First Wreck

[vampress]

since its a newer truck parts are just realllllly expensive

I can understand this! I hit a deer last spring towing the camper. Nailed the bugger at 60 mph and I really didn’t want to see what the truck looked like afterwards. Luckily, the camper was fine and it just looked like the deer pushed the bumper on the passenger side back about 1”, and it broke out the plastic holding the fog light in place in the bumper. Finally got it fixed this fall. $4100 and one week in the shop and … it doesn’t look any different except the fog light is back in place securely. To be fair, it needed a new bumper, new fog light and plastic “frame” and a new headlight since it was determined that had a crack in it. The cost of the parts was unreal!

 

[bipolarcoder]

Thanks and you are correct my first vehicle was a 1968 Chevy C10 and I could drive through houses without a dent.

 

[flyingjack]

jasin1: post #9- almost spit my coffee out. Humor always works.

 

[firestation12]

Out of experience I avoid night driving and weather when towing. Sometimes too when not towing. Others on the forum have mentioned personal limitations of end time in terms of time of day and or miles traveled before stopping. No more dark tinted glass on the truck either. I’ll bet some of you could make the list of personal don’ts even longer. YMMV

 

[Grapehound]

Dumb things happen. I can't get too worked up about it. In about 10 minutes I did two major flubs when in a hurry to leave the campground in November in SC where we stored our Keystone fifth wheel

First, I left a small aluminum step ladder on the tonneau cover between my Dodge Megacab rear window and my fifth wheel when I went to store it for the winter in SC. I needed the small ladder to unhook the trailer hitch when we moved the tialer from the campsite to the storage spot. Unfortunately, I turned a little too sharply to back into my space and the trailer pushed the ladder just an inch or so into the rear window and shatter it. That was dumb foreseeable error #1. I know better, I was just lazy.

Then I stopped at the office to drop off my check. After getting back in the truck, I fiddled with the radio while starting to pull forward and hit a tree that was impossible to miss. It was right there! Fortunately, the bull bar absorbed most of the slow speed impact and so I just put on a new bull bar when I got home.

These rigs require 100% of our attention to detail and anticipating problems or something is going to happen. That said, as long as you have your health, the things in our lives can always be replaced.

The people we love can't.

Don't ever sweat the things in life.

 

[WoodGeek-KEY]

I bought our trailer in 2020, drove it to our house, about 50 miles away and parked it. Never pulled anything that big before. 3 years later, when moving it, for the first time since we got it, to a new storage location I got hung up on telephone pole after parking to close. The pole was leaning toward the street and the street was sloped toward the pole. The DW warned me not to stop for ice cream, "this things too big and there's no where to park" but I knew better. So after leaving, or trying to leave my parking spot as I pulled away the awning got stuck on the pole and was partially ripped off the side. Since the pole was on the passenger side I couldn't see the problem. Sent the DW to watch as I got away from the pole. With her direction and my inexperience we managed to get the trailer even closer to the pole. A very nice man stopped to help and we managed to get it off the pole and back home. 6 months later and $10k dollars later we got our trailer back. Lesson learned, the DW is always right, even about the trailer.

 

[MJCougler]

I'd like to add a short teaching moment to this post as we experienced. When you have a RV (or hotel) to live in (for a week) while your vehicle or RV is being repaired, we did not know the RV lot fee, or hotel bill, is NOT covered as a vehicle add-on to your auto policy, (like Aflac). And, NO automobile policy (even USAA) offers this coverage. mjc

 

[workinonit]

That being covered would have never crossed my mind.

 

[NH_Bulldog]

I'd like to add a short teaching moment to this post as we experienced. When you have a RV (or hotel) to live in (for a week) while your vehicle or RV is being repaired, we did not know the RV lot fee, or hotel bill, is NOT covered as a vehicle add-on to your auto policy, (like Aflac). And, NO automobile policy (even USAA) offers this coverage. mjc

It depends on your policy and the reason you need to cover temporary expenses. For example, my policy with Nationwide covers me for transportation, towing, food, lodging, etc. in the event of an accident or breakdown to either my truck or my camper while away from home up to $1,000 included at no additional cost. If you are just bringing your RV to a shop for a non-accident (warranty repairs), then there is no coverage. This is why people need to actually read and understand their policy instead of looking for the lowest cost......because you get what you pay for.

Also, some RV club memberships like FMCA (now FRVA) offer emergency benefits and/or reimbursements as part of their membership.

 

[JRTJH]

Our insurance is similar to what Rob stated. As for examples, when we chose our coverage, we were able to choose coverage to either pay us a depreciated value if the trailer is a total loss or to pay us the value of a comparable replacement "new RV". Every year our insurance goes up because we consistently choose the "replacement value"... When we started, the replacement value was around $35K. Today, the replacement value is a tad over $75K. So, we pay "more money for more insurance" if we have a total loss. Additionally, we have replacement value for the contents. That way, if things are stolen or damaged in an accident, the insurance pays to replace the items, not just reimburse us "pennies on the dollar in depreciated value"...

So, pay attention to what your policy says, and if you're on a trip, you may have "lodging coverage" on your vehicle if your trip is interrupted by an accident involving something being towed by that vehicle.... While many parts of your policy may not include both, parts of it MIGHT include both, so read carefully and/or ask your "trusted insurance agent"... ( not necessarily the phone tree in the nationwide claims reporting center).....

ADDED: Also, don't get confused between an "automobile policy" which limits the amount of content value to a specific dollar figure (usually around $1000). Most "RV specific insurance" is similar to "home insurance" and you can choose the amount of content insurance as well as choose "depreciated value for a loss" or "replacement value for a loss"... Going into an insurance office and saying, "I want to insure my travel trailer" might get you adequate coverage or it might get you "money thrown away if you have a total loss"... CHOOSE WISELY !!!!!

 

[bipolarcoder]

we had $16k worth of damage thankfully not enough to total it out (even though it was just the front end and not the frame). After insurance we ended up only paying $500