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!

why, on this site, can't i post pics directly from my phone like i do on other sites. only option seems to be one at a time, and then it fails anyway?! i have to email myself the pics, then download to photos, then import (i hope).

you can upload them directly from phone with the tapatalk app

thx. is that common? i don't do anything like that for other sites.

this is an older style forum, just how it is. I usually post from my computer, so not sure if there is another work around for mobile uploading

even posting from my laptop i seem to only be able to post one picture per post, so i have to keep posting one pic at a time.

I use ImgBB — Upload Image — Free Image Hosting, you can drag and drop and it gives you links ready to use here.

The damage doesn't look too bad. It is definitely do-able. I bought my first 4runner with a damaged front end in high school. I had zero experience working on cars and didn't know anyone who could help. I just watched a few youtube videos and did some research.

I took the bumper off, found what was damaged, and made a list. I called all the junkyards near me and looked on eBay, and ordered the parts. Then put the "new" parts in. People really underestimate what they can fix, theres so many videos and forums to help you.

Please let me know what you do. Ive learned a lot about these cars working on them, I may be able to help.

another important consideration is that, as long as i on this vehicle, if i do not get is professionally repaired, if i am responsible for another accident that impacts the same area, my insurance will most likely not pay again for those parts to be replaced. if do get it done professionally, then they would.

pics, i hope:

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looks like one pic at a time.

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three:

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four:

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If it was mine, I would turn it into insureance and take the check and fix everything myself. Put the leftover cash in your pocket. It would be a great time to upgrade to a steel front bumper!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

There are a lot of factors to this decision.. but for the most part, how mechanically inclined are you? If this was my rig, that would be a weekend fix at best.. Props for the shop to suggest replacing the radiator support (and some will argue that is the only way to go) there is absolutely nothing that I see there that can't be beaten straight with a hammer and pulled out with a chain around a tree..

Here are some things to consider..

1. Mechanical ability to tear it down and do it yourself
2. how perfect are you looking for this to be fixed? Crack in the bumper, so what? can you live with it? Are you looking for a flawless/perfect color match ?
3. how much are you willing to spend ?


Without seeing it in person and from reading what happened if this was mine to fix I can't imagine having to replace anything other than the headlights (and bumper if you can't live with it being cracked). Everything else is metal, and looks only partially damaged. I have fixed significantly more damage without replacing stuff.


Either way there's no chance I would have a shop fix this. I would either pay my 1000 deductible and take the cash to fix yourself (which at your estimate now would probably impact you down the road with rates) or just fix out of pocket and keep the insurance out of it. If I were to do this I can't imagine having to spend more than $500 out of pocket to get it close to good.

**Edit** Just realize the one picture was from the hood showing the bent damage, that would need to be replaced. car-part.com is your friend here. Look up local junk yards for a black hood and swap over directly. I bought a hood, bumper, grille, fender and door for less than $1600 in the same color as my car and it was all OEM.