Totaled Wood Hauler

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Grif

Grif

Member
Nov 19, 2007
11
South West Michigan
I cut wood with my father in law on Sunday and afterwards returned to his house for a bit before heading home. We heard the unmistakeable sound of an automobile crash coming from the front yard and walked out to discover an 82 year old man's white Buick crashed into the back of my 1975 Ford wood hauler pickup full of wood. He fell asleep at the wheel but fortunately was OK. Since my vehicle was parked at the time of the accident, his insurance has to pay. The adjuster came out today and within about 10 seconds told me that this would probably be totaled. I love this truck! He said I can buy it back from the insurance company after they run the numbers.

I have a feeling this isn't going to turn out well...
 

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looked like a solid old ford. Bummer, maybe you cacn fix it enough to haul wood and get a nice check from the insurance.
 
The adjuster says I'll have my answer within two days. It's not a show truck by any means but was a solid, rust-free Texas truck. I figure I've got about $4,000 into it over the years but have it to the point where it's reliable any time I want to jump in it and cut wood. New tires, air bag suspension, wheel bearings, etc... I wouldn't hesitate to buy another Ford tough truck from the same vintage if I do end up losing this one.

As it is now, the tail gate won't open, the tail light is busted out, and one of my air bag shocks is popped. If I could get those things fixed, I could have it back hauling wood but I'm afraid it won't ever be as pretty as it was.
 
That's a shame. Glad to hear you were done loading the truck when this happened.

pen
 
Having shopped around for a good old truck for hauling wood, I can say that it isn't necessarily the monetary value that hurts so bad, it's that they can be impossible to find in suitable condition. You may get a check, but it'll take you five years to find another truck like that! Darned shame, really.
 
if the frame is straight you could buy it back at salvage rate,take left over ins. money and put on a used flatbed
 
M said:
if the frame is straight...
Click to expand...

That's the critical thing. Hard to tell from the pics...obviously lots of sheet metal damage, but that was a substantial impact on a heavily loaded vehicle. If you think you want to salvage the truck, see if the insurance company will spring for a professional inspection & report before you decide. Might make sense, might not. If the frame's bent, probably not. In any case, the insurance company isn't gonna pay you much for that truck...when the guy says you can buy it back as salvage, you might already be in the hole. Then you still have to fix the truck. I'm really sorry this happened, and really glad nobody was injured. Rick
 
Even it's not, it shouldn't be that much work to twist it back straight on a frame machine.

I'd put a dumpbed on it, setup rear for duals... that'd be my dream work truck. Of course with a Cummins under the hood too.
 
My condolences on your loss...

My advice: don't take the first offer, there is always room to negotiate.

Know what it would take to buy a replacement in the same condition as your truck (CL adds, Autotrader, etc.) Maintenance records, add on part receipts, etc. can all be a consideration in the valuation of your salvage vehicle.

Get what you can negotiate from them, then buy it back and fix it up to your standards. KBB/Edmunds dealer retail is a good starting point, but you can do better if you can substantiate and convince a reasonable adjuster. It might be considerably easier than finding a known good truck.
 
This is the part of auto insurance that is frustrating. You will never get what you feel it may be worth. His insurance company should provide you with a rental of equal size. I don't know if you may also have a loss of use claim as the truck is obviously going to be down if not out. There is much room for negotiating. Don't forget, insurance is there to put you back to where you were pre-loss, not for you to make out better.

It is just rotten when you put all that money into keeping it going, and they want to give you minimal value. If the appraiser won't budge, there is a claim adjuster pushing files around that will want to make the claim go away. Good luck.
 
A bed from a junk yard shouldn't be much if the frame is OK.

If they do the math with all new parts it's likely to be way over replacement value.


Cab, engine and trans should be worth $200 if they allow a buy back for that price.
That's what I was offered, but I went through a stone wall with mine. Just about everything but me was pretty much bent.
 
What a PITA. The value of that was in its reliability, usefulness, and the sentiment and the insurance doesn't take that into account. I have old tools that would have zero resale value but do the job as well or better than a newly bought high end tool.

Good luck with whatever you do.
 
Looks good to me! ;-) My dads a t.v. repair man, awesome set of tools!
 
Thanks for all the replies and sympathy. Fortunately, the frame was not bent and a new bed is all I need. I'm still waiting to hear from the insurance company but they told me it could take a couple days to get a value on a truck this old. The adjuster told me they'll look at prices of similar trucks sold recently and use that for a valuation. Good luck finding many trucks like this one that sold recently.

I'll post an update when I hear from the insurance company. I'll probably end up keeping the truck and searching for a bed from a junk yard.
 
Sorry to see this. I have a 1976 Chevy K20 that I primarily use for wood hauling... I'm slowly fixing things (new metal, paint...etc). My biggest worry is if someone hits me, I will have a very hard time finding the same truck for the money they may offer - its exactly what I have wanted for a long time...

Good luck and I hope it works out for ya....
 
That is a darn shame! I hope you make out ok. That is one of the problems with running old stuff. It is never "valued" at anywhere near what it is worth. If anything like that happened to my old Ford I would be in the same boat. I have heard, but not looked very hard into it, that there are ins companies that will write "agreed value" policies on older trucks and will still let you use them. These guys might. http://www.racensur.com/
 
Grif, that could have been much worse! Glad everyone is okay and good luck on the truck. Get the wood out before they haul it away.
 
Totaled just means "Not worth insurance money to fix" - doesn't mean the vehicle is junk.

Your truck got hit in it's least-hard-to-fix spot - the rear end. Heck, you can make a bed out of wood if you want for really cheap. You are gonna want to make sure the frame is straight, the axle and driveshaft are good, etc.

The irony behind stuff like this is sometimes, SOMETIMES, the vehicle winds up better off through the replacement of worn out parts anyway :)
 
My Ford Escort got hit in the front( someone turned left in front of me), insu co totaled the car.
I kept the car, and they only took of $100 off the settlement price. I banged out the dents for the most part and replaced the windshield and the air bag and drove it for another 50K miles :cheese:
And pocketed the $1800.
 
I think you should build a custom bed for the truck. Underneath toolbox for straps and chains, headache rack and while your doing it you should put a crane,hoist to haul up the big stuff. I have big ideas when it isn't my time or money.
 
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