Please help a tourist - added photos and estimate

[yagil_tzur]

https://twitter.com/YagilTzur/status/407984665513820160/photo/1

I am a tourist which recently got back home after 2 weeks RV rental in which we traveled through Bryce, Zion, Grand Canyon, Yosemite. The travel was great. the US is amazingly beautiful. During the travel, I scratched the RV. The damage is shown in the attached photo. I was charged $1100 for the damage. As I have no experience with RVs, I'm struggling with the question whether it is a reasonable or exaggerated amount? (especially as the RV rental company, probably pays much less then a private owner). Any opinion will be appreciated as it may help my case.

[bob_b1]

They probably won't fix it. In fact they'll rent it out to someone who doesn't notice the damage and they'll sock them with an $1100 repair bill too. This damage could be a big money maker.

You think I'm kidding? I used to work for Reserve Rent-A-Car (now out of business). The managers would pull this stuff all the time. Never once did a scratched car get fixed.

Q: Are you sure that you CAUSED this damage or do you THINK that you did?

Related story: I once talked to a handy-man in a big apartment complex. If he saw a damaged door on a newly vacated apartment, he was instructed to document the damage with a camera and to swap the door with a good door from another empty unit. The tenant would lose their deposit. The next un-wary tenant would lose their deposit too...and so on and so on. The damaged door was paid for in lost deposits many, many times. This happened in a college town, so usually the former tenants were way out of town by the time they found out. They were unlikely to fight back. I'd get the credit card company involved.

[MRUSA]

I agree, it is hard to tell from the photo, but the fiberglass may be cracked. If that is the case then the price could be justified. If no crack, it seems excessive.

[phnguyk]

topflite51 wrote:
Evidently you declined renter's insurance which was probably offered. I can tell you that if you ever choose to rent a UHaul or Ryder truck or something of similar nature never to refuse their insurance. It happens everytime there is scrapes or dents, outrageous charges are the norm with rentals. It happens with car, truck or whatever rentals. Expensive lesson learned.

Believe he did have insurance, but it didnt cover the top or bottom according to the policy.

[Bird_Freak]

Effy wrote:
Why are you being charged for paint 2x? And what color to match? It's white.

I looked at the estimate and don't see where he was charged twice for paint. I do see the labor portion for refinish and then the material for the cost of the paint. Do you have any idea how many shades of white there are? I wonder if this scratch may have cracked the fiberglass a little. I cannot tell from the pics at all but I have to question the amount of labor for fiberglass repair. The other thing here that is a gouge for the op is buffing time. That should be included in refinish time.
Whether or not they have it repaired really does not matter because of lost value at resale if not fixed or cost to fix.

[topflite51]

Evidently you declined renter's insurance which was probably offered. I can tell you that if you ever choose to rent a UHaul or Ryder truck or something of similar nature never to refuse their insurance. It happens everytime there is scrapes or dents, outrageous charges are the norm with rentals. It happens with car, truck or whatever rentals. Expensive lesson learned.

[et2]

Deano56 wrote:

et2 wrote:
Well if you enlarge the picture there is a lot more damage in the surrounding area than
just that scratch. There is a section by the molding which almost looks like a portion of the fiberglass is gone, along with a messed up molding. Something odd along the bottom area as well. Your asking us to judge what we see. I see more than a scratch. In that case you got off easy. Either way, didn't you read the terms? I'm sure you signed something before they turned their MH over in trust of you.

I think you got what you agreed to. JMHO.

BOOOOOO

I'm not afraid of ghosts. :B

[Deano56]

et2 wrote:
Well if you enlarge the picture there is a lot more damage in the surrounding area than
just that scratch. There is a section by the molding which almost looks like a portion of the fiberglass is gone, along with a messed up molding. Something odd along the bottom area as well. Your asking us to judge what we see. I see more than a scratch. In that case you got off easy. Either way, didn't you read the terms? I'm sure you signed something before they turned their MH over in trust of you.

I think you got what you agreed to. JMHO.

BOOOOOO

[wildmanbaker]

You are a victim. That is gel coat, not paint, but can be painted, with a color match spray can, for $15. I have donated, more than 1 job to people, because someone had tried to rip them off! That damage could even be considered normal wear and tear, assuming there is no hidden damage. I had a RV Dealer quote over $7.200 for a rear cap repair, that I had an Auto Body Shop quote $1,500 for the same repair. Go figure, a rip-off is a rip-off, no matter if it is a home repair, auto repair, or RV repair. If a company has to charge that much money to stay in business, they will not be in business long.

[jhilley]

Do you remember the incident that caused it?

[Pogoil]

The rental company has a right to get the RV back the way it was rented therefor they are not ripping anyone off.

The rental agreement seems a little sketchy but it was signed by the renter.

The estimate is a fair shop estimate but you could have bought some buffing compound and a buffer for less than a hundred bucks and tried to fix it yourself or stopped by a auto body shop and had them buff it out for $100 dollars and most likely the rental company would have not noticed.

Sorry for your problem.

Pogoil.

[Effy]

Owning an RV rental company I can say that I have seen small repairs add up to big dollars. That said anything over $1000 is covered by insurance with our business. So at most the out of pocket would cover the deductable (in our case $1000). There is the issue of being able to charge while it's out of service but I don't see that itemized here. 2 questions; did they have insurance for the rental (MBA?) and if so what did the rental contract say (fine print in the back) should detail a section about repairs and damage, second did you consult your insurance company? Often they will cover damage to a rental vehicle. Not always but it's worth it to check. Although if you already paid them it's likely a moot point now. This sounds like they did the repair in house, never contacting the insurance and fluffling the repair ro make some extra money. I can't be sure but that's what it smells like. I once had a small stone chip in the fiberglass about the size of a penny under the front grill on one of our units. My friend who works at an RV repair shop told me his best price would be $900. And that's a friend. So who knows.

[mtrumpet]

From the evidence presented here, it's my opinion that you're getting ripped off.

The other question is, will they take your $1100.00 and actually repair the damage? I doubt it. I've seen those rentals and many times they're pretty dinged up. Then again, I guess that it would become their decision to do with whatever they wanted to with the $1100.00. I doubt that there is any legal requirement for them to actually repair the damage once they charge someone for the cost to repair.

[mike_brez]

Effy wrote:
Why are you being charged for paint 2x? And what color to match? It's white.

More than one white.

[wa8yxm]

I have seen some body shop estimates for damage not much different.

The problem is that it is all but impossible to exactly match paint for a small job, so you end up painting a good size hunk of the body.

And thus, that estimate is in line with many I've seen.

HERE is what I suggest.

To me the linked photo was not all that clear but go to a body shop near you that works on RV's and ask THEM,, After all, they are the experts.