It is with mixed emotions that I report the demise of our Envoy Denali. On September the 16th my wife was driving to work when she was rear-ended by a college kid (late for class) in a Silverado on his way to school. He was apologetic, polite, and took responsibility which was a pleasant change from some stories I have heard. Today I settled with our insurance company.
Although the pics of the damage appear quite fixable, a quote I obtained ran up to $4500. And this did not include repair or replacement of the driver's seat which had the seat back twisted from the impact and the recline motor now ran jerkily. The last pics shows how much the hitch was bent - the drawbar should be slightly pointing up due to the grade of our lane. The hitch was pushed forward enough to jamb the spare tire against the panhard bar. The spare tire winch end had to be cut off in order to pry the tire out so it could be driveable. The tailgate took minor damage. Other than a reverse light out it was completely drivable, tracked true. Thank God our vehicle was not a Yaris or some small tin can.
I say mixed emotions - we put a LOT of money into this vehicle, it was always broken or wounded. Worst reliability of any vehicle we have owned. In that sense, good riddance. In another sense, it was the vehicle that checked all the boxes for family use, towing, ride quality, features and is hard to replace in that sense. Plus despite being an '06, it was lower mileage for the year and was in overall excellent shape. When it was working well, it was nice to drive and looked nice too - the styling was far less dated looking than many SUVs of the period imo.
The insurance company's policy is to write-off if damage exceeds 70% of fair market value. They valued it at $3700+tx which is terribly low. I disputed (self-represented, I wasn't hiring an appraiser) and by creating a 12 page report demonstrating the real value we will be walking away from it just shy of $7k in pocket which is close to it's fair value. It was a lot of effort to get there, but worth it. Whoever buys it from auction will be getting an overall good rig that was well maintained with a ton of new parts including air-ride springs, rebuilt trans, new steering rack, fuel pump and many other parts.
I will have some weather tech mats and the 18" Denali wheels with new rubber to sell to help offset our losses. We will not be getting another Envoy or TB, moving up to something newer. It's been great here, you all were very welcoming.
Although the pics of the damage appear quite fixable, a quote I obtained ran up to $4500. And this did not include repair or replacement of the driver's seat which had the seat back twisted from the impact and the recline motor now ran jerkily. The last pics shows how much the hitch was bent - the drawbar should be slightly pointing up due to the grade of our lane. The hitch was pushed forward enough to jamb the spare tire against the panhard bar. The spare tire winch end had to be cut off in order to pry the tire out so it could be driveable. The tailgate took minor damage. Other than a reverse light out it was completely drivable, tracked true. Thank God our vehicle was not a Yaris or some small tin can.
I say mixed emotions - we put a LOT of money into this vehicle, it was always broken or wounded. Worst reliability of any vehicle we have owned. In that sense, good riddance. In another sense, it was the vehicle that checked all the boxes for family use, towing, ride quality, features and is hard to replace in that sense. Plus despite being an '06, it was lower mileage for the year and was in overall excellent shape. When it was working well, it was nice to drive and looked nice too - the styling was far less dated looking than many SUVs of the period imo.
The insurance company's policy is to write-off if damage exceeds 70% of fair market value. They valued it at $3700+tx which is terribly low. I disputed (self-represented, I wasn't hiring an appraiser) and by creating a 12 page report demonstrating the real value we will be walking away from it just shy of $7k in pocket which is close to it's fair value. It was a lot of effort to get there, but worth it. Whoever buys it from auction will be getting an overall good rig that was well maintained with a ton of new parts including air-ride springs, rebuilt trans, new steering rack, fuel pump and many other parts.
I will have some weather tech mats and the 18" Denali wheels with new rubber to sell to help offset our losses. We will not be getting another Envoy or TB, moving up to something newer. It's been great here, you all were very welcoming.