One claim..??? ...or Two?

[Boxite]

While camping on top of Santa Fe Ski Basin last week about 4 inches of snow fell on my open tailgate on the pickup tow-vehicle. I brushed it off by hand then closed the tailgate and hitched up the 'stream and headed down the mountain to Santa Fe. While turning left/right on the switchbacks I heard a couple of "pops" from the trailer and thought it was hitch-noise but when I got to the bottom of the hill 15 miles later I saw the tailgate had come unlatched and was laying open. It had been crushed on the left and right sides by the LP tanks mounted on the trailer during those turns.

I called State Farm who we carry both TV and RV insurance with and they said it was a "collision" claim (which I carry $1K deductible on versus "comprehensive" which I carry $250 ded.) Therefore SF is saying I must pay $1K toward the repair of the TV tailgate.
SF also says that the RV is a separate policy therefore another $1K ded applies to the trailer. (Both LP bottles are damaged.) This means I've having to eat the bottles in addition to the $1K ded on the TV.

Having mulled this over I'm thinking that I did not hit an "object" as defined in the policy. (Example: hitting a deer is not a collision, it's a comprehensive claim.... therefore smaller ded as well as not "chargeable" as an accident on my policy-record.) I believe the root cause of the damage was snow in the tailgate locks preventing the locks from properly locking....therefore the cause is snow...not collision.
Further...if I'd been loaned the trailer from another SF policy-holder...my TV policy would cover the RV damage to the LP bottles. Therefore WHY should I have to suffer two $1K deductibles?

What say you guys?

[DKB_SATX]

One advantage StateFarm still has over some other carriers is that you work through your local agent. Call your agent and see if he or she will go to bat for you with the claims ppl. Mention the fact there are many other carriers of insurance. I held on to State Farm for several years when they became rather uncompetitive rate-wise because I had great agents, a couple who'd been my agents since I moved back to Texas after grad school. When they retired I shopped on price.

[Boxite]

Originally Posted by DKB_SATX

One advantage StateFarm still has over some other carriers is that you work through your local agent. Call your agent and see if he or she will go to bat for you with the claims ppl. Mention the fact there are many other carriers of insurance. I held on to State Farm for several years when they became rather uncompetitive rate-wise because I had great agents, a couple who'd been my agents since I moved back to Texas after grad school. When they retired I shopped on price.

Thanks, David. That's exactly what I'd done and that was the answer they gave me.

Of added interest: I've recently just changed agents because the SF agent I'd used for 25 years gave me the run-around in order to deny me the lower premium I felt I deserved when I added a metal roof to my ranch-house. Every excuse in the book was given me why that wasn't appropriate....yet the SF policies clearly reduce premiums for all-metal roofing. That agent consistently told me no reduction was possible...until I showed the company brochure on the subject to them... then they wanted to "re-appraise" what it would cost to replace my home to an astronomical price, should I insist on the reduction.
So I changed agents. The new agent has my home, both cars, and the RV. Now the new agent tells me the current situation I've described.

I believe this is ONE event,....which is NOT a collision... and that both vehicles should be under one claim, and that only one deductible should apply, and that one deductible is a non-collision deductible. (BTW, now 4 months into our relationship, the new agent has not yet applied the reduction for the metal roof which he knows caused me to change my business to him. He suggests I keep paying the same premium and raise the value of my property. Apparently he doesn't listen when I told him the reason I was changing over to his agency from the other SF agent.)