Rearended, bent frame = totalled?

[prosnomonkey]

I got rearended the other day by a sweet little old lady. She hit me hard enough to bend the frame on my truck. Not too bad, but enough to squeeze the spare tire and destroy the trailer hitch. What do you think? Can this be safely fixed, or is the Insurance company going to scrap my truck? It is a 2002 with 101,000 miles.

You can see the bed is bent too:

Frame squeezed in towards spare tire

Trailer hitch

Thanks for the help
Jeremy

 

[KELLY88]

Hate to tell ya but usually a bent frame = totalled.

 

[krugford]

The sucks about the truck, glad to hear everyone's okay. I don't know about the frame. You'll have to see what the shop says, but I bet they can straighten it. Just depends on how far forward the damage went.

 

[hihoslvr]

what about collecting the $$ and keep drivin' the truck?

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Yup, and beware of "sweet old ladies" when it comes to accidents... I had one that was real nice an sweet when it happened, then when I went to court over the ticket I was issued she got very upset that I would dare suggest that it might be her fault as to why the accident occurred (she was traveling with excessive speed, never hit her brakes, swerved around a stopped car through parallel parking spaces in an intersection on a blind bend to nearly total my truck).

I'd also suggest you get checked out by a doc pronto. I didn't realize how badly injured I was until I was finally convinced to go see a doc 2 days after the wreck. He said that he wasn't even going to tell me that I was injured from it, he'd let me make my own decision after I told him what all happened. He said to go look in the full length mirror, to stand there straight. I thought I was standing straight except my left shoulder sat a couple inches above my right, I favored my right knee, and my head was all askew (I was broadsided). Whiplash is no joke.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

what about collecting the $$ and keep drivin' the truck?

Might be able to do that, but it would probably require getting a salvage title.

 

[prosnomonkey]

The damage is no farther forward than the rear axle, but it looks pretty tweaked where the hitch connects to the frame. There were no tickets issued by the Police officer, but she was clearly at fault (two lane highway with turning traffic where I was stopped when she hit me.) She saw me too, because the speed there is 60mph, but she was not going that fast when she hit me. I'll go see a doctor if things start to hurt, but so far I feel fine although my neck is a little sore as if I had crashed on my snowboard. Anyway, can something like this even be fixed safely? I am taking it to a shop on monday but I am just wondering. Worst part is I still owe on my loan

 

[kunar]

yeah, they can usually fix a bent frame. you said the damage doesnt go farther than the rear axle... im assuming that means that the area where your rear spring hangers mount is bent then too?

 

[prosnomonkey]

yeah it is bent there

 

[almostclueless]

Get a copy of the police report no matter what.

 

[canyoncritter]

if you have good insurance they will proably want to total it.IF you really love your truck etc, you can ususally work with them not to total it. but the value of the truck in thier eyes if anything ever happens again is proably going to be crap.

And yeah, sweet old ladys dont like giving up thier bingo money,always cover your ass from the get go.

 

[PaleBlue90]

The sucks about the truck, glad to hear everyone's okay. I don't know about the frame. You'll have to see what the shop says, but I bet they can straighten it. Just depends on how far forward the damage went.

+1

 

[Loanranger]

It all depends on the value of your truck compared to the cost of repair when it comes to totalling your truck. If the value is high enough, they will even replace the frame. I've repaired F250 frames that were hit just like yours, bent the frame right at the front of the hitch. But an F250's value is obviously greater than a Ranger. If there is no obvious kinks in the frame, just minor bends, and it is all behind the axle, then it should be repairable. If there is any diamond to the frame, or damage in the area between the front and rear body mounts, they will more than likely not repair the frame. It all basically comes down to whether the truck can be repaired for less than 80% of the fair market value of the truck.

 

[superrocker10]

if they do total it, you have yourself a new trail rig

 

[c_note]

my guess is with the amount of miles and a bent frame... its totalled!