In An Accident Tonight

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

Kap1

Ex Ram 1500 2013 owner
Joined
Nov 27, 2013
Posts
679
Reaction score
557
Ram Year
2022 Tundra
Engine
3.5 vvti
The truck is going to be fixed. $14,000 in damage and about a month to complete. Still not sure how I feel about it, hoping for a quality repair and this shop is known for it. Will get the process rolling tomorrow for the diminished value suit.

14k? I would think that it would be higher.. So I'm guessing that everything in the engine compartment is good and it's just some cosmetic damage up front? Did they provide you detailed estimate with which exact parts will be fixed?
 

likes2build

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2018
Posts
1,222
Reaction score
1,151
Location
Mohawk Valley, NY
Ram Year
2018 Express RCSB
Engine
3.6 Pentastar
I hired a lawyer when I was hit from behind this past March. It was the other drivers fault since I was stopped at a traffic light, red light at the time. His insurance company wanted a whole lot of information from me, like my medical records, and such as if they wanted to accuse me of the accident. I was lucky, as I wasn't badly injured, other than my lower back still gives me trouble most days. My truck was also not badly damaged since the receiver hitch took most of the hit, so my bumper and brackets were replaced. Hiring of at least speaking with an attorney would be a good idea.

View attachment 149455


Smart owner, never, never tell the other insurer anything other than your name, policy # and carrier. Remember everything is a a recorded line and you can bet they would like to find something to use to mitigate their pay out or even better not pay at all.
The bodily injury reps in my office had a list with $ amounts for different broken bones, injuries. etc.
 

MMM

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 16, 2014
Posts
123
Reaction score
41
Ram Year
2014
Engine
5.7 Hemi
Most important thing, is everyone is okay.
 

Kevs10

Junior Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2018
Posts
18
Reaction score
2
Location
Canada
Ram Year
2018
Engine
5.7
Glad no one got hurt, but it should have been a right off.
A friend of mine got rear ended, had his truck in the shop for 4 months when he got it back he tried to trade it in and all they would give him was $16000 for a year old truck.... not fair..
 

huntergreen

Senior Member
Military
Joined
Jan 5, 2011
Posts
12,187
Reaction score
25,932
Ram Year
2016
Engine
hemi 5.7
Glad no one got hurt, but it should have been a right off.
A friend of mine got rear ended, had his truck in the shop for 4 months when he got it back he tried to trade it in and all they would give him was $16000 for a year old truck.... not fair..

That is why diminished value exists.
 
OP
OP
A

adboyd06

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 9, 2016
Posts
157
Reaction score
57
Location
Rochester Hills, MI
Ram Year
2016
Engine
Diesel 6.7
Update - Finally got my truck back yesterday. Total repair bill was just over $18,000 (up from the original estimate of $14,000). The truck looks great and drives good.

There is one issue: when accelerating between 3-4,000 RPM there is a whine, sounds sort of like a supercharger whine or the old power steering whine. Easing into the from a stop or 50 MPH I don't hear it. Moderate acceleration from a stop or a roll produces the whine every time. Thoughts?
 

17CrewCab1500

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 17, 2017
Posts
874
Reaction score
635
Ram Year
2017
Engine
Hemi 5.7
Glad you're ok! Late to the party. I used to work at a body shop for years. You'd be amazed at some of the stuff they fix. These days, it looks bad, but you all have to remember, these vehicles are designed to crumple in the front and be stout in the rear. Most of the time, it's just cosmetics and on these trucks - that is easy.

I was rear ended and thankfully I had great experience with my insurance company. I called State Farm, who has been our family agent for almost 40 years and he said, pick your shop and we'll have a rental to you. We'll handle everything. I didn't have to pay a dime.

You'll have to go after his/her insurance company for the diminishing value which I hear is a PITA.

After my accident I wondered what the carfax report would say or a dealership. I 'pretended' to look at a 2500 truck and they came back out and said says it was rear end collision, which I even put down it was, they came out look at the truck and went back in and said it won't be an issue.

Only real issue is really if you sell it private. I'd think most people would say - pass. At a dealership, you wouldn't find out after you've looked at it, drooled over it, driven in an fell in love with it.. Once people find out at that point, they do go out - inspect it and can't find any evidence of an accident and are ok with it.

Cars in accidents get a bad name from the old days. Couldn't be fixed as easy as they can be today with the engineering and technology.
 

Kap1

Ex Ram 1500 2013 owner
Joined
Nov 27, 2013
Posts
679
Reaction score
557
Ram Year
2022 Tundra
Engine
3.5 vvti
Update - Finally got my truck back yesterday. Total repair bill was just over $18,000 (up from the original estimate of $14,000). The truck looks great and drives good.

There is one issue: when accelerating between 3-4,000 RPM there is a whine, sounds sort of like a supercharger whine or the old power steering whine. Easing into the from a stop or 50 MPH I don't hear it. Moderate acceleration from a stop or a roll produces the whine every time. Thoughts?
I would report this issue everyone involved (make sure it's in writing as you may need proof later ) - send out an email to both repair shop and the your insurance person in charge and state that the truck was not repaired fully after the collision and now has this noise during acceleration meaning that a damaged component was not replaced during the repair.

And don't get of their ass until they replace every single part of your truck to eliminate this noise! Or total your truck and give you a payment to buy another truck to make you whole.
 

Mr.AK902

Senior Member
Joined
May 12, 2017
Posts
276
Reaction score
195
Location
Regina,SK
Ram Year
17'
Engine
5.7
Glad to hear you're OK, never fun being in an accident. It's always hard to tell the extent of damages from pictures. Sometimes the ones that don't look so bad end up being write offs and others that look terrible end up repairable.

I am not sure how insurance works in your area, but where I live I have full replacement insurance to the tune of sticker cost of my truck new. That being said, if I had damaged like you do, I would be pushing for a write off vs a fix especially if you are not at fault. I'd much rather a new truck than the chance of a repair not done right when it includes bodywork, paint, structural and mechanical. Just too many chances of someone doing something wrong with that much work IMO.

I would say you're looking at a total write off from the pictures but again, you just never know. Best of luck and keep us posted.
 

O.R.T.

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 21, 2013
Posts
2,650
Reaction score
1,680
Location
Wessyyydddeee
Ram Year
2014
Engine
Hemi
Belt or pulley????
Jay

That would be my initial thought, belt is slacked and catching either an edge or itself as the tensioner loads up.

Could also be a bearing walking on a front spindle wrong or a slightly bent rear axle. You can't hear it at slow acceleration because the resonance isn't set up enough to be audible.

It could also be the front driveshaft stub (or joint) rusted a little from sitting during repairs and it's "whistling" at the seal.
 
OP
OP
A

adboyd06

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 9, 2016
Posts
157
Reaction score
57
Location
Rochester Hills, MI
Ram Year
2016
Engine
Diesel 6.7
Well, this chapter has come to a close. Found essentially the perfect truck and was able to make a deal. Traded in the 1500 for a 2500 diesel mega cab. Realizing the truck would never be right, finding out that since Michigan is a no-fault state a diminished value claim does not exist and not wanting to deal with the hassle decided it would be best to part ways. There is a silver lining in all of this after all and here she is.

RAM%202500%202_zpszc8y17pj.jpg

RAM%202500%201_zpsepoukun7.jpg
 

50BMG

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2018
Posts
175
Reaction score
87
Location
Michigan
Ram Year
2016
Engine
5.7 Hemi
Well, this chapter has come to a close. Realizing the truck would never be right, finding out that since Michigan is a no-fault state a diminished value claim does not exist and not wanting to deal with the hassle decided it would be best to part ways.

RAM%202500%202_zpszc8y17pj.jpg

RAM%202500%201_zpsepoukun7.jpg

Yea ADBoyd, doesn't MI. no fault insurance suck in some ways? I was hoping you would get some traction so that I might be able to as well...
I'm still pretty P.O.ed about the shafting I got in my accident which happened a short time before yours did...
Well, enjoy the new vehicle and have fun keeping that black truck looking clean in the salty MI. winters! ;):confused::eek:
Got a diesel huh? Now you have to find one of those stickers:
"Real Trucks Don't Have Spark Plugs"
LoL...
Take Care and watch out for idiot drivers!!!
 
OP
OP
A

adboyd06

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 9, 2016
Posts
157
Reaction score
57
Location
Rochester Hills, MI
Ram Year
2016
Engine
Diesel 6.7
It does and it's expensive!! Some of the DV appraisers I spoke with said if I were in any other state they were confident I could get between $6-8,000 because of all of the damage - Damn you Michigan.

Already ordered a decal that says I'd rather be ******' than Strokin'... Just kidding of course!
 

Jrod

USAF 1997-2008
Military
Joined
May 19, 2014
Posts
1,228
Reaction score
1,346
Location
Virginia
Ram Year
2016 Sport
Engine
5.7
Well, this chapter has come to a close. Found essentially the perfect truck and was able to make a deal. Traded in the 1500 for a 2500 diesel mega cab. Realizing the truck would never be right, finding out that since Michigan is a no-fault state a diminished value claim does not exist and not wanting to deal with the hassle decided it would be best to part ways. There is a silver lining in all of this after all and here she is.

RAM%202500%202_zpszc8y17pj.jpg

RAM%202500%201_zpsepoukun7.jpg

That's bad ass!
 

TXCOMT

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 30, 2014
Posts
1,159
Reaction score
1,536
Ram Year
2016
Engine
Hemi 5.7
Nice rig! I'll never own black again, but it looks sharp...love those wheels, too!

And it looks like a PO removed your B-pillar tape...score!

TXCOMT
 

BigRed4x4

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2015
Posts
590
Reaction score
235
Location
Mid Michigan
Ram Year
2014
Engine
Hemi 5.7
Well, this chapter has come to a close. Found essentially the perfect truck and was able to make a deal. Traded in the 1500 for a 2500 diesel mega cab. Realizing the truck would never be right, finding out that since Michigan is a no-fault state a diminished value claim does not exist and not wanting to deal with the hassle decided it would be best to part ways. There is a silver lining in all of this after all and here she is.

RAM%202500%202_zpszc8y17pj.jpg

RAM%202500%201_zpsepoukun7.jpg
Glad to hear it all working out and nice truck! How did you do on trade in value? A few years ago I had a little accident that was nothing to do with the structure of my truck, just fixing/replacing/painting panels and a bumper but to the tune of $9k. I'm sure I'll take a hit when I trade but just wondered about others in the same predicament.
 

Rado

US NAVY VETERAN
Military
Joined
Nov 5, 2016
Posts
6,868
Reaction score
18,890
Location
Maine
Ram Year
2015
Engine
Pentastar 3.6 V6
Congrats on your new truck and glad no one was hurt
 

likes2build

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2018
Posts
1,222
Reaction score
1,151
Location
Mohawk Valley, NY
Ram Year
2018 Express RCSB
Engine
3.6 Pentastar
@adboyd06 good for you!!!! That's a beautiful rig and I'm pretty sure that your repaired damage would have always been in back of your mind. Sorry to hear your state doesn't recognize DV claims because they're real and always part of a loss.

You tell me, a $80K truck with $40K worth of repaired damage is worth the same as a $80K truck that was never damaged and I'll tell you ********!!!!!
 
Top