Hail Damage, Write off buyback?

[Ronyx]

Hi everyone. My 2017 flying cloud 19CB was badly damaged by hail in August. The same thing happened 4 years ago. At that time the estimate was about 60k Canadian and it was repaired. This time it came in at over 70k Canadian and insurance is writing it off. I have the option to by back for 11k CAD (about 8K USD).

The damage is mostly cosmetic and the vents market lights and AC cover are easy enough to repair myself. Would it be worthwhile to buy it back and fix for use and then in a year or two sell it? What are the chances I could sell it for the same amount paid for the buy back?

[Ray Eklund]

Go to an Art Show and hire a Scenery Artist or a shop that can transfer art or photograph you like, onto plastic, that can be firmly attached. If the sides and front are OK... making Lemonade from Lemons.

Add several Solar Panels on top yourself ($99.00 US each at Costco) to the Lead AGM Batteries from the attachment on the curb side of the Battery Box. Ready to use and have a sign in the rear window... For Sale. Panels hauled inside the trailer and attached when camping.

It must be damaged more than the rear panels... Artists think outside of the average population appreciation for novelty.

[Merlintiaga]

I would reframe the question: Let's imagine for a moment that your trailer is entirely gone, never to be seen of again, and you have the insurance payout in-hand. If a 2017 flying cloud 19CB popped up on Airstream Classified for $11k that was severely hail damaged, would you buy it? If the answer is no then I'd walk away.

[ROBERT CROSS]

Buy it back?
What am I missing, is it not paid for?

I don't look the same as I did 50yrs but I haven't been traded in yet. (samey same for SWMBO)

Bob
🇺🇸

[Wazbro]

Originally Posted by ROBERT CROSS

Buy it back?
What am I missing, is it not paid for?

I don't look the same as I did 50yrs but I haven't been traded in yet. (samey same for SWMBO)

Bob
����

Insurance said totaled. When they give you a check for a totaled trailer, they are buying the trailer from you for what they think it was worth before it was damaged. Since they bought the trailer, if you want it you need to buy it back from them.


Important things to consider;
WHAT KIND OF TITLE will you have after buying the trailer back?
Will it be a salvage title?
What does that mean where you register it?
Can you get any kind of insurance for it? At least liability?

[Ronyx]

Originally Posted by Ray Eklund

Go to an Art Show and hire a Scenery Artist or a shop that can transfer art or photograph you like, onto plastic, that can be firmly attached. If the sides and front are OK... making Lemonade from Lemons.

Add several Solar Panels on top yourself ($99.00 US each at Costco) to the Lead AGM Batteries from the attachment on the curb side of the Battery Box. Ready to use and have a sign in the rear window... For Sale. Panels hauled inside the trailer and attached when camping.

It must be damaged more than the rear panels... Artists think outside of the average population appreciation for novelty.

The front as shown in the picture is the worst but there are dent on pretty much all segments. Some not very noticeable but insurance wanted all damage however small repaired. Which means replacing pretty much all the exterior panels.

I like your making lemon aid thinking. I could register a name for it with Airstream as “The Hailstream” attach the name plate and then add a graphic to the window stone guards! It would be famous!

[Ronyx]

Originally Posted by Merlintiaga

I would reframe the question: Let's imagine for a moment that your trailer is entirely gone, never to be seen of again, and you have the insurance payout in-hand. If a 2017 flying cloud 19CB popped up on Airstream Classified for $11k that was severely hail damaged, would you buy it? If the answer is no then I'd walk away.

That is an excellent thought. I guess I was looking to the wisdom of the collective here to see if anyone has knowledge of hail damaged airstreams selling for that amount. I really enjoy my outings with it and I’m reluctant to let it go. If I do let it go it will be a while before I can buy another one.

[OrangeCrush]

Well, it should get better mileage than a new one......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUiGhyHC-1A

[overlander64]

Greetings Ronyx!

My understanding that the type and thickness of aluminum used by Airstream has changed over the years, but I thought that I might share a little bit of the history of my 1964 Overlander Land Yacht International. When it was in the hands of its original owners, it was at the International Rally in either North Dakota or South Dakota where there was a terrible hail storm that seriously damaged nearly every trailer in attendance. The trailer that I own now was at that Rally, and received extensive damage to the uppermost panels all of the way around. The original owners chose to keep the trailer and buy it back from the insurance company and continued to travel with it until they retired from travel several years later. They were long-time friends of my family so I knew the trailer well from childhood, and they never had any panels replaced, but by the time they sold the trailer, it had very few remaining hail dents -- only the deepest remained as most of the shallower dents had worked themselves out during the years of heating and cooling cycles. Today, I am the third owner of the trailer, and I can still point to around a dozen hail marks, but I can't be certain just when they occurred as I have also been through my fair share of hail storms with the trailer living in the Midwest.

Good luck with your decision!

Kevin

[gamakai]

As a personal opinion, I would not buy it back.

[Bill M.]

The only way I would buy it back is if I was sure I was going to use it another 10 years or more with the dents

It is sold now. Leave it that way and go buy now what you would buy in 2 years anyway.

You will be able to sell it for something in 2 years. Maybe the $8000. Maybe not. You will probably have a salvage title that makes the sale a little harder. You probably will not loose a lot of money if you do it that way and it that makes life easier for you. Or you could spend a lot of time trying to sell it when you are "ready". And...it is sold now.

[BikeCamper]

Originally Posted by Ronyx

Hi everyone. My 2017 flying cloud 19CB was badly damaged by hail in August. The same thing happened 4 years ago. At that time the estimate was about 60k Canadian and it was repaired. This time it came in at over 70k Canadian and insurance is writing it off. I have the option to by back for 11k CAD (about 8K USD).

The damage is mostly cosmetic and the vents market lights and AC cover are easy enough to repair myself. Would it be worthwhile to buy it back and fix for use and then in a year or two sell it? What are the chances I could sell it for the same amount paid for the buy back?

I own the same model and year. I am curious about the hail damage pattern. Were you towing the trailer during the hail storm, or was it parked?

[sfranklin]

I just went through this process.

I had a lot of smaller dings from a tornado/hailstorm, but I had a few larger ones as the hail was near baseball sized in some cases, so much so that it virtually destroyed Airstream's motorized plant roof. In the end State Farm totaled my trailer once the repair hit 75% of it's value.

I was told my 3 year old trailer was worth $96k and if I wanted to buy it back, I believe State Farm wanted about $30k. To me, had it been $10k or maybe even $15k, I might have bitten, but the trailer was still virtually new, and since it could only be insured for liability, $30k was too much to risk, so I opted to cash out, take the $96k and get a 2024 and start over.

Each person's finances and risk tolerance are different as are the value of the trailers I've seen discussed, including the OP's, so I am not sure what anyone posts here will match your exact situation, but for me it was a financial one to simply let them take it, cash me out and get another $100k trailer that can be fully insured. It's not a left or right or a right or wrong answer. A few variables that only the folks in the captain's chair can make with all the specific details of their situation laid out in front of them.

[Rosey Jet]

Silver Orange
Top Flight
Moon Shot

One thing I did on a dented lower panel was bought a new panel and riveted it on top of the old one. A trained eye can see the repair but everybody else is oblivious including my wife. I never had to fess up to my backing error.

Good luck!

[tomreid]

I bought a 2015 Bambi 22 ft in 2020 for $32,000. It had extensive hail damage which occurred to the second owner who probably collected. The damage was similar to that in your picture maybe worse, all on top and left rear corner. We enjoyed that trailer for 4 years putting well over 20K miles on it. It was all about cosmetic damages never affected the performance with a pristine interior. In July of this year I sold it for $26,000 which made the buyer very happy. My opinion is if you want to use it without fear, go for it. The value will never come back, repairing it is insane IMO, and if as in our case everything worked just like new who really cares? Tom

[Captn.Ken]

We have these toys to enjoy. Does the cosmetic damage decrease the enjoyment of camping? For me, I think I could still enjoy having fun in my dented "Buy back" and wouldn't worry about the cosmetics as long as the functionality was intact. I would still have fun with my trailer and also enjoy the excess insurance money in my pocket. Like a previous member pointed out--Make Lemonade. Or whiskey sours if you prefer.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Ok, there is another layer to this..

First up is just how they "total" a trailer: If the damage gets to some percentage of the "assessed value" they total it. That could be 70% it could be some other number. Turns out it varies state to state. Does it vary province to province? I have no idea.

Let's say you have a "new replacement cost" policy. The trailer could be "worth" $100K. The cost to replace could be $130K. The 70% gets taken off of the $100K number. Yes this is fun isn't it .

Once they decide to total the trailer it gets sold to somebody. That somebody might be you. It could be sold at auction. Either way, it is sold with a "salvage title". In order to get back to a "normal title" work needs to be done to the RV. How much work? Who knows. It then needs to be inspected and pass inspection. By who and for what? Again ... who knows.

If you have a salvage title, getting insurance it likely to be problematic. That's not to say you *can't* get it. Only that many of the usual places you would go may not sell you a policy. Just how that works is again a "varies from state to state" sort of thing.

With a salvage title can you register the trailer and put it on the road? Apparently that also is a state to state sort of thing. How often do folks run into this one? You don't hear a lot of complaints about it .... I'd bet it's more rare than some of the other issues. My guess is that it's more related to the damage than to the title itself.

The usual disclaimer applies to all of this. I'm not a lawyer. All I know is what I hear tossed around by folks. Some of them just might be insurance adjusters explaining this all to folks with damaged Airstream trailers ....

Also, if the plan is to turn the trailer into a stationary "tiny house" ... pretty much none of that applies.

Fun !!!

Bob

[JeffKim]

Before I wade in with my worthless opinion, what are your plans after two years? I see used 2017 19's go for around $43k USD (but I see one listing for $67k, about what they cost new). So assuming you got something like $45k, that's a decent down payment on something new or newish, or you could just replace it with the same model.

But I guess your question is basically, is $11k a good deal for a damaged trailer that someone would snap up for that price or more in a couple years. If the plan is to move into something else and you need the money out of it then you might be in a bind trying to sell it. It might take a while, and the competing used ones are going to get cheaper.

But if you just want to use it for a couple years before deciding to stay in the RV game or not, I can see where having a functional trailer you know and love is not a bad option, then you can wait for a buyer.

[BikeCamper]

After you negotiate the best settlement value, offer the insurance company $5K to take it off their hands.

[richard5933]

Originally Posted by Wazbro

Insurance said totaled. When they give you a check for a totaled trailer, they are buying the trailer from you for what they think it was worth before it was damaged. Since they bought the trailer, if you want it you need to buy it back from them.

Important things to consider;
WHAT KIND OF TITLE will you have after buying the trailer back?
Will it be a salvage title?
What does that mean where you register it?
Can you get any kind of insurance for it? At least liability?

Said differently, the buyback amount will be deducted from what the insurance company pays you for the loss, and then you get to keep the trailer.

To me, the decision is simple. If the amount they are offering is enough to get another trailer you like, then do that. If not and you like this trailer otherwise, take the deal and continue traveling. You can easily make the repairs to the roof devices and then you'll have a trailer you no longer need to stress over.

Part of the deal with the insurance company has to be that they don't brand the title as salvage though.