Baystate Jeepers

Currently Jeepless.....got t-boned Sat. night in the Comanche. Guy went right through a stop sign. Very repairable but must deal with his insurance which will probably total it. No injuries, thankfully. He caught my passenger cab corner, bed and rear axle tweaked. Passenger side rear leaf broke, time to upgrade to metric tonnes I guess.

Question: First accident in 28 years of driving, do I want to avoid a salvage title if they try to total it? Should I just pull the claim and go after the driver and owner in small claims court?

Oh ya, my fiance punched a pole with my WRX an hour before this. What a crappy night.

Crappy night ?? I would have said something a little different ! Thank god no one got hurt. From what you said they will scrap it. There is a guy on NE Jeeps that has a mint Manchee minus the tailgate 25.00. Its a blue shortbed,auto. Want me to check if its gone or not ? Glad your okay. FjR68

That really sucks Steve! I'm glad you are all ok!

Glad to hear you are OK.

A couple of years ago my Saturn was "totaled" when it got rear ended by a pickup.
I called the insurance company and I was able to buy back the Saturn for it's estimated junk yard value which was around $250. The car and title never left my posession.
They just deducted the $250 off the "totaled value" and sent the check for the balance to me.
No change in the title at all.
Fixed up the car myself for zero. Still driving it today.

Hopefully you can do the same with your Jeep.

FUN FACT! You will NOT get a salvage title!! I totaled my 1998 TJ last year. Due to its age, you do NOT need to get a NEW title!

Kurt is right, they do subtract a value if you do decide to keep it. And, if you do keep it, be sure that you tell your appraisers. I had to "hide" my jeep after they deemed it totaled, since they were deteremined to sell it at auction.

what a way to start 2013! Glad you are ok Steve. From the looks at the rest of the posts...you are all set! Hope it turns out well for you!!!

That sucks Steve!! Good luck with it...

JW

Thanks all for good advice! The towing company gave me a heads up that if they want to total it they will try and grab it with their wrecker and I'd never see it again. So I got it towed to the garage I am currently working at and locked it inside. I'll post some pics later tonight.
Thanks again you all put my mind at ease.
I will not surrender my Jeep!
@Frank, thanks but I love the long bed.

EDIT: pics below........




Filling the shop with my stuff....Left to high right, Jeep, my WRX and Cheryl's VW Golf w blown timing chain.


WRX front end teardown...

Steve, I have a nice set of aftermarket projector headlights that would fit your WRX (they replace the entire front lens assemblies and include turn signal high & low beams)... They offer a much better headlight pattern than stock and are bolt-in to the factory locations and plug directly to the factory harness connectors.

I'd make you a deal on them if you're interested. Currently they are painted black (color of my old WRX), but the trim is easily removed and repainted.

JW

Crap Steve, glad you're OK though!

@Jon, thanks. These are after market headlights on the WRX, fortunately they survived, so I'm good.
@Joe, thanks, hope your truck is fixed soon too!

glad you're OK! And one more vote for the advice you already got. Keep the Heep and cash the insurance check (minus the scrap value)

Insurance adjuster came by Wednesday morning, have yet to hear the final figures, however, since I am keeping it no matter what, I got it fixed today! New "metric tonne" leafs in the back with new U-bolts. Took it home and it drove fine.

SteveB wrote:Currently Jeepless.....got t-boned Sat. night in the Comanche. Guy went right through a stop sign. Very repairable but must deal with his insurance which will probably total it. No injuries, thankfully. He caught my passenger cab corner, bed and rear axle tweaked. Passenger side rear leaf broke, time to upgrade to metric tonnes I guess.

Question: First accident in 28 years of driving, do I want to avoid a salvage title if they try to total it? Should I just pull the claim and go after the driver and owner in small claims court?

Oh ya, my fiance punched a pole with my WRX an hour before this. What a crappy night.

So sorry Steve. Please PM me your vin# and mileage once you have been quoted a repair figure. I can run salvage bid for you. Have been auto claims examiner for 20 years. You will not need a salvage title since Jeep over 10 yrs old. If other party has insurance coverage go after his carrier first. Any witnesses or police at the scene? Small claims can be a crap shoot sometimes and magistrates are not always consistent with their decisions. who is the other insurance carrier? good luck.

@Rob,
Other insurance Co is Hartford Casualty Ins. I don't have collision so my Ins. agent told me my company won't go to bat for me.
Hartford Casualty has told me via phone that they are accepting 100% liability.
Police at the scene, other driver had 2 passengers, no citation issued.
Filed a claim on 1/2 and heard nothing till I made a pest of myself on 1/7.
Trying to be a nice guy, told Hartford I would forgo a rental,(which they offered) and got car out of storage, saving them an additional 7 days storage @$35 a day. Lets see if their nice to me.

Thanks