Trailer broken into while at dealer

[schrederman]

The only problem I have with calling your insurance company and letting them fight with the dealer's insurance is... You will be paying your deductible. I'd first call their insurance company, and if I didn't get satisfaction I'd call an attorney, and at least get some advise. Your insurance company should be your last resort... in my humble opinion...

[joshuajim]

You might want to read your policy. Many have a timeline for filing a claim. If you do not meet the timeline, they might deny your claim.

[Delco Bobby]

Originally Posted by Flybob

Check the dealership many RV and auto dealers have signs that say not responsible for theft on their lots. If the dealer used reasonable efforts to secure the lot and it was broken into as well as your TT, then it will most likely have to go to your ins co.

FWIW, they probably have those signs posted and you probably signed a work order claiming the same. In court they have little protection to the dealer since a somewhat competent argument will have the validity of same tossed.

Contact the dealers insurance company first and try to go up a few levels to get a response that you like. It can't hurt and be cordial to all you talk to.

You can report it to your carrier without making a claim but hold off on that unless you have some liability as in the thief got injured while stealing from you.

[DrLewie]

I had a similar experience a couple of months ago. $250 TV set and $525 worth of other stuff was taken. This was at a body shop and 3 other units were broken into as well. The shop replaced the broken door latch and reimbursed me for everything I reported to them without hesitation. I assume they'll be reimbursed by their insurer. In any case, they took full responsibility.

[mtnlvr]

The dealerships all carry insurance. You should not have to use your own insurance policy, pay the deductable and risk having your rates raised. When the rv dealership's service dept. blew up my engine last year, they had their own insurance company initiate the claim and paid for a new engine plus my expenses.

[Still Kickin]

Originally Posted by joshuajim

You might want to read your policy. Many have a timeline for filing a claim. If you do not meet the timeline, they might deny your claim.

You are correct. Therefore, do this; call your ins. co. and inform them of the loss, however, you will be proceeding against the repair shop. Close with "at this time, I do not want open a claim at this time". As always keep contemporaneous notes.

[Still Kickin]

Originally Posted by northstar1960

Even your own ins company will go after all cost and even get your deductible back . Had a guy hit me on my bike no ins . my company paid up i paid my deductible which they ended up collecting and paying back to me . no headaches no confrontations with dealers , let them work for you you'll be surprised at how good they are at collecting . made to whole issue very easy.they will get all moneys owed . get a list and cost of items and repairs give to your ins and let them do the work . you'll get 100% covered this way

Just so you understand what transpired behind your claim, I will explain it. Your insurance company was able to recover the entire cost of your loss in full. Had that not occured, you would have been, on the hook so to speak, for your deductible, or a percentage thereof, based on the amount recovered from the person causing the accident. It is called the right of subrogation, as CLEARLY explained in the "boiler plate", (i.e. small print) nobody bothers to read, upon signing your policy. Hope this helps you understand, why in the case of the OP, where their was no reasonable expectation to know his rv would be vandalized, thus his downside, or for the issues I have stated before, should all be taken into consideration, before you just file a claim.

[Still Kickin]

Originally Posted by schrederman

The only problem I have with calling your insurance company and letting them fight with the dealer's insurance is... You will be paying your deductible. I'd first call their insurance company, and if I didn't get satisfaction I'd call an attorney, and at least get some advise. Your insurance company should be your last resort... in my humble opinion...

"I'd call an attorney" really! Unless you have a close family member or friend lawyer, that costs money, thus we are going in the wrong direction here. Just sayin'

[Still Kickin]

Originally Posted by Chpusmc

I see this thread has the possibility of rapidly causing the end of mankind.

Very astute observation. The imputous of which, might be the litigious society lawyers have created after the best intentions of the creator.

[kittlecat]

I had my coach "stolen" when I took it to a national RV dealer/camper supply chain for service. I filed a police report and claim immediately with my insurance company *but* I also hired an attorney who went after the dealer. I live in the state of Michigan. Under the law, there is an absolute duty that a repair shop has to its customers to return to the customer their item after it has been serviced, in the same condition or better than when the customer dropped the item off for repairs.

While my insurance company paid me off for the camper, due to an oversight, the contents were not insured. My attorney went after this national chain, who my attorney discovered suffers a loss about every 3 months (that means someone else's camper is "stolen") because they have absolutely no security on the lot. I was unaware of this when I took the camper in for repairs.

It has, and always will be, my belief that I was targeted by a service person at the dealer. My camper was 11 years old! To look at it from the outside, it was nothing special. To go inside was another story all together. I had decorated the camper with very specific, collectible college sports items and memorabilia that would be difficult, at best, to replace.

At that time, I did not have a tongue lock on my camper; did not know they existed as that was my first TT. I have since learned an extremely valuable lesson and I never, ever leave my camper anywhere for repairs without the tongue lock in place. I don't care how much of an inconvenience it is for the dealer: deal with it. Call me paranoid, whatever. I call it being safe.

I received a payoff not just from my insurance company, I also received a payoff from the RV chain, who refused to admit any responsibility. The payoff from the RV dealer helped replace my lost contents, but will never replace the memorabilia in the camper that were priceless to me.

Long story short: if you did not do so yet, file a police report and go after the repair shop. You can try it yourself, if you are up to it, or hire an attorney. The repair shop in all likelihood breached their duty to care for your camper while on their premises. My camper was never officially broken into as the RV dealer had the keys and the keys magically disappeared with the TT.

Best of luck to you.