Totaled Interstate Valuation

[Tronadora]

Just a thought.....

Is it possible to rent an Interstate for your trip and charge it to the insurance company? I saw a website advertising more modern ones for about $300 a night.

That should send them shrieking into the night.

[Lily&Me]

Yes, that would send them shrieking into the night.

I thought fleetingly about a rental to fulfill summer plans, but would need about a month, which would be an absurd mount of money.

If they don’t make me whole in the near future, I could always raise the issue of them depriving me of use of my Interstate or comparable vehicle.

But, I think they are going to deal with it, and do it properly, tho the 05-06 thing is sloppy to the point of having to be deliberate, in my opinion, it’s likely just meant to delay and also see what I will catch, myself.

If I hadn’t looked at the online documents, I wouldn’t have known they were first just dealing with an 05 Sprinter and then an 05 Interstate.


Maggie

[Bill M.]

I do not think the "make me whole" argument applies in this case. The collision insurance is for what is stated in the contract. I doubt if it covers something like rental of a Interstate. I know my State Farm covers like $15 a day or so towards rental. You are doing a good job. But probably will not feel "whole" when this is over.

[Lily&Me]

In my situation, I consider “whole” being full repair of my rig, making it safe and roadworthy, or fair cash value compensation.

I don’t have rental insurance with State Farm, nor would I expect them to compensate me for loss of use by paying for a rental RV in the meantime...tho that would be nice.

Maggie

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by wachuko

So a 2006 should be higher... closer to 45-50K?

A 2006 or 2007 Interstate, well-cared-for, fairly low mileage, on the resale market today would be listed around $50K. Now, what it would actually fetch is another issue, but I think it would be close to the ask. There's a good chance that a nice 2007 is going to be north of $50K.

We have our 2007 insured via an "agreed value" policy at $60K. That policy was negotiated *before* we put $12K+ worth of extra gear (solar, lithium, cellular, Vitrifrigo fridge, camera systems, Pioneer radio, 3M CR70, and MANY other upgrades) and about $100K worth of DIY labor into it. It's realistically too low, but I'd have to jump through hoops from here to Johannesburg to change it, so for the moment, I'm letting it sit as it is. However I do not believe we could find a vehicle of equivalent functional capacity for less than six figures. Where would I buy any other Interstate, or even a competing B model, that can run its roof a/c off lithium batteries and support an off-grid office without any practical limitations, other than I need to replenish water every couple of weeks??

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by Bill M.

I do not think the "make me whole" argument applies in this case. The collision insurance is for what is stated in the contract. I doubt if it covers something like rental of a Interstate. I know my State Farm covers like $15 a day or so towards rental. You are doing a good job. But probably will not feel "whole" when this is over.

Well said IMO, especially about diminished expectations.

Give ‘em “heck,” Maggie, nonetheless!

Cheers,

Peter

[Foiled Again]

Actually in some states you can get additional compensation if the claim is not settled within a reasonable amount of time. Reasonable is probably six months though. Ask your AGENT... he will hem and haw... and become highly motivated to make you do no such thing!

Unfortunately, sometimes the consumers get no joy, until a TV station does a feature report.

Paula

[Lily&Me]

Had a call from Tina Caver at AAA a bit ago, who had reviewed my claim, recommended to her manager that the 72 hour window be disregarded in my case, and he then signed off on $1,000 reimbursement for car rental and hotel expenses...the maximum allowed by my AAA RVPlus membership.

The supervisor I spoke with on June 1st, Shane Kaip, had forwarded my information and his findings to her manager...just as he said he would.

In my letter to AAA pleading my case I did close with the fact that I have been a longtime member and an 11 year Airstreamer who has many times referenced good experiences and recommended AAA to fellow travelers.

Also that “I respectfully request AAA to do what’s right, here, to reimburse me promptly for incurred expenses, and that you remember that Airstreamers and RV’ers in general are a very large and growing community. We travel, we talk, we blog, and we publicly as well as privately share our service experiences in the interest of helping our fellow travelers. “

Kudos to AAA for doing the right thing.

Maggie

[Hittenstiehl]

That is good news. And a very well worded last paragraph.

[rmkrum]

Perfect application of the "carrot and the stick" technique!!!

I'm stashing that final paragraph for future, just-in-case use!

[kswelsh]

So glad you are ok Maggie. How's Lilly? So sorry you have to deal with this mess but so glad you are ok.

[Lily&Me]

Thank you, and we are both fine.

We were a bit shaken up, and I had a busted lip, but it could have been so much worse.

Maggie

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by Foiled Again

... I think it is time for you to go ahead and start shopping for the replacement Interstate.

Start a thread - hunting for 06 to 08 Airstream Interstate - ...

You should definitely call Patrick at Colonial... ...
Time to begin beating the bushes.

Paula

(1) Patrick at Colonial.
(2) Arbogast.
(3) Sunshine RV in Florida, which is a big Class B specialist.
(4) Airstream flipper Andy Ikerd (@strgcheez) who often sells on eBay (see Flickr album). If you contact him in advance, you might try asking for right of first refusal.
(5) ViewRVs website (here), which often features Airstream motorhomes, and upon which you can place "wanted" ads.
(6) This Air Forums thread where we debate new T1N listings.
(7) RVTrader where you can set up a search for Interstates of certain ages and model years.
(8) You can set up a search on eBay generally but 95% of the Interstate listings are for NCV3s, not T1Ns, and most of them are fishing expeditions.
(9) As well as running ads on this forum, you might also contact certain Airstream communities such as Texas Airstream Harbor. The people in those places frequently barter among themselves for sales of both lots and rigs.
(10) PPL in Texas sometimes gets T1Ns but their website is difficult and must be searched manually. They are huge and sell A LOT of rigs, but they lump B and C together in the same sales category, which is inconvenient.

Those are the main sources I can think of where a T1N might be found for sale.

[Lily&Me]

Thanks for all that information, IB.

Maggie

[Titus]

Giving SF the benefit of the doubt, it may be an 05 Sprinter chassis and a 06 Airstream Interstate MY. This happens fairly often. You can tell by looking at the 'year' digit of the VIN. GO on-line to find a 'secret decoder ring' for MB and AI.

[Action]

The 10th character of the VIN indicates its model year.

4 = 2004

5 = 2005

6 = 2006

7= 2007

8 = 2008


>>>>>>>>>>Action

[Lily&Me]

Thank you both.

It is of course, an 06 AS on an 05 chassis, but insured as an 06 Airstream Interstate and informed so by me in writing beginning 9 days ago, when I first figured out they were dealing with this as a van, only.

It’s not possible that an experienced estimator didn’t realize this was an RV, nor that that isn’t apparent from the 8 photos taken.

I also gave them at the time, both verbally and in writing, both the VIN# and the AS serial/chassis#, but it seems the insured has to catch the issues and press for them to be resolved in order to get a fair assessment of value.

When we re-did the request to AutoSource two days ago, they wanted me to articulate on the phone all the features. I had sent the list of specifications to SF, and insisted they instead send this on to Auto Source, which they did.

When I spoke with Claims the other day, after them acknowledging the AutoSource estimate of value was done on an 05 AS, the woman said that with these conversion vans things can get confusing.

This is the Specialty Vehicle division, and dealing with RV’s on truck chassis I feel certain is commonplace. There should be nothing confusing about it, especially because of how it is insured and that I had given them both #’s.

It may just be all part of the game, more cat and mouse than I like in any situation, but I am up to it and will deal with it.

One has to be their own best advocate...trust no one, as the man said.

Sigh.

Maggie

[Rocinante]

Good job, go get 'em!

[Lily&Me]

Thanks, Bill.

AutoSource compared my rig with a single 05 AI and came up with a value of $41,000+, which seems low compared to similar others I have seen. There was no request for estimates from Airstream nor other dealers.

They wants specs for other listings, so I will work on pulling and printing those this afternoon and go to my agents office in the morning who will help me fax them directly to Claims.



Maggie

[Hittenstiehl]

Anther possible source of information is:

Sprinter-Source also referred to as The Sprinter Source

They have a thread called T1Talk