$38500 writeoff brought back from the dead...

[Thresh Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Thresh]

5 July - Drove to my brothers farm in Gippsland. My brother had rolled his JohnDeer Gator 2 weeks earlier and broken his back in 4 places.
When I attempted to drive down the paddock to recover it I started sliding, slowly at first, by the time I hit the tree I would have been doing around 70kph. The paddock was like black ice. As you can see from the photos there is only 1 tree in the whole paddock that I hit. Beyond the tree is about a 100 meter drop into a river, it's hard to see in the photo but when you walk to the edge of the ravine all you can see are treetops below.
Thank god for the tree and the way I hit it because I moved it about 2 meters. Very lucky to be alive. The initial quote in Warrigal was $38500 and the payout offer from RACV was $48,000. Being an RACV Patrolman since 1992 I refused to let them take her away, so I drive my beloved 150 back with a bent axle and got my panel beater to quote as close of possible to there repairable margin.
Here are some photos.

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More Pics

More Pics..almost finished

[D4Dforme Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close D4Dforme]

Lucky escape and i'm glad you lived to tell the tale..............but i'd have taken the cash myself and found another car.

[Thresh Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Thresh]

Mate, I lost a lot of sleep over the decision but in the end I just couldn't let her go. I do all the work (Except panel beating) myself cause I can take my time and get it perfect. It was more about the time it would take me too much lost camping time to get another 150 for $35,000 and start hours and hours of addons.

Prado 150 D4D, TJM bullbar, T-Max Xpower 12500 winch, FRYLYT 5000 lights, Brown Davis underbody, Dual battery redarc, Snorkel, Koni shocks, Aurora 2" Springs, Drifter draws, Tradesman low Profile Rack, Kamar dual wheel carrier, driveline breathers, Coopers...

[Black 150 Member Find all posts View Profile Close Black 150]

Was the potential payout $48,000? Leaves $13000 for add ons, must have been tempted?

[fido666 Banned Find all posts View Profile Close fido666]

Glad you came out OK but I would have taken the payout myself. I have had a car that should have been written off (both chassis rail concertinaed and major front end damage) repaired and it was never quite the same afterwards. But you know the car and what was damaged so I guess you made an informed decision.