2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission Would you buy a 98 12 valve with a salvage title?

[Bart]

The morons at my insurance company are talking about TOTALLING my beautiful 98 12 valve because I dropped my new 5th wheel on the bed rails. There is literally no damage to anything but the two bed rails (not even to the new 5th wheel). I have two opinions. One is to take the money and fix it myself. The other is to tell them to stick it in their wall locker. I own the truck and can tell them to forget the whole thing.

"IF" I take the money and fix it myself there will be a salvage title attached to it. The truck looks GREAT in it's original red paint and has a lot of power train upgrades. It's always garaged when not in use so the oem red paint still looks fine. I waxed it again last night trying to make it (or me) feel better about the current condition of a banged up bed.

I am only entertaining thoughts of a new truck, and the salvage title concerns me. I know that it doesn't hurt anything really. I have a salvaged title motorcycle (to get around back license fees from p. o) and an '84 Thunderbird (d. a. sister forgot about small trailer and backed up to 'gab' to daughter). But the concern is still there.

 

[bighammer]

In a heartbeat!!

I don't get why they want to total it. Have you driven it to the moon and back or something?

 

[Simplysmn]

Hey Bart there was a guy is Hesperia with a 97 with salvage title other then the title the truck was awesome . the biggest thing you will run into if they total it is trying to get a good price for it If you ever go and sell it . Ide say keep it fit it your self and tell the insurance company to put there salvage title where the sun doesnt shine

 

[DonTX]

Another thing to do, is take lots of photos of the damage and repairs. The next owner will want to know just what damage the wreck done.

Something is amiss here though, a new bed don't total that truck. I bet they forgot to plug in the diesel part of their value check. I bet their

"total" value is VERY low.

I used to own a body shop, I LOOK for salvage title stuff when I am shopping, often the price is more in my range, and properly fixed it is often BETTER than non salvage title.

 

[CogginsP]

What Don/TX said, keep all your paperwork in order, take plenty of pictures and put some sort of folder/binder together. This way you can be completely honest with the next owner while keeping your price what you want it to be.

 

[Bart]

I just got a call from the insurance company. Now they are up to $13000 vs the offer of $7800 last week. That 13K doesn't take into account ALL the mods that they will pay more for. Yes, they know it's a diesel. Problem here is that they want to put a NEW bed on. Plus $1800 for the Red Rhino liner, plus, plus, plus. This estimate was from their own approved body shop.

I already bought a used bed from a young pup in Lake Tahoe. It needs a few "in" bed dipples fixed but nothing major. The fender flairs are perfect, as is the tailgate and lights. I've been looking at going to a NEW 6. 7 because of this. BUT I may be able to up grade my 98. Ported head work, new towing cam. And just about anything else I want and still have money left over. I have a 2400 square foot garage with a lift and a paint booth. So the bed change will be NO problem. I took the bed off the car trailer myself yesterday with the hoist that's above the lift. I could remove the oem bed after moving the new bed out of the way. I could also cut a mess pot full of spot welds off and replace just the sides.

I guess I need to get to work and get all my receipts in order to show them what else I have in it. That's gonna be fun. Six years of up grading.

Thanks guys. I feel better about taking the money. No wonder our premiums are so high. One consolation is that mine will go down when the take the full coverage off.

 

[Bart]

In a heartbeat!!



I don't get why they want to total it. Have you driven it to the moon and back or something?

177,000 miles and when it's not on the road it's in it's own spot in the garage. I even waxed it last night, trying to appease it (or me) for the crunch. It still has the prettist RED oem paint job for a 1998 model. There's not a spot of anything in the interior. The side of the driver's seat wore out last year from rubbing on the plastic lower edge. I had that piece replaced with oem fabric. You can't tell that it's not just off the show room floor (except for the :{). On a brighter note I did take the rig out yesterday for the first time since "IT" happened. The truck was down at the ATS approved transmission shop getting a new torque converter. The one that was put in in February was slipping and didn't lock up right. So back it went for a replacement.

That's just how protective I am of "BART" = Big *** Red Truck

I ask it to do some serious spit out on the road and it's only left me one time (trans input shaft snapped). I didn't like that feeling and believe in two or three pounds of prevention. I towed the new (offending 5th wheel) back to the dealer to have some warranty work done. I did the hook up right this time. It wasn't my fault, it was the 5th wheels fault HONEST

 

[DonTX]

13k for a new bed? When I totalled out a Dakota a few years back, the insurance company refused and were supported by state tarrifs, to replace or pay for anything that did not come on the truck brand new. New Michelins, REMCO driveshaft disconnect, Roadmaster towbar, just purchased $800 topper, were all thing I had to eat. I can't imagine paying for a bedliner.

The REAL unkown in this equation, is what they think the salvage is worth. Usually that is on a set percentage of the book value of the truck before the wreck. They MAY be just figuring on putting on a new bed themselves and reselling it, or that they can get some big bucks for it without the bed. .

 

[MrDiesel]

I don't know about your state, but here if you have the title in hand and you take their cash settlement it never gets branded salvage. It's only when you surrender the truck and title to "them" that they must brand it salvage by law. Rebuilds have become a HUGE business in northern IN because so many people take the insurance check and then sell the vehicle as a "clear" title rebuilder. I did it myself a few years back when I had a 91 that got banged up.

 

[Bart]

I don't know about your state, but here if you have the title in hand and you take their cash settlement it never gets branded salvage. It's only when you surrender the truck and title to "them" that they must brand it salvage by law. Rebuilds have become a HUGE business in northern IN because so many people take the insurance check and then sell the vehicle as a "clear" title rebuilder. I did it myself a few years back when I had a 91 that got banged up.

Interesting, I wondered how they were going to get my clear title away from me besides having me surrend it before they'd pay out. That'd be tooooo unbelievable. I'll hope that's the way it is in this state.



Don/TX, I guess things are different in this state. They want a complete list of things "extra" I've done to the truck. So far, I'm up to over $14K in upgrades and mod's that are above the original rig. Things like ATS transmission, Schwitzer turbo, a whole list of stuff. If I keep it there's another few thousand I'm going to throw at it. Like a ported head and new cam, water or propane injection. Time will tell. Should get down right interesting around here in the next few days.

 

[DonTX]

Something else to consider. Back in that state at that time (KS), the insurance companies had to report to the state any claims not settled in 90 days with complete justification as to why they had not settled it, and it went against their grade card or whatever, plus was a lot of work. Once that was done, there was no further followup so if you went over 90 days you probably would never get a decent settlement.

The extra work and bad mark made an interesting situation, they try to drag it on and on and on to get you to believe you have got their best offer. On the 89th day they will give you most anything you ask! I would suggest a call to your state insurance commissioner, they can give you a ton of help, all free too!

 

[RBrunson]

Bart, which ever way you go, new truck or fix the old one, I think you should fabricate a bed saver. This is what I did, looked at pictures on the internet and fabed one. Looks just like bought ones and works perfect. Won't cost you much if you have the skills and some scrap metal laying around.