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Titus · 06-07-2018, 12:22 PM

It will be interesting to see how they deal with this. I don't doubt that the Sprinter side of things are totaled, considering that it is 12 years old and 190,000 miles, but the stuff added by Airstream would seem to have minor damage. And that Airstream-added stuff (presumably) still has a lot of value. So will they fix the Sprinter-related stuff since doing so will (may) cost less than the total (Sprinter + Airstream) value. But ... do you really WANT them to try to fix the Sprinter side of things because of the potentially major damage to the frame?

A different post last year talked about some insurance companies allowing you to insure it for an 'agreed-upon value'. That would have been helpful in your case. I checked and my insurance company (GEICO) does not offer that option.

Good Luck. Maybe the rest of us can learn from your unfortunate experience.

Lily&Me · 06-07-2018, 12:49 PM

Agreed upon value or replacement value would have been good.

The Claims person I spoke with this morning said they wouldn’t fix it, if it would not be safe on the road, which is the only reasonable position to take.

It’s my understanding that if it is totaled it will be sold at auction, and it is at a yard that does exactly that.

I have not had bad experiences with SF in the past, so am not looking for one here, but have learned it is always important to stay on your toes and look out for yourself.

I have sent this to them, too...

iaqstuff · 06-09-2018, 10:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lily&Me

Agreed upon value or replacement value would have been good.

The Claims person I spoke with this morning said they wouldn’t fix it, if it would not be safe on the road, which is the only reasonable position to take.

It’s my understanding that if it is totaled it will be sold at auction, and it is at a yard that does exactly that.

I have not had bad experiences with SF in the past, so am not looking for one here, but have learned it is always important to stay on your toes and look out for yourself.

I have sent this to them, too...

Have checked to see if a Public Adjuster can assist you? I think Illinois licenses their PAs - talk with your agent about PAs.

Lily&Me · 06-10-2018, 05:53 AM

THank you, I’lol look into that.

Maggie

(On edit, it looks like these deal strictly with damage and loss to residences, but thanks for the suggestion)

Lily&Me · 06-12-2018, 10:01 AM

I found in State Farm’s online Claims section this morning a letter dated yesterday pertaining to Total Loss Claims, tho it has not yet been sent to me and I have not heard from them re this.

It basically outlines my and State Farm’s duties and responsibilities, and lists their options as cash settlement or replacement and my right of recourse if I can’t find something comparable at the price they have paid me.

I also noticed they have finally changed my claim from an 05 Sprinter Van to an 05 Airstream Interstate 22...tho mine is an 06 Airstream Interstate 22.

I’m not sure what to make of the latter, tho I did of course write to inform them of the difference ...

In talking with my SF office this am, there is apparently a delay of days in emails from customers (with the claim # in the subject line, mind you) to Claims actually showing up in your file and being available for review by those handling your claim...tho they have an internal message center, such as our medical providers have, it doesn’t seem to be used by Claims, messages sent there don’t show up in the Sent folder and I was told when I asked about this to use external email only.

My agents Claims liaison tells me she can forward anything I send her directly to my file, however, and Claims then gets an alert that there is something in the file to be looked at, so everything will now be copied to her.

I’m not pleased with the way this is going. If information from the customer doesn’t go directly to whomever is handling a claim, that would seem by design rather than by accident, and how can Claims be making informed decisions if they don’t have all the information they ask you to send.

This is State Farm, not some little, individually owned company just opened that is still figuring out how to do things efficiently.

Maggie

HUSK N TUSK · 06-12-2018, 10:13 AM

No insurance company is your friend.

As I stated earlier, their one and only job is to minimize loss and pay you the absolute minimum they can get away with. They have teams of lawyers and adjusters that do NOTHING but figure out the most legal way to mercilessly screw you.

The bigger companies do this more efficiently (and ruthlessly)...that's how they GOT so big.

Again...they are NOT your friend.

featherbedder · 06-12-2018, 10:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HUSK N TUSK

No insurance company is your friend.

As I stated earlier, their one and only job is to minimize loss and pay you the absolute minimum they can get away with. They have teams of lawyers and adjusters that do NOTHING but figure out the most legal way to mercilessly screw you.

The bigger companies do this more efficiently (and ruthlessly)...that's how they GOT so big.

Again...they are NOT your friend.

Well said

Hittenstiehl · 06-12-2018, 10:36 AM

Husk & Tusk kind of said what I was thinking but more succinctly.

That is part of the reason sales (our insurance guys & gals) and claims is practically two separate industries. We can remain friends and have good relationships with our insurance representatives because they are not the ones doing the claims. I have been very impressed with you and your agent and your working relationship throughout this. Many times an agent will try to distance themselves from such a big claim thereby impacting the relationship with customer.

At this point Maggie you are in the liability column. Because of that your status has somewhat changed. They're no longer trying to sell you their product they were already successful in doing that. Now it is about them saving their product and their money. They're not even that concerned about keeping you as a customer (although your agent is) because they will be paying out big time and they have already made their money off of you.

Insurance is one of those necessary evils. We absolutely have to have it. When we have to use it our rates usually go up. It doesn't always work in our favor and it's a very difficult industry to understand.

You sound like you're doing an excellent job of it, you're very on top of it and you've given us all an education throughout the process.

Lily&Me · 06-12-2018, 10:43 AM

Thanks, folks.

I do know they are not my friends, tho it never ceases to be a disappointment to me when professionals don’t do what you have hired them to do.

We really have to know what those we hire should be doing, so we can make sure they are doing it.

Where is one’s moral center.

The point being, and thank you...stay on top of things and look out for your own best interest, don’t expect your insurance company to do that for you.

I am documenting and following up and will see it thru.

Maggie

Lily&Me · 06-12-2018, 12:19 PM

Talked with Claims, and determined the AutoSource cash value estimate was requested and completed for an 05 Airstream Interstate, tho these are usually done orally with the customer on the line and mine was not...it was redone with me on the line this afternoon, and AutoSource now also has a copy of the original specifications and recent photos of my Interstate pre-accident.

The good news...as an 05, the cash value came back at $38,500.

Maggie

wachuko · 06-12-2018, 12:26 PM

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

Lily&Me · 06-12-2018, 12:32 PM

Certainly higher...I’ll let y’all know.

Maggie

InterBlog · 06-12-2018, 01:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lily&Me

...
The good news...as an 05, the cash value came back at $38,500.

Maggie

Consider yourself blessed. It would have been in extremely bad taste for me to play the bookie on this one (although it did cross my mind). That role might have been better than me placing an actual bet, because I would have received a butt-kicking. My guess was that they would have entered the dialog around $30K. You would have howled, they would have revised upward in good faith, but not by quite that much.

Lily&Me · 06-12-2018, 01:41 PM

Yep, IB, and someone here sent me a link to an 06 currently listed at $53,000.

I think we should be very pleased by this.

We love these rigs for good reason, and that is reflected in them holding their value so well.

Maggie

OTRA15 · 06-12-2018, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lily&Me

. . .
Where is one’s moral center.
. . .

As Mr. Spock might say:

“The question is not relevant — a corporation has no moral center.”

Have you unleashed your local agent on them? When our agent barked, Claims listened to her!”

Good luck,

Peter

Hittenstiehl · 06-12-2018, 02:06 PM

Thats a great start !!!!!! and good news.

Lily&Me · 06-12-2018, 02:11 PM

I have kept my agent informed, but the claims liaison there has been the most helpful.

She used to work in Claims, and knows how things operate, and I’m now sending everything to her to forward to my file, to be sure it gets there.

It’s okay, a lesson in patience and persistence.

Maggie

Foiled Again · 06-13-2018, 06:38 AM

Hey Maggie, that is good news. 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 - and also get a personal line of credit from your bank or credit union for whatever your max price would be. If the perfect unit comes up tomorrow, you could buy it while still negotiating with the claims dept. If you end up getting a somewhat newer one you might end up owing some money... but better that than settling and not finding a replacement for months and months. Of course we hope you come out whole.

You should definitely call Patrick at Colonial... they get a lot of trade-in units... and solicit inspectors to look at anything on Craigslist, etc. I couldn't help you much with the Mercedes side of the deal, but I can smell mildew, black mold and other stuff indicative of flooding.

Time to begin beating the bushes.

Paula

Foiled Again · 06-13-2018, 06:47 AM

There is an 09 in NC for 67K. OBO

Lily&Me · 06-13-2018, 06:57 AM

Thanks for all that, Paula.

I am looking around a bit, and a credit line won’t be a problem, but don’t really want to move on anything until I have something firm from State Farm.

They haven’t even officially totaled it yet.

Starting a thread to solicit a rig from a seller would be a no-no here, but I could do an ad.

I also have a 9 day trip with my grands coming up, which will put me out of doing much of anything during that time period.

Altho the tiny trailers are adorable, and I could perhaps learn to tow and manage all that goes with towing, staying with Lily in one place in one of them for a couple of weeks doesn’t seem doable.

I have pretty well determined I won’t be happy with anything other than another Class B. If I’d never had and loved one...

Hopefully this time next week will find me in a better position to make some decisions.

Maggie