volaredon

My buddy has a 2000 that some 18 yo punk blew a stop sign and plastered my buddy right in the RF wheel. My buddy's is lifted and this kid was driving a little rinkydink car. He almost went right under the Jeep; only "body" damage was the pass rocker panel all cosmetic didnt mess with the opening/closing of the door; the kid had a fly by night insurance. They were a PITA to deal with but in the end my buddy got his back for $500 "buyback"; the front axle was mved over far enuf to puncture the oil pan, front control arms bent, busted a mounting ear from the front diff.
The damage was alot worse than yours. Since I am not working I went to the UPull and got him a front axle the control arms and an oilpan and he is still driving it today. 2 years later.
Looking back it was funny (not @ the time though) because this idiot kid that blew the stopsign nearly flipped my buddy over that's how hard the hit was; when all came to rest the Jeep was on top of the kid's hood.

volaredon

another one; I used to have an 01 XJ "police edition"; rubber mat, spotlight, the whole works. My then 16 yo son, spun out on an unplowed road with ice underneath 4-5" of snow, and rolled it, into a ditch. They totaled mine with a caved in roof and both pass side doors "diamonded" in the jambs; I had no doubts it would be a total, as soon as I saw it laying in the ditch on its roof. this was like a week, maybe 10 days, after my buddy's wreck in the post above. I thought I was gonna buy mine back, as everything bad on my buddy's was still fine on my XJ, we were gonna take the parts from mine to fix his; after all, my buddy from the post above and i had just overhauled my front diff like 6 weeks prior; all new bearings seals and U joints;
that was until State Farm told me mine would be a $1100 buyback; I told em "forget it"; we wound up fixing my buddie's for less than 1/2 that amount. Thank God for U- pulls and 1/2 price Wednesday! and mine was hauled off somewhere. It wound up better anyway as I got him a HP front diff to replace his LP version, and the one in my 01 was another LP version.

Here's the part I really don't get; His XJ; 2000 model 180-some K miles on it, power everything, "nicer" interior, his buyback was $500;
Mine was a '01, 170K miles plain police pkg interior, much worse damage, and my ins co wanted to charge me $1100 to be able to get mine back; I fought and argued and told them about my buddy's recent wreck and $500 buyback, and they tried to claim that a 2000 and an 01 model, were "vastly different">>>> BULL$#!T !!!!!!
they then went on to tell me that this was what they expected at auction and explained to me how one works (no $#!T Sherlock, I used to work at an auction house) and then, that they average the last 10 XJs that they totalled out what they sold for at auction; and they were wanting the "average" between those previous 10 as their buyback price.
I countered with, if I keep it they would have no tow bill or storage fees til it went across the block; but they claimed that was all "free" I KNOW the tow bill was at least a couple hundred, as it was an independent guy from way the other side of Chicago that came after mine; the tow truck guy came almost a hundred miles to get my Jeep' they played me for stupid "just came off the boat"; like I don't know nothin', so I let them have it for what they gave me, and bought my wife's current 97 with just over 1/2 what they paid me for the '01, and got a fully optioned out '97 "country" model XJ, that's got the o/h console and everything else possible to get on an XJ except power seat, leather seats, trailer tow (I have the hitch from my old 01 anyway) and ABS (which the 01 had and did nothin to keep my kid topside up anyways) and my 97 had 70K less miles on it when I got it, than the 01 the insurance company took away.

Chickenfloss

TLDR

Yeah, that is some bull. I guess it really depends on what insurance company is gaining possession of the vehicle. I used to go to auctions with a family member who sold cars. Many don't even let you try and start the vehicle. You just walk around and do a visual inspection and bid and hope for the best. As a result many of the auctions for older cars stay well under that kind of a price. If caved in and over 150k I wouldn't see it bringing much over $500, if that. I think they should also knock off some extra for not having to mess with title problems, and paying man hours to sell it.

ol'DixieJeep

if the cost to fix is more than 40% of the value they total them. atleast thats what it is here in MO...

but that **** will buff out...

Dutchess

Did any of the airbags deploy? i crashed mine recently and my pass airbag went off....1300 to replace...i bent my pass frame strut, 1800 to fix, in total it was pushing 6000 to fix (with cosmetic repairs too) and all i did was rear end a van going 35.....any insurance company is gonna quote you close to a trillion dollars! so be careful

01cherokeexj

None of the airbags deployed, the adjuster is giving me his final estimate on Monday or Tuesday so we will see what he has to say.

Dutchess

Best of luck man! seriously i know how you feel and it sucks...

01cherokeexj

So as an update, the xj was totaled out. My dad and I both agreed that we would take the insurance check. I didn't have the time, tools, or skills to bring my xj back to its former glory. After searching through Craigslist and many different auto websites, I couldn't find a Cherokee that I liked. Don't kill me, but I got a 98 tj, 4.0 5spd, 112,xxx on it when I got it back in late January. So far I'm loving it, had a couple of problems with it, namely e brake wasn't working, friend helped me fix it, then a tire came off on the freeway, thanks to chp and a $180 tow got the tire back and then took it to my buddy's shop who helped me fix the damage to the drum, then alternator went out, fixed that. Happy to be back in a jeep, still missing my xj. Anyway, here are some pics of my tj.

cubfan

I think its nice, i dont understand why so many of us xj guys on here get so mad over wranglers, dont hate the wranglers or other jeeps, hate the idiots who drive *most* of them. Best of luck with your new jeep, looks good!

basegrinder

I heard the formula is 80% of replacement cost as well... .... because there's always something that comes up...

My GC got totalled, it was a 95, 150K... PERFECT leather and clean carpet. They paid me $6,200. But it was USAA which is a kick *** insurance company

01cherokeexj

Thanks! I hope to take this one where I was going to go with my xj, this one might just get bigger tires than I had originally planned for my xj, seeing as it came with 32 BFG at/kos. And I can see why the xj owners hate on the wrangler owners, the wrangler owners hate on the xj owners. It's a never ending cycle, I say just get along with one another. Everyone has a reason for what type of jeep they have. Granted everyone is entitled to their own opinion, doesn't mean you always have to share it. Anyway, I'm done with my rant. Happy Jeeping everyone!