Well guys,Was not a good week last week in Phoenix. We had a massive hail storm here, dropping hail up to tennis ball sized. Truck was where it always is, out in the drive. My garage is too small for the truck. The entire truck is now peppered with small to medium sized dents. Glass made it fine but all the rest of the sheet metal, especially on the left hand side is peppered. House as well, with almost $5000 in damage there.They are now offering me to total it out and take the truck and give me $11.5k cash. Other option is to total the truck and put a "salvage title" on it with me keeping the truck and giving me about $7.5k in hand. First off I like the truck and really do not want to lose it. Could care less about the dents but again it would look better fixed. As well I have finally debugged the truck, putting a drawstraw, Edge-Juice w/Attitude, Airdog and TransferFlow tank/tool box on the truck, so do not want to lose all of that. Has anyone else been through this and have any suggestions? I would be a lot happier keeping the truck if they did not force me to "salvage title" the puppy. A new hood, paintless dent repair on the roof would go a long way and just do not see its being a salvage vehicle with this type of damage. That said, I am planning on keeping the truck so have to factor that into the mix as well.Thanks,Joe

Richie, Thanks much. Well kids, the hole gets deeper! Now find out from the AZ DMV that once any vehicle is titled salvage that it cannot be driven in this status! Trick to it is that you have to get a "phase 3 inspection" to put it into a "repaired salvage" catagory then you are allowed to drive it. Can be done at the same time but just another hoop (and $8 processing fee) to jump over. Hey Mike, I am not getting any notifications when a new post is made on this thread. Before you ask, I have "instantly using email" selected below. Thx, Joe

On the email thing, did you set that after you made this thread? I noticed it has to be set then make a thread. I set it once then didn't want any more email so canceled it but I still get emails if someone replies to the threads I had being emailed to me during the time I had it enabled.

Have it set all the time to "immediate response" but it does not seem to work with me. I have made the replies "immediate reply" and have not gotten any with this thread at all. Heading to the inspection place in an hour. Here in Arizona they make you do a "level 3" inspection ($50!!!) to allow you to drive the vehicle after its been "salvaged" which is a total crock with a hail damaged vehicle.

Heading to the inspection place in an hour. Here in Arizona they make you do a "level 3" inspection ($50!!!) to allow you to drive the vehicle after its been "salvaged" which is a total crock with a hail damaged vehicle.

Sounds like "revenue enhancement" to me..... But Richie is right. Any second gen body style will fit on your truck including the whole cab!!

It was! Two bloody hours sitting there doing nothing for an inspection that took 3 minutes. People there were nice but their boss had overbooked them by about double so they were going crazy with vehicles to inspect. Now that this is done I get to return to the DMV and with my new inspection form they will give me a "Salvage repaired title" and I am good to go!

Well finally got things finished. I now have a "salvage/repaired" title and check in my hand from the insurance people. At least now I can use the funds to fix the truck and make some improvements!FT

Well finally got things finished. I now have a "salvage/repaired" title and check in my hand from the insurance people. At least now I can use the funds to fix the truck and make some improvements! FT

You did what I would have done in this situation. Take the money, get a salvage title, enjoy the bonus, and drive the truck. Find a local paintless dent repair (PDR) guy. Dent Wizard, Dr. Dent, etc. Let a PDR guy work on the truck for a day and I bet it will look pretty darn good and you'll still have a pile of cash in your pocket. I've used PDR guys a couple times and if you find a good one, they can do amazing work.