Wife totaled her Jeep WK2 Hemi

Apparition said:
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.
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It’s crazy how much it costs to fix even a minor fender bender.

Researching earlier this week we’re adding 11 million vehicles to lots every year due to being totaled out. It’s more every year.

With planned obsolescence in modern cars there’s a big concern. At some point a brand new car won’t even be on the road in 10 years. And who’s going to want to fix a Tesla that’s been sitting in a field for 5 years? Garbage.

The electrical systems are all interconnected and work in modules that have to be re-programmed. With auto driving features rear brakes are being used more and they are not big enough and pads are needing to be replaced at 20k! Don’t worry, you only need software and the right sequence of button pushing to change the pads. Crap.

My TJ will run forever with maintenance and minor repairs. The high point of vehicles seems to be mid 90’s to early 2000’s. If things don’t change we’re in trouble.
 
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JMT said:
It’s crazy how much it costs to fix even a minor fender bender.

Researching earlier this week we’re adding 11 million vehicles to lots every year due to being totaled out. It’s more every year.

With planned obsolescence in modern cars there’s a big concern. At some point a brand new car won’t even be on the road in 10 years. And who’s going to want to fix a Tesla that’s been sitting in a field for 5 years? Garbage.

The electrical systems are all interconnected and work in modules that have to be re-programmed. With auto driving features rear brakes are being used more and they are not big enough and pads are needing to be replaced at 20k! Don’t worry, you only need software and the right sequence of button pushing to change the pads. Crap.

My TJ will run forever with maintenance and minor repairs. The high point of vehicles seems to be mid 90’s to early 2000’s. If things don’t change we’re in trouble.
Click to expand...

Did the airbags deploy?

My mom had a deer hit the side of her Explorer that set all the airbags off other than the dash ones. That car even had airbags in the rear seat belts that deployed.
 
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Apparition said:
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.
Click to expand...

The cost to repair is insane. I was an insurance adjuster in 2015/2016, and it was to the point where "minor" front end bumps or rear endings were totaling vehicles because the cost of all the sensors and equipment reprogramming would put them right over the cost to repair limit before being totaled. That is even worse now with anything that has some level of self driving, auto braking, or auto cruise.

One of my neighbors who is well known for being on her phone and driving crazy hit a mailbox about 3 houses down from her with her Explorer. It cost around $4k to fix the car. +1 mailbox. :LOL:
 
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Zorba said:
Uh-huh. More of the worldwide societal cost of the smartphone, and these fools will defend their actions to the grave!
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Yeah her husband was pissed. Was driving home from work and saw him at the neighbor's house digging for a new mailbox. I was like what happened man? He goes "my f'n wife can't drive so now I get to install a new mailbox for them haha".
 
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JMT said:
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.

View attachment 666666

View attachment 666667
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I'm sorry Jeremy.
Some comments:
First: it looks fixable but we all know how insurance goes.
Second: that hemi and auto would be nice in your LJ:)
Third: I don't recommend a used high end SUV (especially German). The parts and service costs are ridiculous.
Finally, for towing, a Tahoe with an LS or something similar would probably feel better. I used to tow with a V8 WJ and it did but stepping up to a longer wheel base vehicle was a very large improvement. Here's a list of 7000# plus towing SUVs from Motor Trend 2 or 3 years ago: https://www.motortrend.com/features/suvs-crossovers-that-can-tow-7000-pounds
 
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jeepguy03 said:
One of my neighbors who is well known for being on her phone and driving crazy hit a mailbox about 3 houses down from her with her Explorer. It cost around $4k to fix the car. +1 mailbox. :LOL:
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My stepmother did similar with her newer Acura. 1 mailbox did $6K in damage to the car, hood, bumper cover & 1 headlight had to be replaced. The headlight alone was over $2,000.
 
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Zorba said:
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.
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I talked our insurance (Liberty Mutual) out of totaling my daughter's car during COVID. It was a very well maintained and mechanically excellent Mazda 3 that had a bunch of non-structural body damage from being scraped by a trailer while parked. They offered an OK price (if you based it on KBB or Edmunds etc.) but the market at the time was crazy and we could never have replaced it for anything close to that number. I pleasantly explained this and asked them to just fix it, which they ultimately did (no lawyers required).
 
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BlueC said:
My stepmother did similar with her newer Acura. 1 mailbox did $6K in damage to the car, hood, bumper cover & 1 headlight had to be replaced. The headlight alone was over $2,000.
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Sounds familiar. There's a hot chick at work (pretty sure she's trying to get my number, but that's a different thread) that drove over a curb and hit a sign to avoid getting hit by a wrong way driver. 2020 lexus rx350 She didn't use insurance and didn't want to talk about how much it's cost so far. Today she told me the mounting tabs for the headlight are broken, and a new headlight is close to 2k. I laughed and said maybe you should drive into signs minding their own business. Don't think she likes me anymore lol
 
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speeding_infraction said:
Today she told me the mounting tabs for the headlight are broken, and a new headlight is close to 2k.
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I don't doubt it. I hit a coyote years ago and broke the tabs off of a housing. A new replacement at that time was around $700-800, and I didn't want to pay that. About 2 hours of work and a tube of JB weld later, I had that light fixed.
 
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bbaldwin237 said:
It doesn't say if it has the tow package, but did you see this one in Kennewick?
https://www.facebook.com/share/1AtLjHficM/

There's also this one in Puyallup, but it's quite a bit more expensive.
https://www.facebook.com/share/16yt6Hjyuy/

I'm going to Tacoma tomorrow and could run out to look at the one in Puyallup.
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There is a site online (I'll look to see if I have it saved in all my bookmarks) where you can put the VIN number in and it lists all the options, including the tow package. I had to enter all the ones I was looking at before I bought mine, since so many Hemi WK2s didn't come with tow package. The tow package includes rear load-leveling springs, the trailer wiring and module ($$$ to have dealer install and program it), the hitch and the heavier duty cooling.
 
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jeepguy03 said:
There is a site online (I'll look to see if I have it saved in all my bookmarks) where you can put the VIN number in and it lists all the options, including the tow package. I had to enter all the ones I was looking at before I bought mine, since so many Hemi WK2s didn't come with tow package. The tow package includes rear load-leveling springs, the trailer wiring and module ($$$ to have dealer install and program it), the hitch and the heavier duty cooling.
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You should be able to use the monroney/window sticker link with the VIN, should work with any FCA product:

“http://www.ramtrucks.com/hostd/windowsticker/getWindowStickerPdf.do?vin=“
 
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JMT said:
It’s crazy how much it costs to fix even a minor fender bender.

Researching earlier this week we’re adding 11 million vehicles to lots every year due to being totaled out. It’s more every year.

With planned obsolescence in modern cars there’s a big concern. At some point a brand new car won’t even be on the road in 10 years. And who’s going to want to fix a Tesla that’s been sitting in a field for 5 years? Garbage.

The electrical systems are all interconnected and work in modules that have to be re-programmed. With auto driving features rear brakes are being used more and they are not big enough and pads are needing to be replaced at 20k! Don’t worry, you only need software and the right sequence of button pushing to change the pads. Crap.

My TJ will run forever with maintenance and minor repairs. The high point of vehicles seems to be mid 90’s to early 2000’s. If things don’t change we’re in trouble.
Click to expand...

2003 k2500 Suburban 496/8.1L 340h.p. 455 lb.ft. ..... ;)

2003_chevrolet_suburban_DSC_0025-36883-scaled.webp
 
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