Rear ended... how mch damage and what else should I look for?

Well it wasn't me that was rear ended, but rather my brother. I'm posting on his behalf...

Anyways, he was rear ended today and the guy hit his tow package and bent it up pretty good as well as the rear frame rails. Initial estimates for repairs are in the $3000 range and they only address the rear bumper, tow package and straightening the frame. I'm curious what else to look for though. The doors don't open properly and the rear hatch light is constantly on. Those estimates were purely from a quick visual inspection and they only briefly looked at the rear of the vehicle.

What other damage should we be looking for? Their insurance company is covering it all so I want to make sure we get it all fixed and get it fixed right.

I am hoping they'll let us go with a new aftermarket rear bumper instead of the factory one and the tow package like he had on it at the time of the accident but we'll see...

Here's the pics:










Just as some history on the XJ... it's a 98 with 250 000km, auto, lifted 4.5" running the Chrysler 8.25 and HP D30 with the 3.55 gears and 31" Kevlars. You can see some shackle relocation brackets in the corner of the pic. It's welded in place... no damage around it at all.


Thanks for the help!!
Mark

Looks like the gas tank is ready to be cut from the tow package...

wouldnt this be a total? ive had jeeps totaled over bent front fenders, nevermind rear frame damage.

Yeah they didn't include a new gastank in the quote... I don't know why.

They are still unsure wether they'll pay repairs or write it off. Either way it doesn't really matter to my brother but he just wants to make sure that if they do fix it, that they catch everything.

I would say that is totalled.

Begster said:

I would say that is totalled.

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yep...

his jeep is going to get totaled and they are going to do all they can to give him an unfair valuation of its worth.

I was just hit head on by some idiot. i had a 99 with 160K in mint shape and OME lift and wheels and tires.

probably had somewhere near 7K invested.

my damage was far worse than your brothers is...but, that being said the initial figure they came back with as a value for the jeep was 2900 dollars. if its gonna cost the repair shop more than that to fix it, prepare for your brothers rig to be totaled.

I finally, with receipts etc got them to cut me a check for 3800.

Its a crappy situation but hopefully youll still have a drivable jeep and maybe a nice check.

when your XJ gets totaled. get the most for it. buy it back. buy a new jeep that you can interchange parts and build another one. its a jeep thing

ert01 said:

You can see some shackle relocation brackets in the corner of the pic. It's welded in place... no damage around it at all.


Thanks for the help!!
Mark

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Looks like those nice, beefy brackets transferred the impact, and the "frame" bent where they ended. Usually that bend = total loss (but maybe your brother's gain). If they total it, he should look at a buyback, straighten it out a well as possible, and get some rear frame stiffeners like these...

A full set of stiffeners would be best, but those rears would be great for keeping the rig on the road.

Steve

SteveT said:

Looks like those nice, beefy brackets transferred the impact, and the "frame" bent where they ended. Usually that bend = total loss (but maybe your brother's gain). If they total it, he should look at a buyback, straighten it out a well as possible, and get some rear frame stiffeners like these...

A full set of stiffeners would be best, but those rears would be great for keeping the rig on the road.

Steve

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this

Check to make sure the motor mounts didn't get broken by the impact, and the fan jammed into the radiator. It can happen.

Myron

I am suspecting they will write it off now... next quote came in at $5600. That's probably pushing it. Hopefully they'll give him a decent amount for it. I am not sure how buy backs work up here in Canada as I have never run into that before but if he can get it for a reasonable amount we probably could part it out and make some money on it seeing as the 98+ seems to be rare in the junkyards here.

If the tail pipe was hit then it may have cracked the exhaust header on the engine

XJ4MEPLZ said:

If the tail pipe was hit then it may have cracked the exhaust header on the engine

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If the tail pipe was hit it more than likely crimped/bent the tail pipe where it bends up to clear the rear axle. I doubt it would be rigid enough to transfer that much force to the header. Having ripped off two separate exhausts backing off obstacles, they both did the same thing, and the header remained untouched.