Accident
- Thread starter TeJay
- Start date
UPDATE !!!!
All the final paperwork is in the works. SF has settled on the amount that they will pay towards the trailer. It will be paid off with about $2,000 to us. The extra came from all the upgrades that we did and the extra taxes that we will have to pay because we won't have a trade-in. Farmer's Group Ins. (His company) will pay us for: motel, meals (while in IN.) broken dishes, pots, pans, skillets, etc. We canceled our service contract and will receive a check but that will also go towards a service contract on the new camper. We ordered a new camper and our monthly payment will be less and we are not out any money. So in about 6-8 weeks we will be back where we were before 8/2 with a new camper.
What did we lose or what did we gain?? A lot of unnecessary stress, lost sleep, a lot of anxiety, a bit of grief. More knowledge concerning insurance companies and how they work or don't. A much better understanding of our insurance like what it covers and does not cover. I have an excellent driving record of with 52 years, a C D L license and 10 years driving a school bus. With all that experience I am still much more cautious when entering and exiting congested areas. As always defensive driving is the best approach. We will have to re-fit, outfit and upgrade the new unit but the weather will be a lot cooler in 6 or so weeks. We've tried to share our experience here with some wonderful people and hopefully others will take away some useful information to make their camping/traveling experiences a little easier and more fun.
I've asked why bad things happen to good people. The answer I get is that usually a greater good can/does come from the experience. The guy who hit us felt very bad and apologized to both of us several times. He admitted that it was his fault so there was no insurance fight. The motel people were great, helpful and understanding. The salvage yard allowed us to store the camper until the insurance co. picks it up and they charged nothing. All insurance contacts were helpful, kind and also understanding. Communication from all parties was done in a timely manner. It's been just 16 days since the accident (11 business days) and 98% of everything is resolved. By the first of next week all monies should be delivered to all parties and except for our wait for the new camper this experience will be behind us but not forgotten. Actually the new camper will have a slightly different color and pattern to the upholstery. The wood will be of a different color to better match the upholstery and the flooring will look like wood planks which we both like. Ya gotta find the bright side and yes this is 1 of the good things that came from this event.
Thanks to all,
TeJay & Liz
All the final paperwork is in the works. SF has settled on the amount that they will pay towards the trailer. It will be paid off with about $2,000 to us. The extra came from all the upgrades that we did and the extra taxes that we will have to pay because we won't have a trade-in. Farmer's Group Ins. (His company) will pay us for: motel, meals (while in IN.) broken dishes, pots, pans, skillets, etc. We canceled our service contract and will receive a check but that will also go towards a service contract on the new camper. We ordered a new camper and our monthly payment will be less and we are not out any money. So in about 6-8 weeks we will be back where we were before 8/2 with a new camper.
What did we lose or what did we gain?? A lot of unnecessary stress, lost sleep, a lot of anxiety, a bit of grief. More knowledge concerning insurance companies and how they work or don't. A much better understanding of our insurance like what it covers and does not cover. I have an excellent driving record of with 52 years, a C D L license and 10 years driving a school bus. With all that experience I am still much more cautious when entering and exiting congested areas. As always defensive driving is the best approach. We will have to re-fit, outfit and upgrade the new unit but the weather will be a lot cooler in 6 or so weeks. We've tried to share our experience here with some wonderful people and hopefully others will take away some useful information to make their camping/traveling experiences a little easier and more fun.
I've asked why bad things happen to good people. The answer I get is that usually a greater good can/does come from the experience. The guy who hit us felt very bad and apologized to both of us several times. He admitted that it was his fault so there was no insurance fight. The motel people were great, helpful and understanding. The salvage yard allowed us to store the camper until the insurance co. picks it up and they charged nothing. All insurance contacts were helpful, kind and also understanding. Communication from all parties was done in a timely manner. It's been just 16 days since the accident (11 business days) and 98% of everything is resolved. By the first of next week all monies should be delivered to all parties and except for our wait for the new camper this experience will be behind us but not forgotten. Actually the new camper will have a slightly different color and pattern to the upholstery. The wood will be of a different color to better match the upholstery and the flooring will look like wood planks which we both like. Ya gotta find the bright side and yes this is 1 of the good things that came from this event.
Thanks to all,
TeJay & Liz
57chevyconvt
Well-known member
TeJay,
Thanks for all the time you have spent in posting this information as to the accident and the tedious follow-up that you and Liz have made to bring about a positive outlook and outcome. I personally appreciate your humility in bring the rest of us along with the details that you have provided. I have learned a lot from your stressful encounter, being the detail person that you are, helped the process move forward to a successful out come, at least in my eyes. I need to put my RV house in order, i.e., do more in understanding what insurance coverage that I currently have and what I really need to cover my investment.
Regards, Jim
Thanks for all the time you have spent in posting this information as to the accident and the tedious follow-up that you and Liz have made to bring about a positive outlook and outcome. I personally appreciate your humility in bring the rest of us along with the details that you have provided. I have learned a lot from your stressful encounter, being the detail person that you are, helped the process move forward to a successful out come, at least in my eyes. I need to put my RV house in order, i.e., do more in understanding what insurance coverage that I currently have and what I really need to cover my investment.
Regards, Jim
TeJay,
Glad all has worked out for you, in all my experience cool heads prevail, while I understand you stress and loss of sleep are huge, not much coverage with insurance companies in these situations.
By not threatening with a lawyer your communication remained open, I know it is hard, but your story of mostly success strengthens my advise --- don't threaten an insurance company with attorneys they will stop talking and all negotiations will cease until your attorney contacts them!
Everyone wants to sue, however your remaining calm prevailed . Congrats on your new camper, best of luck and these things usually only happen once in a lifetime!
Brian
Glad all has worked out for you, in all my experience cool heads prevail, while I understand you stress and loss of sleep are huge, not much coverage with insurance companies in these situations.
By not threatening with a lawyer your communication remained open, I know it is hard, but your story of mostly success strengthens my advise --- don't threaten an insurance company with attorneys they will stop talking and all negotiations will cease until your attorney contacts them!
Everyone wants to sue, however your remaining calm prevailed . Congrats on your new camper, best of luck and these things usually only happen once in a lifetime!
Brian
DuaneG
Well-known member
This whole thread was an interesting read with lots of information and suggestions for travelers. We have not even picked up our first trailer, so this will be helpful because we are looking to get insurance right now.
The forms that were provided by another member were a nice touch and may be good to have around.
We have learned that many police departments are having financial difficulties and staffing issues. Some have stopped sending officers to take accident reports unless there is a reported injury, an intoxicated driver or an unlicensed driver. So if you are in an accident and there is a possibility of any of those listed make sure you tell the dispatcher. Also tell the dispatcher what type of vehicle was involved in the accident and its license plate number. They will usually memo the information into the call history number for the event, so it will be documented at the beginning. My wife had one car accident where the driver was unlicensed and tried to flee the accident scene and he ended up being unlicensed. Another time her car was hit by juveniles driving a stolen vehicle. Make sure you document as much information as possible in case the driver or vehicle flee. Take pictures if possible. Some drivers will get angry if they notice you taking pictures, so you make have to be stealthy about it. It really is hard to get a report on private property unless there is an injury or if the vehicle left the roadway prior to the accident on private property. Many of the basic police reports if made will only list the involved vehicles, passengers and drivers. They may not list who was at fault because that would involve a full investigation that may involve measurements and photos that will take up time that many departments don't want to waste for a civil matter. I think that is why some states are no faults because the states that are not use the police instead of conducting their own investigations. Insurance companies do have their own investigators. So because of police call volume or policy they show up but decide not to provide a report at least ask the officer for the call history # for the event. That way if the officer needs to be contacted later, the insurance company can use it like a report. Make sure you list any witnesses and ask them if the insurance company can contact them if needed. Be careful with witnesses if the accident in any way could look like it may be your fault but you know it was not. I have heard of phantom witnesses contacting the insurance company for the other driver to make it look like it was your fault. There is also a group of people that will stop in front of you when you are not paying attention and you will hit them. They plan these accidents so they can go after your insurance. They often have fake witnesses and by the time you leave you will believe you were 100% at fault even thought they planned it. I wish people were not this evil, but they will scam the system if you give them the opportunity. So I pray everyone drives safe and stays alert.
TeJay was blessed that no one was hurt, but also blessed that the other drive was honest and straight forward through the process. Every time I witness an accident I stop to see what is going on and if one party is not being honest or seems shady I will quietly give the other driver my # in case they lie to an officer or insurance company. If one party get hostile or intimidates the other I will stand by until the police get there and speak up if needed. One of the accidents my wife was in, the driver's passengers got loud and started yelling at her and she was having a panic attack. She called me and I could hear them yelling at her. I took down the license plate and called the police and they were not going to send an officer, but did when I told them the accident was now a loud disturbance and I was on my way to meet her. I told them they had better send someone out there because I would hold them responsible if something happened to my wife while she was alone. That's why I now stop at an accident scene when I feel like something like that could happen because it is less likely to happen with witnesses around.
The forms that were provided by another member were a nice touch and may be good to have around.
We have learned that many police departments are having financial difficulties and staffing issues. Some have stopped sending officers to take accident reports unless there is a reported injury, an intoxicated driver or an unlicensed driver. So if you are in an accident and there is a possibility of any of those listed make sure you tell the dispatcher. Also tell the dispatcher what type of vehicle was involved in the accident and its license plate number. They will usually memo the information into the call history number for the event, so it will be documented at the beginning. My wife had one car accident where the driver was unlicensed and tried to flee the accident scene and he ended up being unlicensed. Another time her car was hit by juveniles driving a stolen vehicle. Make sure you document as much information as possible in case the driver or vehicle flee. Take pictures if possible. Some drivers will get angry if they notice you taking pictures, so you make have to be stealthy about it. It really is hard to get a report on private property unless there is an injury or if the vehicle left the roadway prior to the accident on private property. Many of the basic police reports if made will only list the involved vehicles, passengers and drivers. They may not list who was at fault because that would involve a full investigation that may involve measurements and photos that will take up time that many departments don't want to waste for a civil matter. I think that is why some states are no faults because the states that are not use the police instead of conducting their own investigations. Insurance companies do have their own investigators. So because of police call volume or policy they show up but decide not to provide a report at least ask the officer for the call history # for the event. That way if the officer needs to be contacted later, the insurance company can use it like a report. Make sure you list any witnesses and ask them if the insurance company can contact them if needed. Be careful with witnesses if the accident in any way could look like it may be your fault but you know it was not. I have heard of phantom witnesses contacting the insurance company for the other driver to make it look like it was your fault. There is also a group of people that will stop in front of you when you are not paying attention and you will hit them. They plan these accidents so they can go after your insurance. They often have fake witnesses and by the time you leave you will believe you were 100% at fault even thought they planned it. I wish people were not this evil, but they will scam the system if you give them the opportunity. So I pray everyone drives safe and stays alert.
TeJay was blessed that no one was hurt, but also blessed that the other drive was honest and straight forward through the process. Every time I witness an accident I stop to see what is going on and if one party is not being honest or seems shady I will quietly give the other driver my # in case they lie to an officer or insurance company. If one party get hostile or intimidates the other I will stand by until the police get there and speak up if needed. One of the accidents my wife was in, the driver's passengers got loud and started yelling at her and she was having a panic attack. She called me and I could hear them yelling at her. I took down the license plate and called the police and they were not going to send an officer, but did when I told them the accident was now a loud disturbance and I was on my way to meet her. I told them they had better send someone out there because I would hold them responsible if something happened to my wife while she was alone. That's why I now stop at an accident scene when I feel like something like that could happen because it is less likely to happen with witnesses around.
DuaneG,
There hasn't been much activity on the forum since about 2 weeks ago when I gave my last update. Glad there are still those that are benefiting from our experience. Duane, that was good info regarding the police, witnesses, etc. After having more time to reflect on what happened there were some things that I missed. The parking lot was full of trucks and truckers but not one stopped and offered any assistance what so ever. Somebody had to see what had happened but not a single driver responded. I, on the other hand did not even try to reach out to anybody because of the situation I was in. I did not have my wits about me. Duane your comment about stopping to give assistance is very valuable. It would have been great if one of those truck drivers had come over and told us that he saw everything, and would talk to the police if we wanted or needed the help. Maybe they were protecting their own and that's why nobody offered. The two police officers were great. They gave us phone numbers of a local RV shop. I called them and they gave us the location of the Semi salvage yard 3 blocks down the street which is where we took the camper and kept it stored until SF came and got it. With today's technology they entered all vital information and printed up a report for both of us. Before they told us that they were leaving if we felt comfortable and they asked if there was anything else we needed.
Yes we were lucky that the driver did admit his guilt and that sure made it a lot easier on us. Here's one suggestion for the Insurance company. I called my agent almost immediately and all he did was start a claim from AR. He really couldn't or didn't offer any other assistance. I called a local SF agent and I thought it would have been kind and very appropriate for a rep to come to the sight to offer some assistance. We were really left hanging. We had 100 questions and nobody to ask. Other than getting a motel, moving the camper to locked storage area, removing our stuff from the camper the next day then heading home we had no clue what was going to happen next. Sleepless nights result when you can't get answers to questions. I can't believe insurance agents are so busy that under some situations they could at least offer assistance. If nothing more than, call me if you have any questions. My insurance from home didn't even offer that. I would liked to have known the steps in how these things proceed. I know now but I didn't then.
If a local agent had come by and said. " From my experience this is most likely what will happen." It looks like your camper is totaled. He's admitted fault. SF will pay everything that is covered by your policy and we will recover our losses from his insurance. Most policies don't cover contents but you can recover that from either his insurance or from your homeowners. A local claims agent will look at your camper and determine damage (totaled). That report will be filed and somebody will contact you within 4-7 days. His insurance co. will probably call you as well. Don't offer to sign any papers unless you get permission from SF. Etc, etc, etc.
That's about how things went but I didn't know that until it was done. It really would have made things easier had I had some idea of what the steps were going to be. I know no agent can predict exactly how things will go but I was not asking for an exact plan just a some idea. I had no experience in these things but I believe if you sell insurance and handle claims a agent should have some idea. I guess hind sight is 20/20.
The accident happened on 8/2 and so far: the camper has been paid off, we got the last check on the 30th. It's only been 28 days and that may be a record of some kind.
Again thanks to all.
TeJay
There hasn't been much activity on the forum since about 2 weeks ago when I gave my last update. Glad there are still those that are benefiting from our experience. Duane, that was good info regarding the police, witnesses, etc. After having more time to reflect on what happened there were some things that I missed. The parking lot was full of trucks and truckers but not one stopped and offered any assistance what so ever. Somebody had to see what had happened but not a single driver responded. I, on the other hand did not even try to reach out to anybody because of the situation I was in. I did not have my wits about me. Duane your comment about stopping to give assistance is very valuable. It would have been great if one of those truck drivers had come over and told us that he saw everything, and would talk to the police if we wanted or needed the help. Maybe they were protecting their own and that's why nobody offered. The two police officers were great. They gave us phone numbers of a local RV shop. I called them and they gave us the location of the Semi salvage yard 3 blocks down the street which is where we took the camper and kept it stored until SF came and got it. With today's technology they entered all vital information and printed up a report for both of us. Before they told us that they were leaving if we felt comfortable and they asked if there was anything else we needed.
Yes we were lucky that the driver did admit his guilt and that sure made it a lot easier on us. Here's one suggestion for the Insurance company. I called my agent almost immediately and all he did was start a claim from AR. He really couldn't or didn't offer any other assistance. I called a local SF agent and I thought it would have been kind and very appropriate for a rep to come to the sight to offer some assistance. We were really left hanging. We had 100 questions and nobody to ask. Other than getting a motel, moving the camper to locked storage area, removing our stuff from the camper the next day then heading home we had no clue what was going to happen next. Sleepless nights result when you can't get answers to questions. I can't believe insurance agents are so busy that under some situations they could at least offer assistance. If nothing more than, call me if you have any questions. My insurance from home didn't even offer that. I would liked to have known the steps in how these things proceed. I know now but I didn't then.
If a local agent had come by and said. " From my experience this is most likely what will happen." It looks like your camper is totaled. He's admitted fault. SF will pay everything that is covered by your policy and we will recover our losses from his insurance. Most policies don't cover contents but you can recover that from either his insurance or from your homeowners. A local claims agent will look at your camper and determine damage (totaled). That report will be filed and somebody will contact you within 4-7 days. His insurance co. will probably call you as well. Don't offer to sign any papers unless you get permission from SF. Etc, etc, etc.
That's about how things went but I didn't know that until it was done. It really would have made things easier had I had some idea of what the steps were going to be. I know no agent can predict exactly how things will go but I was not asking for an exact plan just a some idea. I had no experience in these things but I believe if you sell insurance and handle claims a agent should have some idea. I guess hind sight is 20/20.
The accident happened on 8/2 and so far: the camper has been paid off, we got the last check on the 30th. It's only been 28 days and that may be a record of some kind.
Again thanks to all.
TeJay
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