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but were afraid to ask: 
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Pretty Please - add it to our Events forum(s) and add to the calendar! >> 
aeronca65t
Great Pumpkin
Offline
I've gotten my Chevy Express van ("Vanna White") back from the body shop. Looks good.
I got hit while standing still (by a Toyota mini van). And I got pushed into the Ford van stopped in front of me. My damage included the stuff below plus my Reese trailer hitch and reciever got cracked and bent. $2500 total to fix.
The guilty party in the Toyota tried to blame me but the cop saw right through his "explaination" and got pretty hot under the collar with him. The cop wrote up the accident report so that it clearly indicated that the Toyota driver was 100% at fault. The Toyota guy's insurance had no real choice but to pay all damages. It's always best to just tell the truth and take your licks. Especially when the blame was so obvious. Personally, I think the Toyota driver owed me and Ford driver an apology too.
I insisted on having all GM parts fitted during the repair, and no "offshore replacement parts". I told the insurance adjuster that I went out of my way to buy a US-made vehicle (which was true) and I wouldn't tolerate any non-North American parts. So they agreed to that too (the body shop guy told me that more people should do this).
Otherwise, quite happpy with my 1500 Express. The 4.3 V6 has plenty of power for towing the Spidget and my 1000 lb. trailer. I would not hesitate to tow my old Escort GT racer with it either (I may do that in the Fall).
Since it was a two seat cargo van, I picked up a new-condition, second row seat from eBay ($50) in case I need to carry a few extra people at times.Linda slept on it at the last race.
I have 9000 miles on it so far with about 20% of that towing. We've run the air-con almost all the time this Summer including all towing miles. The data display on the dash indicates 18.0 mpg total average for the 9000 miles. Not bad. Overall, a great vehicle for the price (about $21,500 after rebate). The '09 tax incentive helped too.
Very pleased with it.....especially now that it looks as good as new again.
I got hit while standing still (by a Toyota mini van). And I got pushed into the Ford van stopped in front of me. My damage included the stuff below plus my Reese trailer hitch and reciever got cracked and bent. $2500 total to fix.
The guilty party in the Toyota tried to blame me but the cop saw right through his "explaination" and got pretty hot under the collar with him. The cop wrote up the accident report so that it clearly indicated that the Toyota driver was 100% at fault. The Toyota guy's insurance had no real choice but to pay all damages. It's always best to just tell the truth and take your licks. Especially when the blame was so obvious. Personally, I think the Toyota driver owed me and Ford driver an apology too.
I insisted on having all GM parts fitted during the repair, and no "offshore replacement parts". I told the insurance adjuster that I went out of my way to buy a US-made vehicle (which was true) and I wouldn't tolerate any non-North American parts. So they agreed to that too (the body shop guy told me that more people should do this).
Otherwise, quite happpy with my 1500 Express. The 4.3 V6 has plenty of power for towing the Spidget and my 1000 lb. trailer. I would not hesitate to tow my old Escort GT racer with it either (I may do that in the Fall).
Since it was a two seat cargo van, I picked up a new-condition, second row seat from eBay ($50) in case I need to carry a few extra people at times.Linda slept on it at the last race.
I have 9000 miles on it so far with about 20% of that towing. We've run the air-con almost all the time this Summer including all towing miles. The data display on the dash indicates 18.0 mpg total average for the 9000 miles. Not bad. Overall, a great vehicle for the price (about $21,500 after rebate). The '09 tax incentive helped too.
Very pleased with it.....especially now that it looks as good as new again.
