Motoring My 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee

Kevin

Kevin

Code Monkey
Staff member
Just got off the phone with an insurance company about repairs to my truck. Last Friday my weekend started off with a bang, literally, when somebody sideswiped me.

While starting to go through an intersection there were three lanes, a dedicated left turning lane, a center lane to go straight, and a right lane to go straight or make a right turn. I was in the right lane... a few past the intersection corner the guy in the pickup truck in the middle lane decided that he needed to make a right turn.

Unfortunately, as we have learned in many sci-fi movies, two objects can not occupy the same space at the same time. The damage is not as bad as it could have been and neither of us were hurt, just some major inconvenience to get it all fixed.

The good news at least today for a Monday is that the other driver's insurance company contacted back today saying that they are accepting full liability of the claim and it is not being disputed. (y) Now I just need to make arrangements with the repair shop and get a rental for a few days. I am just hoping they don't try to squeeze me into some little compact car.

For those curious, here's how it is looking. Can't really see in the pic' too good but doors are now concave a bit & totally out of alignment.

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That stinks! Like you said, fortunately nobody was hurt. There are a lot of poor drivers out there on roads. I know that I've had to increase my defensive driving skills and thinking since living in a larger metropolitan area. Sorry for your damages.
 
For the curious... Nationwide will be picking up the tab for two new side doors, repairing the b-pillar between the doors, repairs to the rear quarter, and a custom paint job to blend the color to the rest of the vehicle at a cost of a tad shy of $3,400 USD. That does not include a rental vehicle that they'll also be covering for at least 9 days while mine is the shop.
 
glad to hear there were no injuries vehicles are easily repaired but there are some really bad drivers out there.
 
Got my truck back, woohoo! Since they were going to have it that long anyway I also had them do some additional work. It is a nearly 13 year-old vehicle so there were some issues that could be expected like stone dings on the front hood and both front quarter panels. Plus thanks to North-East US winters my back tailgate was starting to rust out at the bottom. They replaced the tailgate entirely and then stripped & repainted the hood & quarter panels. While there they also threw in a detailing job so it now literally looks better than before the accident. :D

Bad part is that the A/C of my rental worked better than the A/C in mine. :teary: Guess I'll need to have the shop take a look at it again next time I take it in. The rental was a 2011 Chevrolet Impala LT. It was a not bad vehicle with some nice touches but I think I prefer my Grand Cherokee yet.
 
Kevin said:
Got my truck back, woohoo! Since they were going to have it that long anyway I also had them do some additional work. It is a nearly 13 year-old vehicle so there were some issues that could be expected like stone dings on the front hood and both front quarter panels. Plus thanks to North-East US winters my back tailgate was starting to rust out at the bottom. They replaced the tailgate entirely and then stripped & repainted the hood & quarter panels. While there they also threw in a detailing job so it now literally looks better than before the accident. :D

Bad part is that the A/C of my rental worked better than the A/C in mine. :teary: Guess I'll need to have the shop take a look at it again next time I take it in. The rental was a 2011 Chevrolet Impala LT. It was a not bad vehicle with some nice touches but I think I prefer my Grand Cherokee yet.
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Congrats on the reunion with your truck. Vrrrooommm Vrrrooommmm!!!!:D
 
Hit a milestone with the Jeep this week... 200K miles! :) With the repairs from the body shop, along with the additional work I had done to it, I'm hoping it will survive a few more years before I have to consider replacing it.


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Long live the Jeep!! Jeeps are cool. I've never owned one, as of yet, but have always liked the way the various vehicle models look.
 
Speaking of the monster... 2 weeks back the transmission died so that ended up getting rebuilt.

I really do like the vehicle but the past two years it has lived up the Jeep acronym of Just Empty Every Pocket. :(
 
:):) :eek::eek:You are lucky no one was hurt. Last Feb. my car decided to go for a spin on its own with me "driving". It went zig-zag across a HIGHWAY, and DEFIED the laws of science! No one got hurt and only 1 other car saw the accident and avoided my car.
It was like being on a tractor beam! It hit a guard rail and twice went into the grass!
Some of the DENTS and the TRANSMISSION FIXED THEMSELVES The hood is still a bit out of line. :eek::eek::)
 
Well, I'm still daily driving my 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee. I'm now up to a little over 230,000 miles! :eek:

I'm thinking it might be time to finally replace it. I've been looking around newer used models and so far not much has really caught my attention. I am convinced that there was a period of time for a few years where the only colors of cars sold were black, silver/grey, and white. :cautious:

I could likely get a few more years out of it but, thanks to NE USA winters where the snow results in driving through salt brine slush, it has some rust spots bubbling up at the rocker panels. One spot in particular has went from a bubble to a full blown hole. Between that and constantly putting a few thousand dollars into every year for repairs along with a growing list of little things that are starting to either not work or not work correctly I think it's time.
 
LOL, Down here the bodies are perfect but the engines and trannys fail due to the heat.
I could make a killing with a flatbed trailer.
Take old cars & truck bodies north and sell then bring engines & trannys south to sell.
 
Tom said:
LOL, Down here the bodies are perfect but the engines and trannys fail due to the heat.
I could make a killing with a flatbed trailer.
Take old cars & truck bodies north and sell then bring engines & trannys south to sell.
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Yeah, that's for sure. Vehicles up here tend to get replaced more because of the body & under-carriage versus the major components like the engine & trannys. When we have these periods of snow storms, then warm weather that starts melting the snow, then snow storms, then warm weather then snow again in a loop, the roads turn into a soupy slush salt brine that kills cars.

I've found a replacement Grand Cherokee that has come off of lease... now I need to see if I can swing the finances for it.
 
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