Only had the Scrambler a week, Moron pulled out in front of me

Going to work this morning and guy in a Tracker pulled out in front of me swerved to miss and Bamm!! I end up on the top upside down suspended by the lap belt(thank God for that). My buddy owns the body shop and the guy has good ins. so it will all work out. Anybody got a good full hard top for sale around Arkansas Haha ( no seriously ) I'm gonna need a new top, and I'd rather get a full one than another half. It tore up the bed cap on both rear sides, seperated the seams in the bed, crushed the top, bent steering wheel ( I probably did that) busted windsheild, bent windsheild frame. crumpled hood (think accordian)both front fenders are toast, grille may can be fixed. it didnt seem to hurt the doors, The frame and most of the tub are in good shape. The little 258 ran upside down for a second, till I turned the little beast off. When the wrecker turned it over It started right up and pulled back on the road for the tow to the shop. It really impressed me. Im still hyped with adrenaline. Called the boss and he told me to take the day off, so i'm gonna try to round up some parts at the local yard for the build up that is about to ensue.

Sorry to hear about the Scrambler. Glad to hear you are okay. Sounds like it is repairable. That's good. Did you actually hit the Tracker?

No I did'nt hit the tracker, swerved to miss it and went baja in the bank branch's yard. the police ruled it failure to yeild on the tracker though

Glad to hear you're alright.

Since you are ok...how bout some pics?

Good to hear that the Tracker got tagged with responsibility.

Just be sure that you do not get the vehicle totaled. Check out the threads here to get the best from the Inshurance guys. You can get comparables on what a Scrambler actually sells for as opposed to what their Blue Book says it is worth. That should help you to set you right. Otherwise they will claim like $1500 and total the vehicle and take it.

Do a search and talk with Big Walton. He just had same sort of incident. No flip though.

Carl

Dude, that sucks!! I'm glad you are alright. Take to heart what Carl said.

Truck

PS. I have a full ACME hard top for sale, $900 to you. I just don't know what shipping would be.

glad you are OK

sorry to here about the scrambler and you are OK. If you have not yet you should have a check up by the doctor. When the adrnalin weres off You are going to hurt. This sound alot like my accident. I strong suggest that you start value reserch as insurance companys total old jeeps just on the excuse to do so (my opinion) I can tell you that the jeep I rolled over was totaled bought back from the insurance company, and rebuilt. I still have it and it still runs most of the time. but it is never the same. IT also has NO VALUE WHAT SO EVER. YOur wreck is currentlly worth more than my running jeep. BW's accident is more recent than mine but Get prepared, Go in with information and you may break even with this.

My body shop guy is my friend, so I've got someone on the inside. He rough estimated they would value it at 10,000. ( I made it to the body shop befor the jeep got there ) The guys ins is from state farm, and they gave my father-in-law 8k for a pos 91 z71 not to long ago. And, no they are not going to get it away from me no matter what they want to give me. Anyone can see (ex. ebay ) what the fair market value is on one of these limited production jeeps are.
The newspaper photographer was there snapping pics, and he is supposed to mail me some when he gets them. So i'll post 'em up when i get them.

My accident is nothing compared to what yours sounds like, but I can tell you a couple things...

The ins. company won't buy off on the "limited production run" dealio, it's a stock Jeep that was sold like any other. I had enough trouble getting them to agree that my Postal was one of only 230. Having the postal service documentation of them helped immensely.

What did your friend think they'd value at $10k? Your Scrambler??? That would be great, but it would be a first. Is this a seriously clean, restored example?

Go to eBay and start printing out any completed auction that looks like the same condition as yours. Look around other places for For Sale postings and what not too. Collins Brothers and Toybox Jeeps are good if you have a really clean Scrambler. What you don't want is a bunch there that are obviously better than yours, that will put off the ins. guy thinking you're just trying to get money.

Stay on the ins. adjuster. Get dates when things will be happening and call them if they don't make their deadlines. Don't be accusatory or a PITA, just check in to keep your claim in the front of their mind.

Did you get a bill of sale with the purchase price you paid a week ago? That will be your best valuation tool unless you got some crazy deal and then you might not want to bring that up

Glad that you're ok and i hope things work out for you in the end.

I know that they wouldn't give me more for the limited prod. but they all (cj8) go for a lot. Mine was a no rust original w/ 67k miles, the only thing lacking was the paint job. and it was that ugly poop brown to begin with.
What do you mean deadlines for the adjuster? In my past experiance they just cut you a check and you do what you want with it. Example: my Wife just had a wreck 3 weeks ago, which is supposed to be fixed today!!, and the ins. co. had the adjuster come out to the body shop and he wrote us a check after we looked it over good. Yeh I did get a bill of sale. But like BW said I dont konw if that will help me, I got a decent deal. and I think it is worth at least 3k more than what I paid

I don't know what type of car your wife has, but I'd bet the adjuster was a lot more familiar with it and the prices for parts and repairs then on a 20 yo Jeep

My guy had to go off and do research and what not on both the values of the things I'd done to mine (lift kit, etc.) and the cost. If you're in the area where the repairs and all might be close to 2/3 the value of the vehicle, there might be more to go through.

I stated from the beginning that I DID NOT want them to total it. This is the main reason why it took a while and required research. When I said that and told him about the rarity of the vehicle, we got into a whole different level of estimation.

You don't want them to total it either if you have ANY interest in the value of it... this will complicate matters, especially with the extent of the damage to yours. Even if they give you $10k, only $6,666 is needed in parts and repairs before they total it out.

Sure, they could total it and you could buy it back and come out ahead, but as Jeremy mentioned, it will basically render it valueless to resell in most cases unless you find a real jeep purist that also doesn't care about resale/salvage titles.

Well, In Arkansas If the vehicle is over 6 years old, there is no title destinction on repaired or salvaged vehicles. And they transfer to other states as a clean title. So I dont know if salvaging it will actually have an effect on the value, ( which in the situation that I would be selling it, I would disclose that it had been in an accident)

bshewmaker said:

Well, In Arkansas If the vehicle is over 6 years old, there is no title destinction on repaired or salvaged vehicles. And they transfer to other states as a clean title.

Click to expand...

Whoah, well then you're set regardless as long as they give you enough value for the repairs...

That law just doesn't seem right to me though... wow. I guess as long as there's also a full-disclosure law that's well heeded and enforced it's not a big deal. Just seems odd compared to what I (and others) had to deal with. Wish mine was that simple, would have saved a lot of headache.

Glad your OK ..... Keep your spirits up

thanks juice man,
Well BW thats the thing, There's not a law, and obviously its not enforced. It's alright for me, but what about Joe blow's grandma that buys a 2000 Jeep grand cherokee ( My wife's car that is being fixed -former post-haha) and its been salvaged and she doesn't know about it till she has wal-mart change her oil and the attendant comes back and tell's her that the full circle weld on the sub fame is cracked -just for example. But anyway, I am going to come out all right with it, however like I said I would tell whoever if ever I sold it to ( not planning on it) that it had been in an accident.

To fix that top rail on the tub, lots of people like this one.

Glad you are ok! Sorry to hear about the jeep, but hopefully you'll get it back together soon and with a new paint job!

Glad your OK, good thing you were wearing your seat belt. Man what if the Tracker would have kept on going? Did anyone else see it?

Several people saw it, busy intersection. Actually, had a few people stop and ask if I needed witneses. I took there name and numbers.

Glad to hear you are OK, and that the right guy will be criminally and financially responsible. Also cool that you have a buddy who does body work.

Lastly, I'd like to point out that the factory set up (half top and rollbar) really seemed to come through for you. I realize you did not tumble of the side of cambleback, but still, stock parts and a lp belt saved you from serious injury.

Not to say a good cage is not needed for a lot of people, but I feel a littel better until I put one in.