Sad news, truck totaled by hail

[Joeaksa]

Well guys,

Was not a good week last week in Phoenix. We had a massive hail storm here, dropping hail up to tennis ball sized. Truck was where it always is, out in the drive. My garage is too small for the truck.

The entire truck is now peppered with small to medium sized dents. Glass made it fine but all the rest of the sheet metal, especially on the left hand side is peppered. House as well, with almost $5000 in damage there.

They are now offering me to total it out and take the truck and give me $11.5k cash. Thats actually about what its worth as I paid $500 more for this for the vehicle 18 months ago. Other option is to total the truck and put a "salvage title" on the paperwork, with me keeping the truck and them giving me about $7.5k in hand.

First off I like the truck and really do not want to lose it. Could care less about the dents but again it would look better fixed. As well I have finally debugged the truck, putting a drawstraw, Edge-Juice w/Attitude, Airdog and TransferFlow tank/tool box on the truck, so do not want to lose all of that.

Has anyone else been through this and have any suggestions? I would be a lot happier keeping the truck if they did not force me to "salvage title" the puppy. A new hood, paintless dent repair on the roof would go a long way and just do not see its being a salvage vehicle with this type of damage. That said, I am planning on keeping the truck so have to factor that into the mix as well.

Thanks,

Joe

[speeder]

Sorry to hear, Joe. I would keep it since you like it and not worry too much about the salvage title. It's not a high-value vehicle and they are definitely compensating you for the reduced value, plus I don't see a problem selling it down the road with the reason for salvage being hail damage. It's not like the frame or any structural part of the truck is affected.

Maybe get something in writing from the insurance company stating the reason for totaling it out.

[mikester]

What about the Jag?

[Por_sha911]

Salvage title is only a problem if you try to sell it. The only other issue I could think of is would be trying to get collision insurance on it. What would they value it at?
How far over the total number is the cost of repairs. I've know people that negotiated with the company to get a number just below it being totaled and then found a repair place that would do the work for what they collected. Not sure how it worked but it worked for them.

[Rick Lee]

You could slowly collect clean body panels from junkyards and repair it yourself for next to nothing if you're in no hurry.

[Zeke]

I think the numbers are out of whack. They are making you pay 4K to keep a totaled truck. In my personal experience, they start out way high. It sucks to have a salvage title. After some little girl hit me, I got one. And now no collision insurance, not to mention theft.

In some ways, it's better to let the system play out. Tell the ins co, fine, just bring me exactly what I have here including improvements and you can take the old one away. Seldom can they do that. You'll get a better number if you prolong the process. But, if my truck wasn't as old as it is (12 years older than yours), I'd have opted to buy another.

I got my truck back for $600.

[UconnTim97]

Originally Posted by mikester

What about the Jag?

+1

Yes, what about the Jag?

[Joeaksa]

The Jag has one or two small dents in it that you can barely see, so am going to fix that myself using the paint less dent repair. Its about 99% better than the Dodge.

May start collecting body panels and do it on the cheap. Am not planning on selling it anytime soon if at all.

Milt, problem is that with the Cummins engine in it, its not ever going to go for $600. Minimum for something like this with a 6 speed gearbox on it is about $4-5k. Even scrap, if the engine and tranny are in good shape, its worth this kind of $$$$.

[id10t]

Assuming you could buy one w/ a salvage title in similar condition, would you pay $4k for it?

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by Joeaksa

The Jag has one or two small dents in it that you can barely see, so am going to fix that myself using the paint less dent repair. Its about 99% better than the Dodge.

May start collecting body panels and do it on the cheap. Am not planning on selling it anytime soon if at all.

Milt, problem is that with the Cummins engine in it, its not ever going to go for $600. Minimum for something like this with a 6 speed gearbox on it is about $4-5k. Even scrap, if the engine and tranny are in good shape, its worth this kind of $$$$.

But.... do they know that? I found adjusters to be fairly sharp, but way too dependent on the data base. You show them where they are wrong and then force them into action, you may gain.

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by Por_sha911

Salvage title is only a problem if you try to sell it. The only other issue I could think of is would be trying to get collision insurance on it. What would they value it at?
How far over the total number is the cost of repairs. I've know people that negotiated with the company to get a number just below it being totaled and then found a repair place that would do the work for what they collected. Not sure how it worked but it worked for them.

Joe,

I can find a used/new hood and get it painted for under $400 or so. The roof I could care less about as you cannot see it.

The bed needs some work but use bondo and spray in bed liner and the dents would go away. Figure that for under $1k I could get it looking great again as a 15 or 20 footer. Would spend the rest on painting the 911 and other projects.

[Joeaksa]

Milt,

This adjuster used to have a Dodge with a Cummins. He knew exactly what it was, even down to its having 24 valves and not the 12 v version.

Joe

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by id10t

Assuming you could buy one w/ a salvage title in similar condition, would you pay $4k for it?

No idea. You do not see these with salvage titles that often.

To tell the truth am hoping that there is a way to do this and get the salvage title issue taken off of the title. Show them the bills for the bodywork and repairs and there should be a way.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by Joeaksa

Milt,

This adjuster used to have a Dodge with a Cummins. He knew exactly what it was, even down to its having 24 valves and not the 12 v version.

Joe

Whoops. Bad draw.

[MotoSook]

Dang, Joe. I know how proud you are if that truck. IIWU, I'd keep it and not worry about the title. Repair it yourself as you have time. It's a truck afterall. Good luck with it.

[turbo6bar]

If this is the truck that gets 30 miles per gallon, I'd keep it.

[azasadny]

Sorry abput your truck...

[Don Plumley]

My experience with two salvage title vehicles:

Insurance company (State Farm) is happy to insure them. They are getting full premium on a reduced value vehicle.

So one car is my track car, it does not matter. The other was my son's E30, he hit a deer and the cost to repair the minor hit was greater than the value of the car. So we took the check, banged out a few panels and life is good as new - but, in Cali you have to have the car pass a "Safety Inspection" at a designated mechanic. No problem, I took care of the car, all is good. Except that one of the fog lights (opposite the deer hit, natch) had a cracked lens. This had to be fixed, and you have no idea how much an OE fog lens was. Fortunately, I found a cheap plastic knock off, dropped it an and with all lights working and all lenses unbroken, we got our safety cert. Don't know if you need to do that in AZ, but it was a pain to get over that hurdle to re-title the car.

[Rick Lee]

Unfortunately, there is no safety inspection in AZ and that makes for countless cars with missing brake lights. Motorcyclists love those.

[Don Plumley]

There's no normal safety inspection in Cali either - this was unique to re-titling a salvage car...