On the way to work this morning, a large portion of an oak tree crashed down upon my Jeep while I was driving along.

The hood is destroyed, the windshield didn't break, but the metal surrounding it buckled. The driver's side fender was ripped off, and the quarter panel was mangled. The tire carrier is bent and broken, and the soft top caved in around the roll bars. The driver's door and mirror and pretty messed up and the rear quarter panel and the rocker panel are damaged as well. Even better was the clutch that I burned out while escaping a larger part of the tree crashing down.

I made it to a family friend's driveway, as this was all during a storm, and finally took myself out of danger.

I returned to the scene to pick up my panels and survey the scene in the GF's Liberty. The officer that responded to the downed tree was surprised that I wasn't dead. In reality, had I not been driving the JK, I would be.

I'm going to try to put up some pictures, but uploads aren't working too well on free Wifi.

The question I pose to the forum is what to do. I live in D.C. and I would obviously like to keep the Jeep, if State Farm even lets me. And I can be reimbursed for the damages directly. I already sent an email to River Raider asking for their help, but I need to make a decision by 5 today. Any ideas would be appreciated, I just want to maximize the benefit of this less than ideal situation.

Please help.

 

Sorry to hear about that!

Looks like State Farm will have to go and appraise it first, then let you know if it is a total loss or will give you money to get it fixed. They should be hooking you up with some sort of rental/loaner car for the time being.

Glad you are alright! Good luck man.

 

scary. That storm this morning was pretty wild. 2.5 inches of rain in 30 mins. Whats with the crazy ass storms we have had lately?

 

They want me to make the decision on the spot as to whether I get it repaired by one of their shops, or if I will take it elsewhere. If I give it to them, I won't be able to influence the repairs or process at all.

If I choose to take it elsewhere, then they'll send out an adjuster. But if they do that, they won't allow me to change my mind. The whole process is beyond frustrating.

 

Pics or it didn't happen! Sorry to hear about the damage. The important thing to remember is that no one got hurt. Possessions can be replaced, people can't.

 

As the consumer you have the right to choose which shop does the work for you no matter the cost. They have shops that they deal with directly because these shops work off of agreed repair/replacement numbers given to them by State Farm. My advice, have it looked at by their adjustor and get the estimate. After that, take it to a couple other shops and have them look at it to see if there are any differences in estimates. If there are differences you can get State Farm to pay what's called a "supplement".

 

Here's a link to the photos on Picasa. If anyone can transfer them over I'd appreciate it, trying to work off my phone.

http://picasaweb.google.com/mrwillia...eat=directlink

 

Here ya go:

 

holy cow! That's insane. So Glad you are safe!

 

This is would be a good excuse to upgrade to a AEV Hood, Bushwacker Fenders and Bestop Trektop.....just an idea!