Poor Big Red

[robivi3]

Well, those of you who know me know my love for Big Red my 2001 GMC bought when i had good credit, nearly paid off. Well, today the drunk neighbors kid fell asleep at the wheel and slammed into her while she was parked. Found him at 5:20 AM asleep and parked in my rear bumper. The back bed is bent and so I may be in for a new vehicle, in other words frame damage. Thank God he has State Farm... He got a couple of tickets...

It's not his first run in with the law. The SOB vandalized a Publix on video and also a local school and dissappeared for awhile. To bad he did not stay gone. He knows the "system" well. No father, mother's a lush, hangs out at the Pub down on the main street all the time, and I mean this literally. So society at large has to raise him and because he's been under no authority at home but the guilt ridden old bat (yes, as she says, he's a good kid) the rest of us pay the price.

[sunshine08]

Good thing he had some decent insurance, no offense to the system, I work in it. IF he is put on probation, the ultimate outcome will probably be jail for him and whatever the insurance coughs up for you. Get some sleep for your rude awakening.

[robivi3]

Actually , I was on my way to work. Didn't make it in though. Didn't go nutty, just roll with it. We all were somewhat stupid as kids but this character has bad problems.

Thats life, oh well... Nah, they didn't pursue it as drunk driving. State farm has already given me the green light to get it fixed, main concern is frame damage possibility. Looks more like he knocked the bed mounts loose. The dumbass gave it a hefty whack before passing out... what a POS.

[Genenco]

Man oh man. Hope you have better luck then some neighbors had with similar occurance.

I'd really fight for "New Ride" as no matter what a bodyshop can do, they can't fully repair your ride sometimes.

[robivi3]

She rides and tracks the same as always. State Farm has already arranged for the Chevrolet dealer to fix her. I've dealt with State farm before and they fix a vehicle very well. She had her first damage afew years ago. I have 11 payments left. I'd rather have her fixed paid and buy a new Jetta or Silverado when she's paid and pass my Corsica over to my middle son. I see two Crew Cab Silverados at Tropical Chevrolet for $26,500.00 ea. I drove my 1984 Mustang 4 cylinder for 267,000 miles before I sold her still running in 1999. My 96 Corsica is in very nice shape with 135,000 miles. Our beloved 88 Century died with 100,000 miles of an engine failure, she had had an accident so we did not fix her. My 79' Sunbird died in 94' at 202,000 miles when the wiring harness caught fire. I maintain my vehicles very nicely. big red now that day has dawned looks OK, damage not as bad as I thought, just moved the bed on the Ubolts, but his car, oh boy!!!

I am not nutty, my vehicles have some dings, this is South Florida but I maintain them pretty well. I change batteries every two years, the Truck has a $135.00 Nascar Select battery. The same for the Chevy. The Chevy got a new tranny at 87000 miles, not from "bloho's" transmission but a Certa from GM. Once a year i have the Trans. fluid and filter done, the coolant flushed and my vehicles all get synthetic oil and have no leaks. Heater Cores go, I don't bypass, I put a new one. The AC went out on the Chevy recently, I put new lines, accumulator and vacced and recharged. I am 608 certified and have the equipment at home. I don't do fluids at home or major repair, I go only to Chevrolet. With Chevys however you can't bypass or jump wires, once you do, they will be junk in a year. They are good vehicles ONLY IF you fix them. I like Toyotas to, but I know Chevrolets and GMC's and have the stuff to work on them.

I was a diesel mechanic for 19 and half years before I started with rail. I am still ASE certified (have to be HVAC certified) and have Niehoff, FLxible, GM, NABI, Allison and Voight Certificates up the ying yang. I've worked earlier and second jobs at Dealers, Retail Autocenters and did my share of gas station repairs when i was younger and they did such things. I stand by maintaining my vehicles at the dealer, having worked at two Chevy dealers in my life. The dealer has better training, higher quality parts than that discount China garbage and far better equipment. They are not all ripoffs, some may, but it's not as bad as a certain LARGE retailer i once worked for.

I even paid and had the intake gasket, crank sensor and Fuel Module changed on the Chevrolet. I still know guys at the dealer and can work deals. I don't like being stuck on the road. I bought my son a used Buick and immediately changed the water pump, belt tensioner, radiator cap, fuel pump, several sensors and battery. As I tell him "the most dangerous thing to do on a highway is stop". I think in total I spent around $800.00- $1000.00 before I let him drive the car. I hate breaking down worse than I hate spending $$$$$$$$$$. BTW- my son knows if he ever drank and drove the car would be forfeit.

[Genenco]

(Snipped major detail of pro-active car maintainence).......
I bought my son a used Buick and immediately changed the water pump, belt tensioner, radiator cap, fuel pump, several sensors and battery. As I tell him "the most dangerous thing to do on a highway is stop". I think in total I spent around $800.00- $1000.00 before I let him drive the car. I hate breaking down worse than I hate spending $$$$$$$$$$. BTW- my son knows if he ever drank and drove the car would be forfeit.

You remind me of another guy who owned a 4WD and he was always checking the vehicle and timing usage of parts and suspected breakdown time and such. I don't think he ever was on the side of the road except once while helping during a bad accident.

[robivi3]

The good news here... Sawgrass Ford Collision Center is open. What a setup they have. State Farm, Progressive, Geico, and Allstate onsite. The most beautiful collision shop (not a body shop) I've ever seen. They have carte blanche and according to several friends are the best in the business. She goes in on the 7th for surgery. You talk to the State Farm guy right away. Very proffesional and no argument about putting her on the frame machine and the bed gets replaced (It's pretty certain that the frame is not bent, 2001 has a reinforced frame because of the suicide doors). Very nice! 11 more payments and then i buy the Jetta Turbo diesel, Wolfsburg ONLY. Not the Mexican made one. Don't care if i drive out of state to pick up a new one.

[Minnymouth]

Hope Big Red survives the surgery and comes out well and happy. But unfortunately, you will never look at her the same again as before. I know I didn't on my 66 Mustang convertable. Even though she looked brand new again, I always looked at her as "wrecked" after that.
Now the Jetta Turbo diesel is a NICE VEHICLE...........
Now I'm JEALOUS!!!

Minny

[robivi3]

Actually Min it's practicality. The truck has little cosmetic damage. A bent bed that was only visible to me and the adjuster and my wife, other than that no bent frame only slight bumper movement. My fear was a bent frame. likely they will replace the bed. No biggie.

The Jetta is a matter of practicality. I've only traded two new vehicles in my life. That was my 1984 Ford Escort and a crappy Mitsu Pickup. Sorry I did it. It was a good car. I tend to drive them all until they nearly drop or are sold dirt cheap. My 1984 Mustang 4 cylinder had 267,000 miles when I sold it for $300.00, still running. 4 timing belts and (I think) 3 clutches. I got real good at getting under, laying the manual transmission on my chest and muscling it out.

Other than Mopars when i was younger and my two Fords I have driven mainly GM's (2 Buick Centurys, 2 Chevy's and one Pontiac Sunbird that lasted along time). I drove a GARBAGE brand new Mitsubishi Mighty Max for a short time (TRASH). The only car I ever sold was the Mustang. The only two traded were the Escort and Mitsu (the Escort sadly for the Mitsu, then the Mitsu for the Mustang thankfully).

Being experienced with Chevy's i can tell you the quality ain't there. You have to fix them all the time. The Century, excellent, high quality, loved them. My wife cried when her 88' went to the junk man in 2000 (accident). A new Chevy Cobalt, a five year throw away costs around 14,000-16,000. A Jetta TDI that will last to at least 250,000 miles with halfhearted maintence costs 22,500 right now. I will likely milk 400,000 out of it. Well worth it. A good, quality diesel. It really boils down to maintenance, I'm just tired of the repair costs and headaches of a Chevy.

[robivi3]

Well, hopefully today I will get the call from Sawgrass Ford. They have the best collision shop in the area. She has been in the shop for a month just waiting for $10.00 worth of weatherstripping. I had to point out some minor defects after they finished her and that was one. To bad, fix her right. They do excellent work but the damage was very minor.

The hurricane hit that week and they are still overrun with H/cane damaged cars. I see her from the Sawgrass Expressway everyday and yesterday saw a red hood opened where she had been parked saw i did a circle on Panther Parkway and raced into the dealer and thankfully the open red hood was not mine! The bad thing is she is used to being driven daily for a 42 mile highway stretch, so after three months sitting and collecting dust at the shop she's going right next door to the Chevy dealer for an oil, trans. oil change and engine cleaning which i dread paying for. And I hope that $140.00 battery isn't dead to.

We have been stuck in that little Colorado (Craporado) which is an Isuzu. I went over it and discovered all the Japanese mods. It is horrible that we turn to makers of some of the worst trucks imagianble for ours. The measure of a truck is in the Tow. You will NEVER see a Japanese truck pulling a fifth wheel, EVER. Only American Trucks can take the abuse. Yes, you can slap a bed on a reasonably well made vehicle and call it a Truck all you want and it may run forever but slap a fifth wheel on it, drive it through mud, put a boat in the water with it and you find out quickly what kind of vehicle it is. Afew years ago when i did such work i remember being told to push or pull nothing with the large Nissan Diesels (after 60,000.00 was spent on them to put tow hooks, push/pull bumpers) that the manufacturers stated the transmission and supposedly good diesel were not able to handle the load. that honor was reserved for the brought back from retirement single GMC which at the time had logged 700,000 miles on the engine and Allison transmission. That old beast could start at the bottom of the hill by the red light at Haulover in Bal Harbor and accelerate pushing a 28 ton 60 foot articulated Bus uphill from a dead stop. Japanese make excellent cars for light use that if maintained (like the Camry) will last 200,000 miles. When it comes to heavy hauling their vehicles are absolute trash. You couldn't give me one.

And BTW- I love GMC's. Chevy is roughly the same truck but there are a number of little things different between a base package GMC and a Chevy. Don't care alot for Chevy Cars, love Buicks (and they are not the same subcontracted parts, Chevy's are cheaper made) but I love GM Trucks and have always been loyal to GM though I've sidelined with Mustangs and an Escort which was one of the most trouble free cars i ever had. Why they would incorporate low quality Japanese Truck design I don't know. I had a new Mitsubishi Mighty Max in the 80's for two years, it was a troublsome, poorly wired piece of garbage with constant problems.

[Minnymouth]

Hope you get Big Red back this week.... I know you'll be happy. Hope sitting so long didn't run down your good battery..... I too buy good batteries and hate it if the vehicle has to sit and let them run down....

I recently fixed a 88 Plymouth Voyager Mini-van that I have had since 1990. Blowed a head gasket and damaged the head on it a couple of years ago... Had a new head put on it and still didn't want to run correctly....
But, now that the BK is over, we decided to get it fixed and now its purring like a kitten. Funny thing, it was really nothing bad at all, just something simple like a relay switch on it tha kept messing up. So she's back in the running again and I'm glad since it gives me access to a 2nd vehicle all the time.... I'm still driving the old 87 LaBaron too.... It's a 1987 and only has 90,000 miles on it.... (I may be driving it for the next 20 years, lol)... It belonged to my mom and was her "church going car".....
Still looks like brand new!!!

I'll bet "Big Red" is just itchin to get back out on the road again......

Take good care of her!!!

[robivi3]

Yayyy! Got her back last night! Very good body work. Bed is still a little out of line. Buddies and I will line her up tomorrow. Idjots couldn't remember to line up the Bed! Six bolts, no problem. Three months, they gave her back clean and did a great job on the damage. The rental car was 2500.00 nearly double the body work! Looks new, she's a Miami girl so she's had one small bumper bender already, normal here.

That's her up in Crossville, Tennessee Min. They hit deer up there, so they got there problems, we got ours.