hopefully they don't total it

[Chuck W.]

I just had my 2001 Tundra totaled by the insurance company. We bought our 2001 Turnda SR5 AC new.

Four months ago a very nice 82 year old women was driving with her 92 year old sister when she made a u-turn in front of my wife. My wife swerved and hit the front left of the other car with the right side of the Tundra. The left front door and rear access door along with the front portion of the bed and right rear tire were damaged. Not all that bad. The lower part of the door had been repaired once when I backed into my son's car (Ugh...). The job was poorly done and after 10 years the bondo had cracked. I filled it in and added some primer. I had just order a can of spray paint and was preparing to paint over the primer. That was the exact point of impact of this collision. What luck.

Because the right rear tire was flattened in the accident I was concerned that the rear axle was damaged I had it towed to the body shop. The body shop came back with an estimate of $6,200. State Farm called it $5,800. However, State Farm was concerned there could be damage to the rear end components that would raise the cost of repair to over $9,000. So, State Farm totaled the truck! They were going to pay me $9,300 for the truck. Noooooooo! I asked the State Farm rep if I could buy it back and repair it myself. After two days they called back and the buy back price was $1,190. Hummmm..... easy decision .. I'll buy it back!

I had the body shop put the spare tire on and took it to the tire shop. Ends up I had bought tire insurance when I bought the tires so they replaced the flattened tire. I also explained to them what happened and asked them to do an alignment and check the right rear. No issues. Out the door for $75.

I then found a guy on Craigslist to do the body repairs. For $900 he did an amazing job. I did have to re-register the truck as a salvage so the DMV fees and Brake & Light inspection was another $150.

In the end, I got my truck looking a tad better than it looked before the accident, a salvage title which not an issue since I planning on keeping the truck and $8,100 in cash. Perhaps this is why our insurance cost are so high.

[Cbonilla]

Friend just has this two year old C Class Mercedes Benz totaled by Geico.

"43,000 to repair the car....only a 2 year old Benz ...driver seat crunched (now I know why I could not get out easily...) dashboard crumpled, bent frame, etc., etc....."

Honestly doesn't look that bad in the pictures

[njbray]

A few years back I had an interesting conversation with a guy who had been an insurance consultant. He told me many newer cars are totaled due to thin steel and aluminum - modern lightweight materials are designed for safer crumple zones, low weight, stiffness, etc. but are very expensive to fix and this may even effect integrity of the vehicle in a future crash - not worth the legal or financial risk!
He also said that many repair estimates are too high with crazy mark-ups on parts. All this just increases our premiums!