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Value of a wrecked cherokee

7K views 101 replies 17 participants last post by  dzywicki 
#1 ·
My daughter ran off the road and wrecked the front passenger side against a tree and rock. Jeep has 225k miles on it. Been well maintained with regular fluid changes all around. I have owned it since new. I replaced all the pistons 18 months ago due to a cracked piston skirt. Interior is in good condition. No rips on the fabric.
Was looking to get opinions on a fair value for selling this. Thanks for any help.
 

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#4 ·
I've bought two wrecked XJ, both for $500. They were worst than yours. The one had 120K, the other 200K for milage. What I look for in 'No Rust' or overall body condition. I would say yours before the wreck would be $3000 to $3500, in a good selling area. XJ prices vary greatly, as to location and condition. I'd say yours is $500 to $800. The people who would buy it, know others won't. So they low ball.
It might seem bad to low ball, but you never know what your cost will be to get stuff running. The first of mine had a tree fall on it. I think I had $1600 in it, to put it on the road, with out my labor. The other $8K with parts and others labor. I'd be interested if closer.
 
#6 ·
Thanks for all the replies. I can fix things mechanically, I just don't have the patience for body work stuff. There seems to be some interest locally and I'll post on CL for $700 and see what I get. $500 would be my absolute minimum sinceI can get that from a salvage place. Would much rather see if fixed if possible. Now to figure out how much to ask from my daughter who wrecked it in the first place.
 
#7 ·
It depends on how deep it got into the unibody. From what I can see it is only the panel that the right fender bolt onto. You could look at parts on Car-Parts_Inc.com. See if it is a bit of straightening and bolt on. I'd probably ask $1000, if the body is clean and no or just surface rust. Once you ask $700, then its $500 or less.
 
#10 ·
Due to aftermarket demand, I noticed that XJs in junkyards are getting well and truly stripped to the BONE! If not by individuals, then by resellers putting the parts on ebay. I'm sure this isn't lost on the yard, and they are willing to spend a little more. Especially if they were known to have a decent motor/trans/tcase going in.

Seems to be true of most the popular 4x4 types I see at the yard. I personally got $650 for a 1990 4x4 toyota pickup with a severely cracked frame, rust, and terrible body panels. But the motor and transmission were solid, most of the internals functioned, and it had reusable lift parts on it. (I bought it for $500 I think, and didn't have a penny into it). I didn't even haggle, and $650 was his first offer. (good running toyota motors and transmissions were starting to get harder to find at that time, and I'm sure that played into his equation).

Take a dodge caravan to a yard around here, and it's probably a different story (because the yards here are PACKED to the brim with those things).
 
#11 ·
Yeah, you're not going to get more than $500-$800 for it as it is. Even with the partially rebuilt engine. These trucks are just old and there are way too many of them on the market now to make a wreck worth more than that much.

For instance, I bought a parts Jeep a couple weeks ago to to use strictly as salvage for my project. $500. The rig has 220K on it and it has enormous amounts of rust. BUT, it was still inspected and driveable. Yours is only good for parts at this point. The restoration on that kind of damage is easily more than 100 man hours, and probably over $2000 in parts. Your best bet is to put it on Craigslist and don't let go for less than $500. Anything else is a delusion.

Also - sorry for your loss. I guess you picked the right car for her to learn on.
 
#13 ·
I did some more poking around and got the hood open. Looks like the major problem is the inner fender and part of the cowl on the passenger side. The hood and fender are obviously toast. What is the procedure to replace that inner fender? Looks like it's seam welded in place? Do you have to cut it under the wheel or is that one piece that gets welded in?
I wouldn't imagine that inner fender is available separately and would probably need to be cut from a junk yard vehicle?
The radiator is intact and it doesn't look like the frame is bent at all, just the inner fender and the support bracket. The front grill is actually fully intact too.
 

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#14 ·
I work in the collision industry, I can tell you now that a proper repair on that is going to need time on the frame machine to pull it back to spec, the apron (inner fender) assy will most likely need sectioned, the fender replaced, the header panel replaced, and potentially the core support behind the header panel either pulled+repaired, or replace.
 
#15 ·
Everything forward of the coil spring mount and above the frame rail is non-structural. All you need to do is cut some spot welds. If the coil spring/shock mount area is not deformed, and the frame rail is not excessively bent, it can be fixed pretty easily. I fixed one like that a couple years ago and I am still driving it.

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#19 ·
(I had originally typed what I would do, but really that doesn't matter. Its a fairly personal and subjective decision)

If you end up fixing the Jeep, I'd love to see updates and/or pictures. Good luck!
 
#20 ·
I will be off tomorrow so going to get it into the garage and strip the front end down. Then will stop by the nearby body shop and show them pictures and see what they say. I have AAA+ so get 4 tows a year (used 1 to get it home). I'll take pics along the way.
 
#21 ·
Was off work this afternoon, so got it pushed into the garage and started the tear down. Looking more and more repairable. It really looks like the same panel that CJ7-tim replaced is the key here. Would need some professional help with the windshield frame and cowl on passengers side. Next up is to find the part sI need. Hood, fender, inner fender apron, front outer frame (the grill is completely intact), headlight bezel, etc. Also stopped by the local body shop. They charge $250 to put it on the frame machine to check if anything is bent. Going to look around for some other shops. From what I am seeing, I don't think anything is bent on the frame, but defintiely to verify that.
 

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#23 ·
Ok, now I can't hold my tongue. The reason I didn't say anything before about what you should do is because I had no idea how you felt about your Jeep. I didn't know if it was special, brought you joy, or if it was just another vehicle. BUT NOW that I have seen your custom license plate, I can not remain silent. If I were you, and if it is not beyond reasonable repair, I'd fix that Jeep. Ok, I've said my piece. ;o)
 
#24 ·
It's actually my wife's Jeep. I just do all the mechanical maintenance. Has some sentimental value for me as well but for some different reasons. We upgraded to a Grand Cherokee for a family vehicle because we had outgrown the Cherokee with 3 kids. It went to camp Jeep by Charlottesville, got stuck in the mud a few times, etc. My wife picked the license plate after we got the WJ. The Grand Cherokee license plate she picked is "MISMYXJ". I have a 95 YJ too, se we love our Jeeps. I much prefer driving the XJ over the WJ.
Looks like I'm going to find a wrecker yard with the right year and get all I need in one trip. I am learning to paint on my YJ, so that will come in handy here. I don't see much use in paying a bunch for a paint job. We take the XJ and YJ in the woods and on trails all the time so the panels get pretty beat.
For some reason, the cat jumped up on the grill today. she has never done that before. SO I guess she wants it to stay too.
 
#26 ·
Took more stuff off today. It looks like I can replace just the front apron part. Looks to be held in by 6-10 spot welds. Going to pick up a spot weld bit at harbor freight tomorrow and try to get that piece out. OnceI get it out, my bet is that I can actually straighten it. If not, no big deal, at least I will know how to get it out and get one from the junk yard. Going to also pick up a slide hammer and see if I can get those dents out of the windshield frame. Getting much more hopeful about this.
 

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#27 ·
Spent several hours tearing into the apron today. Came off pretty easily with the HF spot weld bit. Well worth the $4.99. After I got the apron off, I continued tearing it down by taking the front piece off. Once the front piece was off, it was pretty easy to get the straightened. I was a little overzealous and inadvertently straightened the curved section int he middle. Shouldn't be too hard to get that back to what it needs to be. Found a local pick a part that charges $5 for a fender and ~$50 for a hood. Said I can cut anything off stating at $25. I can't get there until Saturday so I'll keep pounding on what I have and see where I can get it. Only took about 30 minutes to drill out all the spot welds so at least I know I can get the piece out pretty easily if I need to. Probably easier to do that than take a sawzall to it.
 

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