Ripped off Siding

[Jeremywalter44]

This weekend we went camping with my Forest River Wildwood 196BH 2017 and accidently hit a fence post that ripped off the siding and broke some studs. Other than that it looks okay. Does anyone know where I can get replacement siding? I am thinking of fixing my self too. I do have insurance but the deductible is 1K so I am thinking I can do it cheaper. Any ideas or thoughts about replacing and if I should turn into insurance. I have both car and camper under my Safeco insurance.

[Bama Rambler]

Here's a couple of places, but you may be better off checking with a local dealer. They may be able to get it pretty reasonably.

It's probably going to be Mesa D3 R1 pattern, but you need to make sure it matches.

Interstate RV Metal and Supply

RV Partsnation

Hemet Valley RV

This is just a few places, I'm sure a search will turn up more.

[bikendan]

For resale value, I would pay the deductible and have it fixed by a reputable shop. Then I could provide the new owner with the repair paperwork.

[D W]

I think you will find out quickly that "IF" Forest River agrees to sell you the panels, the freight charges will exceed the cost of the actual material. That's the problem with Motor Freight LTL.

Forest River may offer to ship it to a nearby dealer inside of an inbound RV, but that could take months.

[badger5301]

Ouch, that's to bad. I ripped off the bottom trim panel on our previous fifth wheel along with the jack in that area. Was able to order the new panel (actually sent us two) and fix myself. If I would have torn into the unit in the same area as yours I would have probably called the insurance and had it done at a shop.
You're more then likely quite capable to do the repairs yourself but if you run in to issues down the road in the repair area might be better to have someone else to fall back on to.
Best of luck getting her back in service and enjoy that nice looking rig.

[Reverse_snowbird]

If it were just the siding, you could probably repair that because it's cosmetic.
The fact that you have broken studs and might not be able to see all the damage, you probably want to turn in an insurance claim and get it repaired correctly at an rv shop.

[Lubehead]

Making an insurance claim will, in my opinion, cost much more in the long run that repairing it yourself. The fact that it is recorded will work against you. It's fairly simple construction and if the OP feels confident he can make the repair, I think it's the best approach hands down. There is no guarantee that the workmanshiip one receives could be referred to as professional in any event. In addition, the wait for the work to begin along with the time it will take to repair it will be painful for sure. Just my opinion.

[rsdata]

Fix it myself even with a patch job on siding = a day or two
get replacement siding and finish whenever you can get it

take it to repair shop = months

Looking at your photo the damage looks bad but in reality ( if nothing is damaged inside or hidden from view) does not look all that bad. If your handy, a couple pieces of scrap wood and some vinyl siding should have you on the road by next weekend. Again I would look for the correct siding but NOT put a premium on it for quick delivery.

Perhaps a trip to INDIANA factory is in the future to pick it up?

[D W]

Originally Posted by Lubehead

Making an insurance claim will, in my opinion, cost much more in the long run that repairing it yourself. The fact that it is recorded will work against you. It's fairly simple construction and if the OP feels confident he can make the repair, I think it's the best approach hands down. There is no guarantee that the workmanshiip one receives could be referred to as professional in any event. In addition, the wait for the work to begin along with the time it will take to repair it will be painful for sure. Just my opinion.

This "logic" always tickles me. These people will gladly get insurance, pay their premiums, and when something happens they don't want to use the insurance. Why have insurance at all then? Make no sense, no sense at all!

[Lubehead]

Originally Posted by D W

This "logic" always tickles me. These people will gladly get insurance, pay their premiums, and when something happens they don't want to use the insurance. Why have insurance at all then? Make no sense, no sense at all!

Actually makes a lot of sense. Had the incident cost a lot more than the deductible, say $8000, I think it would be worth the additional hassle of waiting to be scheduled for the repair as well as the repair itself.


One of my cars,a Porsche Boxster, recently got rear ended by a young lady who was very distraught over her inattention. The repair cost $650. I talked to her Father and he agreed to pay for the repair which I had done and sent him the invoice. Had we have filed a claim, her insurance would have most likely increased and she would have had the incident on her record but more importantly, the carfax on my car would reflect the incident and I would have paid for reduced value went I went to either trade it or sell it outright.


Depends on ones tolerance for self insurance I guess. I will easily absorb $1,000, $8,000 not so much.

[rsdata]

small claims = higher premiums and possible loss of insurance... big gamble
big claims = higher premiums and possible loss of insurance... small gamble

you have to weigh the advantages to each...

insurance companies will NOT lose money; they will make it up in increased premiums.

[Sunseeker16]

From experience, when I had a fifth wheel I lost some metal siding while going down the interstate. It wasn't cheap to fix, motor freight was more than the metal. Another issue was there was a noticeable color difference in the original metal vs the new metal.