Crunch!

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by Boxite

. . .
Avoid handing this claim thru YOUR insurance unless you're willing to pay the deductible and take a chance that YOUR ins co will total it (in which case you're screwed.)

Not sure about this advice to avoid his own insurance company. In our recent accident our local insurance agent was a champion in our corner, and oversaw the subrogation claim which was filed against the "at fault" driver's insurance company.

That other insurance company eventually paid our deductible, and the "totaled" value, but the efforts of our agent made the real difference, in marshaling our combined work to have the matter settled fairly.

For many decades, our insurance premiums have implicitly included commissions for the local agency, and in our case their support was crucial, and very helpful. They earned some of their money back, in other words!

Good luck Rusty. I hope you are getting good cooperation from JC and the insurance companies.

Peter

Originally Posted by RustyB

Thanks for all your help guys.
. . .

[Boxite]

Originally Posted by OTRA15

Not sure about this advice to avoid his own insurance company. In our recent accident our local insurance agent was a champion in our corner, and oversaw the subrogation claim which was filed against the "at fault" driver's insurance company.

That other insurance company eventually paid our deductible, and the "totaled" value, but the efforts of our agent made the real difference, in marshaling our combined work to have the matter settled fairly.

For many decades, our insurance premiums have implicitly included commissions for the local agency, and in our case their support was crucial, and very helpful. They earned some of their money back, in other words!

Good luck Rusty. I hope you are getting good cooperation from JC and the insurance companies.

Peter

Peter,
Your comments are on the money. I'll bet you have an "Independent Agent" who sells policies from several underwriters. That type of agent who goes to bat for you is the best arrangement.
My comments earlier should have warned with regard to agents who sell only one brand/underwriter... I have finally come to the realization that our State Farm agent's job is to sell and represent State Farm's best interests.... not necessarily my best interests.
We recently camped on top of Santa Fe Peak in May and rec'd 4" of snow the last night. My truck tailgate was down and I wiped off the snow next morning and backed up and hitched up the AS and headed down into town. On the way down the mtn, navigating switchbacks, I heard a "pop" on a right hand switchback...then another "pop" on a left-hand turn. I thought it must be the hitch making noise.
However, arriving in town we discovered snow had prevented the tailgate latches from securing, the tailgate had opened crushed against the AS LP bottles damaging the rear of the truck/tailgate and the AS LP bottles and racks. We have $1K deductibles on collision and $200 on comprehensive. SF said we had suffered "collision" and owed $1K ded on the truck...and another $1K for the AS. My belief was that it was not a collision as defined by the policy, that it was no different than hitting a deer, and that only ONE deductible should apply and said ded should be only $200.

We are shopping for an Independent Agent as I type this. Thank you.

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by Boxite

Peter,
Your comments are on the money. I'll bet you have an "Independent Agent" who sells policies from several underwriters. That type of agent who goes to bat for you is the best arrangement.
My comments earlier should have warned with regard to agents who sell only one brand/underwriter... I have finally come to the realization that our State Farm agent's job is to sell and represent State Farm's best interests.... not necessarily my best interests.
We recently camped on top of Santa Fe Peak in May and rec'd 4" of snow the last night. My truck tailgate was down and I wiped off the snow next morning and backed up and hitched up the AS and headed down into town. On the way down the mtn, navigating switchbacks, I heard a "pop" on a right hand switchback...then another "pop" on a left-hand turn. I thought it must be the hitch making noise.
However, arriving in town we discovered snow had prevented the tailgate latches from securing, the tailgate had opened crushed against the AS LP bottles damaging the rear of the truck/tailgate and the AS LP bottles and racks. We have $1K deductibles on collision and $200 on comprehensive. SF said we had suffered "collision" and owed $1K ded on the truck...and another $1K for the AS. My belief was that it was not a collision as defined by the policy, that it was no different than hitting a deer, and that only ONE deductible should apply and said ded should be only $200.

We are shopping for an Independent Agent as I type this. Thank you.

Hi

My experience with State Farm, both as a policy holder and as "the other guy" has been uniformly awful. I have never had or been run into by a company that was worse. The details don't involve RV's so they are not directly applicable. I don't know *why* they are bad, but that's been my experience. Needless to say, we didn't have them for long .....

Shop around !!!

Bob

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by Boxite

Peter,
Your comments are on the money. I'll bet you have an "Independent Agent" who sells policies from several underwriters. That type of agent who goes to bat for you is the best arrangement.
. . .

Yes, you are correct about our insurance agency, which is very local and has wisely expanded through the decades with acquisitions of smaller agencies, thereby marshaling a large and competent staff. Reassuring in this day and age to have someone return phone calls within an hour or two, and reply to emails within one business day.

Well done!

[RustyB]

I called the drivers ins co. today asking about a website problem trying to register and schedule an inspection as directed by an email. I was told that the trailer will likely be totaled but the driver is now claiming the accident is my fault and that in most scenarios both ins. companies will pay for their clients damage after a long arbitration, however they were still waiting to hear from the officer who recorded the incident. 1 hour later they called back to inform me that they have spoken with the officer and claim 100% liability for the damage caused, and to expect a scheduling phone call for an inspection of the trailer. 2 minutes later the inspection call came in and the location of jc was given for them to schedule in 7 business days.
Hurry up and wait.
Rusty

[OTRA15]

Thanks for the update. At the risk of being a "stuck record" [ edit -- sorry if you are too young to understand this term! ], may I re-suggest that you document everything you just reported in emails, and ask the insurance company to do so as well? The officer's accident report is something you should already have obtained a copy of, from either your ins. co. or the other one.

If you can't get emails from certain people, write yourself an email noting everything, and send to to yourself with a copy to your insurance company and a blind copy [BCC] to your attorney.

"Hurry up and wait" will get really complicated if you don't create this paper trail, with fully redundant back-up of all data that is on your computer, either in a Cloud-based storage system, separate hard drive, or Time Machine type device, etc. etc.. [Edit -- see Posts #5 and #10 also]

This advice may sound crazy right now, but you may need it a year from now, and you may regret not being diligent about record-keeping.

Good luck, we have been in a similar spot, so hang in there and "give 'em hell . . . "



Cheers,

Peter

[uncle_bob]

Hi

A log book is not a bad thing for keeping some of this straight. Notes about call timing and the like seem silly now. They might matter at some future date.

If there is any talk of totaling the trailer, get working on finding an appriser !!! It is not uncommon for damage to total out a trailer. You just want to get all your unit is worth.

Bob