My wife got into an accident earlier this week and I’m concerned that we’re going to get less than fair treatment. If it can be fixed back to all its glory then I’m totally cool with that. I’m afraid it will never perform the way it did with the amount of damage that was done.






The Spring shot out.

 

The damage is pretty severe.. trust she and no one was injured...did any air bags deploy? many of the damaged can be replaced; HOWEVER, 2013 year. most insurance companies have a formula on $$ damage as a % of market value. Get with a competent reputable body shop for the estimate. Don't let the insurance company convince you into the owner takes the pictures and they send you a check. Do your research on Utah Insurance regulations/requirements are and what your protections are in Utah. Based on your pictures you are probably close to the Total Loss numbers.

 

I wouldn't be shocked if that was totaled for insurance purposes. Pretty ugly. As far as suspension, axle, wheels and all that goes no big deal at all really as you can and weld on new brackets, swap new axle in, etc. It doesn't look like the frame took a lot of damage. The real issue I think would be engine-related maybe. Looks like all the oil escaped as the oil pan took a beating. Did she kill the engine really quick? Any other obvious engine damage? You could have some hidden things like steering box damage that aren't visually obvious.

I'd be curious to see how the numbers play out....what they might total it for and what they'd want to buy it back. The numbers might not make a lot of sense. I am curious what happened there to cause the front axle to buckle under the jeep. Looks like maybe the lower control arm brackets sheered right off and then as the axle flipped the uppers got bent around.

 

she was headed straight through an intersection and a car making a left hand turn, turned right into it hitting the driver front tire almost straight on. I’m guessing that seized up the axle and between that and the driveshaft is what caused the torque on the axle.

Yes the yoke turned and put a pretty large hole in the oil pan, I’m not sure how long it ran, maybe 5 minutes.

I’m concerned about the T-case, tranny and engine. I had a full steersmarts system with tierod, draglink and gearbox re-enforcement, plus high steer. The arms were MetalCloak, it’s pretty crazy the axle castings gave before the arms. I’ll keep the thread posted, it’s a pretty decent shop right now, we’ll see how they handle it. I may reach out to a local Jeep shop like just 4 fun and see what they think.

 

What I would do (if possible in the US) is demand they write it off then ask to buy the salvage and fix it up. Then you have to keep it forever unless when you wanted to sell someone wanted to buy that had cash as it would have a salvage title.

 

It's pretty common to buy em back here in the states. Buy it back as a salvage, do the repairs and it then gets titled as "rebuilt". That's how it works here in Texas at least, and there's a decent market. I own 2 rebuilt titled vehicles myself. Obviously the rebuilt title demands a decent discount relative to blue book value. Sometimes the numbers make sense, sometimes not. Typically a huge x-factor is if you can do most of the work yourself as it costs a lot to pay others to do everything.

**One caveat to a rebuilt title is you're not going to get full coverage insurance on it. No insurance company is willing to total a vehicle out twice, so you're likely only able to carry liability after that.

 

You always have the option to not have the insureance cover it and fix it yourself.

 

I think since they werent at fault, it would be best to get a check and buy it back. As long as the frame isnt horribly tweaked, if they give you a check for $25k it can come back better than it ever was before.

 

I have full coverage on my JKU with a rebuilt title, i am with Allstate

 

Interesting. I've been told no-way when shopping insurance before here in Texas....though googling after your response it does look like this is hit and miss from company to company and coverages extended vary. Brings up an interesting question, if that vehicle was in another accident and totaled out again, I wonder what kind of discount to market value they'd apply given a rebuilt title.