Totaled my fifth wheel, how to work with insurance adjuster

Dang sorry to hear about the accident. Ok well at least it sounds like you're close on value.
But you shouldn't be going after your insurance first, not should your ins co be trying to settle w you unless the other driver was uninsured and at fault.
They should help you w filing claim against the other drivers ins. But you can /should be going after them first.
Regardless of who's insurance though, remember unfortunately they're like reverse car salesmen. Typically will try to settle for as little as possible payout and use any possible comparison to convince you.
Stick to your guns and realize it's like any other negotiation. Add up everything, pad the value some however you can and negotiate to the settlement.

Have your evidence too. Nada value, comparable rigs prices for sale. (The most inflated dealer prices you can find) Remember it's not your job to search for the deal of the year price. Value is what will readily replace it comparably or in kind.
Tell the insurance to pack it if they don't offer what it willl cos to replace.
All goods, accessories, loss of use, etc.

Goldfinch281 wrote:
Aridon, Thank you! That is excellent advice! Nat. GEneral is my insurance company, I will stop working with them and work with the other driver's insurance company. I do have an attorney for the injury side of things, which I would imagine would get back to the property damage side of the company? And perhaps cause them to be a little more generous?

You can also consider letting the attorney handle that portion as well. If I already had one for the personal injury side I'd go ahead and push forward with him handling the entire thing. Just realize that you might be delaying payout but you should get more money. Just depends on the circumstances.

In general folks, unless you have a special policy which provides a stated value over say ACV or replacement cost, it is almost never better to use your own carrier.

Save your carrier for uninsured motorists, hit and run or at fault type accidents.

Goldfinch281 wrote:

Earl E wrote:
When they are at fault, they must pay you the full equivalent of replacing your truck and trailer. When I had a similar incident and they could not find comps they were forced to actually pay for what would be a newer model. I talked to my agent who advised me to NOT file a claim with my insurance but to insist on full and complete reimbursement from the other insurance company.

Ah, but there is the rub, who determines "full equivalent"? NADA says my rv, which was a 2015 Heartland Sundance 245 xlt, is worth $22,000 to $26,000. I, of course, think it is worth $26,000, the insurance company disagrees, and uses 2016 Sundance 267 ads, reducing the value by what they claim is fair, to $23,000. The process seems rather arbitrary to me. So, I'm currently scouring the Internet for similar rigs as comps that are advertised at a higher price. Don't they have to use comps that I find?

If they are calling your RV at 23K then ask them to replace your exact RV as yours was optioned for the 23K, if they can do that then you should be good to go and seems fair to me unless your wanting a newer model or cash back, then I can understand them balking. NADA is just a guide and to be used as such, real world prices are sometimes much different.

Not all in Durante agents are out to screw us. Our toy hauler was stolen, I thought State Farm might try to lowball us, they paid $3000.00 over what the NADA said.

We had it for sale for what we owed on it, we lived in it for 6 months while we had a house built and ended up buying a different side by side that wouldn't fit in it so we just wanted to sell it.

Beware of any info posted about who's company pays based on fault, or whether you have a choice of where to claim.

In the US, it varies by state. Not sure where "Abq" is (Albuquerque, NM?) That appears to be a "fault" state, where the at fault party's insurance pays.

Since you opened a claim with your insurance it's not clear, or perhaps it works differently for trailers. You can be pretty sure that if the other person's insurance was responsible, your insurance would be pushing it onto them like a hot potato. But the same applies to the vehicle, so I don't understand why your insurance is covering that if you're not at fault - was the other driver uninsured?

If there's a significant difference between the replacement cost and the offer, I'd get a lawyer involved - at least for one of those 30 minute free consultations, so you can better understand responsibilities and options.

Ah, but there is the rub, who determines "full equivalent"? NADA says my rv, which was a 2015 Heartland Sundance 245 xlt, is worth $22,000 to $26,000. I, of course, think it is worth $26,000, the insurance company disagrees, and uses 2016 Sundance 267 ads, reducing the value by what they claim is fair, to $23,000.

I had the same thing happen when a tornado took my 3 year old 10 1/2' truck camper. The company adjuster wanted to reduce the amount I paid for it by 10 percent a year.
This was in '75 when inflation was rampant. I told them no and I wanted the same year model with the same options.
They balked at first when they saw higher current prices than the units origional cost.
Finally my insurance agent made a call to the adjusters bosses. The next day the adjuster calls and agreed to a direct replacement year model and options ....which my dealer had sitting on his lot.
They have to settle with you so hold out for a direct replacement or what you feel is a fair price.

Yes, I'm near Albuquerque. There's no debate the other driver was at fault, apparently there were lots of witnesses. We were knocked out and don't remember anything about the accident, woke up in the hospital.

I was told we could go through our insurance and they would turn around and get reimbursed by his insurance company. I thought our company would be more sympathetic to us, apparently not. I'm going to start negotiating with his company.

Goldfinch281 wrote:
Yes, I'm near Albuquerque. There's no debate the other driver was at fault, apparently there were lots of witnesses. We were knocked out and don't remember anything about the accident, woke up in the hospital.

I was told we could go through our insurance and they would turn around and get reimbursed by his insurance company. I thought our company would be more sympathetic to us, apparently not. I'm going to start negotiating with his company.

It is true, your insurance company would look to subrogate the amount they pay against the other guys insurance it generally isn't the "best" way to go if you're looking for top dollar.

See your carrier has no interest in over paying you for anything.
What they want to do is close the claim in a safe fashion so they don't get burned on subrogation by the other company saying "you over paid your client because X, Y and Z". At that point the other company has all the power because they can low ball what they want to pay and know full and well what they can get away with before the subrogating carrier will fight it. Your carrier has no interest what so ever in pushing the limits in giving you more money. You also have a deductible with your carrier and non with the other guys. You MIGHT get some of that back on subrogation. Maybe.


Now the other carrier wants you to sign on the dotted line saying your claim is fully satisfied. That includes liability and property damages. They know full and well that you can milk the **** out of the liability, they know their client is full and well in the wrong and they don't want you starting to dig into them with plaintiff doctors, soft tissue damages and how you can no longer enjoy X or Z now because of the pain.

While you can't extort the company, you can use the fact that they want you to go away to your advantage. As such, they are willing to dump an extra cash on that PD claim and make the much bigger problem of the open ended 300k in liability go away.

In addition to all of this, IF your carrier pays out on a claim, regardless of fault, it will show up on your CLUE report. Subrogation can take months or sometimes years. Any amount that isn't fully satisfied will remain on that report. When you have outstanding payments on CLUE it can impact your rates by disqualifying you for higher discount tiers of insurance. Even if your current carrier doesn't do it, if you shop for a new one they will. This is an easy way for your current carrier to keep you but in an unfair manner.

I was in the business for a good while and have seen all sorts of wacky things over the years. Good luck in your dealings. Without knowing what they are offering or what the MSRP was on your rig it is difficult to help you further in knowing if their offer is legit or not.

All this drama and nonsense is the reason some states have gone to a no fault insurance system. Here in Michigan, your carrier makes you whole, the other guy's carrier takes care of him. No arguments about who is at fault, no costly and time consuming attorneys, no bickering between competing insurers trying to offload the costs on each other. Fault can come into play regarding whose rates may get raised in the aftermath of a crash, but that's it. Oh, if the other guy is at fault, his carrier pays your deductible, but that's the extent. It's much more straightforward.