Expert: Ron Cercone - 3/27/2009

Question
QUESTION: I have a Weekend Warrior Superlite 2006 Fifth Wheel. I don't know if you are familiar with them or not. Well try to make a story short Weekend Warrior went out of business do to the lawsuits over the superlite but they where the towables not the fifth wheel. My husband and i where on a trip to Dumont California and my husband was ran off the road we looked for damages and such and found nothing well about a month later we were on our way to some where else and the truck was full so my daughter and I road in the fifth wheel my daughter notice that the shelf was banging really hard against the wall so we took it to a RV repair place and they looked at it and said that it was totaled.  So I contacted my insurance company and told them what had happened and they had us take it to another RV repair shop where they totaled it.  The insurance adjuster came out and he totaled it also.  Then now they say that they will not cover it.  They say it is a manufacture defect and we belive that it not true. This is what they say is a manufactory defect You know where the fifth well hitch hooks to the frame of the trailer it is broke and it twick the frame.
Please help
Tahairh

ANSWER: Hello Tehairh,

So the argument is whether the frame was tweaked by the 5th wheel hitch attachment or from getting run off the road.

If your insurer is going to cover this, you need to get an expert opinion in writing that the frame was tweaked from the "accident", getting run off the road. Get a statement from the repair shop. You could also hire an engineer, if you can afford it. Don't be surprised if your insurer's investigators lie about the cause. Some do it all the time. That's why you need your own expert opinion, in writing. If they still deny it, then sue the bums.



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Can you explain to me how the claim process works? How many days are they suppose to take to get back to you once a claim has been filed? How often should they keep in touch? How long does it take for them to determind what they are going to do? See we filed our claim like on February 1 2009 never heard from no one but the repair shop then I tried to get a hold of my adjuster twice by phone never returned my call finaly I e-mailed her it took about 15min she replyed. Told us they where still trying to determin if it was a manufactor defect or not but did I know a certified welder. We still didn't here any thing for another week so I e-mailed her agian and that is when she told us it was denyed. Never did they once try to contact us by phone.

Answer
Most states have laws that the insurer has to respond to your communications in 15 days. But guess what, they break the law all the time. Most States Departments of insurance do nothing other than keep a log of the violations. And court punitive damages are now limited in most states to 3 times the actual damages. So if they screwed you on a $10,000.00 claim, the most they would have to pay would be $30,000.00, not 3 million. That's no incentive for an attorney to take your case to court on a contingency fee. It's another Bush legacy that will be with us for many years to come.