Repairs and insurance

[wayne_m]

Hi all,

A couple of questions for you seasoned owners. Have any of you been involved in an accident whereby the trailer body had been significantly damaged? If so, where did you take the trailer to be repaired? Did you go to regular auto body shop or to a shop specializing in fiber glass? If there was damage to the inside, how well were the cabinetry and interior finishings repaired? Is this something that would be refered back to ETI for their input?

As well, for you Canadian owners, and more specifically those residing in BC, how is the insurance dealt with? Does ICBC cover everything or do you have to co-insure with a private carrier?

Thanks in advance,

Wayne M.

ps

I talked to Kim at ETI this morning. I've made arrangements to drop by Friday afternoon this week. She mentioned that they have demonstrator units we can look at, but I told her I wanted to see Donna's 5er- she chuckled.

wdm

 

[gbaglo]

I have my trailer licence and ICBC Basic plus $2,000,000 third party liability. All together costs $90.
In addition I am insured with Aviva Elite ( through broker Hub International Barton ).
Have Guaranteed Replacement Cost, Detached Private Structures ( $5,000), Personal Property ($5,000), Emergency Vacation Expense ($2,000)
All together costs $207.

 

[dave macrae]

I know our insurance is much different here in alberta however I had to provide our insurance company with a copy of the bill of sale for our 19 as they wouldn't believe it was actually worth that much. I believe their listing for a 19 ft trailer was somewhere around 17,000. My response to her was thats not going to work! It took a few phone calls and emailing the bill of sale but we are now insured for the proper amount

 

[LarryandLiz]

Our 17b is ready in a few weeks!!!! so we are getting ready to register and insure it.

Since we are BC residents I got a replacement cost quote from BCAA (350/annual including 2500 personal items on a current cost of 33,000 ouch trailer). This looks higher then Glen's insurance cost so we will keep shopping. I asked the call centre person if there was a fiberglass trailer insurance category since it seems to me that FB trailers could be cheaper to insure since they don't leak although they cost more. Call centre person said they just had one category.

I'm also curious if other Escape owners get the RV roadside service (towing, tire changing) through their auto club. In our case it's BCAA and we have to bump up our membership package. Might be overkill.... but I don't relish the thought of doing roadside tire changes.

 

[gbaglo]

I have BCAA RV Plus which covers the tow and trailer for roadside assistance.
I figure it's worth it if something happens on the road into the Skagit. Mind you, there is no cell service there.

My insurance is through Hub International Barton,
#62, 45905 Yale Road,
Chilliwack, B.C.
604 792 4116

The insurance company is Aviva Elite.

Covers the trailer at Guaranteed Replacement Cost. I called to ask, since on forums people have talked about making sure they don't use a blue book price. They said if my trailer was totaled or stolen, they would buy me a new one. IE. my 2008 would be replaced with a 2015. ( $250 deductible ).
Also covers $5,000 Private Structures and $5,000 Personal Property. $2,000 Emergency Vacation Expense.

Total Risk Premium on my 17B is $207.

Liability insurance is under my ICBC coverage. I think $100 or so for three million dollars.

 

[Jim Bennett]

I'm also curious if other Escape owners get the RV roadside service (towing, tire changing) through their auto club. In our case it's BCAA and we have to bump up our membership package. Might be overkill.... but I don't relish the thought of doing roadside tire changes.

For me, I couldn't imagine doing this, as quite often I would not even have phone service, plus I could have it changed out long before they could get there.

This decision has proven to be very worthwhile, as I have never had a single flat in over 5 years now. Hoping to need to buy new tires before that ever happens.

 

[gbaglo]

The RV coverage is an extra $19.05. I hope I never have to use it, but a small price to pay should I get stuck half way between Merritt and Hope.
That's the price of a case of Labatts Blue, and since I don't drink that stuff...

 

[Brian B-P]

I probably wouldn't buy RV roadside coverage just to avoid changing a tire on a lightweight travel trailer, but I do carry it in case of more significant events (and because we also have a motorhome on which even Jim Bennett couldn't change a tire ). It also covers my wife if she is travelling alone; I'm the tire-changing member of our family.

 

[Jim Bennett]

The RV coverage is an extra $19.05. I hope I never have to use it, but a small price to pay should I get stuck half way between Merritt and Hope.
That's the price of a case of Labatts Blue, and since I don't drink that stuff...

That's not bad (the coverage, not the beer), but seeing we don't have that coverage on vehicles, to buy it stand alone might be pricier.

I have always looked at roadside assistance kinda like extended warranties on products, a fair bit of money for something optional you might not use, but it sure could be handy on the instance you would need it.

I am a risk taker.

 

[Dave Walter]

I know our insurance is much different here in alberta however I had to provide our insurance company with a copy of the bill of sale for our 19 as they wouldn't believe it was actually worth that much. I believe their listing for a 19 ft trailer was somewhere around 17,000. My response to her was thats not going to work! It took a few phone calls and emailing the bill of sale but we are now insured for the proper amount

My home and trailer insurance is through Meloche-Monnex and includes full replacement value of the trailer. They never even questioned the $35k value I quoted when setting up the policy and didn't ask for any proof of value. Just got our renewal last week, it looks to be about $240/yr for the trailer.

 

[LarryandLiz]

I guess decisions like road-side assistance are impacted by our personality, our life experience (I work in Canadian criminal justice - decidedly anti-risk taking) and our skill set (I'm not mechanical) so usually opt to "over cushion" as can be seen by our choice in tug, earlier questions about getting reservations ahead of time, getting replacement insurance and indeed by our purchasing a brand new fiberglass trailer (sorry for this run-on-sentence )

So based on the above we will likely purchase road side assistance. However, it will cost a bit more then 20.00 since BCAA only offers RV coverage on its' second and third level memberships and we will need to bump up our BCAA level.

Larry

Added: I was told that ICBC would give us "book value" if we went with their insurance rather then replacement cost. That got me real twitchy and triggered me restarting this thread. I'm thankful for the interaction.

 

[gbaglo]

With my discount for not calling them for assistance, and the points I earned by buying gas at Husky/Mowhawk, the BCAA membership cost me $111 total.

 

[Fox hunt]

What about the US folks? I'm just now looking at insurance for the Lark when it moves to the west coast. I'm sure it will like the warmer winters. State Farm quoted me 124 a year but I think I need to call back and ask a few more questions. Road side assistance? Any advice?

 

[gbaglo]

You need to talk to your agent. Does the State Farm policy include liability? How much? My liability insurance is provided by ICBC ( government insurance company ) along with my licence plate fees. I have the rest of my insurance through a private company. That comes to about $350 ( including the plates ).
Is that replacement cost insurance and what do they mean by that? My replacement insurance will replace my 2008 with a new Escape 17B. That obviously increases the cost of the policy.
Even though we are in different countries, I can't imagine $124 providing you with the coverage that you want.
Road-side assistance is separate.

 

[dglasrud]

Next year I'm changing from BCAA to Good Sam for Roadside assistance. The coverage is just as good if not better than BCAA
and it's less expensive. I was told by an RV owner that when they called Good Sam for assistance, when the tow truck driver arrived he stated that if they had 2 calls come in at the same time from AAA and Good Sam they would respond to the Good Sam call first because they are paid more promptly. Second hand info but interesting.

 

[gbaglo]

I don't know about Good Sam, but a contract driver for BCAA told me that they get very little for a call and that they have to take the assignment.
Which is how BCAA keeps premiums down.

 

[LarryandLiz]

Replacement insurance

Our Scamp is totaled - Fiberglass RV

Fiberglass Forum has a sad thread about a 1 year old Scamp that got rear-ended and reportedly is "totaled." This gives credence to getting replacement coverage.

I phoned our insurance company and was quoted 600.00 a year for full replacement. Liz is following up with Barton Ins to see what they quote using Aviva. So the process continues....

 

[btroxell]

Yes, I was involved in an 'accident' within hours of picking up my trailer (17') a few years back. As I was leaving a gas station, a young girl apparently saw my car pass her and started to back up without looking and ran into the trailer. She cracked the door, gouged the side, and ripped off the awning stanchion. Thank goodness it wasn't too bad so I patched things up until I got home. I called around to boat and RV repair shops and settled on a smallish shop who said they were familiar with Casitas and they did the work. They had to order a new door from Escape which took a few weeks to get. The workmanship was fine but the door has a small gap at the bottom.
Before we left to pick up the trailer, we started the insurance on the trailer and added it to our existing automobile policy through GIECO. When I first reported the accident, they acted a little weird, wanting to know exactly when we started the policy vs when we picked up the trailer. I'm not sure why since they said I had 2 weeks to start the policy AFTER picking up the trailer but after a few conversations, that was never brought up again. GEICO reimbursed my for the few parts I paid out of pocket and paid the repair shop directly which came to almost $5000. The girl was uninsured and GEICO waived all deductibles (I'm not sure why) so I was not out any money but had LOTS of aggravation.
So overall, I had a good experience dealing with GEICO; they were prompt and tended to my needs. They let me select the shop to take it to (without question) and paid promptly.
As for selecting the shop, I think that is hit or miss. A few places I read, said to take it to a boat repair shop. We don't have many local (I would assume due to environmental regulations in the San Francisco Bay Area) and they didn't want to work on it. Most RV shops were more stick and skin type and either didn't want to work on fiberglass or I didn't get a good feeling they we competent to. When we went to talk to the shop I ultimately selected (before dropping off our trailer), we saw a Casita sitting there so that gave us some confidence. My only recommendation is to talk to them by phone to weed out the obvious bad ones and then go in person to see the shop and see if they are really capable to fix fiberglass.

Ben

Ben