Camper Damaged at Storage Facility

S

stockrex

Joined
Jan 8, 2006
Messages
2,813
Location
Michigan
I rushed over yesterday before we get the full blown winter to air up my tires on my camper parked at the storage facility.

I found a small tent camper parked really close to my passenger side. And I found a nice Christmas surprise!

Walking around the other side I found a fresh crush damage at the rear pass side corner right at the height of the bumper of the tent camper. The damage is about 3 inch by 3 inch and the glass has torn through with fresh fibers exposed.

Arrrrgh, not happy right now.

I have full insurance on my camper, it is a class C camper,

Questions:

1. Hit & Run? - should I do a police report?
2. Storage unit should have their own insurance which should cover this? I am sure they will try to squeeze out saying they are not responsible.
3. If I make a claim on my insurance - fiberglass damage, maybe a boat place will be better to fix this?
 
Yes, notify the police and have a report made..I doubt the storage place would cover it on their insurance when somebody else likely did the damage. What does your rental agreement indicate? Did the person owning the small tent camper do it??? Does their camper show damage???? You probably will have to inform your insurance company for coverage.
 
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Unless the storage facility itself (or more accurately, its employees or agents) directly caused the damage, you can pretty much forget going after the facility itself. Every facility like this typically states in your agreement that storage is at your risk and in many cases require you to carry your own insurance on your stored stuff...
 
I'm not a lawyer, nor did I sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night, so take this with several grains of salt. I'm guessing this would be similar to a landlord expecting a renter to carry renter's insurance.
 
They should have cameras that will help determine. I’m sure it’s the person that hit you fault. I think the owner of the other ones insurance would be at fault most likely especially since he parked right next to you afterwards and you can see the damage. Usually the places will be able to fix the fiberglass damage right there if they fix the campers there.
 
Arrgghh I hate this. Sorry stockrex I know stuff like this sucks. I don't think the storage place will have ins for this. They may help you with camera footage but the problem is you have no idea what date and time to tell them so they can look. I would ask them anyway.

I would do a police report just to cya and call your insurance. I've been through similar, the airstream dealer here bent my rock guards and then tried to tell me I brought it to him like that. I was pissed. Luckily airstream corp agreed to fix it and every other issue I might have if I brought the trailer to them in OH. I had some other stuff that needed work so I took them up on the offer.
 
The storage unit will not help you. You need to file a Police Report and ask for any security footage (if the storage yard has cameras-mine does) and file an insurance claim.
 
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Chances are good that the rental agreement excludes responsibility of the landlord for damages to the unit. Getting someone else to step up, even if you have a video of them doing damage is not good. Your insurance should cover the damage excess of the deductible. Doubtful if your insurer will try to subrogate against whoever it is that did the damage on a claim of that size even if you have solid evidence of who did the damage.
 
Sorry to hear about it. Your contract more than likely absolves them of all liability. I would check what the deductible is. Is it covered under your house insurance umbrella or is it separate. Assume the repairs are going to start at a few thousand.
 
This is why have insurance on your belongings so that's a good start. I'd start by letting the storage facility know this happened and ask them if they can review the footage. If they decline then file a police report.

I would take the unit to a Camping place. Most good places around here (eastern Iowa) have full body shops. My camper has spent several months at Camping World this year thanks to a very bad hail storm in the spring, Covid 19 and an incompetent service writer. The work looks good but man it took a long time to fix!

Just my $0.02
 
Did you take a pictures including the damage on the pop-up and the license plate? Call your insurance company and send all of the evidence you have to them. They will help because they want someone else to pay for the damage to your RV, which will be quite expensive to fix.
 
wwillson said:
Did you take a pictures including the damage on the pop-up and the license plate?
Click to expand...
Why would it need to be licensed if it's being stored? The last time I inquired about storing at car at one of these places (20 some years ago before buying a property) they all required them to be registered and tagged. Why? If I had it registered I could just park it on the street at my house and I wouldn't NEED a storage place.
 
I am going back tomorrow to meet with the owner of the unit,
curd, I forgot to take pics of the guy next to me, but the unit is rented out, and the spot is NOT enough for anything to be squeezed in there. It is like threading a needle. The owner should not have rented it out.
I will call the police and make a report. Not sure if they will care if it is on private property and while not moving...

Pic attached, yeah, few pieces of duct tape and little buffing ;-)

I have no idea when the damage happened but I will give my insurance co the details of the camper next to me.

I will print some pics and swing by the local RV shops to get estimates. What do you guys estimate? under $1k?
 

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