Jeep was rear ended and WON!!!

blackwidowkj06 · **Posted:** Mon Mar 19, 2012 4:28 pm

Xodius wrote:

blackwidowkj06 wrote:

The truck that hit me

That should buff right out! Glad you are ok. You should be able to buy back the KJ and it is a good idea for a trail rig. I thought about keeping mine and using it for that. Then I thought more about it and thought, wait, I have a JK now, screw the KJ! Although I do miss it. It was a darn good KJ! Just met up with the guy last week and it was nice to see.

Reading the police report, the guy apparently drove his truck away from the accident. There was a NO under the tow part. I will be happy either way; KJ gets fixed or it's totaled. If it gets fixed, I will probably end up selling it though.

blackwidowkj06 · **Posted:** Mon Mar 19, 2012 4:49 pm

Well got two estimates today. They only looked at outside damage though. First place I went to I told them everything I saw wrong and they quoted close to $1,900. Second place I let them look it over without pointing out damage and it was close to $900. Waiting on that guys insurance to call me and that should happen within 48hrs. I will tell insurance adjuster everything that is wrong when they come out to look at the Jeep.

Yesterday I noticed the left gas tank strap was pushed in very very close to the gas tank. The steel brackets holding my rear TJ bumper on are bent up. The hitch looks lop sided and off balance. I also noticed the plastic interior trim on the left side (rear area where I was hit), it was popped out. I'm a little OCD about my Jeep and notice the littlest things.

It feels like my rack and pinion is going out. There is a vibration between 55-60 mph and a popping noise on the left front side. That happens when I am in the Jeep turning the steering wheel back and forth, just sitting still not moving. Also there is play in the steering wheel and the Jeep wants to go to the right when driving it. Pretty sure I hit the curb when the Jeep was rear ended, because I was in the right far lane where the curb is.

Going to my family doctor tomorrow because I keep having headaches and had them since Friday.

blackwidowkj06 · **Posted:** Mon Mar 19, 2012 9:59 pm

Tonight I measured the gap between my rear left passenger door and rear left quarter panel. It was ALMOST a half inch wide down by the door handle. While over on the right side of the Jeep, same spot, it was a quarter inch wide. Not looking good...

blackwidowkj06 · **Posted:** Mon Mar 19, 2012 10:36 pm

More pictures that show damage. I finally felt "okay" to take more pictures.

This shows the left rear side plastic trim. It's popped out and may not pop back in.

This plastic piece came apart somehow.

Looking at the plastic piece from left to right you can slightly see that it goes downhill.

I can fit the tips of my left index and middle fingers down into that side of the rear glass hatch area, and I have big hands for a woman.

Right side tail light popped out...leaving as is for insurance to see how hard I was hit.

Left side of the rear hatch area...trying to show the gap there. Wish my Jeep wasn't black.

Not evenly spaced like the right side
LEFT

RIGHT

Remember how easy it is to open our rear tailgates? Well that's me pulling on the handle trying to open it. To open it, I have to give it a hard jerk and it makes a LOUD POPPING noise.

This doesn't look normal

Tailgate is scrapping my bumper

This is as much as my tailgate will close without me exerting force to shut it.

The left tailgate strap is much more close than the right one

I know I keep going on about this, but I shouldn't have this much damage if the guy who hit me was really going 30mph like he said he was. I would say he was going at least 45mph when he rear ended my Jeep.

TAHOE · **Posted:** Tue Mar 20, 2012 12:43 pm

I would make sure the insurance adjusters sees all your pics and you should point it out to the shops doing the estimates. As high as repair costs are, sounds like both estimates are lowballs. For the body panels not to be lining up, that thing got twisted some, well too much for my comfort.

blackwidowkj06 · **Posted:** Tue Mar 20, 2012 2:12 pm

TAHOE wrote:

I would make sure the insurance adjusters sees all your pics and you should point it out to the shops doing the estimates. As high as repair costs are, sounds like both estimates are lowballs. For the body panels not to be lining up, that thing got twisted some, well too much for my comfort.

I honestly think I was lowballed because cause I'm a woman. I will definitely show the adjuster these photos and point out all the gaps. My best friend Ryan is going to be with my mom and I when the adjuster comes. He will make sure I'm not screwed over. I have to agree with you that my Jeep is twisted up somewhat. I am not comfortable driving or wheeling it if they fix it. Tomorrow a local LOST member and I are going to the Jeep body shop in town to get a quote from them. It would make sense to have Jeep do it since they would have the parts and somewhat know more about what to do to fix it.

USAFCOP · **Posted:** Wed Mar 21, 2012 12:22 am

Glad you are ok, but you definetly got low balled and I would not go to either of those shops...

My Challenger was keyed, and it costed $1950 to fix it, and that was just an emblem, some sanding and paint (yes it was direct from MOPAR and expensive as it is specialty color) but you have at least $2500in damage there... maybe more.

blackwidowkj06 · **Posted:** Wed Mar 21, 2012 8:28 am

USAFCOP wrote:

Glad you are ok, but you definetly got low balled and I would not go to either of those shops...

My Challenger was keyed, and it costed $1950 to fix it, and that was just an emblem, some sanding and paint (yes it was direct from MOPAR and expensive as it is specialty color) but you have at least $2500in damage there... maybe more.

I'm going to the Jeep body shop today to get a quote. Thank you for the input. I just do not feel comfortable driving it anymore but I have no other choice.

blackwidowkj06 · **Posted:** Wed Mar 21, 2012 10:27 am

Is there certain things I should say/not say to the insurance adjuster? This is my first time going through this. Just confused on what I should say.

blackwidowkj06 · **Posted:** Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:14 pm

The insurance adjuster is coming tomorrow between 2-4pm. We shall see what happens.

lfhoward · **Posted:** Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:25 pm

blackwidowkj06 wrote:

Is there certain things I should say/not say to the insurance adjuster? This is my first time going through this. Just confused on what I should say.

In my case, the adjuster was there only to document the damage and make an assessment of how much it will cost to fix. (Not to record the specifics of how the accident happened or whose fault it was.) If the cost to fix the Jeep is more than the Jeep is actually worth, they'll declare it a total loss. I would advise pointing out all the damage you know about, so it gets documented correctly. Once the adjuster makes their report to the insurance company, the insurance company should send you a copy of their estimate. Be sure to go over that estimate closely (even though it's crazy long) to be sure the adjuster didn't misreport your vehicle's options (like manual if it's auto, 4 cylinder if it's a V6, missing tow package, etc.), which is what happened with mine. I don't know if the adjuster was just rushed and careless or if they were lowballing so the insurance payout would be less. You should be able to correct any errors with the insurance company before the paperwork goes through to send you a check. Hope this helps. I know it's a headache (literally and figuratively). --LFH

blackwidowkj06 · **Posted:** Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:34 pm

lfhoward wrote:

blackwidowkj06 wrote:

Is there certain things I should say/not say to the insurance adjuster? This is my first time going through this. Just confused on what I should say.

In my case, the adjuster was there only to document the damage and make an assessment of how much it will cost to fix. (Not to record the specifics of how the accident happened or whose fault it was.) If the cost to fix the Jeep is more than the Jeep is actually worth, they'll declare it a total loss. I would advise pointing out all the damage you know about, so it gets documented correctly. Once the adjuster makes their report to the insurance company, the insurance company should send you a copy of their estimate. Be sure to go over that estimate closely (even though it's crazy long) to be sure the adjuster didn't misreport your vehicle's options (like manual if it's auto, 4 cylinder if it's a V6, missing tow package, etc.), which is what happened with mine. I don't know if the adjuster was just rushed and careless or if they were lowballing so the insurance payout would be less. You should be able to correct any errors with the insurance company before the paperwork goes through to send you a check. Hope this helps. I know it's a headache (literally and figuratively). --LFH

If this insurance adjuster has eyes, he will be able to see that whole rear left corner is not lining up with the rest of the Jeep. I sure wish you all could see how it's not lining up. Thank you for the advice though. All I will be doing is pointing out the damage and showing the gaps on the Jeep. I won't be saying how it happen or say it was their clients fault. It will be nice if he tells me if it's totaled or going to be fixed tomorrow. Since the accident Friday, the insurance company has called and the adjuster has called to come out to the house. If you can count, that is a total of 5 days. It's really nice that things are clicking and happening. Hopefully that's a good thing though. I'm having my friend Ryan up here tomorrow while that adjuster is here. So the adjuster won't try to lowball me.

Xodius · **Posted:** Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:57 pm

Keep us posted. I will keep my eyes open on FB also. This is Mark.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

blackwidowkj06 · **Posted:** Wed Mar 21, 2012 6:05 pm

Most certainly will let you all know what happens.

blackwidowkj06 · **Posted:** Thu Mar 22, 2012 2:32 pm

Adjuster came and left. At least this guy wrote down frame "something". The free estiamtes I got from the body shops didnt bother to. Shesh!
So once this Jeep gets fixed, I will be putting it up for sale.

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Thu Mar 22, 2012 2:57 pm

Should have seen the all-out fight I had with the adjuster that looked at my Jeep when it got hailed on.I'm a licensed estimater in the state of South Dakota and most of the insurance company's and at the time worked at a bodyshop so I won,then of course I ended up pocketing most of the $$$ since it did not effect my rates and did the work myself(no labor charges) and got everything at cost.At least I got to stick it to the insurance company once and came out ahead and since all damge was "fixed" they could not do anything about.

blackwidowkj06 · **Posted:** Thu Mar 22, 2012 7:54 pm

This adjuster was nice but I guarantee if my friend Ryan wasn't there, he would have been pushy with me. All because I'm a woman. Everything has been moving a long quickly. I hope getting the Jeep fixed does too. After it gets fixed, I will finish up the Herculine job and sell it. I'm considering using Herculine on the underside to prevent rust. IMO, I think it would help the sell of my Jeep. Shoot, I may get second thoughts towards the end and keep the KJ. Who knows?!??!??!!

USAFCOP · **Posted:** Thu Mar 22, 2012 9:24 pm

I wouldn't herculine the bottom... Herculiner is crap and it would be real hard to properly prep the bottom of the jeep to apply it. YOu would just trap corrosion in and somehow oxygen will still get in with moisture to corrode it and cause a bubble.

blackwidowkj06 · **Posted:** Thu Mar 22, 2012 9:50 pm

USAFCOP wrote:

I wouldn't herculine the bottom... Herculiner is crap and it would be real hard to properly prep the bottom of the jeep to apply it. YOu would just trap corrosion in and somehow oxygen will still get in with moisture to corrode it and cause a bubble.

Okay thanks for the advice. From what I remember reading on here, people seemed to like Herculiner. I also got to thinking that is a lot of prep work and something I'm not up to doing. The saying "it hurts to think" is so true for me. It really does hurt to think. If I think too hard or too long I get headaches and nausea. Really sucks to have a broken but driveable Jeep. We've had perfect wheeling weather in KY but all I can do is sit back, arms folded with a frown on my face.

dieselenthusiast · **Posted:** Fri Mar 23, 2012 12:53 am

I wonder if your damage would have been minimized if you had a Rock Lizard rear bumper instead of that weak TJ bumper?

Jeep was rear ended and WON!!!

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