Electrical Fire - Insurance Claim

[lakebum]

Recently the electric motor and wires that power the hydraulics for the LCI Levelers and Slide on our Coach caught fire, melted wires and burned up motor.

I was all worked up about the expense this was going to be and a couple of my other RV buddies said "you had a fire, turn it in to your insurance". I had not thought of that option, because I was thinking more of a system failure.

Any way, I called my agent to find out first if I had coverage and if I should turn it in as I did not want to jeopardize my auto and homeowners coverage.

She said that it was covered for fire just like if you car caught fire and fell under our comprehensive coverage. She did not see any reason not to turn it in and told me I had 6 months to file a claim, since she had made notations in my file.

She went on to tell me to take it to RV repair shop and get a quote and I could decide then, no adjuster needed.

I was just wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience and filed an insurance claim?

[dougrainer]

lakebum wrote:

dougrainer wrote:
1. Your AGENT has no clue to if it is covered
2. The Insurance company will send an adjuster to take pics and send the Info to the Insurance company, Only then will they determine if it is a covered repair.
3. Unless the Pump/Motor damaged OTHER items (you say it did not) then I doubt it will be a covered repair. Motor Vehicles and RV's are NOT covered the same way a Residential House is covered.
4. IF the Motor caught fire and damaged the hoses/valves/reservoir, then they may cover those items. The motor does not cost that much but the Reservoir/valves/hoses will cost a lot. Hopefully it did not damage the hoses. Doug

The AGENT has already told me that on RV's Erie Insurance does not send an adjustor, she told me to go take unit to RV Repair and submit an estimate.

And actually, the motor is very costly, I have already got a part number and price from LCI, motor alone is $797, I have wires and a solenoid, not sure about hoses yet.

LCI has doubled the motor price in the last year. I have not purchased one in over a year. I would buy the complete Pump assbly if it is one of the ones that cost $1300 or less. Note, you stated that you(RV facility) are supposed to submit an Estimate. THAT does not mean they are covering it. What they want is an estimate and I will bet a cause of failure. I will be surprised if they do not send an adjuster. I have yet to have an Insurance company not send an adjuster if the repair is over $1000. Doug

[J-Rooster]

I have Geico Insurance, a run away pick up truck (it was the paper boys pick up truck, he bailed out of the truck and didn't set the parking brake at the Ranger Station in Cattail Cove State Park, AZ.) The truck rolled down hill about 200' between 2 trees (truck missed both trees) and T-Boned my propane tank at 0500 A.M. it knocked me out of bed. I called Geico and they had me take pictures of the accident and send them to them, and had my RV towed to the nearest Winnebago repair shop. No adjuster was involved and Geico paid to have my whole propane system replaced along with all my hydraulic jacks that were bent. Lastly they did not raise my insurance rates.

[Old-Biscuit]

By contacting agent and her putting notations in file YOU have already made a claim so you might as well follow up and file.
Going to show up on records anyway.

[msmith1199]

Submit the claim and let us know what happens. I'm also a former insurance adjuster, but never handled this particular kind of claim. One thing I will tell you is there can be lots of differences in policies depending on the company. One company may cover it and the other may not.

[lakebum]

dougrainer wrote:
1. Your AGENT has no clue to if it is covered
2. The Insurance company will send an adjuster to take pics and send the Info to the Insurance company, Only then will they determine if it is a covered repair.
3. Unless the Pump/Motor damaged OTHER items (you say it did not) then I doubt it will be a covered repair. Motor Vehicles and RV's are NOT covered the same way a Residential House is covered.
4. IF the Motor caught fire and damaged the hoses/valves/reservoir, then they may cover those items. The motor does not cost that much but the Reservoir/valves/hoses will cost a lot. Hopefully it did not damage the hoses. Doug

The AGENT has already told me that on RV's Erie Insurance does not send an adjustor, she told me to go take unit to RV Repair and submit an estimate.

And actually, the motor is very costly, I have already got a part number and price from LCI, motor alone is $797, I have wires and a solenoid, not sure about hoses yet.

[kevinbti]

I worked as an agent and now work as an adjuster. The part that malfunction is normally not covered the ensuing damage may or may not be covered depending on what was the loss. The agent and myself included would be vague on coverage as we are trying to protect our book of business and the residual. Simply, let the adjuster be fall guy or gal. Now that I back as adjuster I get both sides. You call in a claim its logged as a record only which still shows up on loss runs/activity at known address. This is viewed by underwriting when they decide to accept a new client or renew an old client. If a claim has been paid or not, they look at risk exposure. All that said, I always tell friends find out the cost of repairs upfront, if over 2500 dollars file the claim. Otherwise its not worth it. Not looking for debate just my thoughts from the inside.

[msmith1199]

That's a good point, and my example was bad the way I worded it. This is different than the broken pipe example I used. This is a direct covered loss since it was a fire. So your hydraulic pump should actually be covered since it caught on fire.

[dougrainer]

1. Your AGENT has no clue to if it is covered
2. The Insurance company will send an adjuster to take pics and send the Info to the Insurance company, Only then will they determine if it is a covered repair.
3. Unless the Pump/Motor damaged OTHER items (you say it did not) then I doubt it will be a covered repair. Motor Vehicles and RV's are NOT covered the same way a Residential House is covered.
4. IF the Motor caught fire and damaged the hoses/valves/reservoir, then they may cover those items. The motor does not cost that much but the Reservoir/valves/hoses will cost a lot. Hopefully it did not damage the hoses. Doug

[lakebum]

I understand, but the only things that got damaged was the hydraulic system, nothing else was in that compartment. Sort of self destruction..

[msmith1199]

That's exactly how it works. Generally the item that breaks, assuming it broke because of old age or lack of maintenance, is not covered but everything it damages is covered. So for example a tree falls over and hits your motorhome and causes a pipe to break that then floods your motorhome, the tree isn't covered, but the broken pipe and all the damage is.

[rk911]

your agent says it's a valid claim so I wouldn't sweat the rest. if your fridge just gave up the ghost but started a fire the fridge itself might not be covered but the resulting damage sure would be. we had a water pipe break in our crawl space many years ago resulting in a minor flood. the pipe itself wasn't covered but the resulting damage was. file the claim or go out of pocket. I'd file.

[msmith1199]

No reason not to file a claim. Your comprehensive has a lower deductible (usually) than your collision, and a claim on the comprehensive doesn't count against you for raising your rates. A while back on here there was a guy talking about having a tire blow out that took out body parts and hydraulic lines and electrical lines. I think he said it was something like $6,000 damage he had to pay to get it all fixed. He didn't even think to use insurance since it was a tire blow out. Well yes, the blown tire isn't covered by insurance, but all the damage it did sure as heck is covered.

[darsben1]

I do not understand. You have insurance, but you do not want to use the insurance.
DROP THE INSURANCE or go to a $2000 or $ 3000.00 deductible

[lakebum]

rk911 wrote:


not a fire but we did have some exterior damage caused by a hit and run driver in a parking lot 10 or 12 years ago. reported the damage to the local PD, notified insurance, filed a claim, had the work done and paid my deductible. no sweat. that's what insurance is for...to mitigate risk the individual doesn't want to otherwise cover themselves.

I guess I don't mind the claim as much as thinking that it was more of a system failure rather then what I would have considered a regular claim. Sort of like if the refrigerator stopped working.

But this electrical fire cause so much smoke that it filled up the coach with smoke, although I never saw flames, things got so hot components melted.