Wife totaled her Jeep WK2 Hemi

[JMT]

A week ago Wednesday my wife had an accident in her 2017 Jeep WK2 Hemi. She and my daughter are fine thankfully. It really sucks because this car was really working for us. Had the 5.7L, tow package, and auxiliary cooler. Towed up to 7200lbs and I was able to tow the TJ with it.

I know tomorrow insurance is going to come back and total it. Body shop estimate is $14,817. Now I’m going to have to fight these punks to get $19,000 out of it.

There’s none of these for sale around here. Lots of the 3.6L, but not 5.7’s with the tow package. There had been one until this morning and it sold for $18,985.

I’m looking for other ideas. She won’t want anything older than 2017. I’m looking at Porsche Cayenne and the Dodge Durango 5.7L. Both can tow 7,000+. Anyone have any other ideas? She won’t want a truck or anything too large.

 

[Zorba]

You can often fight an insco "total" - I've done it twice just by being an asshole and not giving up. Also: Find a non-injury attorney - not easy, but probably worth it at the numbers you're talking about. See about suing. Don't settle.

 

[jeepguy03]

Ugh that sucks, how many miles on it?

They are definitely hard to find. It took me several months to find my 2019 WK2 hemi with the tow package. It's also crazy to me how many v8 wk2s came without the tow package, you would think that would be standard.

 

[JMT]

Ugh that sucks, how many miles on it?

They are definitely hard to find. It took me several months to find my 2019 WK2 hemi with the tow package. It's also crazy to me how many v8 wk2s came without the tow package, you would think that would be standard.

85,000 miles.

I found a few Dodge Durango’s with the 5.7L Hemi around the W side of WA. Looks like a similar vehicle to the wk2

 

[gasiorv]

I think the Lexus GX/Toyota Land Cruiser has a 7000+ lb tow, but I haven't looked it up. My neighbor just got a navigator and she likes it, but it may be something bigger than you are looking for. Going to be tough to find something in that midsize SUV range with over 5000 lbs.

 

[jeepguy03]

85,000 miles.

I found a few Dodge Durango’s with the 5.7L Hemi around the W side of WA. Looks like a similar vehicle to the wk2

Mine is right at the 65k mark. As far as the Durango, they are very similar. My neighbor actually has a 2020 Durango with the 5.7L. Seems very similar platform-wise but with a slightly different interior. I think the Durango is a bit more focused on performance where the Jeep has the off-road bits.

 

[GATORB8]

Assuming she want's something smaller than a full size, MB GLS550s pop up on Autotrader (AWD,V8,<$20k,>2017). I'd personally lean towards MB over Porsche from experience. I wouldn't touch any German if you are outsourcing repairs though. V8/AWD/7500lb towing.

https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for...&state=NC&vehicleStyleCode=SUVCROSS&zip=28217

Full size seems to open up options significantly.

 

[lBasket]

Towing the Jeep with a Porsche would be baller, so I vote the cayenne

 

[JMT]

I think the Lexus GX/Toyota Land Cruiser has a 7000+ lb tow, but I haven't looked it up. My neighbor just got a navigator and she likes it, but it may be something bigger than you are looking for. Going to be tough to find something in that midsize SUV range with over 5000 lbs.

I can’t believe how expensive those Toyota’s are for a 2016-2019. Wow.

 

[JMT]

wouldn't touch any German if you are outsourcing repairs though

German is not the direction I’d like to go either. This is a narrow field of options.

Land Rover has a model that will pull, but they’re even worse.

All the new car garbage stuff is coming true right in front of me and it’s frustrating. If it were me I’d find something from the mid90’s early 2000’s, but it’s not.

 

[GATORB8]

I can’t believe how expensive those Toyota’s are for a 2016-2019. Wow.

A generation of Dad's telling their daughters to buy a Toyota because it's reliable has done crazy things to their resale market.

 

[JMT]

Full size seems to open up options significantly.

We got out of a 2014 Yukon before this. They’re big, and that 5.3 wasn’t enough. The WK2 pulled better, drove better, did everything better, and got better gas mileage.

 

[JMT]

I forgot to mention the Jeep Grand Cherokee Eco Diesel. It may pull decent. They’re pretty rare, but I did find one a short flight away in Seattle area.

I need to look in Boise too.

Problem with accidents is you need a car ASAP and it’s hard if you need something specific. Takes over your whole life, and I need to be working on the Silver Fox.

 

[lBasket]

I forgot to mention the Jeep Grand Cherokee Eco Diesel. It may pull decent. They’re pretty rare, but I did find one a short flight away in Seattle area.

I need to look in Boise too.

Problem with accidents is you need a car ASAP and it’s hard if you need something specific. Takes over your whole life, and I need to be working on the Silver Fox.

She doesn't want to drive red jeep so you can take your time??

 

[jeepguy03]

German is not the direction I’d like to go either. This is a narrow field of options.

Land Rover has a model that will pull, but they’re even worse.

All the new car garbage stuff is coming true right in front of me and it’s frustrating. If it were me I’d find something from the mid90’s early 2000’s, but it’s not.

Yeah I wouldn't go German unless you plan on doing repairs yourself, and frequently. I say this having owned several BMWs. My father also had a 2009 Mercedes GL450 SUV before his 2013 WK2 V8 and now his 2020 WK2 V8. The M-Benz was nice, but repairs and maintenance were so expensive. His had factory 20" wheels, and back then there were only two tire options (both run flats) and they lasted exactly 28k miles before being bald and shredding, each time. He estimated over the 90k miles he owned it, he spent $10k easily just in tires.

The GL450 did pull his twin axle dump trailer pretty well, and the looks he got with that setup were hilarious, but the Hemi Grand Cherokee pulls it just as well, I would argue his 2020 that has the ZF8 automatic tows it even better than both the GL450 and the 2013 6-speed WK2 V8 did.

I looked at trucks before buying my 2019 WK2 V8. I tow a 16ft dual axle trailer with my Kubota tractor on it, and while trucks are better for towing, it's hard to beat the versatility of the Grand Cherokee. Parking a truck where I work on campus and in the city would be a nightmare, and driving around something that enormous didn't sound appealing. Not to mention any decent truck selling for the same price I paid for my Grand Cherokee would've been 10 years older and with more miles.

Unfortunately I'd avoid the EcoDiesel. I looked into them before buying my 5.7L Grand and the EcoDiesel seemed like an emissions nightmare from my research.

 

[GATORB8]

I forgot to mention the Jeep Grand Cherokee Eco Diesel. It may pull decent. They’re pretty rare, but I did find one a short flight away in Seattle area.

I need to look in Boise too.

Problem with accidents is you need a car ASAP and it’s hard if you need something specific. Takes over your whole life, and I need to be working on the Silver Fox.

Since Carmax will ship, may want to pull a stack of comps from them and immediately send the adjuster the list when he makes the first total offer. "Doesn't look like that covers, we're good with any of these?"

Carmax would be easy because they'll fix anything wrong with it, so you could basically pull the trigger sight unseen.

 

[D's Jeep Wrld]

I forgot to mention the Jeep Grand Cherokee Eco Diesel. It may pull decent. They’re pretty rare, but I did find one a short flight away in Seattle area.

I need to look in Boise too.

Problem with accidents is you need a car ASAP and it’s hard if you need something specific. Takes over your whole life, and I need to be working on the Silver Fox.

The ecodiesels are pretty damn cool !
I helped on deleting one and the aftermath and I was impressed with the power it outputs,I'd be confident on it being able to haul 7k pounds!
I've got a 2021 gladiator and it seems to pull 5k pounds no problem! Not a direct apples to apples comparison but it's an ecodiesel too although newer
-Edit if you were to get an ecodiesel,I'd recommend cleaning the intake plenum,They get caked up from the the egr! That's the reason I deleted that jeep. The caked up plenum and because of that it was running poorly,But you don't gotta worry about that stuff once it's deleted

But I definitely understand the situation on needing something now,ASAP! That's how it was with my Lj I wanted/needed something now! So I bought and what sucked is that months later I found an Lj of my year and same color but a rubicon with the exception of a blown locker for the same 11k I bought my sport model Lj for

 

[JMT]

Since Carmax will ship, may want to pull a stack of comps from them and immediately send the adjuster the list when he makes the first total offer. "Doesn't look like that covers, we're good with any of these?"

Carmax would be easy because they'll fix anything wrong with it, so you could basically pull the trigger sight unseen.

View attachment 666714

Great! Done!

 

[Apparition]

Damn that sucks.

Mrs App hit a deer last week with her Explorer, looking at it from 20 ft if you don't know what you're looking for you'd never even know. Still $6k to fix it.

 

[bbaldwin237]

Dang that sucks! Glad they are ok though. We love our WK2 Trailhawk, but it has the 3.6. I've towed a boat that was around 3500-4000 and it handled that no problem. But a TJ on a steel trailer would be at least 1500-2000 more. Hopefully you can find another one. I'll keep an eye out on this side.