Long Trip Baptism of Fire

[1nshort]

Okay, we have the initial estimate. The coach is repairable. All parts and labor comes to 36K +/-. I did a comprehensive on the inside and filled in some details that were missed. I suggested that since there was side impact that I want those slides once fix is implemented that the slides be checked for mechanical alignment, functionality and adjustment to the slide mechanisms. Also due to impact I suggested that the auto-leveling be checked and recalibrated as necessary as the impact could have affected it. Prior to the accident it was spot on. I let them know that some drawers and cabinets were flung open due to impact and that hinges and drawer slides need to be replaced. Also informed them that a few of the doors had separated at the dado joints and must be repaired. The biggest part to be replaced is the front cap.
You are correct, the front windshield is intact, no damage. The damage to the front was strictly at the engine compartment and only to the oil and transmission coolers and the radiator. The battery, battery mount and power steering fluid container also bit the dust, so to speak. I expect the estimate will go up a bit as they address the missing items. I plan on exercising all components when I go out after repair and will not accept anything until it is all done and proven. More to follow as I get the data.

I expect my attitude about the whole thing (calm) is from my military intel background. You have to do intel to understand the last statement. Let's just suffice it to say....it takes patience for....things to happen, occur and come to fruition. It is mostly, observe, speculate, observe and develop.

1n

[Roll]

You have one of the Winegard sat dishes I think; Direct TV or Dish. They are complicated pieces of equipment with many moving parts and they are heavy. I would be sure to work it up and down and test reception several times to make sure it was not damaged in the more or less, sudden stop. By the way I put a strip of medal on the roof for the wheel to move on when the unit deploys or stows.

[go6car]

Thanks for posting the pictures. Just unreal.

Will a local body shop be doing the work, or does the rig go back to the factory to have this extensive work done?

On top of everything, now you'll have to police all that to ensure that nothing hidden needs repair. But on the other hand, thank goodness you're here and OK to do all the legwork!

[1nshort]

Camping world is doing all the work. Camping world will be required by my insurance company to test and certify all systems for full functionality, alignment and adjustment. I will also exercise all systems before signing insurance form that authorizes payment. I have the Police Report and the Accident Report. Everything puts the pick-up driver and 18 wheeler driver as accident instigators. All insurance companies have the reports and are doing their jockeying. The pick-up driver was 80 and is still in a coma. More to follow as I get info
1n

[Safari-Rick]

Holy Moli !

[1nshort]

I received the approved repair list from the insurance company. Now I execute the repair order and the RV healing process starts. My insurance adjuster has stayed on top of things emailing the interim damage estimates to me for review. I must state it is up to the owner to review diligently those reports as the facility missed items. Not their fault as the damage was extensive enough on the front that they did not notice it had Diamond Coat. The biggest item is the Front End cap. It is replaced in total. It`s cost is $3125 and labor of $3624. All total the repairs are $37367. Parts $11717, labor $22710, tax $1117, shop supplies $712, Diamond Coat $1110. Wow!
Allied Insurance (a division of Nationwide) has been on top of everything, giving me advice on how to proceed at various points of the process including what to do on the things NOT covered by them. You should though, in a situation like this, retain a lawyer to advise on all these matters. The insurance companies jockey the fault game to recover their expenses from the at fault company. It is up to you to recover your expenses like deductibles and expenses for the trip back home from the accident point and the trip back to pick up the unit. Which by the way is considered under Liability part of the insurance (I will post on that once I get into that). The toad was not covered by the RV insurance (most are not) but from the company I havel car insurance with (another deductable)
This will be my last post unless something else of significance occurs, until I go out to pick up the unit and check out the repairs and all functions.

1n

[go6car]

I hope everything gets fixed back up better than new and that it's as painless as possible of a process! What an ordeal!

[1nshort]

UPDATE! Parts ordered, including long lead front end cap. CW has started the removal of the cap. Allied has paid all medical bills under PIP. They are giving me updates on progress every two weeks. Unfortunately liability has not been determined yet. It could be one or a combination of both the pickup and 18 wheeler. There is apparently still hope that the pickup driver will come out of his coma and they can get his view of the accident (Did the mysterious little blue car really exist?).

I will update more as key events happen. This will be a long process. Repair time at least two months, liability determination sounds like it will be at least that long too. It's been two months already. Perseverance and patience is definitely a must. All people, Insurance and CW have been very responsive as I remembered damage and details over time during the assessment phase as I noticed things that were missed. Some were small others fairly significant. All were added into the fix.

1n.

[Roll]

If you were so inclined..... this would be an excellent time to pay a modest additional charge and ask the shop to isolate engine noise with a sound reducing product while the area is open. Flooring around the front, the engine area and also the tower in the drivers position (I was told) should be insulated. Meaning the area where the steering column and pedals live. I was unable to effectively get to that area on mine. Just a thought.

It should be easy, while the front cap is off, to reach all the areas that are so difficult to get to when the coach is complete.

Gary

[1nshort]

Update: The insurance companies have determined the accident was not my fault. It took them 3 months to determine the 18 wheeler turning into my lane (and the ensuing accident) was not my fault? The blame was put onto the 18 wheeler driver (turning into me) and the pickup driver for failure to maintain control of his vehicle. Now they negotiate percentages of fault and my insurance companies recover their costs and my deductible costs. One point I must stress here is that the TOAD is not covered by the RV policy. It is your auto policy. Complications do occur, there is a lawsuit from the family of the pickup driver on the 18 wheeler driver (unfortunately the gentleman passed away from his injuries and long coma). Now I am a material witness and had to give a deposition.
Parts are starting to arrive and the front end cap still does not have a delivery estimate yet. My thanks to Roll for the idea to have HushMat installed to the underside of the dash while the end cap is off. I am also getting fiberglass insulation applied to the dash vent tubes.
I hope no one else out there has to go through this process. It is very long, slow to develop and can be very frustrating. You have to deal with multiple persons within your insurance company i.e. Liability, PIP, Repair Estimator and they all want separate statements (they are al in different states). Then the other Insurance companies also want statements. If you are involved in an accident be sure to obtain the police report AND the accident report. If your insurance company wants a copy, they will pay you your cost for them.

1nshort

[1nshort]

UPDATE: Talked with the repair facility yesterday. All parts are in and it is in the 'technicians bay' They stated there is one extremely large crate (front end cap) there. Estimate for completion is mid February. At Roll's suggestion, I am having hush mat installed under the dash and the vent tubes insulated while the front end cap is off. Who'ed have thought it would be exposed to all that engine heat and noise, but it is. Maybe now the dash air will be more effective. I guess the next update will be my experience with the repair results when I pick it up.

1nshort

[mhbell]

3 Years ago I had a accident with a 5th wheel trailer. $17,000 to repair it. The work was done by Camping world and Ardell Brown in Salt Lake City Utah. The accident was in Nevada. Temp repairs were made so I could tow it to SLC UT. Camping World and Ardell Brown did a excellent Job repairing the rig. My Insurance at the time was GMAC through Good Sam.
Mel

[go6car]

Originally Posted by 1nshort

UPDATE: Who'ed have thought it would be exposed to all that engine heat and noise, but it is.

1nshort

This really bothers me as well. I was under the hood earlier this year, looked straight up and saw the underside of the (cheap) dashboard -- which isn't all that solid-looking. Everytime I put my feet up there while in the passenger seat, I keep wondering what would happen if the whole dashboard just fell off! (Crazy, but I still worry about this, LOL!).

Hope all the work gets done well for you!

[1nshort]

Hold the presses!
After taking off the front end cap and getting into the nuts and bolts CW found some frame damage. Sounds serious but not really. They are bolted on front frame pieces. They filed a supplementary with the insurance company and parts were expedite shipped. Just a few days delay. Now looking at late february.

I am thinking this thread should have started with "Once upon a time"......
...and hope it ends "Happily Ever After".

Folks...insurance companies are slow in making determinations in liability decisions...especially with more than two are involved. The two at fault companies then bicker about the percentage of fault split. Eventually you get your deductable back.

Take a deep breath, wait a bit and dig up a lot of patience, screaming and shouting doesn't do any good (if you do....double your blood pressure meds)

1n

[1nshort]

Originally Posted by go6car

This really bothers me as well. I was under the hood earlier this year, looked straight up and saw the underside of the (cheap) dashboard -- which isn't all that solid-looking. Everytime I put my feet up there while in the passenger seat, I keep wondering what would happen if the whole dashboard just fell off! (Crazy, but I still worry about this, LOL!).

Hope all the work gets done well for you!

go6car,

Our front end collision didn't knock the dash loose, so whatever they used (super glue?) worked well. CW is applying 1/2 inch hush mat and insulating the vent ducts with fiberglass wrap when they have the front end cap off and the engine oil cooler, transmission oil cooler, battery, power steering unit removed. All were damaged in the accident. It will be interesting to hear what it sounds like with new Banks cold air ram injector (also damaged), installed. It was VERY noisey when engine up shifts on hills before hushmat, also hope fiberglass wrap increases efficiency of the dash air. 😷

1n. 🙅

[go6car]

Glad to hear that the superglue is stronger than it looks, HAHA!!!

It's odd - our motor really isn't that loud (and our dash air is very strong). Wonder if they changed something along the production line somewhere. (I still hate the dashboard air vents though - could have easily have had something that closes/opens easier).

I'm glad at least you have progress on the rebuild (patience, patience! )

[1nshort]

Originally Posted by go6car

Glad to hear that the superglue is stronger than it looks, HAHA!!!

It's odd - our motor really isn't that loud (and our dash air is very strong). Wonder if they changed something along the production line somewhere. (I still hate the dashboard air vents though - could have easily have had something that closes/opens easier).

I'm glad at least you have progress on the rebuild (patience, patience! )

go6car,

When I added the Banks Cold Air RAM Injector that opened up the air intake. Improved HP and torque, so when climbing the Rocky Mountains and the Smokies when the engine high revs (shifts down) it produces a very low throaty growl and is very loud. hushmat should attenuate that sound. In the hot desert your engine heat and the heat from the desert reduce your dash air dramatically, the insulating factor from the fiberglass wrap should greatly reduce that effect. Have you looked up inside your engine compartment and seen the underside of your dash? I was not impressed by the total lack of any isolation of the dash from the engine compartment when Roll pointed it out. How could the designer of a (touted as) high end gas unit be so inconsiderate to NOT pay attention to that detail? I wonder if the 2015/16 is the same? At the next RV show I go to I am going to look under the hood of the Thor competitor model to see if they are just as stupid.

1n

[go6car]

A few posts up, I did just that and couldn't believe I was looking at the underside of the dash. This really bothers me, safety-wise. I don't know if I should be concerned, or if in actuality it's theoretically OK.

(I just use all this as further justification to get my next rig sooner. )

[1nshort]

Originally Posted by go6car

A few posts up, I did just that and couldn't believe I was looking at the underside of the dash. This really bothers me, safety-wise. I don't know if I should be concerned, or if in actuality it's theoretically OK.

(I just use all this as further justification to get my next rig sooner. )

go6car,
Take a look at the pick-up hood ornament accident picture I posted previously. It was quite an impact and the dash did not buckle or even show any damage. It is just as pristine as when I bought the RV. No, I wouldn't be too concerned. It just needs some good insulation.

1n.

[go6car]

Very true (heck of a way to confirm that, though!). Looking forward to you getting your rig back and better then new!