Mrs. Cusser's "new" 2014 Yukon Denali XL
 

Mrs. Cusser had an accident.....2011 Yukon Denali XL

Waiting to hear from gecko, Jake, Flo, Limu Emu, Shaq, etc. about whether insurance will deem fixable or total it.....insurance company feels it was worth $30K due to its low mileage, overall condition, and cost of vehicles today.
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Hope your lovely bride did better than the Denali

Bumps and bruises, thx.

Haven't heard anything today from insurance company - they're getting it moved to a body shop for full evaluation. I'm actually hoping they will decide to repair it, even though I know that will take at least a couple of months - because hunting for such replacement with 6.0 or 6.2 engine in pristine shape means that becomes an involved project for ME !!! Took me 6 months to find/decide on that 2011 !!!

Yesterday afternoon - 8 days after the accident - the storage yard/tow company that the Phoenix police REQUIRED to be used finally released the Yukon to the body shop. Of course they collected storage fees from the insurance company for each day. The body shop's tow vehicle on the 4th trip was finally able to get the vehicle released. At various times the storage company demanded we take the actual title and registration cross-town ourselves, told us the vehicle had been moved to a different storage yard, wouldn't take a check or credit card, etc. This storage yard/tow company has an "F" rating and terrible Yelp reviews. Mrs. Cusser had even talked to the city, but they claim that this is an independent company, but they're the company the police MADE her use. Such a padding the pocket of someone with a connection to the city, likely owned by someone's relative, stuff like this happened all the time.

So we hope to hear by end of business tomorrow about whether the vehicle can be repaired or gets totaled.

Reviews, and you may not believe this !!! And I don't know if Phoenix still has such billboards up, but they used to claim "Best Run City in the World" !!!! https://www.yelp.com/biz/dv-towing-phoenix

https://www.yelp.com/biz/dv-towing-glendale

https://www.revdex.com/reviews/dv-towing-llc/1363516

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3.5 weeks after the accident, found out yesterday that insurance company is totaling the vehicle, now says its value is about $18K. Body shop estimate was about 11K (similar to what insurance guy told us Oct. 19 after looking at the photos) so too-high of percentage of value for insurance company to have fixed, as they were wary of additional damage being found. Oct. 19 he told us that $11K was only about 35% of the vehicle's value, so there was room for additional body shop cost. Anyway, until yesterday when he finally received estimate from the body shop and told us about the $18K valuation, he denied ever telling us $30K value; and to my remiss I never bothered to check for value online, believed it would be repaired.

So our only choice was to accept totaled value of about $18K (I expect final value and payment will be less) or accept $12K and retain possession of the vehicle/or buy back and get it repaired ourselves, then would have a salvage title. I don't have the skills, tools, or space to repair this.

So I looked at a 2014 vehicle yesterday, it was nice; am planning to go back today to crawl underneath with flashlight and drive it. I currently own 5 vehicles for which I didn't have a professional mechanic look at either, and have been OK (1970 VW bought in 1972, 1970 VW convertible bought in 1976, 1988 Mazda truck bought in 1994, 1998 Nissan Frontier bought in 2004, and 2004 Nissan Frontier bought in 2011). And Mrs. Cusser's 1988 Suburban. 1994 Suburban, and 2005 Yukon were all purchased used from private owners with no mechanic examination; the wrecked 2011 Yukon was examined by mechanic. She needs the Denali version because those have the 6.2 liter engine which can pull her trailer at a decent clip where I have severe doubts about a 5.3 liter engine from our experience with the 1988 and 1994 Suburbans which had 5.7 liter engines.

My '11 Tahoe tows my 20' pontoon boat and 12x6x6 cargo trailer OK. newer 5.3 is over 300 hp. My '99 Yukon with the 5.7 was only 265 hp. Yeah 6.2 has another 80 or so HP but 5.3 is better on gas when not towing.
My '11 is at 147k miles now, got it with 35k on it. Maybe it uses a 1/2 qt of oil at most between changes at around 7k miles done by the oil life monitor.

Thanks for responding; I value your hands-on experience.

I'll definitely keep the 5.3 liter information in mind if this Yukon Denali I'll be taking a second look at today doesn't turn out to be a perfect fit.

Need to compare the torque of the two engines because that's what provides the grunt to pull the trailer.

I went underneath the for-sale 2014 Yukon XL Denali with 6.2 liter Votec engine, found a small leak (pink fluid), was not able to determine then whether it was from an ATF line or was coolant (guessing it was ATF) as both of those fluids are pink on this. Anyway, was able to get the independent dealer to compromise on price and we made a deal; they will repair that leak Monday when their shop opens, invited me to be there and under the vehicle for that, deal hinges on that being readily repaired. This 2014 is pristine inside and out, not a speck of rust either as was owned in Nevada before coming to Arizona. Link https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-...ckType=listing

Well, it turned out Monday that the leak I saw on the front passenger side was actually coolant from a radiator leak on the driver side of the radiator. So the shop ordered a brand-new radiator and hopefully the Yukon should be ready for pick-up today. So me finding that leak saved me about $400/my labor or fighting over a repair (15-day warranty). I imagine a new radiator done by a mechanic shop might be $700.....

With luck, it will have operational integrated trailer brake controller all ready to use - there are controls for it on the left side of steering wheel and the trailer receptacle and 2" receiver are present.....