# What does it take to total a truck



## Brian Young (Aug 13, 2005)

The other night we were hauling snow with our 06 F250 and towards the end one of my guys was rear ended at a very high rate of speed (I bet at least 50mph). Her car is crumpled, my 06 took it very well (I think). She hit the heavy duty hitch and split it in half, bumper gone and bent down, bed sides are dented and the dump bed insert is actually bent as if you were Superman and stood behind the bed and pulled it to the left about an inch. The bed sticks out at the right front corner about 1/2" or so on the passenger side body line from cab to the bed and either the right side running board is pushed up tight to the cab or the driver side is separated (gap between cab and board). Alignment was perfect, now steering wheel is basically at a 1 o'clock-7 o'clock position. So needless to say there's a lot of frame issues I think. Ive never had to go through this with adjusters etc. Just wondering how bad it has to be before they total it. The body shop said it sounds like a new frame but will have to see it obviously.


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## beanz27 (Dec 22, 2012)

Frame damage can kill it, girlfriend was rear ended at 15 mph and they totaled a 6k car over 1/8" bend in frame.


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## Brian Young (Aug 13, 2005)

A friend of mine said when there's that much frame damage (potentially) they usually total it. I hope they can fix it, we've put about 4k into this very clean truck in the past 8 months. New tranny, all new u-joints, axle joints, brakes, new set of severe duty leaf springs. It only has 80k on it and is very clean, adjusters coming to the shop today.


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## Bighammer (Aug 20, 2003)

My only experience was with my '94 Dodge/Cummins. A kid rear-ended us at a light and sort of went under. axle pushed into fuel tank, badly twisted frame, even the un-touched fiberglass cap was broken because of the twist. 

I thought it was totaled, so I bought a new truck off the lot. About a week later when the Progressive claims adjuster could finally get up here, there were lots of phone conversations. First, he claimed that I had a "modified suspension" and had no coverage. (The fool had not seen stock spring blocks on a 2500HD?) I let him know he was wrong, and he should educate himself and do a little more research before calling me again. 

In the end, they fixed my truck, (waived my $1000 deductible) so I had an extra plow truck. He told me their criteria was 50% of value and mine was right on the fence, my call. It was worth more to me to keep it, than just getting a check. I had modded the engine (loved driving it )and an available beater kept the new one nice a lot longer.

Not sure if it's the same for all, and this was a lot of years ago. In my accident there weren't any serious injuries (hope the same for you) and it all worked out well. Wish you the best with it.


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## MK97 (Oct 9, 2013)

General rule of thumb is if the damage is 50%-60% the value of the vehicle it is likely totaled. I've heard stories of insurance paying to have an entire frame swapped (on a new/almost new truck) but given it's a 9 year old truck they may just total it out. 


Any idea on what repairs would cost? I would venture to say it's totaled.


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## kimber750 (Sep 19, 2011)

Brian Young;1962864 said:


> A friend of mine said when there's that much frame damage (potentially) they usually total it. I hope they can fix it, we've put about 4k into this very clean truck in the past 8 months. New tranny, all new u-joints, axle joints, brakes, new set of severe duty leaf springs. It only has 80k on it and is very clean, adjusters coming to the shop today.


Many years ago I was able to get the insurance company to reimburse me for recent repairs that were done to a vehicle that was totaled. As long as you have the receipts it doesn't hurt to ask.


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## kimber750 (Sep 19, 2011)

You can also buy the truck back if you want your parts back. Thumbs Up


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## SnoFarmer (Oct 15, 2004)

Generally, the cutoff is somewhere in the 70% to 75% of the vehicles worth .

but it also depends on the state.

Colorado laws don't require that a car have a certain threshold of damages done for the vehicle to be declared a total loss.


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## Antlerart06 (Feb 28, 2011)

Brian Young;1962864 said:


> A friend of mine said when there's that much frame damage (potentially) they usually total it. I hope they can fix it, we've put about 4k into this very clean truck in the past 8 months. New tranny, all new u-joints, axle joints, brakes, new set of severe duty leaf springs. It only has 80k on it and is very clean, adjusters coming to the shop today.


If they total it Buy it back Fix it or strip it if parts fits the other trucks

I have done this in past. They sale for pennies on the dollar


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## peteo1 (Jul 4, 2011)

Brian sorry to hear about that. Was it the same truck that the skid loader fell on? Pennsylvania is an 80% state so if the damage exceeds 80% of the value it will be totaled. Hope your guy is ok


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## grandview (Oct 9, 2005)

Get it totaled and see if you can buy it back on pennies on the dollar with a salvaged title.


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## John_DeereGreen (Jan 2, 2011)

9 year old truck with what sounds like substantial frame damage, even if it's the one I think I remember you posting about with around 80K miles, I'd make a wager that it's totalled. Especially being in PA rust belt.

What is book value on it? 

Some adjusters will work with you, some are stubborn and by the books. I would also have my own insurance company look at it as well. Remember, it wasn't your fault, and that does go a good ways in the eyes of some adjusters. Stand your ground, be firm but polite.

We had a 70HP tractor catch on fire last summer due to a bird's nest under the hood that no one noticed. 28 hours and we'd had it less than 6 months. It took some negotiation and some help from the dealer, but we managed to get the insurance company to total it out and we replaced it with a new one.

Good luck.


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## Plowtoy (Dec 15, 2001)

rear end hit, its hard to say. Sounds like there is frame damage and sometimes they can pull them, sometimes not. 
When I was T-boned a couple years ago, it didn't look too bad and I thought for sure they were going to fix it, but turned out the frame on my Yukon had been sandwiched together (the body shop said something about weak frames on late model chevy trucks). The one cross support by the oil pan was bent down and the engine started pouring out oil about 5 minutes after the accident happened. 
As far as buying it back, I could have bought the Yukon back, but they wanted around $3500 to buy it back. It didn't make sense to me to buy it back at that price because I didn't pay that much more for it a year and a half earlier and it had almost 200k miles on it. 
In the end, thanks to full coverage insurance with "replacement value", They wrote me a check for almost $11K


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## JD Dave (Mar 20, 2007)

You hauled snow all night with an F250? I'm betting they write it off but hopefully you can buy it back reasonably.


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## potskie (Feb 9, 2011)

kimber750;1962909 said:


> Many years ago I was able to get the insurance company to reimburse me for recent repairs that were done to a vehicle that was totaled. As long as you have the receipts it doesn't hurt to ask.


My GFs car was just totalled a few months ago and she got an extra 1100 added on because she had the receipts for the replacement parts I had installed over the last year. Definitely worth looking into in your situation.


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## Brian Young (Aug 13, 2005)

JD Dave;1963203 said:


> You hauled snow all night with an F250? I'm betting they write it off but hopefully you can buy it back reasonably.


It was a small commercial lot and yes, with the dump bed we have and sideboards on it holds like 5 yards of mulch so it's maybe a scoop or two shy of a one ton capacity.


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## Freshwater (Feb 28, 2014)

Plowtoy;1963019 said:


> rear end hit, its hard to say. Sounds like there is frame damage and sometimes they can pull them, sometimes not.
> When I was T-boned a couple years ago, it didn't look too bad and I thought for sure they were going to fix it, but turned out the frame on my Yukon had been sandwiched together (the body shop said something about weak frames on late model chevy trucks). The one cross support by the oil pan was bent down and the engine started pouring out oil about 5 minutes after the accident happened.
> As far as buying it back, I could have bought the Yukon back, but they wanted around $3500 to buy it back. It didn't make sense to me to buy it back at that price because I didn't pay that much more for it a year and a half earlier and it had almost 200k miles on it.
> In the end, thanks to full coverage insurance with "replacement value", They wrote me a check for almost $11K


Can you explain "with replacement?" My ins just offered me 3600 on a 04 caravan with 120k. My wife slightly rearended someone, damage really isn't that bad. Repairs were quoted at 3800. I'd like a check for 11k.


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## Brian Young (Aug 13, 2005)

Well both adjusters came out, both seemed to be pretty cool guys and her insurance company adjuster said about 2100.00 worth of damage to start with plus a new dump bed insert but won't know the total extent until it's on the frame machine. He said if it needs a frame then it's very close to being totaled. It's still driveable so we're going to keep plowing with it until a break in the weather so I can take it somewhere.


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## Plowtoy (Dec 15, 2001)

Freshwater;1963280 said:


> Can you explain "with replacement?" My ins just offered me 3600 on a 04 caravan with 120k. My wife slightly rearended someone, damage really isn't that bad. Repairs were quoted at 3800. I'd like a check for 11k.


Replacement value. The insurance company looks at several "actual" compareables in my market at the time of the claim and also takes in consideration "Blue Book" so I've been told. Aparently Tahoes and Yukons hold their value quite well around west Michigan. Im sure I pay extra for replacement value coverage, but in this case, it worked out well for me. I also recieved a check for $500 from the "at fault's" insurance company to cover my deductable.

The whole deal worked out well for me... Would I want to go through it again? Not a chance. The wife drove buy shortly after it happened and freaked out, fortunitly no one was hurt and I was already out of my vehicle, it was November 15 in West Michigan and now I have nothing but the back up truck to plow with. Finding and getting another truck ready in time before the first push is not so easy to do when you feel like you have to rush.

I still keep the same coverage on my vehicles, but at some point, their values will be low enough, it doesn't make sense to keep replacement coverage on them. Until then, I will...


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## john r (Jan 3, 2001)

An idiot driver is all it takes


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## Brian Young (Aug 13, 2005)

Wow, Im finding more things wrong with this truck every day. The running boards don't line up, the seatbelt has a hard time locking, the shift indicator doesn't work, the head light face plate was knocked loose from the backing and now the muffler is leaking. Next week it goes to the body shop to check the frame and we'll go from there. What a pita this is going to be!


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## Ramairfreak98ss (Aug 17, 2005)

MK97;1962884 said:


> General rule of thumb is if the damage is 50%-60% the value of the vehicle it is likely totaled. I've heard stories of insurance paying to have an entire frame swapped (on a new/almost new truck) but given it's a 9 year old truck they may just total it out.
> 
> Any idea on what repairs would cost? I would venture to say it's totaled.


yeah our body shop swapped an entire frame on a 1yr old dodge 2500 diesel, 9k miles, but usually its totaled.


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