how bad does the frame have to be bent for them to total a truck out i hit another deer friday afternoon and this time it did alot more damage it busted frame threw the valance knocked out the fog light bent the frame up some on the front. twisted up the bumper and bent it into the the front quater panel and bent it up about an inch. Messed up some wiring and little stuff. im trying to figure out if its worth turning in on insurance.

 

im not sure but i would imagine if the frame is at all tweeked there is a good chance they will total the truck my friends s10 was totaled due to a bent frame when he fell asleep and ran over a guardrail but i never had first hand experience with it just other people i know that have!

 

yeah thats what i was think cause it ripped the tow hook off of the truck and twisted it up so i figured that there was a chance that they might total it out i mean i was running 90 when i hit it so i know it needs a new bumper the quater panel alignment and stuff like that so they prolly will cause i know that the blue book cant be much on it its a 2001 with 190,000 miles on her shes getting old lol

 

yeah i think you are going to be in a 09 before you know it lol!! but hey man i hope everythin works to your advantage keep us posted and good luck!

 

ok thank ya man

 

I agree if the frame is even slightly bent they will total it. My experience was with a Jeep Cheroke, got in an accident where all that looked from the outside was the bumper. When you looked at the frame it was off but barely noticable looking at it and didn't affect the driving. They totalled it without thinking. Take the money and upgrade, that's how I got my F150

 

Always report it. If they want to total it you can always deny the claim and its like it never happened.

But the chances of a deer bending the frame other than a little tweak at the very front are insanely slim. I don't even think that an Elk would bend the frame structurally. I've hit 7 deer in my life, and none of them damaged the frame - even on my unibody cars. You can always have an independent shop do an estimate and ask them about the frame. If its just cosmetic, skip it. Frame straightening takes a ton of labor. Omitting that labor from the estimate (if its not structurally damaged) will reduce the chances of it being totalled.

The other thing to consider is that any frame is most likely out of spec. Years of use, rust, potholes, pressure, heat and cold, and twisting could mean that your frame is already a little off. I've never seen a frame of a used vehicle spec out to be correct. Even if you've never had an accident, no frame is perfect, so a body shop (trying to make money) will always report a frame that doesn't spec out right. That's lots of labor they can charge for a legitimate claim. Its like if you pull an engine apart and measure all the tolerances. They won't be factory spec anymore, but that doesn't mean that you needed to rebuild the engine.

I was going to not make a claim on my wife's 97 Tercel after hail damage. They ended up totalling it, but I kept it as a salvage title and they sent me a check for $2550. That's more than I paid for the car. But, if it hadn't turned out to my advantage I could have simply denied the claim.

 

yeah thanks for all the help guys the deer hit right where it bolted to frame and it twisted it up so a new bumper wouldnt mount back up without some work to it. im gonna take it in the morning and see what they say about everything on it once again thanks guys ill let yall know the outcome

 

the vehicle is totaled if the repairs exceed 70% of the vehicle's value. what it comes down to is the labor rates of the shops in your area and how much time they estimate to need to repair the vehicle and of course the cost of parts is factored in.

 

I also was rear ended in a vehicle of mine... There was NO frame damage, but they stated there was and totaled the car out. I then bought it back for $100.00 and drove it. I then sold it a few years later and still made money. The check I received for the total out was more than I paid for the car years prior.