Bad news youll runners totaled.

[wake_rider]

I would buy one of those 5 stars off of you if you can manage to slip one off before insurance gets to it!

Seriously...

 

[scrap metal]

a) there's nothing scary about a salvage title, assuming you intend to keep the truck. Resale value is for vehicle-hopping scaredy-cats.

Yea people get really scared of salvage titles... but if you know why its salvage title...whats the big deal??

Safety? All of you guys who put armored front bumpers (myself included) do realize that you are completely throwing the crash test ratings out the window by eliminating crumple zones that engineers designed into the front end right?

If the engine isn't damaged and the frame is still pretty straight.... i'd buy it back, armor it up with the extra money and have fun wheeling. I think after I really got into off roading I realized that cosmetics weren't a huge thing for me... being mechanically sound is more important.

 

[JBurt]

I wouldn't be scared of a salvage title as long as you trust whoever does the work. That can be the scary part.

I've had my rig for 4 years and it was totalled before I bought it. I'm very happy with it and it has full coverage (same payout as a clear title) and I don't pay any extra insurance premiums because of the salvage. However California isn't Nebraska.

Best of luck with whatever you do. Glad you're okay.

 

[kammando808]

Do a tacoma front end.........if not make it into a crawler

 

[Robb235]

a) there's nothing scary about a salvage title, assuming you intend to keep the truck. Resale value is for vehicle-hopping scaredy-cats.

I don't think it's a fair characterization to brand someone as a "vehicle-hopping scaredy-cat" because they want to maintain resale value. Your vehicle is an asset just like anything else you own, and the OP doesn't seem to hold any sentimental value to this T4R. There may come a time that you (maybe unexpectedly) need to liquidate that asset for whatever reason. Perhaps he'll want to trade in his vehicle later on in life, since it's unlikely that he'll drive the same vehicle for the rest of his life. Why blow the money messing around with a possibly bent frame and many hours of repairs on your hands, when you can simply walk away with the insurance money and get another vehicle without those problems? Besides, it's not like the junkyards are just full of 3rd gen 4Runners, like they are with Fords and Chevies. At least, none of the junkyards around me are. Unless your time is worth next to nothing, you'll spend more time chasing down parts and implementing repairs than what it'll ever be worth, especially if it now has a salvaged title.

Financially you'd be better off taking the insurance money, buying the T4R back (depending on what that cost is) and then parting it out in here, eBay, Craigslist, etc.. But that assumes you have the time and the means to do this, and assumes that you don't need 100% of the insurance money right away so that you can immediately purchase another vehicle.

 

[scrap metal]

I don't think it's a fair characterization to brand someone as a "vehicle-hopping scaredy-cat" because they want to maintain resale value. Your vehicle is an asset just like anything else you own, and the OP doesn't seem to hold any sentimental value to this T4R.

I agree with most of your statement, except for the very end...

Have you ever completely parted out a vehicle? It takes up A LOT of time.

 

[THatfield]

Do a tacoma front end

lol, but for realsies you could probably spend a saturday and get her fixed back up decent. the hardest part would be the airbags.

Good Luck with whatever you do. Even if it's a horrid tacoma swap.

 

[kammando808]

lol, but for realsies you could probably spend a saturday and get her fixed back up decent. the hardest part would be the airbags.

Good Luck with whatever you do. Even if it's a horrid tacoma swap.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA good one :boxer:

 

[KidVermicious]

I don't think it's a fair characterization to brand someone as a "vehicle-hopping scaredy-cat" because they want to maintain resale value.

News flash - the front is a twisted pile of wreckage. It's already lost any value it had on the market, and the insurance company is compensating him for that - resale value is irrelevant because it's sold to the insurance company. It's not his anymore. End of transaction. Now start another transaction - here's a totalled 4Runner that he used to own that may or may not have a salvage title that the OP may have the opportunity to buy for pennies on the dollar, and get it back to driveable condition for less than the payout he got for the truck originally, and if he can do that, the new resale value only needs to be approximate to the money he's invested in the truck since he wrecked it and got paid for it. Whether the resale value is equal to an unwrecked truck is irrelevant, because he's not paying for an unwrecked truck. If the buyback price from the insurance company is right, there's quite literally no downside to buying it back. If the OP just plain doesn't want to, that's his call and that's fine, but you guys are pointing to salvage titles and reduced resale value as if that means something. You aren't taking the time to work through the math, and you've been told all your life that salvage titles are bad, and you're in here parroting that cliche and potentially steering the OP wrong.

Your suggestion of buying a newer vehicle so that you can take a loss when you "need" to sell it later is the height of financial sillyness.