Rear-ended

[AL13]

Last trip of the year, headed to Leavenworth, WA, for some fall color, and finally our luck ran out. After 12+ years of good fortune in traffic, we get to discover the joys of a serious repair.

There was a 20+ minute delay of bumper to bumper traffic on I-90 due to construction. The end of a 5mph crawl was in sight when we felt the jolt. A Honda Pilot driver somehow didn't notice that no one was moving and bam. Once we finally got pulled over (and she did follow), it was clear that the aluminum bumper and storage box operate as a great crumple zone.

We decided to continue on for the week, which gave us a chance to put all systems to the test. All applicances appear to work fine. The belly pan has some bend to it near the storage box to go with the totalled bumper and box. The only other problem that appeared was some dripping around the dump valves when the gray water tank had some water in it. Empty the tank, dripping gone. The black water doesn't appear to share the problem fortunately.

Progressive Insurance was great getting a claim started. The other driver has Pemco and now they are handling it. Neither claims agent appeared to have a problem with our plan for taking care of the repair. Airstream of Seattle has us on the books for mid-November to start the process. I'm encouraged that it does seem to be mainly the bumper and storage. The lack of serious damage to the Honda-license plate knocked off and a front body panel loose-was also encouraging. The realistic me says it is what you don't see will be a factor. So the journey begins.

[kb0zke]

Glad it was fairly minor and no injuries. You never know what was damaged until they start really looking.

[Hans627]

Even you drive carefully and defensively it doesn't prevent others from running into you. It is good that no one was hurt and the damage wasn't any worse than it is.

Hopefully you will be as good as new in the not too distant future. All the best!

[sb55]

It happened to us the 2nd trip in our new FC30. We carried on our trip and took it to the Mothership for repair.

[BobAndStella]

Argh! Same thing happened to us yesterday - except it was in California and the driver just sped off as we maneuvered to a shoulder :-(
Didn’t get a license plate or much of a description. We also have Progressive insurance. Wondering the same things. Looks like left corner of the bumper took the hit but what don’t we see? One thing we did discover is that now the door won’t secure. If I slam it really HARD from outside I can get it closed and locked. From the inside I can’t pull it closed hard enough. Did the impact bend things (frame) out of alignment? What else don’t we see? And since this was a hit-and-run, will we still get dinged on our premiums?

[Life is a Highway]

I sometimes wish our rear camera had a record feature like our garmin in the truck. Sorry for all that get hit.

Often I’m on these expressways and I look over to my wife and say why can’t we be more like Moosetags and stay on the slower side of life with the backroads.

[AL13]

Originally Posted by BobAndStella

Argh! Same thing happened to us yesterday - except it was in California and the driver just sped off as we maneuvered to a shoulder :-(
Didn’t get a license plate or much of a description. We also have Progressive insurance. Wondering the same things. Looks like left corner of the bumper took the hit but what don’t we see? One thing we did discover is that now the door won’t secure. If I slam it really HARD from outside I can get it closed and locked. From the inside I can’t pull it closed hard enough. Did the impact bend things (frame) out of alignment? What else don’t we see? And since this was a hit-and-run, will we still get dinged on our premiums?

We're just a week away from our repair slot at Seattle Airstream, and then we can start getting some idea of what needs to/will be done to get back to a new normal. The Progressive adjuster was great, very understanding of what needs to happen. My first concern was being told something like take it to Camping World, which wouldn't happen. He had no issues with my choices. He passed all the information on the the other drivers insurance company, Pemco, who now has the ball in their court. I'm still waiting for the results of their "investigation". Right, like I backed up into the other driver on a bumper to bumper slow down on the Interstate? The Progressive adjuster assured me that if there is any problem with Pemco, it is just a push of a button and Progressive will be back running the show. For now, it's mainly a wait and see.

[AL13]

Updating the repair. Of course, the appointment date and the date that the Airstream finally moves onto the shop floor are two different things. Once it was finally in, parts were ordered for the bumper and storage box. The bumper was in stock, but the storage box had to be ordered. The factory slows and comes to a halt for the holidays, so into the new year we went. With the parts in, last week they started to dig deeper. Apparently, beyond the bumper mount being "slightly" bent, there is some "frame damage" which can be repaired. The problem being that Seattle Airstream is not equipped with a jig to use for the frame straightening required. They had checked with a couple of places, and finally were sending pictures to a local Freightliner shop to assess the repair. I haven't heard any more yet. It wasn't the most encouraging news, but we remain optimistic.

The thing that interests me most is that the front end of the Honda showed minimum damage from the contact. How the frame could take enough force to bend, yet leave a Honda Passport looking like nothing happened makes me wonder about the strength of the frame in general. We are waiting for the next update. Fortunately there is still 3ish months before we would be going anywhere, so the upcoming season hasn't been affected...yet.

[AL13]

So, now into February. Airstream ran out of options to repair the frame. Freightliner said it could be done, after removing the body from the frame. Of course, labor for that would exceed the value, not to mention, I would be more than a little concerned about the end result of disassembly and reassembly. The other driver's insurance adjuster told me the NAD value would be $31K if totalled. I assured him that would be so far from realistic as to be laughable. Fortunately our policy is for replacement/purchase price. Even that isn't the best option as we would probably still have to come out of pocket to get something comparable.

The adjuster did run it by Wescraft in Fife, WA, who reviewed the pictures of the damage, and the video of the bent frame. Wescraft thinks it is repairable with disassembly, and would stand behind a repair for the length of our ownership. Asking the adjuster what would happen if their repair wasn't good enough, he said we would go ahead and total it, based on our policy. So, nothing to lose, we shall see where this step takes us.

[SSquared]

I wish you luck with your repairs. Have you asked the service center in Jackson Center what they would charge for a frame repair/replacement.


I look forward to hearing how your insurance settlement ends. I also have a Progressive policy for purchase price coverage (enhanced for my electrical upgrades) on my 2013 25FB. I'm in the process of shopping all of my insurance policies because my homeowner's insurance company is pulling out of my state.

[Turkeybaster]

Fascinating, in a bad way. I will be following, thanks for the periodic updates.

[jfreeham]

Following. Thanks. Living full-time in our AS this is our worse nightmare.

[AL13]

It would be easy to use this thread to vent, but in searching for rear-end crash damage in the forums, I didn't find what I was looking for. I figured if I posted the journey, I would get some possible responses of what to expect, and how the repairs progressed and ended up. Having a rear-end hit was always on my mind when I was in traffic-watching drivers cut in front of me with little space to fit, or when I could see that drivers were way too close behind. Honestly, I'm surprised that we didn't have this happen sooner.

I will keep posting the progress for those watching, because unfortunately, this can easily happen to anyone towing...anything. Hopefully the lessons we are getting will help someone else who finds themselves in a similiar position. In a perfect world, it wouldn't be mid-winter and we could consider a trip to Jackson Center. Given the cards we were dealt, we don't see that as an option.

We have evolved our Airstream trips to never leaving on a weekend if at all possible, avoiding commute times, and routing away from known congestion. But still, once you are on the road, you are subject to dealing with drivers with limited driving skills and/or a lack of attention. It can happen at any time to anyone of us...towing or not. That it involves the Airstream only makes it worse.