So the other night, as I was unloading my truck and as my roommate was unloading the back seat from the drivers side, a moron in a Wrangler tried to slip past. Well, he didn't quite make it, missed my roommate by about 3 inches and hit my drivers side front door pretty squarely. After chasing him down and ripping his door open (moron tried to drive off, I knew running track in highschool was a good thing) I got a chance to look at my truck.

Basically the drivers door is good and bent up, as well as the A-pillar and front fender. The door won't fully open or close. I have an appointment with the insurance company on thursday to get an estimate, but I was wondering if anyone on here had been in a similar accident and how much repairs came to? I'm worried that, because of the bent pillar, costs are going to be more than the $4,500 that it would be to total out the truck.

Its dark now, so I can't get any pics, but I can get some tomarrow if folks want.

Anyone work in an auto shop and know what repairs would cost? Anyone been in a similar accident?

Thanks,
Sam

 

Sam, don't try and second guess the insurance company, let them do the first estimate and if it totals ask them how much they would charge to sell it back to you.
Have a body shop give you an estimate for minimal repairs and you do the rest on yourown. Try and keep it under the total they give you and you'll be ahead of the game.

 

First off that sucks...second I think you'll be ok and the truck will be fixed...

 

you are correct, a bent pillar will definitely have the most say in the vehicle, now i go by the nadaguide.com because there car prices tend to be a little more accurate ball park the kbb.com, your truck going off the signature you have and the common options the truck have your truck is valued at 5,050. and just a note, when they total out a car they go by the excellent condition price not what someone might consider your truck !

a door, fender, paint, and straightening out a pillar if its even possible, on top of labor!! in the ball park as in what i have seen the repair will easily be over $3500 . so if you want to keep the truck then i hope the best for you but if youd rather have 5,000 or more then you got a chance

 

I did out the nada guide and I came up with $5,125 for a final number.

I don't know how I would feel about totaling it out. On the one hand, the truck has been good to me, but on the other hand I have been looking at something smaller.

We'll see what it comes out to. If they do total it out, how much do they usually charge to buy it back? I just put a set of new tires and a new radio in it, which I assume would be worth more than the buyback cost.

 

i would say about 800-1200 if you did the buy back option. and I'm sure you got more, i assumed you had close to 200k on it so thats what i put and it may have made a difference..

it does depend on the insurance company also with how much the buy back is, but from experience they totaled out my old mazda a few years ago and they gave me 2500 and buy back was 600 !! so im not 100 % sure

 

Ok, yeah, the truck only has 135k on it, and was perfectly maintained.

We'll see, I assume that the buy back would be a decent amount since its worth $750 as scrap weight alone.

 

Took it in for the estimate yesterday. Without taking off the door they couldn't tell if the damage was just the hinges, the shell or the pillar itself. Based soley on the door and fender though the estimate came to $2,000. According to the guy at the shop, theres about a 50-50 chance that the damage will be severe enough to total it out. I dropped it off this morning to be repaired, so now I'm in a cruze rental until I get the news.

 

Definitely will be pricey. Had the same thing happen to a work truck and it crushed in the the a pillar where the hinges mount. Hopefully you get lucky.