2017 TRD Pro Cement Diminished Value Claim

[Muzzle of Bees]

I wonder how quickly damage gets posted to these "wreck" databases like carfax? People could trade a vehicle in once they get it back and get a new one fairly quickly. Now of course most people are under water on their loan so many cant do this, but in the right circumstance it could happen. Or, I may be missing something?

 

[KP Texan]

Diminished value claims are extremely hard to get without outlay of appraisal fees, attorney fees, and a ridiculous amount of time and energy that far eclipses any diminished value you MAY get. They'll fight you until you are completely worn out and done paying attorney fees to avoid paying several thousand dollars of diminished value.

This simply isn't true in all cases. I'm sure there are a number of factors involved including the actual insurance companies you're dealing with and the state you're in.

For it to be worth it, your car needs to be fairly new, with no previous damage. I live in Texas, and was backed into several years ago while I was sitting in my less than one year old vehicle. Indicated to the driver's insurance company (Allstate in this case) that I would be seeking diminished value, they said fine, so long as I use a licensed appraiser. Paid a licensed appraiser $250, maybe disputed the insurance company's offer one time, and then they cut me a check for pretty much what the appraiser said I lost in DV.

 

[KP Texan]

My wife got rear ended in her ex 2015 Limited. The frame was bent (pushed in by the hit to the hitch). This took the brunt of it so the tailgate and bumper had minor damage. Total it was $2200 to repair. They pulled the frame out and replaced the bumper and fixed a dent in the tailgate.

This begs the question: Is it better or worse to have your ball mount in your receiver during an accident? It would certainly depend on speed, but my ball mount/ball is installed and I don't want my 4Runner messed up worse in a minor rear end collision. Off to google!

 

[arehman11]

I was just rear ended with my ball mount left in. The shop stated that it saved me from having a lot of damage. I had a menards branded one and it is a little longer than the OEM toyota one. The other guys bumper never even made it into my bumper due to the length.

 

[Jetboy]

Yes to the diminished value claim. I've made the claim a few times. On any newer vehicle you should make a claim if you're not at fault - sometimes even if you are. In some states it is mandatory for the insurance to offer it on certain vehicles that are new enough.

If it's a major repair - have it totaled if you can in any possible way. As was said - it'll never be the same. There is no body shop on earth that can recreate a Toyota OEM assembly and paint process. It simply does not exist. And that's just the paint. Mechanically, it'll never be put back to new type condition. I hate to say hire a lawyer - but sometimes it's the best option. I'm a lawyer and I speak from personal experience in letting a dealership do a $22,000 repair to my IS250 that they basically ruined. It was never the same - not even close. And it didn't even need any body work or mechanical - that was just replacing the interior that was damaged. (Not a Lexus certified repair shop - just a regular dealer who basically took advantage of my trust that they could do a quality repair.)

Seriously - call a few local lawyers. Find one that you feel good about. The first calls don't cost anything. If they say it's going to require a huge deposit - run away. If they ask for 30% - run away. There are instances where both of those are perfectly reasonable. This is not one of those cases. It should take no more than maybe 2-3 hours of time before filing a complaint for the attorney to review your information and basically threaten the insurance company. Maybe an hour more to actually file the law suit - it almost never proceeds past that point. Once an insured person gets served they get on the phone with the insurance company on their end and things get sorted out PDQ. IMO $1500 should be at the higher end of what this should cost up to that point. I would guess $750ish. Before you hire a lawyer - talk to the insurance adjuster first and tell them that they have a specific date by which to make a decision - maybe 30 days out. If you haven't gotten what you're asking for by that date you are going to proceed with hiring your attorney to sue the driver of the other vehicle. Usually that's enough to get a fair settlement without actually having to file anything. If you have to - go ahead and proceed with the attorney.

Also - for the love of god - don't go to service king or any similar shop that's verified or whatever by the insurance company. Find a Toyota factory authorized repair center. They're night and day better and they won't compromise on the quality of the repair because Toyota's certification means something in this case. It's very specific about repairs and prohibits all the shortcuts that other body shops tend to use.

 

[Kennyr44]

This begs the question: Is it better or worse to have your ball mount in your receiver during an accident? It would certainly depend on speed, but my ball mount/ball is installed and I don't want my 4Runner messed up worse in a minor rear end collision. Off to google!

She had no ball mount it was just the receiver that took the big hit. By the way the rear bumper of a 4 Runner has no honeycomb absorbing materials at all so even if the receiver didn’t take the hit all the force would have gone through the frame anyway. At my friends body shop he showed me our bumper off and bumpers off several other cars in there. They all had thick absorbing honeycomb materials and he said the 4 Runner bumpers were just a skin covering the frame with no protection at all. It was pretty obvious. He said my wife’s impact would have been less with a real bumper. This accident and repair was not the reason we decided to sell the car though it was fixed perfect. By frame bent in the rear it was just the rear rail pushed in not the sides etc. The adjuster explained how this happens all the time and it’s no big deal. He said some manufactures have a rear rail that bolts on and you just replace it.

 

[laurel_mae]

I was just rear ended with my ball mount left in. The shop stated that it saved me from having a lot of damage. I had a menards branded one and it is a little longer than the OEM toyota one. The other guys bumper never even made it into my bumper due to the length.

THIS ^^^

I work in an auto body shop, i see vehicles come in all the time that rear end a truck/SUV with a ball in the hitch, they usually need a new front end and (sometimes) total them with frame damage and the trucks usually only need a bumper. For this reason i keep my ball in the hitch now all the time.

I've personally had 1 experience with DV, this was about 8 years ago so things may have changed a bit (and of course i was young so i just let them handle it). I had to fix the vehicle first, hire a DV lawyer and pay a small fee upfront, give them the final paperwork on my repairs from the auto body shop and let them go after the insurance company for the amount of money they thought was fair. In that case, i had about $12k in damages on a 2 year old car at the time, and received about $1,700.

Today, i hear customer feedback occasionally stating that after the lawyer fee, its not worth the time or money for what they may expect in return, and other people with larger claims, ($5,000 and above) that they are satisfied with what they're receiving. I think it all comes down to the state you live in, the damages and possibly the lawyer you have.

Good luck!

 

[KP Texan]

She had no ball mount it was just the receiver that took the big hit. By the way the rear bumper of a 4 Runner has no honeycomb absorbing materials at all so even if the receiver didn’t take the hit all the force would have gone through the frame anyway. At my friends body shop he showed me our bumper off and bumpers off several other cars in there. They all had thick absorbing honeycomb materials and he said the 4 Runner bumpers were just a skin covering the frame with no protection at all. It was pretty obvious. He said my wife’s impact would have been less with a real bumper. This accident and repair was not the reason we decided to sell the car though it was fixed perfect. By frame bent in the rear it was just the rear rail pushed in not the sides etc. The adjuster explained how this happens all the time and it’s no big deal. He said some manufactures have a rear rail that bolts on and you just replace it.

Thanks for the clarification! Based on what you and arehman11 have said, I'll just leave it in. It's decent Curt class 3 with stainless steel ball, and I just pulled it from my truck and installed it right on my 4Runner when I bought it last weekend (saw Toyota's price on a ball mount and it was like $80 :shocked: ). If anything, I figured it would keep someone from playing bumper cars while trying to parallel park behind my 4Runner!

 

[arehman11]

Thanks for the clarification! Based on what you and arehman11 have said, I'll just leave it in. It's decent Curt class 3 with stainless steel ball, and I just pulled it from my truck and installed it right on my 4Runner when I bought it last weekend (saw Toyota's price on a ball mount and it was like $80 :shocked: ). If anything, I figured it would keep someone from playing bumper cars while trying to parallel park behind my 4Runner!

I leave a smittybilt shackle in my hitch at all times. I just had my drawbar in cause I was on my way to take my jet ski in to get winterized. The other guys insurance gave me a brand new OEM draw bar and a new TRD Pro Valance.

 

[schnazzdaddy]

Yes to the diminished value claim. I've made the claim a few times. On any newer vehicle you should make a claim if you're not at fault - sometimes even if you are. In some states it is mandatory for the insurance to offer it on certain vehicles that are new enough.

If it's a major repair - have it totaled if you can in any possible way. As was said - it'll never be the same. There is no body shop on earth that can recreate a Toyota OEM assembly and paint process. It simply does not exist. And that's just the paint. Mechanically, it'll never be put back to new type condition. I hate to say hire a lawyer - but sometimes it's the best option. I'm a lawyer and I speak from personal experience in letting a dealership do a $22,000 repair to my IS250 that they basically ruined. It was never the same - not even close. And it didn't even need any body work or mechanical - that was just replacing the interior that was damaged. (Not a Lexus certified repair shop - just a regular dealer who basically took advantage of my trust that they could do a quality repair.)

Seriously - call a few local lawyers. Find one that you feel good about. The first calls don't cost anything. If they say it's going to require a huge deposit - run away. If they ask for 30% - run away. There are instances where both of those are perfectly reasonable. This is not one of those cases. It should take no more than maybe 2-3 hours of time before filing a complaint for the attorney to review your information and basically threaten the insurance company. Maybe an hour more to actually file the law suit - it almost never proceeds past that point. Once an insured person gets served they get on the phone with the insurance company on their end and things get sorted out PDQ. IMO $1500 should be at the higher end of what this should cost up to that point. I would guess $750ish. Before you hire a lawyer - talk to the insurance adjuster first and tell them that they have a specific date by which to make a decision - maybe 30 days out. If you haven't gotten what you're asking for by that date you are going to proceed with hiring your attorney to sue the driver of the other vehicle. Usually that's enough to get a fair settlement without actually having to file anything. If you have to - go ahead and proceed with the attorney.

Also - for the love of god - don't go to service king or any similar shop that's verified or whatever by the insurance company. Find a Toyota factory authorized repair center. They're night and day better and they won't compromise on the quality of the repair because Toyota's certification means something in this case. It's very specific about repairs and prohibits all the shortcuts that other body shops tend to use.

Thanks for the advice this was my thoughts as well as far as a game plan for filing the claim. I figured I would go to the 3 dealers I bought it from and get quotes on what they would give me for it and use that as my basis for post accident value. Then use KBB with the appropriate additions for Extended warranty/Undercoat Rust Proof/Soundproof/KDSS(KBB doesn't have it as a option) for the pre accident value and ask for the difference. And if they don't want to budge then hire a local lawyer. Then once I have that check hopefully the dealer will still honor their quote and I can get a new 17/18...If there are any left after all these Toyota Truck/Blackfriday/Toyota month sales :/

 

[Muzzle of Bees]

I am making some progress with the claim. The police issued a warrant for the guy that did all the damage. Knowing who he is put me at ease. He will have some explaining to do. You know my motto already. Apparently he stole the Taxi. That is according to Yellow Cab. Yellow Cab reported it missing after the crash. My guess is that once Yellow Cab got the call from the police requesting if had been reported stolen they started their own investigation and then reported it missing once they determined it was gone.
I saw the truck today. It is almost ready. They had the fender on and had to blend the paint with the door. Still waiting for a bracket and another piece and they can install the bumper cover and it will be ready. I know the guys that work at the shop. They put the old bumper cover aside for me. That will be good to have to practice cutting on now. I will have an extra valance and lights too.
That is my side. My GF still has a bunch of crap going on with her insurance too.
More drama to come for sure.

 

[CRSTX]

The only states that require DV are NC, KS and GA. If you want send me the accurate NADA value and mileage and I will plug it into my DV calculator for you.

 

[schnazzdaddy]

I couldnt find a trail premium in NADA but i found a trail and added the options.24100/ kdss/towing/exhaust/ rubber mats and got these values. And the damage quote is up to 25900 for now.

 

[schnazzdaddy]

Any Luck

Anyone have any luck/progress with their claim I'm supposed to get my runner back this week finally 3 months later