So it's a beautiful day here - sunny, mid 60's. I had just completed putting my new Patriot Decals overlay on my tailgate emblem when I noticed it was pretty loose. Decided to run down to the local auto parts store fro some 3M double sided tape. Stopped at a red light on the way and SCREEEECH! WHAM!

A guy in a Dodge 15 passenger van pulling a 6x12 trailer slammed into the rear of my truck. No one was hurt - well my right shoulder and elbow is a bit sore, we'll see how it is tomorrow. I saw him coming in my rear view mirror so I let go of the steering wheel so as not to brace against it.

Fortunately the damage looks minor... wiped out my rear chrome bumper - flattened it even with the tailgate. Looks as if it slid right up under the quarter panels - no visible damage to them although the tailgate is jammed and won't open. And my back-up camera mounted on the license plate has a vertical white line - about 1/8 inch thick that moves right and left across the screen when the truck turns?

And it had been such a nice day up till then. At least the body shop/his insurance can pay for the 3M tape!


Here's pics...

from passenger side...


where tailgate is jammed and lifted slightly - check the difference in the gap


the worst bit - chrome tips used to be flush with bumper and look where hitch split bumper...


and from driver's side - the small dent this side was already there...

 

Well at least you were not injured. Hope the other guy feels like a jerk for not paying attention.

 

dude that sucks, definetly get your medical stuff looked at.

good news is the pedals are working well enough that you could stop.

take some pics, hows the frame look?

 

Sorry to hear the bad news...at least it was minor. I know how you feel...in my 22 years of driving I have been rear ended five times. The best was at the bank drive up teller. I was putting the tube back in the holder and the guy coming behind hit me so hard my car learched forward 5 feet.... He claimed his brakes were acting up. Good luck!

 

Sorry to hear that, man. Maybe it's PTM bumper time.

 

Yes Patman, you gotta love those pedals! I don't think the frame's hurt - but it's hard to say. I drove it home and t seemed OK. I
ll go out and snap a few pics.

I may be late to the wedding!

 

I would have been pissed!!! Thanks goodness your okay!

 

That's gonna be an expensive repair. Bumper damage, bumper mounting brackets bent, possibly hitch damage, bent exhaust tip, lower tailgate damage, likely damage to one of your rear side panels (of the bed). When I got rear-ended I didn't think it was going to be too much.

The appraiser found a small chip (size of a pen tip) where the bumper hit the bed, so they had to respray and re-clear the entire panel. If you have any small chips they will have to be repaired the same way. My repair was ~$1400 for a new bumper and mounting brackets, tailgate respray, respray of rear bed panel, and new FX4 decals (since they had to pull everything off the bed to respray it). Thankfully the other guy's insurance footed the bill, but it sucked because it was a several-day repair.

 

That does suck! I had a friend who got rear ended almost the same way, but the hitch took the brunt of the impact and ended up messing the frame up. Last winter a kid ran into a cargo van which then got pushed into me, not a hard hit to me, but just where the bed tucks under at the cab was all pushed in, got the kids insurance going, took it to my auto body place and they had to pull the bed in order to fix it correctly. I have to say this Screw is FUGLY without the bed on it!

 

man that sucks to see.... I would have been sick if someone had done that to me!!

 

Dude, so glad you are ok. At least your previously dented bumper will be fixed.

 

I hear you. I was a bit more worried when I realized the tailgate won't open. Because of that I can't tell if there is damage to the gate and that right quarter panel. But you're right, could lead to a respray - and I just last week had new stripes put on the tailgate - timing is everything

I guess i could have gotten pissed, and it's not that I'm overjoyed by any means, but two years ago on Christmas day I rear ended a lady in East Texas, so I understand how these things happen and getting pissed won't change anything. The guy that hit me was very apologetic and felt sick about what had happened. As I told him, so long as his insurance is good and will repair the damage, it's nothing to worry about, trucks can be fixed.

Of course now that I wrecked the front end, and he tore up the back, the car fax is not gona be a pretty sight. Fortunately I've got no plans to sell.

I'm just hoping the frame is OK.

 

Damm dude sorry to hear that but glad your ok.

 

Glad your ok. You are probably going to need everything new from the cab back. You might even need work on the cab where the bed hit the back of your cab(probably didnt check there). If you have a bed liner take it out and look for the creases in the bottom of the bed. It even looks like the gaps around your tail lights have changed.

 

Sadly you may be right. I looked again (see first pic) at damage to the right rear QP. You can't really see it in the first pic, but just n front of the bumper there is an ever so small dent in the quarter panel, but seeing that led me to discover that the QP is slightly bowed out right below the tail light - so there's no telling what damage might show up on the inside of the bed.

I can't get in there to look right now cause the bumper has the tailgate jammed shut and the tonneau is also therefore 'locked.' You can see where the tailgate is slightly raised on the right side - again suggesting more damage could be on the inside. And I do have a 'bedrug' - actually a rubber bed mat. I would not have thought to look under there -nor have I looked near the cab. I didn't think it was that hard a hit, but it's certainly worth checking. Thanks!