Hail Damage repair and insurance?

[madmaxmutt]

Went over to check the travel trailer today after a hail storm this past week. All the vents/covers are destroyed. The Awning is destroyed. Some lights, all the screw molding covers, the door window cover and the battery cover are cracked.

However, my biggest concern is the roof itself. The roof has 1-2 inch wide dents in it. Some of those are a 1/2" deep. From my quick inspection, there are at least 30 noticeable dents in the roof. The hail apparently crushed whatever substance is directly below the Alpha TPO roof. Where the dents/dings are, the roof is now soft. Where there are no dings, the roof is fairly stiff (not rock solid, but it never was).

Does anyone have experience with what I should expect from the insurance company? Will they replace or is it possible to repair the roof?

FWIW, it sounds like they are sending out a local car repair estimator which worries me in itself.

Thanks in advance for any advice!!

[NMWildcat]

If the hail damage occurred locally there should be tons of adjusters in your area to cover damage. Quiz your adjuster on his RV experience. If you aren't satisfied, request a qualified adjuster from your insurance rep. Another option is to get the original estimate from the adjuster, then take it to the repair facility and if they need more $$$ to fix your rig, they will work with the insurance to adjust your claim.

We had hail damage to a 4 year old 5ver and the adjuster spent about 20 minutes looking at it and then totalled it. Our damage didn't seem as extensive as yours so we bought it back from the ins with a salvage title for very little money. Saved the ins check and bought another 5ver in a few years.

Good luck!

[madmaxmutt]

Thank you. The divots in the roof are hard to make out in the pictures I think, but here are some pictures.













I am glad that I have a fiberglass shell RV. You should see all the metal sided RVs in the lot. . .

[f5moab]

That looks bad.

(As I'm reading this, the emergency radio just announced an extreme weather alert for my county with 60 mph winds and possible quarter size hail. And the trailer is in the driveway. )

[Mark and Linda]

Wow, I can just imagine the damage the others got. An awning isn't cheap...just hope you get a good settlement for your damage. I hate to have to take mine somewhere for repairs because our nearest dealer went out of business.

[Skyliner]

I had hail damage 4 years ago on an aluminum trailer and took me about 3 months of fighting with my insurance company to get it totaled. The problem was that the adjuster was contracted out by the insurance company due to a large number of claims following a bad hail storm.

[Witch Doctor]

If I were you I would call FR and get an estimate to repair the roof and other things. I had a tree branch hit my roof and put a whole in it which caused delam. They sent me a estimate for 5400.00 to replace, I gave it to the estimator and he approved it and FR replaced the roof at the factory, per FR a dealer can not replace a roof. Lucky I got the estimate because the adjuster had no idea.... PS: when they replace the roof they install all new vents and even the TV antenna.

[madmaxmutt]

Thank you all for the assistance.

Witch Doctor, Did they ship it for you as a part of that?

[Witch Doctor]

Originally Posted by madmaxmutt

Thank you all for the assistance.

Witch Doctor, Did they ship it for you as a part of that?

No I had to drive it up from Virginia, Transportation cost was $1950.00, my insurance would not cover that because they said it was drivable. They offered 100.00 for expenses only. If your plywood is damaged it will have to go back to the factory. My plywood was delam. so I had no choice. The roof system is a compressed 4 layer system. If I just needed the membrane replaced any dealer could have done that, but they can't replace the plywood being it's glued together. But the factory also did some other repairs as a freebe, new table top and repaired the rubber on one slide. They will require pic's of everything you need done...

[Witch Doctor]

By the way to me it looks like your plywood got damaged. May I suggest that you cut the membrane at one of the dents, and look to see if the plywood cracked, then just tape it back up after you take a picture.

[madmaxmutt]

Originally Posted by Witch Doctor

By the way to me it looks like your plywood got damaged. May I suggest that you cut the membrane at one of the dents, and look to see if the plywood cracked, then just tape it back up after you take a picture.

Great info, thanks!!! I truly appreciate the advice. Frankly, I would have never thought of cutting it, but I do think that whatever is under it is broken or cracked. The hail at my house was just under golfball size, but the storage lot got hit with something bigger.

I will get pics of some of the other damage there. I couldn't believe the amount of damage to some of the RVs. I definitely got a glimpse into which siding types to never buy.

[madmaxmutt]

I think these show how well the aluminum sided trailers fared. Not well!

[madmaxmutt]

By the way, the only vent covers that were not smashed by this hail that I see in the lot are the older Maxx Air Fanmate 850s. They seem to have been the only plastic that was pliable enough to withstand it. Everything that was stiff plastic is broken.

[RodneyD]

A good repair facility can help you. If the adjuster misses anything or if there is a labor rate difference they can help with your claim. Make a list of all the damage you have noticed and give to the appraiser. Having in a shaded area will help see the damage against a bright white. If you do not have a repair shop in mind ask the appraiser if there is one he would recommend. Good luck!

[billcoll]

I used to own a franchise called Property Damage Appraisers, sounds like that is who ins. co. is sending. If we wrote RV damage, we had to get qualified to do it. Make sure the appraiser is the one who is qualified. I worked with local repair shops and dealers and I was quick to total a unit, knowing how repair are.

[hillsdaletc]

Mad max.
Your roof damage is easily repairable. It's something we do many times at our shop. It should be over laid with 1/4 inch luan underpayment screwed to the roof trusses through the original decking and a new TPO roof membrane glued to the new wood. This should also help in your roof flex you mentioned. All vents and mldgs. Will be replaced at this time.

[madmaxmutt]

Originally Posted by hillsdaletc

Mad max.
Your roof damage is easily repairable. It's something we do many times at our shop. It should be over laid with 1/4 inch luan underpayment screwed to the roof trusses through the original decking and a new TPO roof membrane glued to the new wood. This should also help in your roof flex you mentioned. All vents and mldgs. Will be replaced at this time.

Thanks, what would be a rough guestimate of cost for that on a 24 foot trailer?

[madmaxmutt]

Well the adjuster said just under $5,000 for everything if, nothing is wrong underneath the rubber part. Take off the existing roof and report back if there is damage underneath is what I understood from the conversation. He also said the hourly rates vary really widely with RV repair shops.

He couldn't estimate anything on the fiberglass siding. There are not really dents in that, but it looks like hammered paint now. that part was impossible to show him in until the end when the sun shined on it at the correct angle. I will try to get a picture of that too, before I talk to a repair shop.

[Witch Doctor]

Originally Posted by madmaxmutt

Well the adjuster said just under $5,000 for everything if, nothing is wrong underneath the rubber part. Take off the existing roof and report back if there is damage underneath is what I understood from the conversation. He also said the hourly rates vary really widely with RV repair shops.

He couldn't estimate anything on the fiberglass siding. There are not really dents in that, but it looks like hammered paint now. that part was impossible to show him in until the end when the sun shined on it at the correct angle. I will try to get a picture of that too, before I talk to a repair shop.

This is where your dilemma comes in, if your plywood was damage the only option would be the Factory as I stated earlier. My full roof replacement with all new vents and stuff except the A/C was 5400.00, but mine is 32' so 5000.00 should cover it easily and you might have enough left over for transportation cost. Who is your ins. Company? Sounds like they have done you right...

[madmaxmutt]

Well, it has been 10 days short of 6 months since the hail storm. The RV shop called this evening to say that the roof is finally replaced. Pick her up tomorrow afternoon.