No.. that's the funny thing. It is my wife's and she only drives it to work and back. Never seen dirt roads except for apple picking or something with the family.

It does handle great but dang if one starts leaking gotta replace both. Again for me unfortunately, both fronts starting leaking and it cost $4700 for the dealer to replace the entire thing. So pissed

2010 Trail with 125,000 miles. Has KDSS
Replaced the shocks with Bilstein 5100's at 105k miles. Also installed some Dobinson springs for a small lift(I tend to replace the springs when replacing shocks in any case)
Front fog light replaced at 30,000 after an owl committed suicide by diving in front of me at night when I was going 70
Rear hatch switch cover melted, and was replaced
Just replaced the left front wheel bearing, which was making a grinding noise, a few weeks ago
Right rear brakes have been replaced completely twice. First time the dealer told me I didn't need brakes when I had them checked before going to Scout camp. Started grinding on the way, and when I got back, I lost brakes entirely, and discovered the right rear had no pads, and the braking was being done by the calipers. Dealer replaced all of that for free. That was at 70,000 miles. Last September, I took it in for brakes, and the entire right rear needed to be replaced again, at my expense this time.

Otherwise, it's just been fluids and routine stuff - Serpentine belt at 120k, spark plugs at 120k, some other minor stuff.

My wife got Tboned in my 2015 limited. It’s now needing a new front bumper cover, new rear bumper cover, new passenger front fender. Needs rear 1/4 panel repaired. New trim pieces. Needs two new wheels. 1 tire ruptured when it was rammed off the road and jumped the curb. The passenger front tire, wheel and front fender was initial impact. The front passenger wheel is destroyed and the tire has a 3” gouge on the sidewall. I think the tie rod is bent and same for the front control arm (upper and lower)

I only have 70,000miles too.

Any tips to make sure the insurance company uses OEM Toyota parts and not savage or Alibaba crap?

Something to point out that most people don't know/forget, shocks actually do have an expiration, even if they aren't leaking.

While there isn't really a definitive "replace at this age/mileage" for shocks, most of the manufacturers settle on about 50~60k and about 6~8yrs where degradation affects performance. I believe it's roughly the same if not a little bit tighter of a recommendation on the aftermarket side of things, I believe RadFlo recommended 4~5yrs/50k-ish for inspection/rebuilding their lift kit and while it's been a couple years I do recall when we were trying to get ICON to set us up for rebuilding our ICON lift kits at work, they said something similar.

That's not to say that at 50k your shocks are junk, but rather that even if they aren't leaking that doesn't mean they aren't failing/wearing out. It just means that their dampening ability and performance will start to become less and less, which also affects things like stopping distance, stability, and responsiveness of the vehicle's suspension. I will also point out that most people will say "my car handles fine, never driven better, etc." mainly because it's something that degrades over a long period of time, you're perception of that change is going to be very skewed (think frog and slow boiling pot of water analogy).

Just my two cents on that.


The insurance company should provide you with a detailed quote and estimate before you authorize repairs. Look that over very carefully and anywhere you see something that looks odd or doesn't look factory ask about it. Insist that where it's important, factory parts are used; most insurance companies internal policy is if a vehicle is something like 7~10yrs or older they will substitute factory parts for OEM. I will warn you though that they may outright deny replacing OEM parts with factory ones if that's their policy or it may end up totaling your vehicle if the cost becomes too much. But sometimes if you're adamant about it enough, they'll bend a bit and work with you (I ran into this with my own vehicle when I hit a log on a trail and needed to replace my steering rack; told the adjuster that what was in the vehicle was the original factory steering rack and so it will get another brand new Toyota steering rack and nothing less, not interested in arguing with them a year or two later when the rack starts failing because they went with an aftermarket rebuilt, the adjuster wasn't aware of the variability in quality of some OEM parts and was nice enough to work with me adjusting the quote to fit the cost of a brand new rack.)

My experience has been that you notify your insurance company of the accident, you get 3 quotes from repair shops and provide them to your insurance company. When you get the quotes be sure to tell the repair shop you want Toyota replacements. Then your insurance company/agent will work with the repair shop to get the work done.

I've had very few accidents and my agent allowed me to choose the repair place, then he would haggle with them on the price. Body work is the toughest thing, getting a fender to fit correctly or a door to align with fender and quarter panel. The quality of the paint and its application are also key. My wife's brand new, less than 100 miles on the odo, 1991 Camry LE was T-boned (ran a stop sign). We had a Mercedes repair shop do the body work and the paint never faded in the 29 years we owned the car. Door alignment was off and it always sounded weird when closing it, but it worked.

Ive never gone through insurance and had a place not offer a lifetime warranty on parts and paint. Most likely you will get a refurbished part, which will be OEM but not "new". In any instance it doesnt matter much if the shop preps and paints it properly and it fits with no issues. Also all my insurance companies have had "preferred" shop they refer you too.

In texas you dont have to choose one of those shops but it does make it easier to deal with. IMO find a bodyshop that deals with highend cars. I have one near me and they specify how they will advocate for OEM parts and no cut corners. However, they also make it clear that the insurance may not cover all the costs if they deem it unnecessary or excessive, so you will be on the hook for any additional cost.

In general I avoid any repair center that is new or has changed owners. Too may shops around here go belly up and then the lifetime warranty is basically useless unless its backed by your insurance as well.

All the preferred shop stuff is also negated by the fact your wife was hit. You may be able to pick any shop you want since your vehicle was hit and make sure the shop uses OEM parts. Keep in mind everything is in short supply so you may have no choice but to get non OEM parts if you want the vehicle back in a timely manner.

In my experience, Toyota price matches the major cosmetic parts to compete with refurb. The places I’ve used don’t usually waste time with refurb since they often take more to prep and install. They do the estimate with new or refurb, I can’t remember the code or the exact naming convention right now. MSRP on the bumper covers were in the $200-$300 range, all the clips and fasteners add up quickly though.

I'll second the NSS - if you're in the northeast and want to make your life easier, make sure it slides off the rod it sits on. Mine is all gunked up right now, soaking it in PB blaster gets me about a week. I have the new part, but I haven't been able to get the old one off yet, and I'm leary of applying too much force for fear of pulling the shaft out and ****ing up the transmission.

appreciate the posts here, helpful for what to expect