vehicle: 2007 sr5 4wd v6. one family ownership, 228k miles, well maintained, street driven. pink slip in hand.

accident: i never get in accidents, and this barely qualifies, and only involved me (fortunately!). at my town's transfer station, parked in front of a large recycling container. sat there in drive for a moment, then exited the vehicle WITHOUT PUTTING TRANNY INTO PARK! seconds later i hear this load POW. vehicle rolled forward about 10-15 feet into the container.

i though, ok, not good, maybe some bumper damage. bumper was cracked a little, and popped off the drivers side. drove it back home to look more closely.

all impact damage appears from the center to drivers side. headlight fasteners had snapped, so light is somewhat loose. lower piece of hood bent in some, touching headlight. some plastic fasteners gone, gap between hood and fender, fender may be slightly bent, fender plastic piece popped out some.

decided to start talking to collision repair shops. went to one local today. they did an estimate based on what they could see. $5200! new radiator supports, bumper and backfill, hood, fender, grille, one headlamp, all the paint needs, battery, ac recharge, misc.

about $2500 in parts, remainder is body labor, paint labor, paint.

given that this is a 15 year old vehicle with 230k miles, and its possible for me to do most of the work to improve the damage/appearance (this just happened, so i haven't considered all things yet). my deductible is $1000. plus the car would be tied up for maybe 2 weeks (inconvenience/cost).

also, some oe parts are not available, like front fender and hood so it would be aftermarket.

should i put in the claim, collect the check, then in the spring do my own thing, and maybe outsource what i can't? i don't feel anything is safety related.

anyway, here are several rainy pics. have fun!