Hail damage: repair, total, or buy back?

[davidmenges]

Our 2011 Airstream 23FB sustained hail damage - all top panels, not structural failure but certainly "peppered". A repair quote is close enough to value that the insurance company will total it - our choice. We have the option of buying it back, so could use it and/or sell it. We would do OK financially if it were totaled, or if we bought it back. There is one insurance company willing to insure it.

What would you do? Or, would you be interested in the trailer as-is?

[CRH]

If the numbers worked out, I would let them total it, buy it back and use it as is.

[dkottum]

Tough call, I think if you have a really good Airstream in every other way and you have no desire for anything larger of different, buy it back. That is, if you don't mind the dents.

Otherwise it's an opportunity to go shopping for something else you have been thinking about, or to get rid of some nagging problems with it.

[idroba]

Years ago (early 90's) I had a 25' which got too close to a flatbed truck and got scratched both above and below the beltline so all the upper and lower panels on one side were slightly damaged. Mostly it was long scratches about 1/16" deep. The repair cost was more than the used selling price of the trailer, so the insurance company totaled it out and sold it back to me for $1500. A while later someone offered me $4500 for it, but I kept it and sold it to a good friend for $3000.

I would take the hail damaged trailer for the salvage value and live with it.

[m.hony]

You just got me to thinking-
My trailer has hail damage- maybe hundreds of dimples on the roof-
I've done absolutely nothing. It received the damage a year and a half ago. It has been to Jackson Center since then. Everyone says to live with it.
Maybe I should have made a claim and bought the trailer back.

[hhendrix]

One of the members in our unit has a 16' Bambi with hail damage on all sides. It literally looks like a golf ball. Everything works just fine, he's happy with it, and it always draws attention and fun conversation when ever he shows up at a rally.

[robwok]

golf balls have dimples to help them get through the air better. It may improve your gas mileage....

It shouldn't impact your ability to drive it at all. you may be able to use a slide hammer on it, or fill the whole thing with bondo and paint it.

[StreamNTyme]

Originally Posted by davidmenges

Our 2011 Airstream 23FB sustained hail damage - all top panels, not structural failure but certainly "peppered". A repair quote is close enough to value that the insurance company will total it - our choice. We have the option of buying it back, so could use it and/or sell it. We would do OK financially if it were totaled, or if we bought it back. There is one insurance company willing to insure it.
What would you do? Or, would you be interested in the trailer as-is?

Definitely total and buy back..
Only down side is you will have a salvage title but still can sell the unit when you are ready.

[Lumatic]

Buy back. I did. Now I don't have to worry about more damage.

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by davidmenges

Our 2011 Airstream 23FB sustained hail damage - all top panels, not structural failure but certainly "peppered". A repair quote is close enough to value that the insurance company will total it - our choice. We have the option of buying it back, so could use it and/or sell it. We would do OK financially if it were totaled, or if we bought it back. There is one insurance company willing to insure it.

What would you do? Or, would you be interested in the trailer as-is?

I was the only field "special representative" of Caravanner insurance many years ago.

I settled over 1000 (one thousand) hail loss claims, of which only 1 (one) was a total loss.

We replaced everything on the exterior, except the sheet metal. The hail damage, to the sheet metal, in time, when exposed to the sun, will simply disappear. Back then, owners would say "no way". The mid west, if you wish, back then, was "hail loss country". What we did was take the photo's of their previous loss from the previous year or years, and inspected the coach with the owner. In every case, most of the hail dent simply disappeared.

With the value of today's Airstreams being many times higher than 3 to 4 decades ago, it would seem almost impossible for an Airstream trailer or motorhome be totalled because of hail damage.

Simple exposure to the sun, usually from the first summer, the majority of the hail dents, will disappear.

Caravanner insurance paid the owners a "loss of value" and itemized the amount of damage to each panel. Should any of those panels be damaged from a collision, then the amount that was paid for that specific panel would be deducted, on the basis that you cannot have two losses for the same panel.

A hail damaged Airstream product indeed looks terrible, but given time, most of those dents, and sometimes all of those dents, at least in the side sheets, will just "go away".

Remember the old TV program "believe it or not", then in the case of hail damage to an Airstream product, BELIEVE IT that most of the dents will disappear.

Let the insurance company total the coach, then buy it back, SUPER CHEAP. You will be the wise one, and they will be out smarted every time.

Andy

[m.hony]

Some of my hail dings disappeared, but there are still hundreds a year and a half later-
No e of them are big enough to stop camping-
The ones that simply disappeared were the dings in the rear end cap. The last time I washed and waxed the trailer (last month) there were only a couple, down from 17!
There are still hundreds on the roof, but I only see them when I wash it. They're not visible from the ground, only from a ladder.


Sent from my iPhone using Airstream Forums

[Xicaque]

OP,

got pictures?

[sgschwend]

Would the buy back result in a "salvage title"? If so what would that do to the value of the trailer?

[idroba]

Originally Posted by sgschwend

Would the buy back result in a "salvage title"? If so what would that do to the value of the trailer?

On the one I bought back from State Farm, they never got the title and changed anything, they simply deducted the buy back cost from my final check. As I recall the value was $6200 and they wanted $1500 for it if I kept it, so I got a check for $4700. I kept the trailer and the original title.

This was in the early 90's in Washington State. I don't even know if all states have a "salvage title". Some may not, just guessing.

[Lumatic]

Originally Posted by idroba

On the one I bought back from State Farm, they never got the title and changed anything,

Same thing happened with State Farm with my 71, which really surprised me. My 71 has cosmetic damage and I still use it, but State Farm totaled it.. I didn't ask any questions when State Farm never asked for the title and t dropped my insurance when I got the pay out because I was not sure if I put in another future claim if I would be committing fraud. State Farm also never sent out an adjuster just accepted photos and a repair estimate from an Airstream dealer based on the photos.

Funny thing is it counts as an accident with other insurance companies (Progressive) but not State Farm. When I got my 93 I tried to insure it with State Farm and they told me they don't insure vintage trailers period. I have my 93 insured with Progressive.

I have a feeling the State Farm underwriters screwed up.

If State Farm is listening, just kidding.

[msmcv51]

Originally Posted by robwok

golf balls have dimples to help them get through the air better. It may improve your gas mileage....

It shouldn't impact your ability to drive it at all. you may be able to use a slide hammer on it, or fill the whole thing with bondo and paint it.

Myth busters on television aired a segment about dimples on a car and found that it did get better fuel mileage.

[Cardinal283]

I deal with insurance companies for work. Here's something to consider. While you have found a company that is willing to insure the trailer if you buy it back, they will not cover you for hail damage in the future. They will call it preexisting and you will be on your own. Now if it burns down or you get hit they will cover that. Just not for another hail storm.