 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
Car Forum / Driving, Maintenance, Tuning / RVs / September 2005Pop-up got rear-ended
Sorry this is a bit long, but I am a bit frazzled - please feel free to snip in your replies and thanks for them. Well, my Coleman pop-up got rear-ended while I was waiting to make a left turn today (I was stationary with the turn signal on). While I am not pleased at all about this, no one was hurt and I just need to pick it up from here and understand what I need to do. Advice from anyone is appreciated. So the guy in a Quest hits me fairly hard, with the center of his vehicle lined up with right side frame member (his license place was stuck there when we disconnected). The back bumper is pretty much mangled and a lot of the plastic (sheet metal equivalent? - what do you call that stuff?) is cracked but my real concern for the trailer itself is that he bent the crank receptacle. If it now pointing off to the side somewhat. The other big concern is that it pushed my trailer hitch up into the bumper so that I cannot now even disconnect the vehicles. It towed home OK (done carefully and it swiveled OK and all). The ball itself is now pointed maybe 30 degrees forward. Using the lift crank just never really moved off at all anyway, but if it did it would have wedged it into the bumper moreso. The arm that fits into the hitch receptacle and holds the ball (sorry for not knowing the right words...) has not been removed in ages and is in there solid - I thought the easy way out would be to remove the pin and let it slide out, but it is in there good - likely a combination of being rusted in and not being able to pull it out in a straight line (probably moreso the rust) (when I needed to change ball size I just changed the ball itself). Now I have questions: Insurance: I am assuming (hoping) that the other guy's insurance will pay for the camper repair too. When I called it in to the week-end insurance phone form filler-outer she asked me if I had the trailer insured. I do not specifically - I am thinking that I had asked this at one point and was told that the car is insured and anything connected to it (like the trailer). Does anyone have any experience with this that they can enlighten me a bit? Thanks. Repair: Who do I go to in order to fix this manner of damage? I am betting that it is a different place than the car, but I am finding myself a bit clueless on this one for the pop-up. Disconnecting it from the car: Cannot remove the ball holder thingy. Cannot remove ball. Cannot lift off. I am thinking cutting through the thingy or maybe the auto repair place can do it. Thoughts? What else should my jumbled mind be thinking about regarding this? Thanks very much to anyone who responds, Tomes I have State Farm ... The liability transfers to the trailer ... if you have 100,000/300,000 on the tow vehicle so does your trailer. Comp and Collision are extra ... Full on Comp & $50.00 deductible on collision cost me an extra $42.00 a year .... Never had to use it so far. JJS > Now I have questions: > Insurance: ....... First off I would call MY insurance company right away! Explain what happened, it is there responsibility to help YOU ! I do believe that you are correct that a Vehicle that is insured tranfers that insurance to whatever is attached to it. We do not have extra ins, for our pop up. BUT, when my parents dingy (the Jeep that they tow behind MH) got damaged it was covered by the MH ins and NOT the jeeps ins policy. Mainly because the debris from an 18 wheeler tire explosion got "flung" into and under the MH then "spat" out onto the Jeep. The pop p can be fixed just take it to a dealer and they should be able to take care of it as well as removing it from your tow vehicle. Good luck Searcher1 > Well, my Coleman pop-up got rear-ended while I was waiting to make a left > turn today (I was stationary with the turn signal on). While I am not > pleased at all about this, no one was hurt and I just need to pick it up > from here and understand what I need to do. Advice from anyone is > appreciated. The other guy's insurance should cover damage to your car and trailer. NO other options are acceptable. Call YOUR insurance company tomorrow morning. They should help you, and give you advice. They want you to collect from the other guy's insurance, and not from yours, so that is their incentive. The other insurance company will likely send over an appraiser to look at the damage and give repair estimates. The appraiser probably has absolutely no experience with trailers, and you may have to argue with his figures. You will probably end up getting repair estimates from several different places - probably with separate shops for your trailer damage and for the damage to your car. Getting more than one estimate is more than price - one shop may find things which need to be fixed which another does not. Have them show you what needs to be fixed. If it indeed looks broken, and the other shop missed it, you know who to use. Since the other guy's insurance will have to pay, they may be a little pushy about things. Do not take any crap. YOU decide where both the car and trailer need to be fixed - someone whom you think will do the best job. You can always threaten them with getting a lawyer - which would cost them lots more in the long run. Since trailers are not worth very much after a few years, it is possible that the trailer will be declared 'totaled, which means that the repairs cost more than its current market value, and you would only collect the current market value amount, and not get to keep the remains. Just so you won't be surprised if this happens. :-( I hope you filed a police report, or the police were there and then filed a report, which documents that you were rear-ended by the other guy and you did nothing wrong. This usually settles disputes by the insurance companies about who pays - the OTHER guy. > So the guy in a Quest hits me fairly hard, with the center of his vehicle > lined up with right side frame member (his license place was stuck there [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > crank > receptacle. If it now pointing off to the side somewhat. The entire frame of the trailer is likely bent somehow, increasing repair costs, and the likelihood of it being totalled. > The other big concern is that it pushed my trailer hitch up into the > bumper [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > solid - I thought the easy way out would be to remove the pin and let it > slide out, but it is in there good If I understand you, the hitch on you car is also damaged. This hooks to your car's frame usually, and there may be frame damage to your car, too! If the ball now points 30 degrees north, it is not surprising that the drawbar will not slide out from the hitch. After all, the impact of the crash would have easily broken all rust connections. The drawbar and hitch are probably bent and stuck therein. They may well have to remove the hitch from your car (and replace it with a new one). > Insurance: I am assuming (hoping) that the other guy's insurance will pay > for the camper repair too. When I called it in to the week-end insurance [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > told > that the car is insured and anything connected to it (like the trailer). It does not matter what insurance you have on the trailer - the other guy hit you, and what insurance HE has is what counts. Settle for no less. Do not take any crap from anybody's insurance company - his or yours. > Repair: Who do I go to in order to fix this manner of damage? I am > betting > that it is a different place than the car, but I am finding myself a bit > clueless on this one for the pop-up. I would check with the local pop-up dealer. They should know who is able to assess the camper and repair it if it is repairable. > Disconnecting it from the car: Cannot remove the ball holder thingy. > Cannot > remove ball. Cannot lift off. I am thinking cutting through the thingy > or > maybe the auto repair place can do it. The shop will have to disconnect the two, probably by unbolting the hitch from your car. The ball holder thingy is a drawbar (so you sound knowledgable at the shop!), which slides into the hitch on the car. Good luck. Keep us posted. And Heaven help you if the other driver turns out to have State Farm insurance. Their adjusters are crooks who will try to claim or twist anything they can to put some or all of the liability onto your insurance company. Sounds like this would be difficult for them though since you were sitting still. > Sorry this is a bit long, but I am a bit frazzled - please feel free to snip > in your replies and thanks for them. > >We also were rear-ended--by our son no less--two years ago. All repairs were paid by HIS insurance. What you should be prepared for is to have your camper totaled. Ours was one year old coleman santa fe---it was damaged pretty much the same as yours (except our crank went thru his radiator so we had to put them up in our camper) We were able to finish vacation but like you couldn't unhook our trailer. The trailer ended up being totaled because the frame was bent and most of the cabinets and things inside were shook loose. The insurance (our son"s) also fixed our truck and replaced the hitch. We took the money from the camper being totaled and moved up to a hybrid (Travelstar 20SB) and haven't looked back. Let me know if I can give you any more info. Cheryl Hicks 04 Travelstar 20SB 98 Silverado 12 Grandkids 3 Dogs ----and papaw! Here in MA, my insurance agent told me the following: your vehicle insurance will cover any damages done by or done to the trailer. However, the trailer is treated like another vehicle and will be repaired as so. Since a stove, bed, dinette or refrigerator is typically not part of a vehicle, the trailer would be repaired but the appliances/accessories would not. You have to have specific camper coverage to get any of the accessories repaired/replaced. Costs us an extra $80/year for this. Of course, this is Massachusetts and any excuse to make more money is always imposed.  SignatureJohn I would not try and get it fixed - but totaled (which I am guessing will happen anyway). My husband backed the trailer up into a small car. It looked like the only damage done was to the bumper - it was now rounded. Even the crank looked fine. The bumper was fine too - we could still brace the bed to the bumper. About a year later, I took the trailer in for a few little problems - door was sticking, cabinet was coming awat from the wall, and the outside panel was bucking a bit. I also asked him to replace the bumper. Turned out all the problems were from that fender bender - the crank got jarred, and tweaked the whole frame. My repair guy did a good job of patching everything up - and it cost us a couple of hundred, but it is still not quite right. I suspect with an accident like yours the frame is gone, and even if it seems ok, little things will start to go wrong, after the insurance deals with it all. Laura > Sorry this is a bit long, but I am a bit frazzled - please feel free to snip > in your replies and thanks for them. [quoted text clipped - 44 lines] > Thanks very much to anyone who responds, > Tomes Thanks for the replies folks, much appreciated - they do indeed help me. So far the car with trailer still sits in the driveway and our insurance is paying for a rental (a Kia minivan of all things, lol - I love rentals - you get to drive things that you would never ever buy). The adjuster called to come out to look at it and when I told him he will be looking at a pop-up I had to explain to him what a pop-up is. No I await another adjuster to call, one who knows about such stuff. I wonder how he will be able to look inside of the camper without raising the top.... Tomes "> Now I have questions: > Insurance: I am assuming (hoping) that the other guy's insurance will pay > for the camper repair too. When I called it in to the week-end insurance [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > bit? > Thanks. Typically, your auto insurance does not cover physical damage to your trailer. It does not do so in Florida. Perhaps the state you live in requires that type of coverage but I doubt it. You liability coverage would extend to the trailer but that doesn't help you here. Often there is a nominal amount built in for a trailer such as $500. If you think about it, people can own and tow all types of trailers that cost from a few hundred dollars to those costing 10's of thousands. It would be ridiculous to assume that your auto insurance is going to cover anything and everythng you pull behind it without you paying a premium for the item covered. Take a look at your policy. It will spell out what it covers under collision coverage. Finally, assuming the other guy has a valid policy that should cover you. My trailer was hit on the interstate by a nitwit teenager who switched lanes and was totaled. His company did not have experience handling campers and asked that I go through my own which I did. The other company paid me my deductible up front so I wasn't out of pocket. |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.