Wrecked my truck today...

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Jimmy9190

Jimmy9190

Joined
Feb 17, 2007
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3,998
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Clermont, Florida
Or should I say some other careless and reckless driver wrecked it for me. He pulled out from the oncoming turn lane right in front of me and I had no time to react except to slam on my brakes and I hit his right front corner with the middle of my bumper and left front corner. Here's a few pics of the carnage:

http://img94.imageshack.us/i/0329001721b1.jpg/

http://img706.imageshack.us/i/0329001721a1.jpg/

http://img16.imageshack.us/i/03290017211.jpg/

http://img34.imageshack.us/i/03290017181.jpg/

This whole thing makes me sick to my stomach. If the guy who pulled out in front of me had been patient and waited another 3 seconds this would not have happened. At least no one was hurt and I am very grateful for that. I was only going about 25 mph, downhill with the truck in neutral and my foot on the brake. I'm glad I take very good care of my truck and I have good brakes and it braked in a straight line like it's supposed to, otherwise I would have hit someone else too.

What bugs me is I bought my truck used from Carmax 4 years ago and I still owe $3,700.00 on it. It's a 2001 Dodge Dakota and has 126,000 miles on it. I bet the other guy's insurance won't fix my truck because they will say the truck isn't worth what they would have to pay to fix it and they will write me a check for its actual value from NADA or KBB and I will not have my Dakota and still be in debt for the difference. Anyone else have something like this happen? I don't think it will be too awful easy dealing with the at-fault driver's insurance company about this. And even if they do fix my truck, it won't be the same as before. There are always problems with driving a wrecked-and-then repaired vehicle.

Rant is over now but I still don't feel any better.

Jimmy
 
That is really a shame and I'm glad you're fine..

I don't know though if you repair that, if it won't be the same. The damage is not that extensive looking (key word looking) and it looks mostly cosmetic aside from the obvious coolant on the ground.

I would definitely fix that truck if you can. They don't make those trucks like they did back in that era! I'd be sad to see it bite the dust that's for sure.
 
If you are not adequately compensated by his insurance, you are free to sue him (just dont sign any releases). sometimes even the appearance of a lawsuit will get you a little higher settlement - especially if you sue the driver directly.

from the pix, your truck does not seem to have sufferred substantial damage that would put it in the "dont trust it after its fixed" category.

you may also be able to get a check from them for the damage and keep the truck. there's plenty of body shops out there that will give a discount right now...
 
Glad you're ok, Jimmy - could have been worse; never forget that.
Let us know how things turn out.

(and I also hope more and more people will use "your" and "you're" properly) :)
 
At least the both of you are alive, and hopefully not much worse for the wear.

That looks to be a good chunk of change to fix. You never know, they could decide to fix it. They'll likely peg the damage value high if they don't want to pony up to fix it. Shop around, a different shop could have a cheaper rate with better parts.
 
Originally Posted By: tomcat27
If you are not adequately compensated by his insurance, you are free to sue him (just dont sign any releases). sometimes even the appearance of a lawsuit will get you a little higher settlement - especially if you sue the driver directly.

from the pix, your truck does not seem to have sufferred substantial damage that would put it in the "dont trust it after its fixed" category.

you may also be able to get a check from them for the damage and keep the truck. there's plenty of body shops out there that will give a discount right now...


+ 1

Glad you were not injured....
 
Looks mostly cosmetic so at least the truck should still drive okay. Small consolation, I know. Make sure they use Chrysler parts and not generic foreign ones.
 
That looks all cosmetic with the exception of the front part that may surround the battery. That should be able to be repaired fairly easily. I would even be surprised if you needed any type of suspension work done.
 
Thanks for the well-wishes. I am very glad no one was hurt, my girlfriend was with me when it happened and she was pretty shaken up emotionally but we are grateful nobody was hurt.

The damage may end up being cosmetic, I think it will need a new hood, new fender, new headlamp/parking lamp assembly and a new bumper and/or bumper cover at least. I wasn't able to open the hood so I have no idea what kind of damage was done there, but I do know I will need a new radiator since there was coolant leaking out on the ground.

I hope I can talk the at-fault driver's insurance into fixing the truck and I hope the body shop knows what it is doing and the tech who fixes it actually cares about his work. That is part of the problem for me - I don't know the reputations of the body shops around here. I need to ask around at the dealers and garages here and see who they recommend. There is a very honest and reputable garage near my house, I would trust them if they referred me to a local body shop. Hopefully there will be a labor guarantee if I use a body shop approved by the at-fault driver's insurance. I thought about the prospect of a new (used) truck and even looked on autotrader.com tonight but I have put a lot of work into my Dakota. I put my heart and soul into that truck. Not to mention a considerable amount of money. If I had to buy a used truck, it could be just someone else's money pit, and I really don't want to trade one set of probelms for another.

The at-fault driver has insurance with a major company but I still could not get a rental car today because it was after 5:30 pm and the adjuster has to review the claim first to determine whether they will "assume full liability". What a crock of b s.

Thanks for the support here. I'll get over it as soon as I know whether they will pay to fix my Dakota.
 
See if you can get them to have it done at a Chrysler dealer. Youll be more likely to have a properly repaired truck after.

My Dad had this same thing occur while he was driving my Grandfather's (RIP) Ranger last year. A kid pulled that exact stunt. It was a 45MPH zone so there was much more damage. The frame was screwed and the front right suspension was busted all to heck. Ended up getting totaled.
frown.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Colt45ws
See if you can get them to have it done at a Chrysler dealer. Youll be more likely to have a properly repaired truck after.


All of the dealers in this area (except one) have all closed their body shops.

In the mid-90's, I had a Ford dealer make around $3,500 in repairs to a 1990 Mercury Cougar. It was a complete nightmare. After they screwed around with my car for a month, it had to be towed from their shop to a competent shop, which tore the repairs down completely and had to re-do it all. I was without my car for nearly two months.

I'll never have a dealer body shop make repairs to a vehicle of mine ever again.

Ask around. There's at least one good body shop in your area. In my area, the worst shops are the ones with multiple locations doing business under one common name. The best one will likely be the one with one location, who doesn't advertise a lot, and 90% of their new business is from REFERRALS.

It is your job to figure out which one is the best one for you. It's your truck, and you have to be happy with the repairs. Do your homework.
 
Insurance companies usually look at 80% of the value of the vehicle, in determining if they want to repair something or total it out.
 
Making some assumptions about your truck, from what little I can see in the pictures.... 2001 Dakota Sport Extended Cab, 3.9 V6 with the typical Sport options.... air, tilt, cruise, CD, power windows, power locks, and power mirrors, with the optional wheels.... your value is around $4,000, and you say you owe $3,700.

80% of $4,000 is $3,200.

Will the other insurance company be sending out an adjuster to write an estimate, or do they want you to take your truck to one of their "preferred" shops for them to write an estimate?

I just went through all of this on my truck, I had a idiot 20 year old slam into my truck.
 
It is a Dakota Sport but without all the power options. It does have cruise but it's an aftermarket cruise I installed myself. Its average value is $3300.00 and clean condition is $3700.00. I could live with paying the difference but I do not want to do that. I want my truck fixed like it was before with no driveability problems or physical/cosmetic problems. I did call the garage across the street and they made a recommendation for an independent, one shop location near here that I think can do a good job, as long as the at-fault driver's insurance will let them do the work. I am not real enthusiastic about taking the truck to the dealer.
 
Originally Posted By: daves87rs
Glad you guys are okay.


+1

I see more wrecks in Florida [more so South Florida] then anywhere else...Most are hit and runs....There was a rollover wreck and 4 other wrecks to deal with this morning and it wasn't even raining...Yesterday when it was pouring there were so many wrecks I lost track of how many there were....A patrol car down here generally gets wrecked on a daily basis.
 
Originally Posted By: Jimmy9190
I want my truck fixed like it was before with no driveability problems or physical/cosmetic problems.


Here's the bad news. Your truck will NEVER be the same as it was before. It may be close, or very close (depending on how good the body shop is), but it will *never* the same.

Get that way of thinking out of your head right now, and you'll be happier in the long run.

Just wanted to get that cleared up early on. I've been there.

Also, different body shops may have different approaches to fixing your truck. On mine, one body shop wanted to replace one whole side of the bed, while two other shops wanted to repair what was there. To me, that's a considerable difference, and the shop that wanted to replace the bed side did NOT get the job.

My concern right now is the leaking radiator. If something simply punctured it, you may be fine. However, if the radiator support structure is buckled or bent from the accident, that could be trouble.
 
Looks like quite a bit of body damage. If you are a perfectionist it will never be the same. However it is probably still drivable and can be fixed to "close enough".
 
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