1989 S-10, wrecked... Scrap or Repair?
 

I have a 123,000 mile 1989 S-10 extended cab, 4.3 automatic. Old City of Tulsa truck, with wheels from a camaro. It and my wife were involved in a 40 MPH collision noon saturday, and was wondering if I should bother fixing it, or should I roll it down to the boneyard and take the plates off, and spend the insurance money on something else? This was the Wife's truck, and she really (for some reason...) liked it. Fortunately, she is OK except for a bruised knee.

An uneducated inspection by your truly says it will need the passenger side front fender, the inner fender, front bumper, hood, grille, passenger side headlight, side marker and turn signals, possibly a radiator but I saw neither coolant nor A/C refrigerant leaking out. It will also need whatever the part is that the radiator/headlights/grille/etc is attached to. Frame appears to be straight, but the steering felt out of alignment on the short trip home.

Pictures to follow.

Re: 1989 S-10, wrecked... Scrap or Repair?
 

Getting a closer look at the bottom of the truck, and the less-damaged driver's side, I'm almost positive the frame is bent. I can see in front of the control arms, on both sides, where the surface rust/dirt has flaked off in spots, and it looks like the entire front of the truck forward of the cab is shifted to the passenger side by six inches or so. The driver's side wheel sticks out of the fender, and it didn't stick out before.

Re: 1989 S-10, wrecked... Scrap or Repair?
 

Kinda hard to tell in the pic, but the frame looks ok. Looks like a direct hit which is good. A glancing blow is more likely to tweak the frame, which also wouldn't really make the wheel stick out anyway. Got a pic of the gap between the driver fender and door?

Re: 1989 S-10, wrecked... Scrap or Repair?
 

Oh, the bumper mounts that are welded to the frame are surely wasted, is that where you see the flaked paint? They just get cut off and the new ones get bolted on.

Re: 1989 S-10, wrecked... Scrap or Repair?
 

The place I see stuff flaked off is on the frame rails, immediately in front of the control arms, under the truck. The driver's side tire is sticking out of the fender quite a bit. The passenger door (I can get pictures in a little while) doesn't open anymore, but the gap between the driver's door and fender looks like what I remember it looking like.

Re: 1989 S-10, wrecked... Scrap or Repair?
 

I am going to say that with the speed being 40 the frame is probably bent maybe not noticable with the naked eye but the sheet metal and radiator alone would cost about as much as another truck would.

Re: 1989 S-10, wrecked... Scrap or Repair?
 

either take it to the body shop and get them to fix the frame, or take the wheels off and find another ex-cab s10 and paint it black, it cant be too hard! How much cash is it worth for an insurance settlement?

Re: 1989 S-10, wrecked... Scrap or Repair?
 

Car payment over fixing it.......fix it!!

Re: 1989 S-10, wrecked... Scrap or Repair?
 

Tell your insuracne co.. you want a replacement one just like it,If they or you find one on the lot..for say like 3500 ...they will settle for that,and if they dont..make a call to an insurance comissioner...then they will do it...So find one just like it with the same miles and options..and ask them to get it..

Re: 1989 S-10, wrecked... Scrap or Repair?
 

I didn't know I could do such a thing. The other half has been looking at other vehicles for sale, so it looks like the little truck will be hauled off. I may try to strip a couple of easy-to-sell parts of it. (It has an excellent 700r4 transmission and a 4.3 with 123,000 miles, and the wheels may be worth something)

The insurance company of the person responsible for the accident has appraised it, and said it's totaled.. I hope now they don't drag their feet about it, (I call, and everybody is "very sorry they aren't at their desk right now...") and hopefully they don't pull a "It's worth $400 so that's what we're giving you for it".

On another note, we have, as a rental, a 2010 Cobalt. I Will Never Own One Of These Cars. It's terrible. Blind spots galore, A/C doesn't work as well as the A/C in the S-10 did, and it's s-l-o-w. You hit the gas, the car actually slows down for a couple of seconds, and then starts to gradually get going faster. I got too used to my C1500 with the 350 and 5 speed I guess.

Re: 1989 S-10, wrecked... Scrap or Repair?
 

well if it was not your fault,then you would still be driving it..Push them to buy you another was so you dont get 400 is what they want to pay off..

I friend of mine has a 70 shortbed with tach and a/c..car pulled out in front of him,he hit the wagon..totaled the truck,only one they found was in az..rustfree and same options for 5500...the wagon ins..co wrote check for 5500.. Yes this is an option you have..and a right..Dont sign anything untill you are happy with enough to go get another one..

and i can buy wrecked cobolts with under 5,000 miles for less than 1,000 at the auctions i go to...worthless junk...lol

Re: 1989 S-10, wrecked... Scrap or Repair?
 

Yeah, you don't have to agree with anything until you are happy with their offer. It may take a lot of phone calls, but don't give up.

I also agree that cobalts are worthless junk, lol.

Re: 1989 S-10, wrecked... Scrap or Repair?
 

i drove a cobalt once and i couldnt wait to give it back... they are the tinniest cheaply made pieces of junk i ever drove...made my old ford pinto look good

Re: 1989 S-10, wrecked... Scrap or Repair?
 

I don't think they will really try to give me something really low like $400, my '89 C 1500 got hit last December (by a Focus... guess who drove away) and that insurance company paid me something like $1028 to get it fixed, this for a shallow dent and bent bumper.

They said they base their vehicle value on NADA and "Fair market Value", I know the NADA value of the truck. They want me to fax the Title to them, but I still haven't got a definite answer on WHEN and HOW MUCH so I'm a bit leery.

Re: 1989 S-10, wrecked... Scrap or Repair?
 

take it to the most expensive body shop around..get an estimate..and send that to them..

Re: 1989 S-10, wrecked... Scrap or Repair?
 

A problem with that idea. Even the cheapest body shop around will charge too enough to fix the truck, that it is cheaper for the insurance company to declare it a total loss. They have already done this. I'm having a real problem getting them to tell me how much and more importantly, WHEN I am getting my money. May be time to give the insurance commission a call.

Re: 1989 S-10, wrecked... Scrap or Repair?
 

Well if its gunna coast more than 75% of the trucks value, Then yes its totaled. What insurance company does the other driver have? Some of the cheaper insurance companies will give you a major run around.
And if the insurance company totals it out, and pay you for it. They own that truck, If you want to keep for any reason you will have to make a deal to buy it back. So don't strip it or scrap it until they are finished. If you do you will actually loose value of what they offer.
Has an adjuster from the insurance company looked at the truck yet???
My wife is an insurance agent, and my BIL is an insurance adjuster. I heard alot of horror stories so take my advice and get in touch with the one at faults insurance company.

Re: 1989 S-10, wrecked... Scrap or Repair?
 

Someone has already looked at the truck, and they've already declared it a total loss. They are just dragging their feet. They say they will call, and they NEVER call. I have to get ahold of them myself. It's some place called Hallmark Insurance. We've done everything we need to do, they have accepted liability for their driver, they just need to stop stalling and pony up the money so we can get on with life.

Re: 1989 S-10, wrecked... Scrap or Repair?
 

i dont know about other states except NY and NJ where ive been insured for years, and have been an adjuster but if you are paid by another insurance company OTHER THAN YOUR OWN they cannot take your vehicle for salvage. They have no legal right to it. YOUR insurance company ,if you have full coverage , maintains a right to salvage if they decide to total out a vehicle.. Heres a prime example of what happened to a friend of mine. He was hit with a late model truck full rear. He reported the loss to his insurance company and he had full coverage and the truck was totalled. They offered him $5300 and wanted the title. When he was contacted by the adjuster from the party who hit him they told him they would pay the loss which was basically the same amount and he got to keep the car. As long as you dont accept the settlement from YOUR insurance company they have no right to your car. MY buddy was able to sell the truck as a parts truck and wound up with a nice down payment on an even newer truck

Re: 1989 S-10, wrecked... Scrap or Repair?
 

If there are a few parts on it you can sell, ask them what the buy-back is. It may be pretty cheap, and you may be able to make extra money by parting the truck out.

Re: 1989 S-10, wrecked... Scrap or Repair?
 

Wow tinker, if they already looked at it and declared it totaled you should have already been notified of when and how much you were going to recieve your pay out on the same day. for example, My mother had a car totaled because of another driver. Anyways, the adjuster came out looked the car over 30 minutes later, He called gave us an amount asks us if that was sufficent. Check was in the mailbox a week later. That was travellers insurance. I would be talking to the insurance commission. and the better business bureau

Re: 1989 S-10, wrecked... Scrap or Repair?
 

It happens all the time here. It doesn't seem to bother anyone so long as they get their money. It happened to me once, I just bought the car back for next to nothing.

Re: 1989 S-10, wrecked... Scrap or Repair?
 

to bad your not close, id fix it. I fixed worse after playing off road on the weekends. its really not that bad.

Re: 1989 S-10, wrecked... Scrap or Repair?
 

a local Votech school can fix the frame and only charge you shop supplies (~$50)

Re: 1989 S-10, wrecked... Scrap or Repair?
 

Sorry I've been quiet lately. Lots of good advice here, but unfortunately, we aren't keeping/repairing the little truck. After this last few weeks I was just happy to see it go. I think it will be fixed and back on the road. We replaced it with something that has a backseat, cause I have a 10 year old and it's hard having to either cram myself, my wife, and my kid into a fullsize truck with a stickshift, or into the little S-10. (It didn't have the backseats in it) We found a good deal on an '88 Isuzu Trooper. When I brought it home, my wife wouldn't have been happier if I'd come home with a $120,000 Land Rover.

For those who may sneer at that choice, don't knock it. We've taken it on a couple of trails. It has a 2.6 4 cylinder, automatic, manual hubs, rear locker, 4.56 gears, and 31x10.5x15" tires. It's incredible what it will go through/over/up/down. The second time we made a serious effort to get it stuck and we couldn't do it. Put it in 4-Low and it will climb anything... eventually. (Top speed in Low is about 20 MPH.) Both times we've gone off the pavement with it we had to use it to get someone out of some hole. We're starting to call it the Jeep Rescue Vehicle.