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Comments
-mike
We've had Allstate for about 5 years. Our coverage includes broad-form collision (if it's not your fault, the deductible is waived). Our rates are good (good driving records for me & my wife), blah blah blah.
We have had several claims in those 5 years, including at least 3 windshields IIRC. A couple years ago Allstate changed from $0 deductible glass coverage to $50 deductible. I think this was a smart cost move by them, but none of these "comprehensive" coverage claims has ever increased our rates. Nor have the "collision" coverage claims increased our rates because they have always been NOT our fault. I've had a $17k claim for my previous Trooper which was totaled, about $900 for a shopping cart-induced door ding on wife's car -- deductible was waived on both b/c not our fault. And just a couple weeks ago we had some minor body work (new left rear fender flare and some minor repainting) on our 98 Trooper b/c some moron tunked it while exiting a freeway offramp.
My agent has told me re: the collision claims that we can make as many claims as we want and our rates will NEVER increase as long as the incidents are not our fault.
That's just my personal experience with one insurance company. Your mileage may vary.
-mike
I don't think the claim for a non-colision induced event (tree falling or vandalism) counts against you though.
Something interesting regarding insurance is that some companies are now running a credit report on you to determine your rates (at least that's what I found when shopping for home owners ins).
I test-drove the Sedona yesterday and was fairly impressed. The 3.5L V6 (195 hp @ 3500 rpm, 218 lb-ft @ 4500? rpm) felt even peppier and more eager to rev than the Trooper's 3.5L 6. Plus Sedona offers a 5-speed automatic.
For $24,100 MSRP you get leather, moonroof, power front seats, good-sounding CD player, etc. It lacks some class-standard options (power sliding doors, factory TV entertainment system, side airbags, traction control) but it provides some neat tricks of its own (front windshield-wiper area electric defroster, additional dash-mounted glovebox ala Subarus, folding front-row table ala Odyssey, etc.) and overall it seems like a great bargain. Fit and finish seems good and it just received a 5-star government crash-test rating across the board (front and side impact). I'm sure the 4700-pound (!) curb weight helps.
I never would have considered a Kia vehicle 2 years ago, but they and Hyundai both seem to have improved quality dramatically the past couple years. Still, I wouldn't be considering this van without Kia's 5yr/60k mile bumper-to-bumper and 10yr/100k mile powertrain warranty.
I worry about depreciation with a Korean product, but these vans are hot-- selling from MSRP to $1,000 below-- so I think that bodes well for future resale. I think MSRP is likely to rise in future model years, which will help prop up the resale value of earlier models.
Sorry for rambling. Any thoughts?
That stinks about your Isuzu dealer selling their franchise. I hadn't really given that subject much thought until reading your email. The one thing I don't get is, if a dealership sells its franchise for a certain brand but continues to do business selling other brands, how could they provide you with warranty service? If a dealer is no longer an Isuzu dealer, they would not be getting reimbursed from corporate Isuzu for warranty repairs, so there's no way I would ever expect a dealership to honor a warranty at its own expense no matter what assurances they made to me during the selling process.
Steve
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-mike
So I started her up, I tried to rev the engine but it wouldn't rev much past 3K rpms! It had tons and tons of buttons and knobs all over the place on the steering wheel, the dash, the doors. The front seats were ok comfort-wise, but not nearly as good as the captains chairs in the trooper. The moonroof was more like a roof vent compared to the trooper's roof. The dash did have full guages so I'll give it that. Here is the worst thing about it, with the front seat in a comfortable spot for myself, I could not fit in the rear seat without pushing my knees deep into the front seats. Also in this position, the rear folding seat would not fold down, I had to move the front seat up to get it to fit. Then underneat the rear seats were all kinds of computers, and fuse panels! I'd hate to have a kid drop a soda on the rear seat and have it leak onto these computer ribbon cables covered by very thin platic snap-off covers. Rear seats don't recline, and rear storage is pittiful. The Assender is not likely to get any improvements exept possibly the rear seat moved back slightly due to the longer wheelbase. Width was also no where near as wide as the trooper I could reach over to the passenger door, which I cannot do on the trooper. When I was done messing with the car, I locked it and tossed the keys into the back section of the truck
-mike
-mike
The main goal of no-fault is to speed up the claims process, rather than making you fight with the insurance company of the guy who hit you...
-mike
Oh, by the way, when questioned about the price the dealer said the paper had mis-printed the price. It was actually 18,950!!
Happy Trooping!!!
One more issue to resolve. I believe I've pinned the buzzing noise in the exhaust system down to a bad MUFFLER. I thought it would be heat shields of something like that but not the case. Can you believe it, how many bad mufflers have you heard of?? That should be fixed sometime this week.
Happier Trooping!! ;-> ;->
Glad to hear you solved your vibe problem and that it was the tires not the Trooper
-mike
http://isuzu-suvs.com/howto/troopheadunit.html
Off-road Event This Sunday:
http://isuzu-suvs.com/events/pb02-17-01/index.html
-mike
Very sorry I have bothered you guys with this question. If it happens again, I will definitely investigate your suggestions. Thanks!
Happy Trooping!!!
-mike
Our Trooper is approaching 61,000 miles and I am so pleased (not surprised, though) with how solid it still is, inside and out.
-mike
Gas mileage would be one of the few financial reasons to keep the Contour instead of Trooper. Insurance on Trooper is cheaper, and you're probably right that overall maintenance and repair costs will be lower on Trooper.