Have to share.

I woke Bob up pretty early the other morning to see if he’d go grab me a couple of things at a gas station (all night truck stop) about 15 miles down the highway. Being the wonderful guy he is, he grumbled a bit and rolled over into his boots. Vince was all eager at the thought of this early morning excursion (Echo and Garrett fast asleep) so off the two of them went. I figured they’d be back in about ½ hour.

15 minutes later I hear my Jeep pull up and in comes Bob, quite visibly shaken. He’d hit a deer, head on. Smashed in grill, radiator leaking. Said he got it turned around and made it home just as the temperature was hitting max and I WOULD NOT be taking it to work.

He drives transport trucks and had one of the rigs home for an early start, our Dodge was in the compound at his work. He’d made a couple of the emergency calls (police, highways and the insurance co.) but of course no answers that early. No worries, told him I’d take care of the phone calls when things started opening up and popped a couple of emails to my bosses.

Tragic, sad, a pain in the butt but it could have been worse. I was happy they were both okay (Vince had absolutely no effects, a bit excited when he came in but it was more like – hey mom, that was cool… I think we got dinner.

No problem, it’s fully insured, we’ll get it fixed and I’ve got a snow day, well… a deer day. 15 phone calls later, the tow truck gets here around 3:00 and it’s dollied off.

Get home last night and there’s a message on my answering machine. It’s the insurance company and they’re TOTALING my Jeep. Could I go to the salvage yard, sign transfer papers and get anything I might want out of it. You guys, the air bags didn’t even go off.

I’m a little shocked and going through a bit of nostalgic mourning (this was my vehicle) and Bob says, “Well, you better get on the internet.”

I don’t think he had Leerburg in mind but I know you guys are some pretty smart cookies. We haven’t had to buy a new vehicle in years. Any ideas on a good SUV type vehicle? Mine WAS a Liberty – loved it but could have been a bit better on gas.

Geeze, the air bags didn’t even deploy. A little front end damage and they’re totaling it? (I’m still shaking my head in disbelief).

I think you can keep it and get a salvage title at least I did with my motorcycle not sure if its the same with a truck/car.

Someone backed into my bike and knocked it over so the insurance co totaled it cut me a check for blue book value and I kept the bike
with a salvage title.

I know all to well about the deers being from New England there were plenty I had some close calls on a snowmobile and bike could have been kinda like the guy on the mountain bike and gazelle.

Hey Joe, it’s an older one, an ’03, but it was fully loaded, up to the automatic, electric (whatever you call it) sunroof and was in perfect shape (Bob keeps a pretty close eye on them, being that we live so far out of town). The guy on my voice mail said something about $8,900.00.

I’m hoping that’s low so maybe he’s given me some wiggle room to negotiate a bit more. But I just can’t see there being that much damage.

If I was to get these salvage rights, do they still give you the full amount the vehicle is worth? Bob’s heading out to talk to the salvage guys (told him to bring the transfer papers home - gotta think about this). I’ll get him to get some pictures and see if he wants to ask about this. Thanks for that. It may be a great option.

And yeah... those deer hey, I've had a few close calls too but never hit one like that.

I'm pretty sure you can tell the insurance Co your keeping the jeep, you own it and have them cut you a check it's a win win. like with my bike I kept a perfectly good bike and got $3000 win win, but I'm guessing your jeep has a bit more damage.
My bike to me like your jeep is probably worth more to you than what you could get out of selling it, just guessing?
I figured free money because I wasn't planning on selling it anyways.
I'm in Ca so not sure of other states, the salvage title I picked up at the DMV or junk title varies from state to state. The Ins Co gave me full blue book value on my bike and it only had a bent clutch lever and a scrape on the fairing.

As with all things knowable ... GTG (Go To Google)

http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2011/04/20/truth-totaled-cars/

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=t&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2005-13,GGLD:en&q=keep+totaled+vehicle

CJ, I'm so sorry to hear about your husband's accident. I'm very glad that both he and Vince were unhurt.

We had something similar happen with one of our vehicles several years back. My husband was in the process of turning left into our driveway one day and got clobbered by a driver coming from behind at a high rate of speed who tried to pass him as he was turning. The only visible damage was to the left front, but when they got it up on the hoist, they found a lot of damage to the whole front-end assembly, so the insurance company decided to total it.

We thought about keeping it, but we were advised by the insurance company that they would deduct the estimated salvage value from our check, and we also would never be able to carry full coverage on that vehicle again, even if we fully repaired it. We ended up giving them the car and taking their settlement check, which really was a fair amount.

I'm sure insurance company practices vary from state to state, and from the U.S. to Canada, so it may be different where you are.

As far as what to get if you do replace it, I'm partial to Fords, since my husband is a retired Ford Motor Company employee. Our everyday vehicle is an '01 Mercury Mountaineer, which is perfect for having two big dogs in the back, and if we had to replace it today (since they don't make Mountaineers anymore), I'd be looking at the Ford Explorer or Edge, or if I thought I could get away with something smaller, the Escape.

Just like men: send them out for a loaf of bread and they bring home the bakery. (Vince's "comment" about having gotten dinner.)

Very glad the husband and Vince are okay. Must have been quite the impact.

Some while back, someone did a hit-and-run on a vehicle of ours; insurance company cut a check that day--totaled the car when it really only needed a front quarter-panel (cosmetically speaking only). We continued to insure/drive it.

I, too, have a Jeep--a Wrangler--can't think of driving another vehicle. Slammed a shiny, new Lexus once head-on (their fault, their ticket)going about 40. (I have my airbags shut off because I'm so close to the wheel.) The Lexus had to be towed and the Wrangler didn't so much as have a scratch. Great front-end. The other party's insurance company called to verify that I didn't have any damage after they saw what happened to the Lexus.

I know that you didn't like the mileage on your Liberty (and with all your dogs you can't go Wrangler), but if you love Jeeps, I hope that you can be happy with something else.

Last vehicle that was totaled on me, they included the various purchase transaction costs like sales tax in the settlement. After all, if you are going to replace the vehicle, you will have that additional cost.

So glad your hubby and Vince are alright!

 Quote: Sharon DeGaramo

I, too, have a Jeep--a Wrangler--can't think of driving another vehicle. Slammed a shiny, new Lexus once head-on (their fault, their ticket)going about 40. (I have my airbags shut off because I'm so close to the wheel.) The Lexus had to be towed and the Wrangler didn't so much as have a scratch. Great front-end.

Very similar happening with my hubby's Wrangler...only it was a Mercedes that ran the red light...luckily right in front of a off duty police officer

Back on topic, years ago, my hubby mistook a small pond for a muddle puddle. Put his H3 deep in the water and drowned it. It had no body damage whatsoever and yet the insurance company totaled it. He was told it was done for, yet was able to start it up and take it around the parking lot when he went to get his belongings out of it. It was definitely some type of a scam, but it worked out for us as it was a lease and we wanted to be out of it.

When I was still working our insurance company totaled one of our jeeps and offered a very low amount.

We argued and got significant more because of the shape it was in pre-accident.

If you have records, photos and just argue it can sometimes pay off.