I miss my Avv and want her back !

Dang folks.  I really didn't think this would happen, but it has.  Lots of stuff happened, We got a much larger camper etc, so I took the plunge and bought a 2500 Ram with the Cummins in it. Awesome truck that will drag my house around if I want it to..  I was still using the AV some but some nagging etc finally pushed me to sell it last March.
Nice guy from Gray bought it after looking at her for 5 mins.  We talked a long time and he had been looking for a long time, and his plan was to keep it as a daily driver for his short work commute and take great care of her..  Called to check on her and he ended up doing the same thing.  Bought a big camper that she couldn't pull.  Wife told him to sell her.  I was going to ask him to buy it back.  We even discussed that when he bought it, but now she is sold, and I don't know where and its really buggin me. Feel like I let my friend down.  Bought it new in 07 and had her until March of 18.  All 4 of my Grand kids were born while we had her, lots of weddings and my Dad and father in Law and step Dads funerals. You don't always realize how much a part of everything you do they are. Pretty much there for it all. I always joked we took her to Myrtle Beach so many times I think she could have made the drive without any help from me.  I put probably all but 1000 of the 315K that was on her when she left the house last March.  Wife hardly ever drove it as she just doesn't like "big" vehicles.  She will not drive the Ram.. 

Think twice before you let them go if your a long time original owner..  You may really regret it.. 

I know what you mean. I've had thoughts of selling mine and getting something else. With my wife's car, I don't have room for 3 vehicles. I've had reoccurring dreams about vehicles that I've owned and loved. Only to wake up sad the next morning realizing it was just a dream.

Great post!

I am keeping mine and use it once a month now for home depot runs.
Maybe if they ever start making them again I would think of getting a new one otherwise I need to keep this one running.

In my 40+ years of driving, I have tried to buy the nicest vehicles I could afford, at the moment.

I have owned many vehicles and all but one has been used.

Some ended up being better or worse than the others.

I tell people all the time that this EXT is the best vehicle I have ever owned, bar none.

I am sincere when I say that.

It has done everything I have asked of it, and more.

I am sure there may be better ones out there, but I don't care to find out.

I am satisfied with what I have and I don't worry about spending some coin to keep things in good order.

I am sure it will be a sad day when I finally have to say goodbye.

All good things must come to an end.

With my Avy coming up on 100k the search for a daily driver has begun. I need to set-up a covered parking spot on the side of the house for her... feeling sad that she loses a garage spot, but she is definitely staying in the family and maybe getting supercharged for boat pulling duties! 

greatgab said:

With my Avy coming up on 100k the search for a daily driver has begun. I need to set-up a covered parking spot on the side of the house for her... feeling sad that she loses a garage spot, but she is definitely staying in the family and maybe getting supercharged for boat pulling duties!

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Dont be in a hurry Sir.  I put literally 250K miles of daily use on my Av before I ever had a single issue.  And then it was just one of the Sensors.  Finally had the lifter issue at about 275 and then I had to spend a few bucks for sure.  But at 100K she wasnt even breathing heavy.  The truck never once failed to bring me home if I left the house in it even when I had the lifter fail.. If you are ready for a new DD, by all means go ahead, but dont think because your truck is approaching 100K miles you need something new. If I had installed a range module and deactivated AFM when mine was low miles I am convinced the original engine would still be going strong. Yours is a later model so you wont have the problem I did. 

Thanks for the feedback folks,  I got a solid lead today on where my truck is now.  Not sure what to do with it, but I know she is still in the Macon area not to far from here..

Long story to add to the post. Will try to include some pictures if I can remember how. I finally tracked my Avy to the new owner a year or
so back. Very nice fellow but he did not wish to sell her. I have stayed in touch and asked him to please give me first dibs when ever he did decide
to move on.

He texted me Sunday night. A drunk driver came through his neighborhood and literally ran off the road through his yard and hit her sitting in his driveway. They were grilling out back and heard the crash. Damage is sizable including front frame I am sure, but I know I can fix her. It would just take time and I actually have a friend who has a frame rack in his body shop. I am talking with him about the possibility of buying her as salvage as his insurance appears to want to total the truck.

Am I crazy and letting sentiment get the best of me? Never realized how attached I was to the truck, and I literally miss it all the time.
I would love to save her and bring her home..

That’ll buff out! :>)
But seriously, I understand your attachment. Hardest part might be finding all of the pieces you need to put her back together. Looks worth saving, and I wish you the best of luck.

The thing about it is, if you want her back who cares what anybody else thinks? I say get a good survey of the damage and figure up what it’ll take to fix her back up, and make an offer accordingly

If you have the
Time
Money
Patience
Skillz
Family that will put up with this "hobby"

GO FOR IT!

Making some progress today I hope, all comes down to the $$

I know I can fix the truck just need to be able to get the title back in my hands for a reasonable amount.
I very much want to bring her home, but need to stay married as well.

Always regretted not putting a supercharger on her, might get the chance after all

Fingers crossed..

If you haven't already done this you should call your insurance company and see if they have a problem insuring a totaled/salvaged vehicle.
In some states you may have problems titling a totaled/salvaged vehicle with DMV so you may want to check with them too.

Good advice, I have two very close friends that are in the body shop/salvage business and have discussed it at
length with them. They are both very confident in my state and county that I would not have a problem with all the above after
proper repairs etc were done, and also will assist me in the process as they are both familiar with it. Your good
advice is much appreciated though, thank you!

You probably want to add a few bucks for things you don't see up front.

Like motor and transmissions mounts it looks like it was tagged a bit hard.

Good luck with it.

I understand the feeling of wanting your old truck back. If the cost and effort even comes close to making sense, I don't blame you.

I used to do body work a long time ago in GA and you have to get a salvage car/truck inspected to get the rebuilt title if I remember correctly but it was never an issue for the shop I worked for. Not sure if it varies county to county, this was southwest GA. And I did some pretty major rebuilds.

The most important part you should remember; use this time to upgrade everything! Lift, winch bumper, cooling system, cold air intake, headers, etc.

Looking forward to your decision

I 100% plan to do it if I can make a deal to get her back. Talked to enough of my buddies that I know I have the help I will need.
Just trying to work with the current owner. Hoping that works out, If not I will have to try and get her back through the salvage yard after
they settle up with him. One way or the other I will try my best to make it happen. If I can get her back in the barn I will do it rite for sure..
Appreciate all the feedback. I will start a thread and document the whole deal if I can make it happen. So much family history with the truck
I still cant believe I ever agreed to sell it. If I can get her home it wont happen again..

07AVSS said:

I 100% plan to do it if i can make a deal to get her back. Talked to enough of my buddies that I know I have the help I will need.
Just trying to work with the current owner. Hoping that works out, If not I will have to try and get her back through the salvage yard after
they settle up with him. One way or the other I will try my best to make it happen. If I can get her back in the barn I will do it rite for sure..
Appreciate all the feedback. I will start a thread and document the whole deal if I can make it happen. So much family history with the truck
I still cant believe I ever agreed to sell it. If I can get her home it wont happen again..

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You should talk directly with his insurance company, they may do the deal directly with you in one fell sweep.

Ok, got some movement today, his insurance is debating still to fix or total her, but he told me today that either way he has
decided he will go ahead and get another larger truck like he was thinking about so he will let the truck go. So it looks like I will be getting her back the only question is repaired or as is with a salvage title. To be honest I would prefer as is so I can do the repairs the way I want them done,
but if they go ahead and fix her first I will go that route as well. Just a question of time and what they plan to do. Just have to wait a bit more and see. I can promise one thing if and when I hold that title again she will not be for sale again! I would like to deal direct with his insurance but he is being super nice bout the deal so I will let him handle that side and make a few suggestions perhaps, but I dont want to appear like I am trying to get in his business to much. As long as she ends up back in my shop I will be a happy boy!

There is a little known option he may want to look into, it's called a damage write off. Now I don't know about your state laws or his insurance. He should have the option to get it fixed or not to get fixed. In my case I wanted to keep the car that got dented and the insurance wanted to total it. The insurance company valuated the car wrecked then valued the car fixed, they gave me the money to fix it minus the collision deductible. It worked out for me because I could fix it myself cheaper than a repair shop. One draw back was the insurance would never insure it again because it's toast and has no value.

Now if he has a huge deductible it may not work for him and he has the right to sue the drunk driver insurance for his deductible if they had insurance or sue him personally if he did not.

Now if the AV is totalled the insurance probably knows when it goes to auction they will never get the actual value of it. When I did this my title showed a accident but not a totalled because it never was never totalled.

But it's up to the current owner to do this but his rates may increase.

Just food for thought.

Oh yeah if the current owner has a loan on it that has to be paid off.

I was in an accident in our old spare vehicle, a 1993 Ford Explorer, several years ago.

Without going into too long a story (yeah, right), the damage was to the driver's side front fender, bumper and headlight fixture.

Given the truck was that old, the cost of repairs was over 70% of the value THE INSURANCE COMPANY determined for the truck, and they totaled it.

The other driver's insurance offered me a settlement and also gave me the option to retain the vehicle, for the price they also determined.

The insurance companies would really rather not have to deal with the carcass.

Since the damage was superficial and none of it mechanical, I opted to retain the truck.

The other driver's insurance cut me a settlement check, less the price to return the truck to me.

My buy back was $98.

I took the rest of the settlement and my mechanic at the time rounded up a salvage yard fender and bumper a couple of states away and installed them.

I had enough money left to replace all of the brakes and shocks, have all four window regulators replaced and get an oil change.

Once the repairs were complete, I took the truck to a friend with a body shop and he repainted the entire front cap and a couple of other places that needed it on other spots on the truck.

By the time I got the truck back, it was in much better shape overall than it had been in years.

Strangely, the wreak ended up being a blessing in disguise.

In my state, there was no change in the truck's title designation and none of the repair work was reported to anything like Carfax.

I continued to pay my normal insurance premiums all the way up to when I sold it.

My insurance was aware of the accident, but they did not have to get involved since the other insurance settled with no issues.

I kept the truck for several years afterwards and finally sold it to a friend for his teenage son to drive.

They had no problems transferring the title and getting the truck insured.

I'm wondering, in your case, if you could talk to the owner and made an offer to purchase the Avalanche for the price of the buy back plus enough to make it worth his time and trouble.

Offer the guy enough to make it a deal he would have trouble refusing.

It might end up being a win for both of you.

Best of luck.

Thanks again for all the advice folks, I am trying to do pretty much what you guys are talking about and get it back through salvage and make up the difference and a little extra for the current owner. But he seems to want to handle his insurance and ultimate disposition on his own shall we say,
and I don't want to push that angle to much and risk upsetting him. Guy is being very nice and is willing to let me get the truck back so at this
point I have to force myself to set back and let his deal work itself out. Feel like it will alienate him if I try to involve myself to much or offer to much unsolicited input into the process. I will jump in where and when I can, but my overall objective is to regain possession of the truck. Being patient and waiting is bugging the crap out of me, but at this point its just what I have to do.

Thank You all again..

As much as it would pain me to do as well, I think that's the right approach. But the others have some good points. Either way, it looks like you'll get her back, good news!

It is a lot of fun speculating on some new Mods if I get her back, Thinking a SS style front end, going to some 22's as opposed to the 20s
that I put on there way back in 2007. Same wheels still on there. Got the originals in my shop. And a mild cowl hood since she will need a new front
clip and hood anyway.

Fingers crossed that you get it back. I'm really hoping that you do and that you rebuild it, because I'm in a very similar situation as you OP lol.