Sons new truck hit

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dhay13

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Son texted me early this morning asking me for suggestions on body shops. We have a good friend that owns one so I was confused by this. So he sends me pics. Turns out he was at work and a guy sideswiped his 2021 2500 Cummins with an excavator and they want multiple quotes. He isn't happy obviously. He has a camping trip planned for this weekend and leaving Friday but his passenger door won't open so I told him he could take my truck. Truck only has 12,000 miles on it. He said he is going to try for diminished value too cause he was rear ended in his last truck and they only replaced the bumper and hitch and when he traded it they dinged him for it.
Probably not good when you hit the safety guys truck...lol
 

crash68

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if that truck was in a scuffle with an excavator and that's all the damage there is, your son is lucky. Normal vehicles usually don't fair very well to construction equipment.
At a friend's workplace, one of the co-workers vehicle parked in the wrong area found out how much damage a 150 Ton rock truck does if it just grazes the front bumper. It didn't got a body shop for estimates, it was how much the car was worth to the junkyard.
 

Dean2

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Tell whoever wants multiple quotes to get stuffed. At least around here, they did the damage, they do NOT get to pick who fixes it. The lowest quote is not what you want when repairing a nearly new truck. OEM door, fender etc installed and painted by a top body shop is what I would be insisting on.
 

Jim BB

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Agreed ****** i worked in a collision center and around here you have your choice on who repairs your vehicle! So i would go to 3 reputable dealer ships for estimates have them write it with replacement OEM parts IE door fender name plate tire possibly rim alignment ect and hand that to them ! if they don't want to pay that then call insurance company tell apraiser what dealer it is at and tell them thats where you want it fixed
 

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Ouch...that sucks.
 

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I would bet a dollar that if you take it to 5 quality shops all the estimates will be within a few dollars of each other. I personally would want to get multiple quotes (by multiple I mean more than one) I mean multiple could mean two and I would want that just to make sure the first place didn't under bid.
 
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dhay13

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He went to our friends shop and it was about $6000. The GM dealer he went to was about $4500 but he isn't sure of the difference. But I do know my buddys shop will go over everything with a fine tooth comb, including alignment, etc. He also wrote it up for 2 new tires since the fronts are worn past 1/2 way and said he doesn't like having a new tire with a pretty worn tire so he writes it up for 2 tires.
 
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dhay13

dhay13

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And the truck was drug backwards about 18" too. You can see the tire gash is at the bottom and it likely was gashed in line with the Ram emblem on the door and there were skid marks from the truck being moved. Wheel looks ok. Running board is scraped up too.
The door wouldn't open but my buddy had his guys bend it a little so it will open and close now. But the GM shop said they can't get it in the shop until October due to them being busy. My buddy said he can squeeze it in if he can get the parts and get it done soon.

Luckily he had his mirrors folded in or would have probably taken that off too.

And yeah, we are aware of only needing 1 quote but they asked for 3. He only got those 2 and said he may just turn in the 1 cause thats where it will be going anyway
 

tron67j

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Sorry to hear this. I second the quotes with OEM for anything replaced, no aftermarket "like quality" crap. It rusts out, is never stamped correctly, and is just generally cheaper materials.

Good luck
 
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dhay13

dhay13

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Yeah my buddy's shop only uses OEM unless that is not an option.

And yeah he already asked the shop how to go about the diminished value thing. His 2018 was rear ended and they had to replace the bumper and hitch and when he went to trade it in they saw the carfax and said it didn't matter how insignificant the damage was, it was still damaged so not worth as much
 

Dean2

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Carfax is a good tool. No matter how you feel about it, a vehicle that has had 5 or 10 thousand bucks worth of repairs is plainly not worth what a pristine vehicle is. Collect the diminished value up front because it is a truly real and legitimate impact of being damaged. I know my 1996 2500 is worth a lot .ore due to the fact it has never been repaired and by a significant amount.
 

Fatbob Frank

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if that truck was in a scuffle with an excavator and that's all the damage there is, your son is lucky. Normal vehicles usually don't fair very well to construction equipment.
At a friend's workplace, one of the co-workers vehicle parked in the wrong area found out how much damage a 150 Ton rock truck does if it just grazes the front bumper. It didn't got a body shop for estimates, it was how much the car was worth to the junkyard.
You should see what the excavator looks like...
 

Mr John J

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Son texted me early this morning asking me for suggestions on body shops. We have a good friend that owns one so I was confused by this. So he sends me pics. Turns out he was at work and a guy sideswiped his 2021 2500 Cummins with an excavator and they want multiple quotes. He isn't happy obviously. He has a camping trip planned for this weekend and leaving Friday but his passenger door won't open so I told him he could take my truck. Truck only has 12,000 miles on it. He said he is going to try for diminished value too cause he was rear ended in his last truck and they only replaced the bumper and hitch and when he traded it they dinged him for it.
Probably not good when you hit the safety guys truck...lol
He can take it to his body shop of choice. You let the insurance companies settle it.
 
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dhay13

dhay13

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His company paid for 2 new tires already so he would have a spare for their trip this weekend but he already knows where he is taking it, just waiting to hear back on when they can get the parts and get it scheduled
 

Randy Grant

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Most, if not all insurance company's will try the multiple shop bull. Few have tried with me, but law says my choice, and I told them so. Especially if it is another persons fault. Going through a claim from someone hitting me in May, and the other insurance is supplying a loaner plus $1000 for the inconvenience.
 

Roncad

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Just went through this 2 years ago with my dually. You will most likely have to sue the insurance company/excavator owner to prove diminished value. Unless there is serious structural damage they will deny your claim and "refer it back to the repair shop if you felt it was not repaired to your satisfaction". You will also have to hire a professional assessor to write an estimate of diminished value at your expense ($300-$500). An estimate from a dealer for trade-in value will be rejected as mine was. Being a retired used car wholesaler and dealing with trade-in values, yes, they will try to "ding" you for a bad Carfax or Autocheck showing an accident, but that is just to steal your nice truck, unless it has structural repairs. Having a Carfax history is a good/bad thing depending if you are buyer or seller. Take LOTS of pictures everywhere to show the next buyer of that truck the damage as well as keeping a copy of the body shop bill to show them. You will have the most amount of success by retailing the truck with the pictures as most of us wont have a problem with purchase if we can see the previous damage. I lost in court because my truck was 10 years old with 117,000 miles, and a previous insurance claim when I caught the top of the bed with my gooseneck trailer, even though it still had a value of close to $30,000 with now repaired frame damage, AND it lost real value because of the repaired frame issue. Judge said I needed an expert to assess real loss, after I explained to him "I am an expert after selling thousands of cars at auctions for 38 years!", but he thought he knew more than me. As far as a paint shop to do the work, you can use anyone, but..........find one that will do insurance work as well as one who restores and/or paints custom cars. Their work will be the best.
 
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