I don't know if this is the place to post but it can be moved if necessary. This is not a post that I ever expected to write. I'm writing it because when things like this happen very few people know exactly what to do and you feel completely helpless. Maybe posting this will help others who may end up in this situation. We were headed home after a few weeks of camping. We got off to fuel up. The service area for gas is not a large as the diesel area so after filling we proceeded through the gas pump area and into the diesel trucking area. I proceeded slowly and cautiously as always. We were doing a CCW turn to exit the same way as the semi's. We went around two parked semi's about 15-20 feet away from the front of their rigs when a dump truck traveling to fast for the area and smashed into the front left corner of our trailer and slid down the side to just behind the rear tires. The entire frame is pushed back because neither set of stairs on the opposite side will pull out. I'm 99% sure that it is totaled. My wife saw the truck and noticed that the driver was turned to his left checking for traffic coming from that direction. His grandson shouted but there was not enough time.
Here we are 600 miles from home, 100 degrees, dog, cat, frozen food, wife and a camper full of clothes, and assorted gear what do you do???? We don't have much experience with things like this. Who does???? It's a really helpless, confusing, frustrating feeling. The police were called. It's private property so no accident report just information about both parties. I called my insurance agent and he was not exactly sure how to proceed either. He said, "I can start a claim from this end if you want." How was I to know the best way to handle this??? I was hoping he would advise me as to the best approach. The camper was drivable because I eventually moved it about 1/4 of a mile to a locked storage area. The slide would not move and we had stuff loaded into drawers that we could not get to. What do you do ???? I told the claims agent that I may have to break the slide wall more to get to the stuff behind that wall. She said to just take pictures. The accident happened about 11:30 AM and by 1 or 2 the claims office called. My insurance agent told me to keep receipts for expenses, motel etc. A truck salvage yard down the street was kind enough to allow us to tow and store the camper in their yard. After the dust settled we got a motel room with a full sized fridge so we could store our frozen stuff. We got plastic totes and coolers and instead of renting a U-Haul we decided to pack everything into the truck the next morning while it was cooler.
Later the first afternoon the agent sent me information (e-mail) to get onto a secure sight. I was advised and sent 31 pictures with a narrative for each picture plus information concerning some things that we did. We took the original mattress out and put in our air mattress. I didn't want them to think I stole it. About mid morning on the day after the accident we were just finishing loading all of our stuff and the agent called and said that the claims inspector would not be there until Monday. We left the keys at the yard and proceeded home the following day.
I just read our insurance policy and still don't know answers to these questions. Will I be reimbursed for the following: I replaced the china bombs with new tires. Labor for installing all new wheel bearings. I still don't trust china's quality control. We had a surge guard installed. The plastic commode was replaced. What about all the extra time we spent removing our stuff and eventually having to put it all back into a new camper. What about pain and suffering?????? There's nothing in the insurance policy about any of that stuff.
Here's the good part. The driver of the truck admitted to me, my wife, the police and to my insurance company that he had his head turned and did not see us until his grandson shouted. My insurance company has already determined that he was at fault.
Nobody was hurt including the animals but it was a very difficult time.
TeJay
Here we are 600 miles from home, 100 degrees, dog, cat, frozen food, wife and a camper full of clothes, and assorted gear what do you do???? We don't have much experience with things like this. Who does???? It's a really helpless, confusing, frustrating feeling. The police were called. It's private property so no accident report just information about both parties. I called my insurance agent and he was not exactly sure how to proceed either. He said, "I can start a claim from this end if you want." How was I to know the best way to handle this??? I was hoping he would advise me as to the best approach. The camper was drivable because I eventually moved it about 1/4 of a mile to a locked storage area. The slide would not move and we had stuff loaded into drawers that we could not get to. What do you do ???? I told the claims agent that I may have to break the slide wall more to get to the stuff behind that wall. She said to just take pictures. The accident happened about 11:30 AM and by 1 or 2 the claims office called. My insurance agent told me to keep receipts for expenses, motel etc. A truck salvage yard down the street was kind enough to allow us to tow and store the camper in their yard. After the dust settled we got a motel room with a full sized fridge so we could store our frozen stuff. We got plastic totes and coolers and instead of renting a U-Haul we decided to pack everything into the truck the next morning while it was cooler.
Later the first afternoon the agent sent me information (e-mail) to get onto a secure sight. I was advised and sent 31 pictures with a narrative for each picture plus information concerning some things that we did. We took the original mattress out and put in our air mattress. I didn't want them to think I stole it. About mid morning on the day after the accident we were just finishing loading all of our stuff and the agent called and said that the claims inspector would not be there until Monday. We left the keys at the yard and proceeded home the following day.
I just read our insurance policy and still don't know answers to these questions. Will I be reimbursed for the following: I replaced the china bombs with new tires. Labor for installing all new wheel bearings. I still don't trust china's quality control. We had a surge guard installed. The plastic commode was replaced. What about all the extra time we spent removing our stuff and eventually having to put it all back into a new camper. What about pain and suffering?????? There's nothing in the insurance policy about any of that stuff.
Here's the good part. The driver of the truck admitted to me, my wife, the police and to my insurance company that he had his head turned and did not see us until his grandson shouted. My insurance company has already determined that he was at fault.
Nobody was hurt including the animals but it was a very difficult time.
TeJay
