Bambi's mom cracked our egg!

[Mike G]

Well, if they total it and pay you (something close to) actual value, and let you buy it back, you'd have cash for the repair and plenty left over. That is, if you can buy it back.

But you could proactively get an estimate from a repair place and show it to them, to prove that it's not appropriate to total it out.

[Rossue]

Good lesson to check deductible difference in rates. I used to go high deductible yet found it isn't much more for a $250 vs. $1000. That has come in useful with 3 glass claims in the last year.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Vermilye

In NY, if you hit a deer it is under your collision part of your insurance which usually has a delectable limit while if the deer hits you it is under the comprehensive, which usually has a lower (or none) deductible limit. No idea if Canada or Oregon covers things the same way.

That makes sense. Different from the rules for collisions with vehicles, but good if you can get that arrangement.

[Telescopist]

I am turning in a claim. The funny thing is that I use my son's truck to pull the Escape. He is very proud of his truck and keeps it immaculate, so my wife and I were initially relieved that it didn't hit his truck, but only the trailer. However, my son laughed, because he works at the body shop for the local Ford dealer and said if it had hit his truck instead that he would have it repaired by Friday and paid himself to do it. He told me to not swerve and just take it in the front quarter if a deer runs out again.

Bad things can happen when you swerve in order to avoid a deer. Here's a couple of images of my wife's Buick after she swerved. Car rolled 3x then went over a 40 embankment. Landed upside down with engine still running and gas leaking out of a ruptured tank. Upside down in the dark trapped in a crushed compartment, she had the wherewithal to locate the key and turn off the engine.

She fractured C1 and is lucky to be alive. Her neurosurgeon called her his "miracle patient".

We never did get her sneaker back.

[montazonalinda]

So glad your wife survived that one. Decades ago, my father told me "if it's smaller than a moose, just hit it." That's admittedly hard advice to follow in the moment, but with thousands of Montana miles under my seat belt now, I've collided with three deer, but never had more than minimal damage to my vehicle.

[dfandrews]

Originally Posted by montazonalinda

So glad your wife survived that one. Decades ago, my father told me "if it's smaller than a moose, just hit it." That's admittedly hard advice to follow in the moment, but with thousands of Montana miles under my seat belt now, I've collided with three deer, but never had more than minimal damage to my vehicle.

I remember seeing a billboard, while riding in the flat deck tow truck after our deer hit in S.Dakota. As we entered Rapid City, saw a billboard advertising a body shop; it said " specializing in hail damage and deer hits". Also, the county sheriff behind us that saw the whole incident said that he hit one the day before, and the tow truck driver said he hit a deer that week.
We are much more vigilant as we drive, nowadays!

[Clark Huber]

Originally Posted by sherminator

Friday evening heading east on Hwy 12 just west of Morton, WA, a nice plump doe ran out and hit our 21NE right on the passenger side front corner, effing up the awning leg and cracking the sidewall and along the joining seam, both top & bottom.

Can anybody recommend a good fiberglass repair outfit in the I-5 corridor between Eugene, OR and Bellingham, WA? Does anybody have advice on making these repairs?

Maple Grove RV in South Everett. 13000 Hwy 99. We blew a tire and did quite a bit of damage to the fiberglass as well as to the little access doors to the hot water heater. They did a fabulous job. You absolutely cannot tell where they began and where they ended the patch. The paint match was great too. Happily, insurance covered all but the deductible. It was close to a $3000 job.

[Iowa Dave]

I’ve hit two. Got pretty lucky on both with $1900 and $2400 damage. Saw a picture a while back of a Honda Civic that went under a Bull Moose on a highway in either Vermont or New Hampshire. The damage looked like a big rolling pin had slightly caved in the top and that was all the damage.
One of my former employees became an over the road truck driver. On a blacktop in Massachusetts about dark he came upon a lady and her car down an embankment who had hit a moose. He said she was thankful he stopped and walked back. Cars and pickups had been going by but couldn’t see her car down the bank. She was not hurt but shaken up.

Iowa was up there pretty high in deer-car collisions a few years ago. Liberalized hunting, and some disease in the herd (chronic wasting etc) has reduced deer numbers statewide. I don’t like to drive after dark from about mid October to about the 10th of December. Our rut peak is a few days each way of November 8.
Iowa Dave

[gbaglo]

I've had two moose encounters. Luckily, a friend who had lived in the Prince George area, was driving my Subaru. I had been getting rather frustrated by his pedestrian speed that was determined by the semi in front of us. We came around a bend and there was a scene like that from "Apocalypse Now". Clouds of backlit dust from the semi's lights were rolling toward us as we came to a stop.

Semi had hit a moose, which was no where to be found. Busted the fibreglass fender, driver side.
My buddy pointed out, that was why he had settled in behind the semi.


The other moose was in broad daylight. Came out of the ditch and just missed the driver side mirror of my brother-in-law's van. Came that close, a fraction of a second from eternity.

[Dave Walter]

I had a coworker who died a few years ago when he had a collision with a moose while at a jobsite.

[azjack]

Two times on motorcycles in Colorado we got to see deer eyes close, they get very large. Once a small heard came down a hill and crossed the road in front of us and the other time a big buck went between us and we were close to each other. Nancy said his eyes were blood shot. The result of many miles in Utah and Colorado.
AZjack

[ColoradoSwany]

15-20 years ago, I was driving my VW Jetta near the SIL’s Estes Park condo, in an early evening light snow when all of a sudden a deer eye was about 6 inches from my face. Wife screamed, MIL screamed and I screamed. Once home, I had to wipe off deer eye goo from my driver side window, pull deer fur out of door handle and mirror crevasses. Had a small dent around door handle that I fixed by locking the door and pulling hard on the handle.

Couple days later, the SIL saw a deer with a nasty looking bloody nose.

[sherminator]

It's been almost a month since my run in with the deer. In that time I've got a couple estimates on fixing the trailer and talked with a couple of shops. I got zero responses from the two boat repair and one custom fiberglass shops I contacted. The two RV shops I contacted responded quickly and affirmatively. I figured out they were extremely happy to get my insurance job because of the $135/hour shop rate that they knew Progressive uses in its estimates in our area. Both shops were on first name basis with the two Progressive adjustors in the Portland/Vancouver area.

The Progressive insurance adjustor (Phil) came out to my house and spent an hour talking to me and inspecting the damage. His estimate figured 12+ hours to remove & reinstall the belly band, front & forward side windows, marker light & solar port. He figured another 30+ hours for the fiberglass work, including finishing, and a final 3+ hours to replace the needed awning parts. Phil's close inspection showed spider cracks running up the corner to the top of the window and down the corner to the level of the awning arm attachment. He said the entire corner would have to have its gel coat ground off at least as far as the furthest crack, repairs made, and everything refinished. Phil said that he wouldn't be surprised to find further damage as the entire front corner had obviously flexed quite a bit when the deer hit it. He said he expected to have to write up a supplement during the repair process, but he had Progressive send me an initial check for nearly $7,000 a few days later.

Phil and I also discussed repair shops, after he stressed that Oregon law required that I have the right to choose any repair shop that I wanted (which is a fact that all Portland area residents who listen to the radio or watch local TV know due to a certain local auto body shop's advertisements). As he does boat repair estimates too, Phil is quite familiar the local boat shops and wasn't surprised to hear that I wasn't getting any responses from them. He said most had plenty of work and he hadn't ever seen them take on any RVs. He suggested a local independent RV shop that does a lot of collision repairs which had several pictures on its website of fiberglass repairs to class A front and rear fairings. He also said that they would likely not do a gel coat finish, rather they would likely do a clear coat finish and paint it, as gel coat matching is difficult and paint less so.

A couple of days later Phil called me and said he was discussing my trailer with a colleague (Jeff) who covers the Vancouver, WA area, and Jeff suggested a RV shop there who had a repair guy who used to work for a large fiberglass boatyard, and so they also did boat repairs and could do a gelcoat finish. Earlier this week I contacted both RV shops and arranged appointments with both.

At the first shop, in Phil's area, the customer service rep (Anthony) come out and took a look. He looked at the damage for about 5 minutes and said he had talked with Phil about my trailer and trusted Phils's estimates. He also showed me an Airstream Nest that they had recently finished a fiberglass repair on. It looked good to me. This shop was in a very clean, newer building on a main road in a fairly nice area with great, although unfenced, parking.

The second shop, in Vancouver, was sandwiched in among an elementary school, the freeway, an older residential area, and a shopping mall, and was fenced. It had a long narrow entrance road lined with RVs of all types (including a Casita) and I stopped outside because I wasn't sure I could get out again. A guy on a forklift moving a trailer told me that there was enough room up by the office, so I drove in. It was very less modern and clean, but the company president (Mike) sent out their fiberglass guy (Elias) who spent about 30 minutes checking out the damage. Elias pretty much echoed everything Phil told me about the extent of the damage and the steps that he would have to take to repair it, except he said he would order a complete new awning as it would cost only slightly more than buying parts and be easier to get, and that he would do a gelcoat finish on the fiberglass repair. I told him that Escape has offered to sell my chosen repair shop gelcoat color (a custom color according to Dustin) for $20/liter, and Elias asked me for their contact information. Elias estimated about 4 more hours total time than Phil for the entire job. Mike showed me around the shop and the projects they were doing, including a hull repair on a speedboat, and offered to send me customer references. He guided me through a three point turnaround to get out of their lot. Mike and Elias both mentioned Jeff's name a few times, so they obviously had done a fair amount of work with Progressive also.

I now have to pick a shop and get the work scheduled. Both shops said it would be at least two weeks before they could begin to do any work, that the fiberglass work would take 2-3 weeks, and the awning would be dependent on how soon they could get parts (or a new awning). I think both places are able to do a competent repair, and I have Progressive still backing me up, but I like that the 2nd shop sent out their expert to do his own estimate, and although both the customer rep, Anthony, at the 1st shop, and company president, Mike, at the 2nd, were pleasant enough guys, they were both salesmen. Elias is a shop guy, and I have spent the last 35 years in manufacturing shops. I can tell he knows his stuff, and probably got that knowledge by doing it, so I will likely go with the 2nd shop. Hopefully I can give you a finished repair update before Thanksgiving (US).

[gbaglo]

Much appreciated report on your experience.

[tburt]

I am glad to hear that the Progressive adjuster spent a lot of time and went over everything in detail with you. Having spent my careers working both in collision repair, fiberglass repairs and then insurance, insurance reps often get a bad rap. Fortunately there are still some good ones out there.

As for the repair methods chosen by the two shops, I would definitely choose the proper repair method using gelcoat rather than paint and clearcoat. Although both are viable repair methods, you will find that the clearcoat repair will age differently than the surrounding gelcoat and will become visible down the road. In addition, the gelcoat is tougher and can be re-repaired if needed. The paint/clearcoat, not so much. Paint and clear should be your last resort.

As for the cleanliness of the shops... Don't let that mislead you. For several years I was a statewide auto claims for a large carrier and we used to have a story about that issue. Yes presentation matters, however what really matters is the level of detail and the quality of work. We once had an extremely clean shop that was recognized by a major paint company as "state of the art" collision facility that routinely fouled up repairs, even melting all of the plastic trim on a car by overbaking it in the spray booth. Compare that to a "hole in the wall" shop that ALWAYS took care of the customer and did excellent work with never a complaint in the 30 years I covered them. Choose wisely.

Good luck with the decision.

[oldwave]

Nice detail on the repair process, I also have Progressive and when a mouse ate the wiring on my truck they agreed to replace the harness rather than splice it.

[sherminator]

Thanks for the feedback tburt.

I agree there are many good people out there doing a good job at their chosen professions, even in the most maligned businesses. My son is a body shop estimator at a local Ford dealership, and has been very valuable in explaining the processes as they relate to insurance jobs from his perspective. My Progressive guy has been an excellent communicator, and keeps assuring me that he works for me and will help me until my trailer is repaired correctly.

As to the cleanliness of the shop, as I said I have worked in shops for a long time and know there are factors other than cleanliness. The first shop didn't invite me to take a tour, so I don't really know what the inside looked like, only the office and outsides. What I could see from glancing inside the open overhead doors also looked pretty clean, but I didn't see much and only for a few seconds. At the second shop, the president took me for a full tour and it looked like a busy shop. I know my workbench is rarely clear of clutter and the floor isn't always swept clean.

I am going to go with the 2nd shop because they will do a gelcoat repair and because they have been very open and have tried hard to earn my confidence. The first shop has taken more of a "bring it to us and we'll take care of it" approach, without trying to show me how they will. Some like that approach, but I rather know a little more.

[Clearwater Chris]

Spent many years working with local law enforcement whose advice was always "NEVER SWERVE to avoid a deer." Swerving results in a much greater chance of injury or death of vehicle driver/occupants versus hitting the deer. Perhaps easier said than done.

[Eggscape]

Thanks for taking the time to tell us the story. Best of luck.

[sherminator]

Finally got the trailer back, and it looks great. Took it to Pro World Industries in Vancouver, WA and I am so far happy with the job they did.

Some of the reason that it took so long was me not making a quick decision on where to take it. Those that say "take it to a boat repair place" probably haven't tried to find a boat repair place that will take an RV. I wasn't having good luck with that route, and my Progressive insurance adjuster said he wasn't surprised. He also handles boat claims, and he said most of the boat repair places were usually booked solid, and he didn't know of any who had taken on a molded fiberglass trailer. Anyway, Pro World has experience with both, and their fiberglass guy, Elias, had worked for a large local custom fiberglass boat manufacturer. Before the repair, he explained in good detail what it was going to take, and when I picked it up today he went over with me what he did do.

Some of the rest of the delay Pro World attributed to ETI being slow in shipping them gelcoat and replacement decals. The final delay was me in picking up the trailer. They finished the Tuesday before Thanksgiving (US), but I couldn't take off time until now to pick it up (they are closed weekends).

The long time at the shop allowed Pro World to get new (manual) awning arms from Carefree 3 times. First, universal arms, which were too long. Second, short arms, which were too long. Third, arms that were cut to a custom length, which apparently Escape has done for them by Carefree. Pro World said they finally noticed that the old arms looked like they were cut.

The final bill came to $8,475.08, which Progressive paid minus the deductible. Progressive paid me the bulk of that up front after the initial inspection, and paid the shop a supplemental adjustment after the gelcoat was ground off and the true extent of the damage could be seen. I was very happy how the claim was handled.