Liar, Liar Camper On Fire

[harleydu0]

OK folks. I'm going tell this story of what happened to us and where we are now with hopes of getting some very good advice on how to proceed.

Last Sept. my wife and I were on a two week vacation/trip and stopped in at a casino in Redding, CA. When we were pulling into the rv parking lot a casino employee in a golf cart pulled up to us and asked how long we were going to be there. We told him a couple hours and then heading North. He pointed to a spot next to an older motor home an said to park there. We parked and locked everything up. When we started walking toward the casino the guy in the golf cart pulled up and gave us a ride to the front door about 200 yards away. We were in the casino about 20-25 minutes when an announcement on the pa said for the owner of the Wa. truck and camper report to their vehicle immediately. I told my wife that sounds like us and I headed for the camper and as I was nearing the front door a security officer was coming in the door. He asked if the Wa. truck/camper was mine and I said I think so. He said get out there quick because there is a fire next to me. I start running towards the camper and I'm thinking "I'm in the middle of a paved parking lot what the hell is burning?" As I go around the end of the building I see a HUGE black ball of smoke with fire but can't see yet what is on fire because of trees. I'm running as fast as I can and as I get closer I see that the motor home next to me is on fire. There's already a fire truck spraying water on the motor home and on my truck and camper. As I'm running up to my truck I hear people yelling to not go there but I jump in the passenger side and slide over to the steering wheel. All my windows were half way down because my dog was in the back seat. The heat was so bad that I had to lean way over. I started the truck, dropped it into gear and drove forward about 30 yards. Thankfully, the golf cart guy knew we had a dog in the back seat and he got her out right away.

The folks that owned the motor home told the police they did not have insurance. They told the casino incident manager they did not have insurance. They told the fire marshal they did not have insurance.

My insurance company paid the truck ($3800) and camper ($2600) repairs but not the atv even though the atv was secured on the back of my truck.

About a month later the casino incident manager called me and said the owners of the motor home DID HAVE INSURANCE through Hartford.

We opened a claim with Hartford. They only paid $648.00 of the $2100.00 to repair my atv which was not covered by my insurance.

So:

Motor home had been inoperable for a few days prior. Owners were working on it when the fire started. Apparently, there was gas on the manifold when they attempted to start it. Casino rules say no inoperable vehicles in the lots.

Three false statements. Police, fire marshal and casino incident mgr.

I'm out $1500 for my atv repairs.

What to do? Letter to motor home owners asking for the $1500 or seek legal council?

Why in theee hellll would a person say they didn't have insurance when they did have insurance?!!

thanks

[MisterT]

I'm sorry to hear your story, but what is your concern? do you believe their insurance should pay your claims? if so, why? isn't that why we all have our own insurance? they did not collide with you, or cause you to have an accident while driving, right? Your COMPREHENSIVE coverage should be the only insurance that pays anything in this situation, which is why we all should carry this on our property.
It's not about who's at fault, but about what insurance you have to pay for damages, no matter what causes those damages.

it's similar to home insurance, where a neighbors tree falls on your house in a windstorm - it's not their insurance that pays, but yours.

: / although it's still disconcerting because we all want someone else to blame...

[harleyjt]

Other than advising your insurance company that the other person did in fact have insurance, I don't think there is anything else you can do other than a lawsuit. That could get expensive and ugly.
jt

[Old-Biscuit]

Judge Judy!

[Hit_the_Rhod]

Originally Posted by MisterT

I'm sorry to hear your story, but what is your concern? do you believe their insurance should pay your claims? if so, why? isn't that why we all have our own insurance? they did not collide with you, or cause you to have an accident while driving, right? Your COMPREHENSIVE coverage should be the only insurance that pays anything in this situation, which is why we all should carry this on our property.
It's not about who's at fault, but about what insurance you have to pay for damages, no matter what causes those damages.

it's similar to home insurance, where a neighbors tree falls on your house in a windstorm - it's not their insurance that pays, but yours.

: / although it's still disconcerting because we all want someone else to blame...

MisterT, I have to respectively disagree with you. If what the OP states is correct, the owners of the motor home that caught fire did so while they were working on it, spraying fuel onto the engine. In my book, that is negligence, and directly resulted in the damage to the poster's truck and trailer. Therefore he realistically has the expectation to be "made whole" by either the insurance company of the owners of the burned vehicle, or the owners themselves. Of course, he may be able to make a claim to his homeowners insurance under "covered property" not on insured premises, but that's a question to be answered by reading his insurance policy (not just by calling the company and believing what the person on the other end says).

[dennis45]

Originally Posted by MisterT

I'm sorry to hear your story, but what is your concern? do you believe their insurance should pay your claims? if so, why? isn't that why we all have our own insurance? they did not collide with you, or cause you to have an accident while driving, right? Your COMPREHENSIVE coverage should be the only insurance that pays anything in this situation, which is why we all should carry this on our property.
It's not about who's at fault, but about what insurance you have to pay for damages, no matter what causes those damages.

it's similar to home insurance, where a neighbors tree falls on your house in a windstorm - it's not their insurance that pays, but yours.

: / although it's still disconcerting because we all want someone else to blame...

I agree totally, I've had a couple of situations similar to this.
My only move was to record all the facts along with names etc. Then call my insurance company to advise them of the loss. In both cases, they said "go and get replacement transportation and leave this to us. Do not talk to anyone but us on this claim".
Both cases were handled by my insurance company. If there was any recovery from the other party, my insurance company handled it. Case Closed.
It pays to know your coverage and not just go for the least expensive.

[harleydu0]

Originally Posted by MisterT

I'm sorry to hear your story, but what is your concern? do you believe their insurance should pay your claims? if so, why? isn't that why we all have our own insurance? they did not collide with you, or cause you to have an accident while driving, right? Your COMPREHENSIVE coverage should be the only insurance that pays anything in this situation, which is why we all should carry this on our property.
It's not about who's at fault, but about what insurance you have to pay for damages, no matter what causes those damages.

it's similar to home insurance, where a neighbors tree falls on your house in a windstorm - it's not their insurance that pays, but yours.

: / although it's still disconcerting because we all want someone else to blame...

Mr. T the Hartford felt I had a claim but because of the formula they and all insurance carries use (per Hartford) I was only paid a percentage. I believe the haz-mat clean-up took the majority of funds available.

Blame? You friggin A right!! What kind of a friggin idiot is going to try to start an engine with gas on the manifold?!!

[harleydu0]

Originally Posted by Old-Biscuit

Judge Judy!

THAT'S WHAT I WAS THINK'N!! not
But, thanks anyway.

[harleydu0]

Originally Posted by harleyjt

Other than advising your insurance company that the other person did in fact have insurance, I don't think there is anything else you can do other than a lawsuit. That could get expensive and ugly.
jt

Thank you. Expensive and ugly is pretty much what I was thinking.
It's the lying part that really irks me.

[harleydu0]

Originally Posted by Hit_the_Rhod

MisterT, I have to respectively disagree with you. If what the OP states is correct, the owners of the motor home that caught fire did so while they were working on it, spraying fuel onto the engine. In my book, that is negligence, and directly resulted in the damage to the poster's truck and trailer. Therefore he realistically has the expectation to be "made whole" by either the insurance company of the owners of the burned vehicle, or the owners themselves. Of course, he may be able to make a claim to his homeowners insurance under "covered property" not on insured premises, but that's a question to be answered by reading his insurance policy (not just by calling the company and believing what the person on the other end says).

Thank you!!! Negligence is what I've been thinking. And a pure frigg'n idiot!!

"Hey Bubba, throw some more gas on that there fire. It's cold in here!"

[harleydu0]

Originally Posted by dennis45

I agree totally, I've had a couple of situations similar to this.
My only move was to record all the facts along with names etc. Then call my insurance company to advise them of the loss. In both cases, they said "go and get replacement transportation and leave this to us. Do not talk to anyone but us on this claim".
Both cases were handled by my insurance company. If there was any recovery from the other party, my insurance company handled it. Case Closed.
It pays to know your coverage and not just go for the least expensive.

Thanks Dennis and Carol.

My ignorance on the coverage of my atv. I thought everything we owned was covered. If the atv burned on my property it would have been covered per my carrier. We have our house, rv, motorcycles, car and truck and 'now' our atv's covered and it is not the least expensive insurance available.

[4x4van]

Since the ATV is technically a "vehicle", it would require it's own policy even when towed/hauled by your insured vehicle. But the MH owner's insurance should have covered ALL of your damages. At this point, your only chance is probably to file a claim for the remaining damages in small claims court. The judgement will likely go against against the MH owner, but actually collecting is another story.

[dexters]

Originally Posted by harleydu0

My insurance company paid the truck ($3800) and camper ($2600) repairs but not the atv even though the atv was secured on the back of my truck.

About a month later the casino incident manager called me and said the owners of the motor home DID HAVE INSURANCE through Hartford.

We opened a claim with Hartford. They only paid $648.00 of the $2100.00 to repair my atv which was not covered by my insurance.

So:

Motor home had been inoperable for a few days prior. Owners were working on it when the fire started. Apparently, there was gas on the manifold when they attempted to start it. Casino rules say no inoperable vehicles in the lots.

Three false statements. Police, fire marshal and casino incident mgr.

I'm out $1500 for my atv repairs.

What to do? Letter to motor home owners asking for the $1500 or seek legal council?

Why in theee hellll would a person say they didn't have insurance when they did have insurance?!!

thanks

I'd first start with your insurance to for their advise and see if they will contact the MH owner's ins company for you and make the case they should pay.

Read your homeowner's policy, the ATV could be covered there.

Read your truck policy, considering the ATV was on the truck it may be covered as 'contents' of the truck.

Why did the MH owners say they didn't have ins - so their ins. company could not be contacted. But, usually state registration requires ins so they keep a record.

[Nut4speed]

So what it sounds like is the owner of the motor home only had a set amount of coverage probably $10,000 or so and they basically ran out of money within that coverage amount between the repairs to your camper, truck, and the cost of the putting out and cleaning up the fire.
If they ran out of money within the motorhome owner's coverage your only course of action would be to go after the owner of the motorhome directly for the difference. But if they're driving an old derelict motorhome chances are you will be trying to get water out of a dry well. You will likely run up substantial legal costs and in return get nothing in the end and may be better off taking this one on the chin and move forward unfortunately.