Tree Fell onto My Fifth Wheel

[SweetLou]

So, last week we had a very bad thunderstorm with hail and lots of wind. A large pine tree fell onto our trailer. I am going to get a professional company to crane lift this off. Trailer is insured and I have gap insurance from 2008 when we purchased the trailer. The unit on NADA low says its worth 20K and I still owe 18K. I can't tell if there is structural damage yet. It has not totally crushed the trailer. It just looks like its leaning on top of it. Do any of you have experience with such an issue using the insurance company and gap? I am looking for the warning pitfalls to watch out about with insurance. They are not sending an inspector out to look at the damage. They want me to take it to a dealer for repair estimates. Need some advice.

Thanks

[Cummins12V98]

That sucks, hope it all turns out good for you!!!

[Cwilson333]

SweetLou wrote:
The unit on NADA low says its worth 20K and I still owe 18K.

Sounds like an example of the pitfalls of 240 month RV financing.

[phillyg]

Look closely at your gap insurance policy. Some are only good for the first five years or so.

[joerg68]

To post a photo here, you can go to http://photoposting.is-great.net and follow instructions there.
AFAIK it is a workaround site that a forum member provides.

[MFL]

If an RV dealer repairman, or insurance inspector, can see the RV, with tree still on it, they would be more able to guesstimate the damage/repair.

A picture would help forum members, to be more able to give opinions also. It appears that you have a HitchHiker brand FW, which were a solid built brand. A tree falling over, but just leaning on that RV, may not have caused any structural damage.

Hard to give advice, when no idea what it looks like.

Hope they treat you fairly,

Jerry

[way2roll]

Depending on your state can be different different. Some states like NC say that if the repair is 75% or more of the "value" of the vehicle, they will total it. And value is fair market value. Insurance companies won't use NADA, they use sold comps and they are usually lower than you think.

Your Rv is 15 years old. My guess it will have structural, water, electrical etc etc. It doesn't help that labor is probably $120/hr. In short, my guess would be that they total it, and the value will be less than you think.