I did a bad thing... a tree landed squarely on the hood and passenger fender

[Gregors]

Curtting a tree down in my back yard and used the Gladiator to ensure it didn't fall the wrong direction... Yeah, I know. As you would expect, it landed squarely on the hood and passenger fender. About $4K in damages. Tust me, I got all the jabs from my wife and insurance agent. The Gladiator is an Overland, but as long as I'm changing the hood, I'd like to upgrade to a Rubicon hood.

Here's my question. I can get a new one from the body shop, have it painted and installed, or I can get a new take off online, already painted for roughly the same price. Is a factory paint job better than I can get from a body shop? That is really the only difference. The used hood in question is from a Jeep modification company and the hood has less than 1,000 road exposure miles. Thanks for the input. GH

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[Minty JL]

My body shop would allow me to buy what ever I want as long as he gets paid LOL.

USAA drops the money in my checking account........So I always work a cash deal......everybody wins

 

[jeepers29]

Where are the pics?

 

[Lunentucker]

It will depend whether there's a lien or not.
Do you own it or does the bank?

 

[Viper501]

Rubitrux.com for the win.

 

[Gregors]

It will depend whether there's a lien or not.
Do you own it or does the bank?

I own it. No lien.

 

[Gregors]

Rubitrux.com for the win.

Kind of what I was thinking as I can do the swap myself.

 

[Gregors]

Where are the pics?

I was going to attach some, but the dents don't show up well. A few crinkles and a couple golf ball size dents.

 

[High Alextude]

Get a Mojave hood!

 

[Viper501]

Get a Mojave hood!

Only if he also wants to replace the cowl and lose compatibility with the majority of exterior mods.

 

[High Alextude]

Only if he also wants to replace the cowl and lose compatibility with the majority of exterior mods.

Like what exterior mods - All I can think of is a light bar and maybe a snorkel?

 

[Viper501]

Snorkel in particular. Light bar mounts are another. Don’t get me wrong I like my faux intake hood but it’s got complications. It is also heavy as ?

 

[Gregors]

Get a Mojave hood!

Yeah, I didn't want to get into all the extra parts needed for the Mojave hood. That's why I opted for Rubi.

 

[Dougstdig]

It will depend whether there's a lien or not.
Do you own it or does the bank?

I've been in the insurance business for almost 20 years. Not once has this been a factor other than who goes on the check. What I've said hundreds of time is if you're going to upgrade...during a repair is the time to do it, but it's not at the Ins. Co's expense.

Unless there's a stipulation or separate endorsement in the policy where if you total a vehicle you get a replacement of the current model year...(extremely rare, but out there), an insurance company does not owe for an embetterment, which is the act of improving or enhancing. An insurance company indemnifies based on bringing the insured to a pre-loss condition. There are several other little bits and pieces to it, but that's the gist of it.

Another caveat to this would be if the vehicle is leased. Most if not all lease contracts actually forbid altering the vehicle from its stock form.

 

[Gregors]

I've been in the insurance business for almost 20 years. Not once has this been a factor other than who goes on the check. What I've said hundreds of time is if you're going to upgrade...during a repair is the time to do it, but it's not at the Ins. Co's expense.

Unless there's a stipulation or separate endorsement in the policy where if you total a vehicle you get a replacement of the current model year...(extremely rare, but out there), an insurance company does not owe for an embetterment, which is the act of improving or enhancing. An insurance company indemnifies based on bringing the insured to a pre-loss condition. There are several other little bits and pieces to it, but that's the gist of it.

Another caveat to this would be if the vehicle is leased. Most if not all lease contracts actually forbid altering the vehicle from its stock form.

Totally agree with everything said above. I had no intention of having the ins. co pay for the betterment. I figured now was the time, if I were to upgrade and pay the difference.

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