That brings me to my point; I totaled my 87 Dak 4x4 in 97 and I got 3500.00
for it. Salvage value was like around 2500.00. I couldnt believe it was
worth that much, the insurance company never asked what I paid for it, which
was 4800.00 in 1994.
What it comes down to is availability to get these parts aftermarket. The
Dak is only been around since 1986.5, and there arent many junked and/or
salvageable trucks out there. The only problem with mine was a bent
steering wheel (seatbelt did not lock up, I was still fine) and a bent frame
at the front cross member. Oh it rolled onto the pass. side and stayed
(thank God), so the metal on that side was trashed.
I, with the help of some friends, pushed the truck back over, added a quart
of ATF and drove it home!
thats my .02
Paul
----- Original Message -----
From: "Neil W. Bellenger" <neil624b@rochester.rr.com>
To: <dakota-truck@dakota-truck.net>
Sent: Friday, August 02, 2002 5:50 PM
Subject: RE: DML: RE: Totaled (real long)
>
>
>
> -----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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