Drunk driver wrecked my truck tonight - pics

monkey44 wrote:
Just a note: IF you definitely want to keep this truck.

If they total your truck, you can just take the money, and you can get your truck back for the price of salvage. Then, use that money to fix it. Not sure exactly how it works in your state, but I did that in NY on a trailer.

MAKE the deal BEFORE you sign it off ... don't go back after and try to buy it.

I absolutely do not want my truck written off. It is paid for, it has given me 118,000 trouble free miles and I want to keep it. I don't want another truck payment again.

It works a little differently in Canada, and each province has its own set of rules. We have a government monopoly insurance company and they are well know for being very difficult to deal with.

If it is totaled and they pay me out, I can have first right of purchase, as salvage. The vehicle will lose it's title and be written off. If I repair it on my own, the I have to re-register it and it has to have a full inspection done on it. It is a real hassle.

I would rather have the insurance repair it. Right now it is being stripped of the damaged parts for further inspection. On Monday I discovered that the body lines of the box and the cab do not line up. And the gap is a lot closer at the top than the bottom. Dang! They told me they have to remove the box for repairs.

Sheet metal was initially estimated at $6500. That does not include the frame damage. It also does not include anything to do with the box. Even at a couple grand each, that would put the damage at about 10,500. Getting up there, yes, but I hope the value of the truck is still over 20K. I really don't know what it is worth as a used truck.

Then they are paying $135. a day for the rental truck. A bit high - I would have been satisfied with something much smaller as long as I could put my rack and toolboxes on it. I think a one ton 12 foot flatdeck would have been quite adequate.