Good Sam Insurance

We have a Class A 2007 Tiffin and where returning from our nephews Air Force graduation in Texas last month when we went thru a terrible thunder and lightening storm and actually got hit by lightening. We were on the 10 fwy right outside of Sonora traveling at 50 miles an hour when we got hit. It was pouring rain, thunder and lightening hitting the ground that actually started a fire to the right side of the fwy which just caused alot of smoke as it was raining to hard for the fire to really take off. When we got hit it stalled out our engine for a second or two and then it started up again but apparently when the engine stalled there is a safety feature that puts the parking brake on. Our motorhome is not equipped with a manual parking brake. It comes on when you put the engine into park. Every light on the dash was going off. The touch pad for the levelers was scrolling like a Christmas tree. Since we had the cruise control on that kicked in after the engine restarted but there wasnt anywhere to pull over at that point as there was all this smoke from a potential fire. There was a rest stop up the road and we stopped there. When we came to a stop all this smoke came up and we thought we were on fire. We were not and we were not hurt. After waiting a couple of hours for everything to cool off under the motorhome my husband discovered that the parking brake had engaged when we got hit but didnt disengage when the engine started up again. He had the knowledge and tools to disengage the parking brake and got us back on the road but we had no parking brake and our levelers didnt work. We were 1,100 mi. from home and had to use rocks and 2x4's to keep us from rolling at night. We told our GMAC/VIP Good Sam insurance agent this story and rec'd a letter from him saying that we were denied coverage for traveling with our parking brake on. HELLOOOOO!! There is NO way to put on the parking brake manually and we have no control over weather conditions. We were hit by lightening!! We told him this whole story several times and apparently he doesnt believe us and thinks we just forgot to take the brake off which is impossible. So to all RV's out there, your Good Sam/VIP GMAC which is now National General Insurance covers nothing and doesnt have time to listen to you and basically accuses you of fruad. The policy is so vaugue there is a huge grey zone which doesnt exclude or include getting hit by lightening. So, what do we do? Any ideas out there? We are left with a $5,000 noncovered event and then they sent me my bill for $1,000 for policy renewal.

Good Sam Insurance

11 Replies

brettrice
Explorer
Mar 14, 2014
I don't plan to lose. I have a very good family friend who will guide me through everything I need to do and knows all of the legal ins and outs. This guy can make it a financial disaster on them to not settle quick.
holzberjohn1
Explorer
Mar 14, 2014
Well good luck. I had a very bad experience with national general. After several months of phone calls and emails etc. I finally gave up and canceled with them. They lied, and delayed. Good Sam was no help they never got back to me when I asked them for assistant. My only recourse was arbitration, which I felt about doing, but in the end decided it was going to cost me more, then my claim was worth.
Never dealt with a bunch of crooks in my life. I must of talked to five different people @ national general, they all quoted each other and said thing my wife never said.
Wish you luck, but they are a terrible company to deal with.
John
holzberjohn1
Explorer
Aug 27, 2013
No I never did hear anything from the Good Sam executive team. I also did send a email to Good Sam never received a reply back.
Good Sam claims there RV insurance is so much better because the claims are handled by people who know RV's. My experience says that's not true. my claims agent Dan Zegarac did not know anything about the auto brake system, nor did his supervisor.
KazooTom
Explorer
Aug 27, 2013
I see that back on 8/17 that the matter was to be forwarded to the "executive team" and that they would contact you. Have you received any contact yet?
holzberjohn1
Explorer
Aug 27, 2013
Just thought I would add this little bit of information. When this occurred we didn't even think about filng a claim. Just suffer the loss.
When we arrived home my daughter-in-law who works for a large insurance company said it would be covered under our comprehensive part of our policy so that's when we filed a claim.
After we were denied our daughter-in-law talked to her boss and he stated GMAC was denying a claim that was covered.
He even talked it over with three other agents during a lunch meeting and they all agreed it was covered.
Not wanting to jump the gun I contacted three other independent insurance claim agents/investigators, and they all agree that GMAC GOODSAM should cover our loss.
I did tell GMAC that if they didn't t cover our loses I wanted to go to arbitration or would take them to small claims court.
Still waiting for there response.
holzberjohn1
Explorer
Aug 27, 2013
I did cancel with GMAC insurance, Good Sam VIP.. Very poor service on our claim. Went with Farmers about the same price maybe a little less. Have a local agent now.
As far as having a agent with GMAC you don't you get whoever they assign.

I am still fighting with GMAC GOODSAM VIP insurance, haven't given up. Talked with the agents supervisor, he was kind of an a-hole, condescending type, know it all. . Wanted more information, which was faxed to him. Still haven't heard back from him, nor have we heard from Good Sam.
GMAC insurance never investigated our claim, never sent out a claims adjuster, just denied our claim. Now Randy the agents supervision from GMAC or should I say National General Insurance
wants me to provide further details and information after the fact, I am providing that info
But aren't they suppose to investigate it, before denying a claim.

I asked Dan Zegarate the claim agent what investigation he did to denied our claim and he stated our phone conversation was his investigation. He didn't even know that lighting would be covered and still thought it wasn't, even though his supervision told me it was.

Wish us luck.
Good_Sam_Care_T
Explorer II
Aug 17, 2013
holzberjohn1,

Thank you for your time and detailed post. I very sorry for the delay in contact. I have forwarded your matter to our executive team to review the matter and get back with you.

Mark F
Marcus Rapid Response Team
goodsamcs@goodsamfamily.com
JohnBoyToo
Explorer
Aug 17, 2013
Sounds like you nor I will be renewing with them as they TRIPLED my premiums with no claims ....
I_am_still_wayn
Explorer
Aug 07, 2013
Insurance adjusters job is to minimize any claim against the policy. In your case, he did a great job! You have several options, and remember never bring out the big guns until the final fight.
1. Ask for a supervisor to review the claim.
2. Ask your agent to intercede on your behalf.
3. Discuss with an independent adjuster your claim.
4. Ask your state's insurance governing authority to intercede on your behalf.
HappyKayakers
Explorer III
Aug 07, 2013
Insist on speaking with a supervisor. I'm not sure what the deal is with insurance agents but I've not been impressed over the past 1.5 years. Seems like they don't care or don't know enough to help properly when needed.

And in the interest of full disclosure I've had to deal with agents from 3 different companies in that time frame. It's like they're all cut from the same mold.