We are fulltime rvers based in oregon. September to October 2016 we were visiting family in california, with plans to scoot southeast during winter and relocate our home base to texas sometime in 2017.In October a drunk driver hit our parked rv and totalled it. It is falling to pieces and the generator is crushed. We have almost 2 years of fulltiming under our belts and we finally had most things upgraded, repaired, or scheduled for refurbishment at the RV ralley in quartzite arizona in january after a long stint of issues. A new external vinyl skin, new flooring, and an upgraded front end suspension was all being done by february. We finally felt in control of our fulltime life and we had a sense of well being in our rv home. We had fulltime employment inside Costcos, Sam's clubs, and wholefoods. We had to travel and expenses were not yet covered but the company we work for was warming up to paying for a portion of our travel expenses...Yay!Our insurance company has offered us $3800?Her insurance company keeps lowering their offer very time we talked to them. They are currently at $8700?The girl is claiming she wasn't drunk and she has a big expensive lawyer. We can not afford a lawyer and the $4000 savings we had for all of our upcoming upgrades is now gone, being used to survive this crisis. We are currently "stuck" in a very expensive place for rv purchase prices and the rvs we've founder for the insurance offers are broken down, moldy, water damaged, the list of dysfunctions are over the top. Please...rvers of rv.net ADVISE.

What was your RV worth before it was hit? If it was totaled then that number needs to be known.

The girl is claiming she wasn't drunk? Was she charged, is there a police report/involvement?It sounds like you really need legal advice.

Your MH is worth what it is worth. Does not matter if she was drunk or not. Matters to her and any tickets she will get, but as far as your RV, not so much. What matters is the replacement value. If it is totaledMy suggestion look it up on NADA, Find similar units on Craigslist or Ebay. Or RV traderFind a dealer, get a letter stating what the would sell a unit like yours for.Find an RV appraiser, have it appraised and a letter written.You have to have some documentation to give to the insurance company, that justifies the value you think it is worth. Lawyer or not, this is the kind of thing you will need.One other thing is to try and get what they call "loss of use" That can add up to your advantage pretty quick.And lastly you can mention, you feel they are negotiating in what is called "bad Faith". If they indeed are. Then if no response, you can file a complaint with Your States Attorney general, and Insurance commissioner.Her being drunk or not, would not matter, unless, they are claiming you were parked illegally, or somehow share some liability for the accident. But they do tend to settle a bit easier, As they know if they go to court with a convicted drunk driver, they will generally lose.

It cost me a lot of money to figure out that legal stuff is not a DIY project. Unless you just want to take what ever they give you, you need to talk to an attorney, which will probably cost you 3~400 for an hour or so, and if he/she feels you have a case, pursue it. Otherwise there is nothing else to do.Speaking from experience, once you have an attorney speaking for you, your ins. company will change it attitude quickly.

The age of that motorhome it won't take much to total it.So take what you can get find something somewhere else if anything fly out to it and get it

overwhelmed by insurance lowballing | Good Sam Community

MarkTwain
Explorer
Feb 12, 2017
gbopp wrote:
The girl is claiming she wasn't drunk? Was she charged, is there a police report/involvement?

It sounds like you really need legal advice.

The girl's claim to have an expensive lawyer is just B_ _ _ S_ _ _ _!!!! Her being drunk or not drunk has no bearing on the damage to your RV. Her being drunk will only result in a DUI for her. Your Insurance company should be the one negotiating with her insurance. Talk with your agent
DutchmenSport
Explorer
Feb 12, 2017
I feel for you. But did you have insurance on your camper? (Edit... sorry, I missed this when I first ready. YOUR insurance company offered a settlement for you) ..

I can honestly say, I have never been involved in an accident involving another driver (although I have banged up my own vehicles myself). But my son has had involvement with another driver. The insurance companies of both drivers duked it out. When my son was even threatened with legal action involving courts and such, his insurance company took it all over. His insurance company lawyers did all the "push back". Eventually, the other insurance company gave up and paid. My son didn't have to do anything, but sit back and get a report of the cat fight.

If you had no insurance on your camper, I can see where you are now experiencing difficulty. Depending upon the age of your camper, and if you are personally fighting against a more powerful agency, the cost of your legal representation can outweigh the recovery cost of your loss. Sometimes, it just makes more sense to cut your loss, because if you fight back, it actually costs you more in the end.

I don't know all the ramifications of your situation, but you really need to consider the "math" pretty careful and determine if you can afford the battle or not. Sometimes, set-backs in life completely wipe out everything we've worked for and we have to start all over. I've been there twice in my life! But each come-back turned out much better than what I had before.

Only you can judge the complexity of this mess.
newman_fulltime
Explorer II
Feb 12, 2017
The age of that motorhome it won't take much to total it.So take what you can get find something somewhere else if anything fly out to it and get it
ScottG
Nomad
Feb 12, 2017
It cost me a lot of money to figure out that legal stuff is not a DIY project.
Unless you just want to take what ever they give you, you need to talk to an attorney, which will probably cost you 3~400 for an hour or so, and if he/she feels you have a case, pursue it.
Otherwise there is nothing else to do.

Speaking from experience, once you have an attorney speaking for you, your ins. company will change it attitude quickly.
winnietrey
Explorer
Feb 12, 2017
Your MH is worth what it is worth. Does not matter if she was drunk or not. Matters to her and any tickets she will get, but as far as your RV, not so much. What matters is the replacement value. If it is totaled

My suggestion look it up on NADA, Find similar units on Craigslist or Ebay. Or RV trader
Find a dealer, get a letter stating what the would sell a unit like yours for.
Find an RV appraiser, have it appraised and a letter written.

You have to have some documentation to give to the insurance company, that justifies the value you think it is worth. Lawyer or not, this is the kind of thing you will need.

One other thing is to try and get what they call "loss of use" That can add up to your advantage pretty quick.

And lastly you can mention, you feel they are negotiating in what is called "bad Faith". If they indeed are. Then if no response, you can file a complaint with Your States Attorney general, and Insurance commissioner.

Her being drunk or not, would not matter, unless, they are claiming you were parked illegally, or somehow share some liability for the accident.
But they do tend to settle a bit easier, As they know if they go to court with a convicted drunk driver, they will generally lose.
gbopp
Explorer
Feb 12, 2017
The girl is claiming she wasn't drunk? Was she charged, is there a police report/involvement?

It sounds like you really need legal advice.
sharker6
Explorer
Feb 12, 2017
What was your RV worth before it was hit? If it was totaled then that number needs to be known.

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