless you're in an accident or do not need another vehicle, never do a lease return, always trade the vehicle in. That way the miles, excess wear & tear and disposition fee are non-factors. Have the dealership pay off the pay off price, if there's positive equity, roll that in to the new vehicle loan/lease.