What If You Wreck Your RV?

Traffic accidents involving RVs are relatively infrequent, but they still happen.  In addition, some of the places we go in our RVs can subject them to unusual risks.  Misjudging vertical or horizontal clearance can result in the loss of a roof air conditioner or an awning.  Moving an RV with a slideout extended can cause serious damage.  Of course prevention is the best remedy, so always be sure of overhead and side-to-side clearances before proceeding.  Another frequent RV mishap occurs when backing into a campsite.  You back into or over an unseen obstacle and cause property damage and/or significant damage to your RV.  Look before you back and, if there is any risk, have someone stand behind your RV and guide you.   Your vehicle liability insurance should cover the property damage, but not damage to your RV.  For that you need collision and comprehensive coverage

A valuable protection against the affects of damage to your RV is to have the right insurance.  Liability insurance is required to operate your RV on public roads.  That protects the other driver or the owner of property you might run into and protects you against their cost of repairs and/or medical expenses, but it doesn't reimburse you for damage to your vehicle.  For that you need Full Collision and Comprehensive coverage.  Collision coverage covers just that:  collisions.  You may collide with another vehicle, a pedestrian, or an obstacle.  Comprehensive usually covers things like glass breakage and good policies will cover accessories like awnings and antennas as well as wind and hail damage.  You will pay higher premiums for full coverage, but it may be worth it.  Considering the cost of even vintage RVs, full insurance coverage usually makes good sense if you can get it and if you can afford it.  Most likely you won't be able to get full coverage on an RV with a salvage title, even if it has been completely repaired and the cost of coverage on some older units may cost more than you're willing to pay.  The age and condition of the vehicle may also affect whether or not a company will insure it.

Insurance covered repairs for older RVs can sometimes be confusing or even problematic.  As units age it parts get harder to find, especially body parts.  A relatively minor accident might damage your RV so that is considered "totaled" by the insurance company.  That simply means that it will cost more to repair it than to replace it -- theoretically.  The question becomes, what is the value of your RV?  Some, but not all, can be found in the NADA Guides (www.nadaguides.com).  As units get older there aren't enough transactions to establish a NADA price.  When that happens the insurance company will have an appraiser set the value of your RV.  You will want to make sure the appraiser is aware of any special additions or modifications you've made that might affect the value.  If , for example, you recently installed a new engine or have made significant improvements or modifications that don't appear in the options list in the Nada Guide.  You may also find it very difficult or even impossible to find an exact replacement and will have to look for an alternative.  Before accepting that check from the insurance company, do some research of your own to determine the replacement cost of your vehicle.  If you can't find any exact replacements, get the cost of comparably sized and equipped units of the same age. You may be able to negotiate a better settlement from the insurance company.  Once you cash the check you absolve the insurance company from any further liability.  If yours is a rare model you may have to put some effort into establishing an accurate value -- and then you may have difficulty finding a replacement.

If  your vehicle is considered totaled there are several things  you can expect.  In most states the title will be marked "SALVAGE", which typically reduces the market and the price you could possibly get for the RV if you should choose to repair it.  Your insurance company will drop your full coverage and, even if you get it fully repaired, might not ever reinstate it, based on the fact that once totaled, it has no value, at least in their view.  You have the right to keep the vehicle and either have it repaired or dispose of it yourself.  If you do, the insurance company will deduct a "salvage value" from your payment.  You should find out what that deduction is before you decide to go that route.  You may want to keep the wrecked vehicle to scavenge accessories or parts to use on your replacement vehicle if the salvage value isn't too high, even if it isn't worth repairing.  If you chose not to keep the vehicle, the insurance company will sell it to a salvage yard and they'll come and take it away.  If you suspect your vehicle will be declared a total loss you'll probably want to do some research to determine what it will cost to replace it with a similar vehicle so you can be comfortable with the payout.  If yours is an older and somewhat rare RV it may be very difficult to establish or prove a current value.  In that case you might collect prices for the nearest comparable vehicles.  If the offer from the insurance company is way below what you believe it will cost to replace your vehicle you can negotiate with them.  That's where it is important to have some relevant research readily available to justify YOUR appraisal.  Rare or unusual vehicles won't show up in used car price guides so you may have to do your own research to find similar vehicles for sale or recent sales of similar vehicles to establish your own evaluation.  I had a vintage RV for which there were no local comparisons.  The only similar rigs I could find on the Internet were in Australia and the prices were significantly higher than the insurance payout on my "totaled" vehicle and were ignored by the insurance company in establishing the value for payout.

Why would you want to keep a damaged vehicle?   Normally, people have little or no interest in hanging on to a totaled vehicle but there may be times when it makes sense.  A particularly unique RV might be worth fixing regardless of what the insurance company says.  You may also have accessories and features you added that you might want to transfer to a replacement vehicle.  In that case you need to compare the cost of new items to the salvage value.  Also whether than even can be transferred to another vehicle. And don't forget to include the labor cost for removing them from the wrecked vehicle and installing them on the replacement.  You may think you can find a buyer who will pay you more than the salvage value claimed by the insurance company.  Be very careful here.  Most likely anyone willing to buy a salvage vehicle will have detailed knowledge about the salvage value and won't be likely to pay more.  Why should they?  Unless your vehicle is extremely rare and desirable, they can go buy another wreck somewhere else.  We kept a totaled sailboat.  The salvage value was low and, at least in our opinion, it could be repaired if we could find used replacement parts somewhere.  We also thought it would make a nice playhouse for our grand kids!

If your RV is truly unique and/or you REALLY like it, you might want try to get it repaired even if the insurance company decides it is a total loss.  You will want to be careful if you choose to consider this option.  Sometimes replacement parts are simply not available and you may have to wait years to find what you need in a junk yard.  Often the repair costs will be much higher than you might expect, so be sure to have a detailed, guaranteed estimate from a reliable shop so you know what it is going to cost.  You will have to live with a "SALVAGE" title, which will affect insurability and future resale value.  If you are unable to find replacement parts you may have to live with less-than-perfect repairs.  If you expect you'll want to keep and repair your wrecked RV, be sure to exercise your option to pay the salvage value right away.  If you accept full payment, the rig then belongs to the insurance company and you no longer have any rights to it.  You might be able to buy it back from them after the fact, but chances you'll be successful aren't very good and you will probably have to pay more than the proposed salvage value.

Your insurance rates are likely to increase when you file a claim.  Some companies offer "accident forgiveness" for the first one.   If not, your rates may stay higher for as long as 3 years.  You may want to consider that in your decision on whether to file or not if the damage is minor. I've seen premiums double because of even fairly small claims.

Sometimes having a vehicle declared a total loss is an opportunity for you to make some desired changes.  Chances are the insurance settlement will be higher than any trade-in value you might get from a dealer if you wanted to change units since it will be based on retail market value.  If you're lucky, it may even be more than you would get selling it privately before the accident.  It may be chance for you to up-size or down-size, depending on your situation, or to get a newer unit with features you want that your old one didn't have or you can be rid of some features you didn't like on the old rig. 

Safe motoring!