My '04 Titan is No More - Totalled

gedunk · 09-25-2007, 06:50 AM

I was exiting a freeway last Friday and had to brake quick because of stopped traffic before merging to the frontage road. The Titan brakes worked great. Unfortunately the maroon Tahoe coming up behind me didn't stop in time and slammed into me doing ~40-50mph. Although I was forced into the truck in front of me, my airbags did not deploy. The front end of the Tahoe was completely trashed and looked really bad. First glance at my truck made me think it came away pretty good. However, when I stepped back and looked from the side, it was clearly buckled in the middle. I couldn't tell if the frame was bent but the bed obviously was. Luckily, neither of us had any serious injuries and I feel as though my Titan definitely saved me.

Service King told me yesterday that they are going to total it because of some minor buckles in the frame itself. He mentioned what a hard hit it must have been since these trucks are so stout. So, my hope is now that her insurance, USAA, will cover what I still owe and not try to low-ball me. I am clueless on how this process works and I'm going nuts driving the rental. No question as to what vehicle I will search for. I loved my Titan and will hopefully soon be driving a 2008 model.

Any advice in this situation is appreciated. I have past pictures in the photo gallery if anyone's interested. I'll try to post a couple of damage photos here soon.

**Carbeaux** · 09-25-2007, 06:55 AM

Sorry to hear about your truck, but glad to hear you're OK. I've heard lots of good things about USAA, so hopefully they'll do the right thing for you and have you back in another Titan in no time! Best of luck.

gedunk · 09-25-2007, 07:02 AM

So far, everyone has said that USAA will do the right thing and has a good reputation. We will see. Thanks for the comments.

tholmes · 09-25-2007, 07:27 AM

I was going to say the same thing. I have USAA and they have always been great. The one wreck I had 7 years ago, they gave the victim all the asked for. Wasn't much, just $2500 worth of damage (I was backing out of a spot and they ran it to me, but I was backing out. Creased their front fender and driver door).

**HudsonValleyTitan** · 09-25-2007, 08:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gedunk

I was exiting a freeway last Friday and had to brake quick because of stopped traffic before merging to the frontage road. The Titan brakes worked great. Unfortunately the maroon Tahoe coming up behind me didn't stop in time and slammed into me doing ~40-50mph. Although I was forced into the truck in front of me, my airbags did not deploy. The front end of the Tahoe was completely trashed and looked really bad. First glance at my truck made me think it came away pretty good. However, when I stepped back and looked from the side, it was clearly buckled in the middle. I couldn't tell if the frame was bent but the bed obviously was. Luckily, neither of us had any serious injuries and I feel as though my Titan definitely saved me.

Service King told me yesterday that they are going to total it because of some minor buckles in the frame itself. He mentioned what a hard hit it must have been since these trucks are so stout. So, my hope is now that her insurance, USAA, will cover what I still owe and not try to low-ball me. I am clueless on how this process works and I'm going nuts driving the rental. No question as to what vehicle I will search for. I loved my Titan and will hopefully soon be driving a 2008 model.

Any advice in this situation is appreciated. I have past pictures in the photo gallery if anyone's interested. I'll try to post a couple of damage photos here soon.

Forget about the truck as long as everyone is ok! The truck can be replaced...you can't be. With that said, glad all are fine. As long as you don't own more than its' book value, you'll come out ok financially. I guess someone is telling you it's time for a new truck...lol.

erickb · 09-25-2007, 02:24 PM

1) That sucks
2) glad everyone is ok
3) USAA rocks, you should have no issues

**BULLTITAN** · 09-25-2007, 02:29 PM

Sorry to hear about your truck, glad your OK, USAA is the best, I'm sure they will do right by you.

master_1011 · 09-26-2007, 03:43 AM

I'll go ahead and jump on the USAA bandwagon. It is true, they do rock. When my car was broken into, and all my radio equipment was stolen (radio, amps, capacitor, etc)....USAA replaced it all (after my deductable, of course).

And my rates didn't even go up

MrHunter602 · 09-26-2007, 12:43 PM

Just remember that as great as everyone says they are, they are probably going to try to lowball you on the value of the vehicle. Its what all insurance companies do. You need to decide the "replacement" value of your vehicle. That includes the conidtion, mileage, new tires, accessories, etc, etc. I would start pulling ads from the AutoTrader and other sources of where vehicles are sold.

They are going to throw a # out to you and 99% of people that dont know any better just agree and sign the papers. This is where the negotiations start as far as Im concerned. You might have to meet in the middle, but make sure you are treated fairly. Make sure they pay for the time of your rental car till the time you settle as well.

Another major factor when dealing with a major collision like that, is to make sure that you dont have any injuries that could be ongoing. People come back months after an accident (and months after they settled with the insurance company) and claim they are having back or neck issues. Obviously this wasnt just a fender bender, so make sure that you are COMPLETELY ok before signing off on an injury settlement. They are really going to push you to settle right away to avoid any other fees being incurred or injuries coming up at a later time. And remember that an injury settlement and a physical property settlement are completely different and can be settled completely seperate of each other. Regardless of what the insurance company trys to tell you.

I have gone through this mess personally and have followed this path, so this is first hand experiance. It can get very frustrating but you need to stay with it and make sure you get what is truely owed to you. I also work for an auto finance company and have to deal with situations like this quite often.

And as a little known fact, because I have this issue over and over again every month, make sure to make your payments on the truck when they are due regardless of whether you are waiting for an insurance company to pay it off or of you are trading it in. The finance company doesnt have anything to do with your vehicle except for the fact that its collateral. Not paying and waiting could damage your credit report 30 days after your payment is past due. Anything that is paid over and above what you owe to the finance company will be returned to you via a check.

And on the last note, I am glad to hear that you are ok. Im glad you were in a Titan and not in a Honda Civic or we would be reading this in a different forum.

Good luck with everything and if you have any questions, feel free to ask. Ill help with what I can.

baseballfanz · 09-26-2007, 12:52 PM

Sorry to hear about the Titan, glad you're OK.

gedunk · 09-26-2007, 01:03 PM

That's some really good information and I certainly appreciate it. Only a couple months ago my wife was served papers 2 years to the day for a personal injury/mental anguish lawsuit resulting from a similar, although much minor, accident. She was the middle car of a 3 car 5mph accident from a start at a red light where everyone stopped really quick. No police report was made. Damage was so minor we didn't even bother with trying to fix it or filing a claim. However, the person in front of her filed on our insurance and they paid like $500 total damages at that time. Luckily, our insurance company again settled with the person out of court when we submitted the new claim information.

My point is that although I am certainly expecting to be "made whole" in this current situation, I do not want to be like the person in my wife's accident and file for frivolous claims. I have been to my dr. and his x-rays were negative and pointed out that I could have discomfort from this for up to a year. I just got a call from USAA this morning and they have officially accepted responsibility for all the damages to my truck. We are now awaiting for their staff appraiser to go to the body shop and it's my assumption they will make the offer to me after that happens.

Should I expect that offer to simply be for their appraised value of my truck or should the offer also include injury/potential injury claims? Thanks again.

rvandam · 09-26-2007, 01:14 PM

Don't you have comprehensive insurance of your own?

**chunko** · 09-26-2007, 01:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gedunk

That's some really good information and I certainly appreciate it. Only a couple months ago my wife was served papers 2 years to the day for a personal injury/mental anguish lawsuit resulting from a similar, although much minor, accident. She was the middle car of a 3 car 5mph accident from a start at a red light where everyone stopped really quick. No police report was made. Damage was so minor we didn't even bother with trying to fix it or filing a claim. However, the person in front of her filed on our insurance and they paid like $500 total damages at that time. Luckily, our insurance company again settled with the person out of court when we submitted the new claim information.

My point is that although I am certainly expecting to be "made whole" in this current situation, I do not want to be like the person in my wife's accident and file for frivolous claims. I have been to my dr. and his x-rays were negative and pointed out that I could have discomfort from this for up to a year. I just got a call from USAA this morning and they have officially accepted responsibility for all the damages to my truck. We are now awaiting for their staff appraiser to go to the body shop and it's my assumption they will make the offer to me after that happens.

Should I expect that offer to simply be for their appraised value of my truck or should the offer also include injury/potential injury claims? Thanks again.

Glad to hear the titan did well (relatively speaking) and no injuries. If you say you are fine, I would expect KBB nothing else.

Hopefully you are not upside down on your truck...

gedunk · 09-26-2007, 01:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rvandam

Don't you have comprehensive insurance of your own?

I certainly do.

gedunk · 09-26-2007, 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adavis99

Glad to hear the titan did well (relatively speaking) and no injuries. If you say you are fine, I would expect KBB nothing else.

Hopefully you are not upside down on your truck...

From what I've looked at there is a couple of thousand in negative equity. But, I have no idea what scale I should compare to......trade, private, retail, etc. Then there are all sorts of variables I'm sure the appraiser will come up with. I have a few mods but I'm sure those will be negligible in their calculations. Rims, tires, toolbox, etc.

I'm definitely not fine with regards to health. I mean I function as before the crash but there is soreness in the neck, shoulders, head, etc. In other words, no broken bones or severe trauma.