Stolen RV value

[Pointerman]

If you are on the Thor sub forum you may be aware that my brand new 2021 Thor Challenger 37YT was stolen about 3 months after I purchased it. I am now going through the fun with the insurance company who would like to pay me $11K less than what I paid for it.

Putting all of my cards on the table, I purchased it out of IL for $155K and had it shipped to CA. I felt as though I was getting a pretty good price on a coach with an MSRP of $215K.

My insurance company is valuing the coach at $144K after finding two used Challenger coaches with about 10K miles on them as comps. They are telling me if I would like my valuation increased I need to come up with higher comps. Anyone have any experience on winning this battle with the insurance company? Where do I go for this info? They won't take listed prices on any of the RVs for sale websites.

Need some help with this insanity so I can get on with it and try to find a replacment for a coach that is no longer being built by Thor.

[BillJinOR]

Don’t know about rv’s but cars they won’t take listed as they know nobody pays listed. Realistically only a few unknowing do. When you drive it off the lot it dropped in value from what you paid .. not the list price. A good choice at the time would have been to insure for the higher amount/ replacement value Maybe it’s a attorney time?

[HarryStone]

If you were to replace it, how much would it cost you? It's not the insurance company's job to get you a new one, but to make you 'whole'. In other words, if you had a 2020 Buick Enclave with 15000 miles on it, the insurance company would be expected to give you enough $ to buy another 2020 Buick Enclave with 15K miles on it, not a brand new one. If the market shows them that they can be purchased for 20K on average, that's what they would give you, not what list was, and certainly not what you paid.

[traveler of california]

What insurance company?

[Ljwt330]

Originally Posted by HarryStone

If you were to replace it, how much would it cost you? It's not the insurance company's job to get you a new one, but to make you 'whole'. In other words, if you had a 2020 Buick Enclave with 15000 miles on it, the insurance company would be expected to give you enough $ to buy another 2020 Buick Enclave with 15K miles on it, not a brand new one. If the market shows them that they can be purchased for 20K on average, that's what they would give you, not what list was, and certainly not what you paid.

This^^, is the heart of the matter, "making you whole."


Don't let the amount they quoted upset you, that's what the true "market" is showing as the value of a like coach, via actual sales. Find an exact match, if possible, and tell the insurance company how much it is going to cost to put you into it. If an exact match (mileage not included) is not possible to find, then a comparable coach of size, age and quality might work, but you would be restricted to the dollar figure they have given.


Actual value is what most policies pay out, and actual value is the market sale price.

[PS56]

Originally Posted by Pointerman

If you are on the Thor sub forum you may be aware that my brand new 2021 Thor Challenger 37YT was stolen about 3 months after I purchased it. I am now going through the fun with the insurance company who would like to pay me $11K less than what I paid for it.

Putting all of my cards on the table, I purchased it out of IL for $155K and had it shipped to CA. I felt as though I was getting a pretty good price on a coach with an MSRP of $215K.

My insurance company is valuing the coach at $144K after finding two used Challenger coaches with about 10K miles on them as comps. They are telling me if I would like my valuation increased I need to come up with higher comps. Anyone have any experience on winning this battle with the insurance company? Where do I go for this info? They won't take listed prices on any of the RVs for sale websites.

Need some help with this insanity so I can get on with it and try to find a replacment for a coach that is no longer being built by Thor.

I think you have to start with your math and the ins. co math

First, what a person paid for anything does not enter into what ins pays out, UNLESS you have a special rider to the contract.

If you give the ins co a path to a higher price you will probably get it.

You paid $155. From that you should subtract the things ins comps don't look at when computing the price like shipping, dealer fees and sales tax. That will give you a ballpark idea if you are getting a good deal. So if you paid 155 and have 5K of fees the ins co doesn't count you are getting 6K less of what you paid.

With the ins co.tell first get the details on the comps, especially the features.
Point out the features the comps do not have that your RV had and give the ins co an estimated cost. Also you need to compute what it would cost for you to get the vehicles they identified. They are offering you 144K and then add up all you have to pay to get the RV they are telling you about. Find comps of your own.

Finally, mileage is important. Compare the mileage of your RV vs the comps. If the comps have more, put a dollar to it and ADD it back to the comp price.

[Pointerman]

Still fishing for help in finding a way to verify what coaches are actually selling for. They don't care about my math or any sight that lists what coaches are selling for. I can make offer after offer at $144k and I am never going to buy a Challenger with 3500 miles on it... it is just not going to happen. The question is how do I show them data on what the coaches are actually selling for.

Sorry, but logic doesn't work here. I need a way to get hard data to them to debunk their two crap examples of sales in CA. I know for a fact that there are far more of these things sold in CA for much higher prices since I tried locally before buying out of state. Dealers out here won't budge for the most part.

[CRV2]

Not that my comment will help the OP, but on my insurance I paid for a rider that specifies a "Declared Value" for my RV which means if it was totalled or stolen, etc., then they will pay me the agreed upon declared value. Something to consider moving forward and for others. ~CA

[Pointerman]

Originally Posted by craigav

Not that my comment will help the OP, but on my insurance I paid for a rider that specifies a "Declared Value" for my RV which means if it was totalled or stolen, etc., then they will pay me the agreed upon declared value. Something to consider moving forward and for others. ~CA

No doubt. And I will also likely install some sort of tracking device that I will of course never need, because the odds of this happening twice is slim to none. I will also be using an RV specific company so we can all speak the same language and hopefully deal with people that get it.

[PS56]

Originally Posted by Pointerman

Still fishing for help in finding a way to verify what coaches are actually selling for. They don't care about my math or any sight that lists what coaches are selling for. I can make offer after offer at $144k and I am never going to buy a Challenger with 3500 miles on it... it is just not going to happen. The question is how do I show them data on what the coaches are actually selling for.

Sorry, but logic doesn't work here. I need a way to get hard data to them to debunk their two crap examples of sales in CA. I know for a fact that there are far more of these things sold in CA for much higher prices since I tried locally before buying out of state. Dealers out here won't budge for the most part.

Here's your answer - find one of these that know about RVs.

https://www.valuepenguin.com/public-insurance-adjusters

[Pointerman]

Originally Posted by PS56

Here's your answer - find one of these that know about RVs.

https://www.valuepenguin.com/public-insurance-adjusters

Did not know these folks existed. Emailed some folks with RV divisions. Will see if they can help.

[amosnandy]

Originally Posted by Pointerman

If you are on the Thor sub forum you may be aware that my brand new 2021 Thor Challenger 37YT was stolen about 3 months after I purchased it. I am now going through the fun with the insurance company who would like to pay me $11K less than what I paid for it.

Putting all of my cards on the table, I purchased it out of IL for $155K and had it shipped to CA. I felt as though I was getting a pretty good price on a coach with an MSRP of $215K.

My insurance company is valuing the coach at $144K after finding two used Challenger coaches with about 10K miles on them as comps. They are telling me if I would like my valuation increased I need to come up with higher comps. Anyone have any experience on winning this battle with the insurance company? Where do I go for this info? They won't take listed prices on any of the RVs for sale websites.

Need some help with this insanity so I can get on with it and try to find a replacment for a coach that is no longer being built by Thor.

I am an independent adjuster licensed in Minnesota. I'm retired from one of the big 4, won't say which one but I work part time for an independent now and I handle most of the odd non auto stuff. Boats, campers, stock trailers, horse trailers semis and the like.

You didn't make it clear exactly what the 144k offer includes, but no matter what the settlement, they owe you tax, license, transfer fee's. Yours had 3500 miles, the comps have 10000 miles. Now are they including an adjustment for mileage? It 's pretty easy to calculate on cars, as millions are sold, so a computer actually does it. On RV it is a lot harder but it can and should be done.

First thing you can do is get dealer quotes. Call several dealers, and you can go nationwide on that, tell them exactly what you had and ask what they would sell it for if they had it on the lot. Again, hard because to find one with 3500 miles would almost mean you bought it, and got hurt or died and gave it back to them.

Second, you do not need to settle for comps they found just in California. Do a nation wide search. If you find one, which will be hard, with 3500 miles on it and the exact same equipment and it is in Illinois, that is your comp, and since you paid to transport it, they owe that too. I'd be a little concerned about a 3 month old coach with 3500 miles on it being resold by a dealer. You probably could request an inspection.

You can also hire a public adjuster, but that is something you have to pay for. You can get an appraisal done, but unless it has been recovered that is hard to do also.

Put together what you paid, how much it was to ship, what taxes, fees and any other expenses you paid to get the coach to you and equipped the way you wanted it.

Also what are they doing about contents? If you bought a brand new coach, you probably bought sewer hose, water hose, maybe a surge protector, any chairs tables or camping equipment you bought to travel. Sometimes contents is covered under the coach policy, sometimes under a homeowner policy. This can get dicey for full timers who don't add content coverage and don't have home owners or renters insurance.

Also in this line of making you whole again, it might be time to contact the state insurance commissioner. We always loved when people said they would hire a lawyer, an adjuster would rather deal with a lawyer than a customer, but when a complaint came in from the insurance commissioner it went right to the top of the food chain.

And last, the old "squeaky wheel gets the grease" works here. Keep calling, and not just the adjuster, but the manager and the managers manager.

Any new piece of machinery depreciates the minute you take ownership. Ask the adjuster what he considers depreciation is for 1 year 5% 10%, then remind him you only had it 3 months.

And I know it is a bit late, but most companies offer replacement coverage. Usually 2 years. If it is destroyed or stolen in the specified time frame they replace it with a new one. Some policies take depreciation, but that should be spelled out in the policy. Some don't

[amosnandy]

Originally Posted by BillJinOR

Don’t know about rv’s but cars they won’t take listed as they know nobody pays listed. Realistically only a few unknowing do. When you drive it off the lot it dropped in value from what you paid .. not the list price. A good choice at the time would have been to insure for the higher amount/ replacement value Maybe it’s a attorney time?

I'm an independent adjuster, and those are our favorite words to hear. "I'm getting and attorney"

We would much rather deal with an attorney than a emotional customer. Only thing getting an attorney does is make the attorney money.

[Hurricane-TX]

25 years ago I had an RV catch fire. The adjuster totaled it out and the insurance company offered a check for 39K. I thought that was low, so I called the dealer in my area that sold the brand. The sales manager gave me a price quote of 49K for my model and mileage. I forwarded that sales quote to the insurance and the next day they cut me a check for 49K. As others have said, get some price quotes from dealers around the country and send them to the insurance company. I don't think you need an attorney or outside experts to negotiate with the insurance company. Have some patience and provide the insurance company with documentation that is to your advantage not theirs.