My Explorer was recked recently and is in the shop. I was driving along a lateral and there was a small ditch about 3-4 feet across and 3 feet deep that ran perpendicular to the lateral. The way the grass was growing/cut the ditch was invisible when driving. I ran into the ditch at aprox. 10 mph. The front end of the Explorer went into the ditch nose first and thats when the damage happened. When it went into the ditch the front bumper was bent causing it to hit the fenders and bend them, apon impact i went forward and my head impacted the windsheild, causing it to crack. When i got out i had to force the drivers door open causing the very edge of the door to bend. It also came to a stop high centered on the frame. Also some time during this the radiator sprung a leak.

So the total damage was:
The front bumper
Left and right fenders
both headlight supports
The radiator
Drivers door
The windshield

The total cost is $3616.73

As you can guess the insurance company is going to consider to total it.

Right now i am in a little rent car, that smells like, well you know. I had to chose between an '03 Excape or an '04 chevy truck. I believe everyone can guess which one i took. The Excape.

Man i miss my Explorer

Christopher

 

Something similar happened to my wife's explorer. Did you consider buying it back? Her whole front end past the radiator was torn off. I bought it back for $1000 and bought junkyard parts at a total of $600 and now I have it back.

 

Are you OK? If your like most of us, since you hit your head, it couldn't hurt you. Sorry to hear about the loss. I guess an Escape is a step backwards/

 

I bought my totaled 91 back for 90$ , I have no intention of fixing it but the battery and belt were worth that much. Its also nice to have a spare drive train handy, at least if you have somewhere to keep it.
Quig

 

I hate to hear that CK! I know how you feel about the insurance company and what their plans are. I worry about that everday with mine. I will be so deep in a hole if mine is ever wrecked...

Hope your head is OK!

 

I'm fine. It is still on the table about weither or not they are going to total in. They said if they do total it they would give us $3600 for it. Then if we wanted to buy it back they would sell it to us for $600. The retal value they said it was worth is a joke. it is about 1000 too low. First, they are quoting what the base model is worth. Second, the new set of $800 tires i just put on it are still worth alot considering they only have 2000 miles on them.
Now that i am off my soap box about the insurance, on to the rent-a-car.

The excape is a somewhat fun renter to have. To give a good example it is like going from a 4.0L engine in the explorer to Cobra's S/C 302. The excape has the 3.0L engine in it and i must say has some torque in it. It's weird when watching the tach i used to only running my car in the 500-3500 rpm band and a 5000rpm redline. With the Excape it opperates in the 500-4000 rpm band. And has a 7000rpm red line. I have been slowly pushing it harder and harder and i have yet to find the limit with it, although i am have to learn a new driving style with it being a fwd car. Plus it gets alot better gas milage than my explorer. One of the complants have about it is that the inside smells like, well you know. Some one along the line smoked in it, and stunk it up.

Chris