-----Original Message-----
On Behalf Of Brian Gonzales
Sent: Thursday, August 01, 2002 11:56 PM
To: dakota-truck@dakota-truck.net
Subject: Re: DML: RE: Totaled
As Andy has already posted, my truck was hit hard at a right angle in the
left front wheel in October 2000. The initial guestimate was for tire,
wheel, axle, all left front suspension pieces, and front fender and
shouldn't be a big deal to repair. As the parts got disassembled, more
damage was found and each time adjusters for both insurance companies had to
redo their estimates. The final diagnosis, after ten days, was that the
frame had been "tweaked" sideways by a small amount at each crossmember, all
the way to the back of the truck. One long parallelogram offset by two
degrees. The body shop's judgment was that Dakota frames do not respond well
to straightening attempts of the nature. I still believe that if I had told
the shop that if the truck was totaled, "no big deal, I'll just get another
one", they would have done just that. My position was that I loved that
truck and if it was savable, I wanted it fixed. The cost of repair was
judged to be less than 65% of the assessed value, and therefore "fixable".
At that time it was two years old and had 30,000 miles. The body shop's
solution was to completely dismantle the entire truck, set all the parts
aside, throw away the old frame, lay down a new frame, and put it all back
together again. . Everyone, and I really mean EVERYONE that heard about it
said that it will never be right again and that I was nuts to let them try.
The body shop assured me that they had a guy that was good at it, had done
it before, and enjoyed the work. The execution took a little longer than the
story. 1999, CC, 4X4 frames are not an item found on most distributors'
shelves. The disassembly and reassembly took 35 days. Finding a driver's
side and passenger's side airbag took another 35 days, something I still
find hard to believe. Total time before I got the truck back, 70 days! I had
a four-door Buick rental for the entire 70 days at zero cost, courtesy of
the other guys insurance company. My total cost for a complete "frame-off
restoration" on a two-year-old truck, the $500 deductible on my policy.
Should anyone be interested, the shop that did the work is Austin-Spencer
Collision in Henrietta, NY, great people. The only thing they missed was the
"Magnum V-8" emblem on the left fender. So now the left side gives no clue
what's under the hood and I'm leaving it that way.
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