Community Forums

Gadget Man · 12-01-2012, 09:11 PM

Toasty,

So sorry for the loss of your motorhome. I hope everything is progressing well.

Check your policy for total loss replacement. If you bought your coach new or within two years of being new, many insurance companies will offer you full purchase price protection, giving you back what you paid for your coach, instead of fair market value, which is considerably less. I have this coverage with Progressive and can retain it as long as I keep them. This is the only reason I have stayed with them. If I were to leave for another company, I would lose that coverage. For me it's a peace of mind thing, so I don't mind paying a little extra.

Craig

RedneckExpress · 12-01-2012, 09:25 PM

Fortunately, this didn't happen to your rig

. This happened in the space of less than 30 minutes at the Kankakee River State Park when I was staying there last month.

Big Bear Local · 12-02-2012, 08:54 AM

I agree with having several extinguishers around the coach as well as one sitting just outside the door in case someone else notices flames while we are sleeping. I run a campground and have seen several RV fires.

Midniteoyl · 12-02-2012, 10:22 AM

Also glad you and yours were not hurt

Have to agree with a previous post about the powder chemical extinguishers.. They pretty much sux... I like having at least a CO2 and a AFFF one. My house has 2 CO2, one up, one down, and a AFFF in the kitchen. Haven't gotten to the RV yet, but there will be at least one of each in there as well..

SarahW · 12-02-2012, 11:20 AM

Sorry about the fire, Toasty. Hope this all works out for you.

Dutch Star Don · 12-02-2012, 01:52 PM

As Albert stated, start making a list. Get out a large writing pad and mentally start at the front of the coach going from compartment to compartment and cabinet to cabinet. You also need to start gathering both NADA and Kelley Blue Book prices with all of your upgrades. I would also search various websites for a similar coach and print the ads with the prices.

Since it was at your house, your homeowner's insurance may cover some of the household type items that aren't generally covered by vehicle insurance.

Sorry for your loss, but I have to comment on your web name "toasty"!

toasty · 12-12-2012, 11:44 AM

Quick followup:

The appraiser seems pretty fair so far, they gave me a written valuation along with a lot of documentation for HOW they came up with the number, showing comparable sales of nearly identical units, and price differences for any changes between mine and their comparables. We had some upgrades done to ours that they weren't really sure how to value, so I did some homework, gave them the original invoices, and we agreed pretty easily on a valuation.

The fire happened on my property, and it was pretty complicated getting it towed out of here. The jacks were stuck down, both slideouts (one electric, one hydraulic) were out, etc. The first two towing companies that my insurance company hired wanted to seriously over-engineer how they were going to do this, so they found a third that basically used the weight of the chassis to push the jacks in, and brute forced the slideouts back in.

It got towed to a storage yard. A fire investigator looked things over, and while he's not making an "official" determination, it appears that it was actually one of the 12V light switches that overheated. Maybe a partial short in the switch, or maybe a short somewhere down the line that for some reason didn't get stopped by a fuse. They weren't paying him to go into any more detail, so that's where he stopped.

Some things I've learned:

There's a cap on how much we were covered for our own possessions in the RV. Thankfully it was nearly empty, but even the few things we did leave in there (plates, bedding, a few gadgets) brought us to close to the cap. Had I realized this, I probably would have increased the limit.

If we buy a replacement vehicle in the next 30 days, the insurance company will pay the sales tax/title/etc. This is a bit complicated for us, since pretty much every RV dealer in the area is closed or nearly closed for the winter. My agent is inquiring about getting an extension on that.

Had we actually been out traveling when this occurred, they would have provided a rental car/hotel/etc.

Even though the fire was mostly contained to the rear half, the combination of smoke, soot and water covering everything pretty much ruined everything inside. What wasn't ruined from that was damaged from the heat - strong enough that it melted the gaskets holding the windshield on. Even things I thought we could salvage are completely ruined from smell alone.

We thought we were being smart in keeping our repair/upgrade receipts in the RV, so if we needed them on the road they'd be there. If you're going to do that, make sure you've got copies elsewhere.