Stolen Camper UPDATE

[JoeVita]

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE

I am very pleased to report that the camper is back in my hands after a very competent and quality restoration by Service Manager Mike Williams and his crew at Lance. To my eye it is as good as it was prior to being stolen. The estimate was spot on without any extras found after the fact. Thank you Mike and Lance.

The insurance company (Liberty Mutual) was very fair. After receiving the estimate and photos of the damage they decided to salvage the unit. They estimated its value which pretty well matched similar units I found online. They offered to hand me a check for the full value and take it for salvage. They also offered it back to me after estimating what the salvage would bring. If I wanted the camper as is they would deduct the salvage value from the replacement estimate and give me a check for the difference. It turned out that this check was more than the estimate to restore by Lance so I took it. I paid Lance for the restoration and still had some cash left over.

In the end except, for losing a summer of camping and horse riding, I am back to where I was except my liberal progressive leaning have moved ever so slightly to the right, but just a little.

Thank you all for your support and information.

Joe




ORIGINAL POST

Early this morning my beautiful Lance Camper was stolen from my community RV lot in suburban Phoenix, Arizona. The camper was mounted on my F-350 DRW Diesel Shortbed Truck which was probably the primary target, but since the camper was secured with Fastguns and Fastgun locks and without a way to remove it, they took it all.

The camper is somewhat unusual as not too many were made in 05 and 06. It is a Lance Max 881 designed for a short bed dually. The Vehicle Identification Number is 157341 which is on the placard to the left of the door. It has all the upgrades, including a drivers side slide out which held the dining table and refrigerator, a propane generator, Air conditioning, a rear crank awning and passenger side pull down awning and the somewhat unusual passenger side rear kitchen. The rear door was jimmied and the latch removed and discarded. The truck had a Reese Tow Beast Class V hitch. The camper interior and exterior is or was in pristine condition.

I post this only in case someone observes it somewhere, either on or off the truck. I really do miss it already.

[snowninja]

congrats on the recovery. my 2002 f350 was stolen last winter and it was a horrible feeling. guessing it took all of about 30 seconds to get into the vehicle, the another couple minutes to get it started with a screwdriver. it was found about a week later only 10 miles from where it went missing. only damage was to the door look and key switch. got lucky.

[Mello_Mike]

Congrats, Joe, on the happy ending. Where are you planning on taking it first? The desert or mountains?

[kohldad]

Glad to hear there was a happy ending to the story!

And it's back just in time for fall color camping so you haven't lost the entire year!

[JoeVita]

See first post for update

[JoeVita]

sleepy wrote:
Just curious... do you have your home owners and your vehicle insurance with the same company?

Question in general... would it make a difference how you are treated whe you have a loss?
Thanks

Yes, both policies are with Liberty Mutual. I have letters from the agent that state in plain language how and where the camper is covered by both polices. Since campers are not the most common RV they insure, the policy language is somewhat vague and could be open to interpretation.

No, I don't know if it would make any difference if the policies were with separate insurance companies.

[AnEv942]

I suppose would depend on policies-we have different co for house and cars. Margarets car had our old aluminum boat fall over on it (was stored temp on its side). It was covered by home ins. Few years later a deer hit her which was covered by our auto ins. This year a lady ran into her and it was covered by the other persons auto ins. In all instances the car went to the shop for complete repair. Only differance overall was the amounts in deductibles between our home and car ins when it was ours involved.

[sleepy]

Just curious... do you have your home owners and your vehicle insurance with the same company?

Question in general... would it make a difference how you are treated whe you have a loss?

Thanks

[JoeVita]

Rollin wrote:
I was wondering if the alarm system went off? What have you done to keep it from reoccurring?

There isn't an alarm system in mine, not that anyone pays attention when it goes off. As to how to prevent a reoccurance; I plan never to leave the camper on the truck in the HOA RV lot again. I will unload it and keep the truck in my garage. I guess I will be loading it more often, but on the positive side, I suspect my personal best time will improve.

I have a letter from my insurance company that states that the camper is covered by my homeowners policy anywhere in the world when it is offloaded and by my truck insurance when it is on. Insurance policies are somewhat vague in this regard, so let suggest you also get such a letter.

[Photomike]

Unfortunately replacement cost is a misnomer. When you have something that works and that you trust to replace it with the same year (unless it is new) is not the same. Had a truck written off years ago that I still miss, I could trust that truck 110%, insurance said replacement cost was $3000.00 but all the trucks of the same year were run into the ground.

Hope they get everything back to new condition for you, sounds like only the door will be something that could cause leaks as the rest is inside so that is not too bad.

[Rollin]

Hi JoeVita, Glad to hear that you were made hole again as everyone has expressed. You have throttled me though, I have the same truck!! I guess the SOB's are still out there. I was wondering if the alarm system went off? What have you done to keep it from reoccurring?

[sleepy]

Insurance companies look at the age of the camper: RV's and trucks depreciate.

The excellent condition won't help... bad condition will hurt..

Joe, Your 2005 lance TC has a depreciated value that is their limit... after all, all of the applainces, components, etc are 8 years old. You are lucky in an after the fact way... you will be getting new replacements from Lance (they don't have any old stuff)

Mine is a 2003 Lance... at 10 years old they might not repair mine at all... they might make me a cash settlement and scrap out my TC. What is a 10 year old generac worth? or fridge, or any of the other stuff


A 2000 TC is 13 years old... what will they give you for a 13 year old auto or truck... you've got to be kidding... you'd have to do the work your self if you could find the used parts

A 1966 TC... they would smile and tell you that you you didn't have antique insurance on your 47 year old camper... and give you 10% of what you think its worth.


And Joe, I agree with you... I don't want anyone elses 2003 TC... but I sure wouldn't want to lose the one I've got.

Sleepy

[6pac]

Right on Joe,
If something were to happen to ours (881) we'd be heading to Lance for repairs . They don't make that unit any more and without a doubt it's the biggest floor plan for short bed trucks made by Lance.

[JoeVita]

mkirsch wrote:
"Replacement cost" wasn't enough for a new camper, I imagine...

Frankly I can't see being in love with a particular unit or floor plan so much that I'd be willing to live with a "fixed" camper that will likely have many many issues throughout the rest of its useful life.

Yes, that is correct. The replacement cost was well below that of a new comparable camper. I was able to find on the internet a couple of campers the same model and age as mine for appoximately the amount of the replacement cost check, but then I would have had someone elses 05/06 camper. Mike Williams, the service manager at Lance, wrote me that mine was in pristine condition except of course, for the damage inflicted on it.

If you look at the listing I made of damages you will note that most of the items are those that need to be replaceed. The physical structure is intact. For example, the TV,the TV swivel bracket, the generator, the propane tanks, the seat cushions, the rear door, the side panel door,the DVD/CD/Radio player, the control panel, and the exterior refrigerator cover, etc. The repair work involves redoing the electrical wiring and propane lines and some relatively minor cabinet work. I am confident that the Lance factory facility can handle that work skillfully.

[garryk6]

mkirsch wrote:

garryk6 wrote:

mkirsch wrote:
"Replacement cost" wasn't enough for a new camper, I imagine...

Frankly I can't see being in love with a particular unit or floor plan so much that I'd be willing to live with a "fixed" camper that will likely have many many issues throughout the rest of its useful life.

I guess I am different from you, in that I have restored old cars, fixed up old RV's, rebuilt "totalled" vehicles and used them for years and years with no problems.

I am under the impression that Lance will be performing the repairs, not the OP.

It's one thing to do it yourself and know it's done right, as a labor of love, and something entirely different to trust a profit-driven shop that will do the minimum required to get the camper functional.

You will likely dig much deeper into the structure of the camper to ensure that there is no unseen damage. Lance has to pay the people that work on the campers, which puts a huge constraint on how much time they can afford to spend on the project. They may do fine work but you would do FINER work because your labor cost is essentially "free."

They're REPAIRING. You're RESTORING.

I follow you now. I was thinking you were talking about the difference between "always buying new" as compared to a "used/repaired/restored rig". But I now see the distinction that you were trying to make. No hard feelings, I hope, I do get a bit protective of the people that can't afford "NEW" all the time, and have to resort to used/repaired/restored and DIY.

To the OP, Keep us up to date, and more pics are always great to help!

Garry in AK