Update on the wrecked Ironman in Colorado

[Trudy Carp]

Well, it's been a boring summer with my 01 Ironman out of commission needing a right door, hinge pillar, fender, and accompanying claddings, etc.

That fine insurance company, Progressive, has been paying for the Toyota Prius that I took as a rental back on July 7th, right after this all started. I like driving this little hybrid. Decided to capitalize on the situation and save some money on gas while I wait to get the "Turtle" back on the road.
Crossing an 11,000+ foot pass during my commute made me wonder if the little electric cart would deliver on power and fuel economy at the same time. Well, she doesn't like climbing from a dead stop at 10,000+, but still gives me 45 mpg with my foot in it a lot. Saving my husband and I loads of money on gas right now, we commute together. Going to hate to give it up.

Well, the latest news. My door and fender have arrived along with all of the claddings. decals. etc. I also have a rear gate & cladding coming, but somewhat behind schedule. Decided to take care of the "gate full of bondo" problem too while it's in my shop.
However, Izusu decided to obsolete my hinge pillar while on order, so that makes the rest of the parts a mute point, at least as far as Progressive is concerned. This is where working at a body shop as an estimator and the office manager pays off. We are now going to request that Progressive
"total loss" the VX, pay the salvage value of $2500 and keep it. We are lucky to employ one of the best "metal and frame men" in the area at our little body shop in the mountains, so we will repair that hinge pillar in spite of how ugly it is. And the door will close and seal nicely, I have that much faith in CJ. So, another VX will be saved from oblivion. Sucks that I missed most of the Colorado 4 wheel season. But, the loan balance will also be paid and no salvage title! Will post before and after photos when the big day comes. Whoo....hooooo! It'll be like driving her for the first time all over again!

[Triathlete]

There is always snow wheeling! Or you can take a winter trip down here to Arizona and we can show you some great trails.

Glad to hear you are going to save another VX instead of sending it to its grave.

[tom4bren]

That is great news.

[Joe Isuzu]

happy for you and glad you're not sending the vx to a salvage yard
How did you avoid a salvage title though?

[twistedsymphony]

it depends on the state but I would assume that once it's fixed it will get inspected and receive a "rebuilt" title (meaning formerly salvaged but fixed and roadworthy again).

It always warms my heart to hear about a rare car getting a 2nd chance on life

[Trudy Carp]

happy for you and glad you're not sending the vx to a salvage yard
How did you avoid a salvage title though?

Too easy. The title is never transfered. It remains in my name just like nothing ever happened. It's called an "owner retain".
It's easy to bypass the salvage title issue. The owner keeps the vehicle, they deduct salvage value from the total, pay the owner the difference. The owner then sells the vehicle to the body shop for a couple hundred more than he gave up for salvage. Title transfers directly from owner to next owner after it's repaired and sold. No record that a body shop ever owned it.
Some states do not allow an owner to retain a total loss. Florida is one. I'm sure a lot of the coastal states are like that to keep hurricane damaged vehicles from ending up back on the road.

[VCrossfan]

Too easy. The title is never transfered. It remains in my name just like nothing ever happened. It's called an "owner retain".
It's easy to bypass the salvage title issue. The owner keeps the vehicle, they deduct salvage value from the total, pay the owner the difference. The owner then sells the vehicle to the body shop for a couple hundred more than he gave up for salvage. Title transfers directly from owner to next owner after it's repaired and sold. No record that a body shop ever owned it.
Some states do not allow an owner to retain a total loss. Florida is one. I'm sure a lot of the coastal states are like that to keep hurricane damaged vehicles from ending up back on the road.

Great news your keeping her. And don't take this wrong by any means but this is another case where Carfax.com is only a hit-n-miss company. No paper trail...

[Trudy Carp]

Great news your keeping her. And don't take this wrong by any means but this is another case where Carfax.com is only a hit-n-miss company. No paper trail...

No hit and miss about it. Always miss. That's another huge joke in the collision repair industry. Their info comes from DMV records, not insurance companies. Also, some vehicles are deemed an "economic total loss", cheaper to replace than repair. That doesn't mean anything in terms of the damage. A trunk lid would total loss a 1990 Dodge Spirit with 50k miles, but if it still opens and the damage is more cosmetic than structural? This car would still be fine to drive, but could be branded with a salvage title.

My VX falls into this category because certain parts are unavailable to make the repair to ICAR standards. What that means is another small hit to the right hinge pillar will take it past the point of repairable since the metal has been over stretched/weaker from being "frame machine pulled" back into shape and made to support a heavy door resting right where it was hit. By the way, disassembly revealed a wrinkle/tear in the very front of the sill, it was hidden by the sill plate. 2002 Chevy Sierra, hit me hard with the left corner of his front bumper, shoved me sideways. I'm not surprised.

We're up to $6000 from the original estimate of $4530. Trade a $450 pillar and 10 hours of install for 2 hours of frame pull time and 6 hours of repair. Since it's a white vehicle we must add blending the quarter panel, removing interior trim to pull both quarter glass, tail lamp, rear cover and cladding have to come off. Progressive adjusters are taught to write cheap, so he didn't include any blend time. We basically have to paint the entire right side of the VX. She an ugly thing when she naked!
Scheduled to drive the "Turtle" home next Friday, Oct 3rd. Whoooo.....hoooooooo! 3 months. It'll feel like the first time I drove it.

My body guy is impressed with the "frame style" box rail that reinforces the inner fender structure at the top. (As strong as the frame rail of a new Grand Cherokee) Made to withstand hard suspension/shock pounding without buckling the inner rail. "Rat Patrol" style stuff. Guess that's why Tubas Racing still uses them to run the Austrailian Safari Rally. They were built to take an off road beating.

Think twice before you pay for a Carfax report. What do you want to know and can it supply that info? You can contact the local DMV with the VIN# and find out the same thing for a lot less money. Public record, my friends.

[VCrossfan]

Very well put Trudy. And I am very very glad your saving your VX from the scrap yard (which most of us ARE the net style scrap yard when any VX's number does come up) And I do totally agree with the carfax info you mentioned. There was a thread here in the past about members that ran into the carfax lack of info. Hat's off Trudy ! !

[tom4bren]

"The owner keeps the vehicle, they deduct salvage value from the total, pay the owner the difference."

That's the way I did it on my Samurai years ago. I went aftermarket parts (tube bumpers instead of factory, ...) for a lot of the stuff instead of OEM so I saved enough to put on nice rims & tires too.

[Trudy Carp]

In the paint booth today, but having some "fish eye" issues. Seems there's
traces of silicone/Armor All on the interior trim panels that's transfered onto
the sheet metal in some areas and it's screwing with the paint. Gets into and on everything and paint doesn't like it at all. Hope to have a satisfactory finish on it by the end of the day. If that works out it'll get built tomorrow and I'll have it by Thursday morning. Serious snow hasn't started yet, so I might get a wheeling trip in this weekend. Whooo.....hooooo!:bgwp:

[tom4bren]

Glory be & halleluia. Life is good again.

Congrats.

[Trudy Carp]

We are back on the road again! Whoo.....hoooooo!
Got in a trip over Georgia Pass out of Breckenridge a couple weeks ago. Hit the trail just as it started to snow. By the time I reached the top (11,600) it was white out. Did the last steep climb in about 3-4 inches of snow but above tree line it was blown clean. Wind gusts were pretty steady at about 30-40 mph at the top and it was real tough to see the Dept of Wildlife truck until I drove right up on it. He was sitting there on "hunters" patrol, bow season for bighorn sheep and there are lots of them in that area. I think he was a bit surpised when I went around him on his right and continued down the other side. Trails are finally closed for the season, waahhh. The serious stuff has started.
Well, getting used to driving it again. Still fine tuning things, tweaking the
door, etc. Our latest, something is interfering with the right door lock rod and won't let you pull it up far enough to unlock the door, hence it will not open.
A project for CJ tomorrow. I hope he doesn't come to hate my little "Turtle".

Looking forward to making the next ZuZoo in Moab. Can't wait to meet all the
other VX crazy people. Had a blast running with the Rubicon's this past Memorial weekend. They even let me lead, how cool is that?

[pbkid]

hey, trudy...some of us other colorado vx'ers might be doing a little get together soon if you wanna join us...