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Old 07-31-2016, 06:35 PM   #1
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Factory or dealer for major body damage?

After 20 years towing and many many miles between camping and racing, I finally had an on road incident.

Short story- I'm in the right lane. Girl next to me in the left lane swerves to miss a car and clobbers the front corner and half the side of my 7 month old trailer. Everyone is fine. I could continue on to my week in the Smokies. The girl's car had to leave on a rollback.

Everything works. The slides go out. Even the midbunk slide that took a pretty good hit. The landing legs have a new squeak, but the front corner, side cargo door area and the front basement wall are a mess.

Based on my PDI with the "service manager", I don't have much confidence in the dealer I bought from fixing it. They are 2 hours away and the only Chaparral dealer within 400 miles. The factory is about the same distance.

Anyone know if the factory does non-warranty repairs?









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Old 07-31-2016, 07:00 PM   #2
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If the factory will do the work that is where I would take it. For this kind of repairs there is always something they missed ordering or had to be special made, at the factory it is just a matter of walking across the plant to get the right parts rather than wait for UPS to deliver what is needed. Glad to hear no one was hurt. 20 years is very good for no accidents. I was a road warrior in my working life and drove over 4.5 million miles with no accidents, had a few close calls but always alert for anything that could happen.
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Old 07-31-2016, 07:12 PM   #3
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Wow, Glad to hear that everyone is OK. That driver sure left some ugly on both vehicles. Since it is going to the insurance path, Have someone that is sharp check your frame and everything attached to it. That baby is to big and too new to find out that it is dog tracking.

In my my mind, I would not look for the quick fix. Look deep and hard brother.

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Old 08-01-2016, 05:15 AM   #4
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Wow that's awful. Sorry to hear glad everyone okay.. I could recommend Holman rv from what I've been told they have in awesome body shop for RVs they are a chaparral dealer
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Old 08-01-2016, 05:44 AM   #5
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Why not go to Forest Rivers website, get contact info and ask them directly?
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Old 08-01-2016, 05:47 AM   #6
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Not even a question----GO TO THE FACTORY!!!!!!
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Old 08-01-2016, 06:06 AM   #7
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That would have to done at the factory, they do non warranty work, they just replaced my whole roof. Call the factory warranty dept for your unit, you should find the # needed in the library. I'll attach the phone #'s for you.
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Old 08-01-2016, 07:29 AM   #8
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Quote:
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Why not go to Forest Rivers website, get contact info and ask them directly?
Thanks.

I didn't know if the factory did crash repair. Sounds like they do.

I plan on calling the factory this morning. The wreck just happened Saturday and I was trying to determine my options over the weekend.

I have the numbers for the factory. I have to wait to get the crash report from the police department to find out what the other person's insurance is. Cops on the scene wouldn't give me any of her info. Said I would get it "in a few days" when they had a report ready.

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Old 08-01-2016, 07:34 AM   #9
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I'll attach the phone #'s for you.
Thanks for the link, Witch Dr.

Saved me having to try finding it.

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Old 08-01-2016, 01:28 PM   #10
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I would definitely go to factory if that is an option.
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Old 08-01-2016, 01:57 PM   #11
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Sorry about the accident. Glad all are ok. Another resource you might consider is your insurance company. Most major insurers have experience with independent repair shops. They can tell you which ones they send their repairs to. Some of these shops are very good and certainly will provide better service than most of the dealers.
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Old 08-01-2016, 02:56 PM   #12
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I am surprised the police wouldn't give you her driver info (name and insurer). I thought that was standard procedure. Anyone know?
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Old 08-01-2016, 02:59 PM   #13
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Wow, Glad to hear that everyone is OK. That driver sure left some ugly on both vehicles. Since it is going to the insurance path, Have someone that is sharp check your frame and everything attached to it. That baby is to big and too new to find out that it is dog tracking.

In my my mind, I would not look for the quick fix. Look deep and hard brother.

Something like this happened to my TT last year. Except it was parked on the parking pad behind my house. Driver lost control and hit the front right corner. The adjuster said it could be fixed, my dealer took one look and saw that the frame was bent. It would not track straight. It ended up being totaled. Call the factory, damage might be more that what you can see.
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Old 08-01-2016, 05:19 PM   #14
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Another resource you might consider is your insurance company. Most major insurers have experience with independent repair shops.
I called my insurance today. They didn't have any suggestions other than say the damage had to be more than 70% of the MSRP before it would/ be totaled. I doubt it gets into the $40k range.
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I am surprised the police wouldn't give you her driver info (name and insurer). I thought that was standard procedure. Anyone know?
I thought it was also standard. My insurance agent said he wasn't surprised. Something about privacy laws now. I did comment that the girl bouncing off the trailer wasn't very private.

I called and talked to Joe at Coachmen. He referred me to Bob Jewell who runs the repair section. I sent Bob some pics after I talked to him. He seemed to think it was repairable. I have to drive the 45 minutes back to the Alcoa PD tomorrow to pick up the crash report. Then I start the calls to the girls insurance and see how that goes.

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Old 08-05-2016, 12:56 PM   #15
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Bob's the man. Very nice guy, will due you right. Dealt with him once before, with great results. Been there over 30 years, but hurry supposed to be retiring at the end of the year.
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Old 08-05-2016, 04:11 PM   #16
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I would go with the factory the down time will be minimal compared to the stealer. Stealers always forgets to get something ordered and then the finger pointing and, then 1 week turns into 6 weeks. When something get done at the factory, it been my experience, that you get it back better then new, and ON TIME...
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Old 08-05-2016, 09:33 PM   #17
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Here's the latest update.

The other persons insurance is being good so far. Since it isn't a standard car/truck, they have an estimator group collecting details (pictures I've sent them at this point) to come up with an estimate. I told the person handling the claim that I was going to have the factory do the repair. She said, no problem. We are negotiating how it is going to get there and back (350 miles each way). The factory is also working up an estimate based on the same pics.

I also talked to Bob on the phone again yesterday. He thinks it should take about 2 weeks to do, but some of that is dependent on his fiberglass person's availability. He is planning on cutting out the creased filon at the very front edge and glassing in a new piece. The other alternative would be replacing the whole side. I'd rather not have to do that. Bob said they've replaced many sides, but he's confident I'll never be able to tell this one has been repaired.

Since it is still camping season and the trailer is usable, Bob has me on the schedule for the first week of October. He said it should be done before they start salting the roads.

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Old 08-05-2016, 09:53 PM   #18
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Have friends that went to Alaska, along the way a post jumped out in front of them and creased the whole side of a brand new Cedar Creek. They took it to the factory and they did an excellent job. So watch out for jumping posts north of the border.
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Old 09-17-2016, 10:51 PM   #19
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Just saw this! Seeing your pics makes me cringe. I'm glad no one was hurt, and that you seem to have been taken care of.
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Old 09-18-2016, 06:07 AM   #20
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Bob's the man. Very nice guy, will due you right. Dealt with him once before, with great results. Been there over 30 years, but hurry supposed to be retiring at the end of the year.
Bob retiring is very sad news.
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