Am I in the twilight zone? He said water got ONLY up to the BOTTOM of the oil pan and they totaled it. Did you read that and HOW would getting water in the starter be enough for an insurance company to total your vehicle?

 

He wrote that water ONLY got up to the BOTTOM of the oil pan and you translated that to mean that the sunk the jeep in the ocean? Something isn't right in suburbia.

 

Uhhhhh. I write estimates for a living and I deal with this every day, and I have been for the last 15 years. I'm baffled by this whole thread! Maybe it's just my a.d.d and I didn't read it thoroughly. I'm baffled Things don't add up.
1. why was it in the ocean?
2. they totaled it why?
3. why the low settlement? You're gettin screwed!
4. and why the thumbnail pictures?

Can you post a copy of the estimate?

I went back and read it again. At first it sounds like a little bit of water but you state the "INTERIOR". If interior needs to be replaced you sir were beyond the 30" of water fording allowed by Jeep.
Does not add up!!!!!

 

I am baffled as well. What really throws me off is the fact that people actually wrote that they UNDERSTAND why the insurance company totaled it. HOW??? From the original, post he was listed to one side and water just touched the oil pan. This means that he wasn't even in water over a foot. Looks like BS to me. I mean, look at the third picture where "this is when the water got deep" and it is only like 8".

 

This is what led me to believe it was sunk and not just kissed by a passing wavelet.
Suburbia, I don't know nothing about, but if he says the water was just touching the oil pan, and the insurance company totaled it out, I'm willing to bet the truth lies somewhere between that and sunk.
no one is saying we understand why the insurance company totaled it. It was said, by someone other then me that they can see HOW it could be totaled, but going by his itty bitty pictures there is not really much else we could see.
But why would they total it? What is in it for them, are they in cahoots with DC to total Jeeps instead of having them repaired? follow the money, just who stands to profit from this "crime"? I just don't see where anyone stands to gain from this, infact, it seems, everyone looses. The insurance co. pays for the drowned Jeep, Roddogg looses a lot of money in having the Jeep totaled, the dealer doesn't get to bill for the drying out and clean up that wouldn't be covered by warranty. Just all tends to leave me believing that the Jeep really is a total loss.
If you see it differently, thats great, just explain to me, from what little we really know, why you think that could be so. I'll listen, I don't care, I don't have a dog in this fight, I could even be convinced to see it a whole 'nother way I may have missed.

 

Here's how it usually works: Inthe event there is "water damage" the insurance co will almost always total a vehicle. The reason is this. In the event they fix this vehicle that has "water damage" they OWN it. In other words, from here on everything that happens to this vehicle the insured will come back to them and claim it as part of the "water damage". However, there has to be a significant amont of "water damage" or a possibilty of water damage.
The $19,000 estimate I'm sure is padded to "kill it".
Trust me the insurance is not in bed with DC. They just want to limit their liability. The easiest way to do it sometimes is just to total the vehicle.

 

I think you just said what I was trying to say, only you did it better.
I didn't mean to imply that there was any connection between DC and his insurance company. In bed or any place else. I was saying, unless there is significant water damage, they would not have totaled it. I understand the limiting liability, other than that I see no other financial gain in totaling it, unless it really is near totaled.
So I think his being pissed at DC is a touch misplaced. I think in a way, the dealer did him a favor telling him this went way passed a warranty claim, and to go with his insurance. Now his insurance may be lowballing him on the value of his Jeep, but that would be a separate matter not involving DC.
I also see where he would have been rather upset if the tide was rising and the Jeep would not start when he tried to move it. I can understand him feeling it is a warranty claim, but realistically, if the damage is that great, you can't expect the dealer to repair everything under warranty, DC won't approve that. And the "limiting liability", preventing future claims caused by the water damage, for DC, would be insentive enough to denigh the claim. If it is valid, now its up to his insurance company to go after DC for the value of the Jeep.

 

BINGO!

 

This sounds like a great V-8 conversion starter package... Find out if you can buy it back from the insurance company. Or, just let me have the 4:1 transfer case and rear axle out of it and call it a day. Good luck.

 

I do a lot of surf fishing...my JK Unlimited is my 7th CJ/TJ/Wrangler...in 35 years I never "sunk" one, although I came close several times...never had a starting failure or traction problem in wet sand to the high tide line (fluffy dry, bottom of the dune stuff is another story)...sorry to hear about the problem, but man, ya gotta move it back when the tide starts coming in!