Seneca Wreck

[Jmac000]

Originally Posted by Luco

We had a tractor trailer come on the the interstate with a wide load and hit our Seneca in the passenger side pretty hard. The bed room slide is busted and bent, the awning crushed and the fiberglass on the passenger side pushed in and broken. When we were able to inspect the inside we found the kitchen and bathroom walls broken. The door frames are knocked loose and even the pocket door was torn from the hinges. It looks like all of the cabinets on the passenger side are loose or cracked. I am not sure if it is even repairable. If it is, what repair shops could fix this. I am in upstate SC. This just happened Friday, so I haven’t heard from insurance. The diver of the truck pulled over and when I got out he took off. Luckily I have a drive camera and got his company name and truck info on the video. Law enforcement is looking into it as a hit and run. I am going to make a claim with my insurance and let the insurance companies fight it out. My insurance company has already contacted to trucking company but they won’t accept liability at this time. Hopefully a charge from LEO to the driver will change that. Looking for advise from anyone that has had damage to their rig.

The fact you had a camera is very important. My best friend has been in the auto-collision business for 40 years. IMMEDIATELY after a crash, making sure no one is hurt, then get your phone out and start taking pictures. Take pictures of the driver, passenger, registration, inspection and license plate, take pictures of every asspect of the collision. Front, back, sides, even if the other driver tries to run, take pictures of that too. In this age, video and pictures win every case and insurance claim. Good luck

[Jiggles]

I just had my Seneca repaired at Mike's Collision in Wilmington, NC after a tree from the Hurricane landed on the rear of the roof. They did an excellent job and worked with the insurance company, No problems at all.

[ccilarry]

We are a RV Dealer in Southern Indiana. We recently had a Class A Jayco Precept complete sidewall replaced. The repair was about $23,000. Walls do get replaced all the time. Most Seneca coaches newer than 2012 will still Retail Book well over $50K. Insurance companies will normally total a unit when the repair hits 75%. I would not plan on a total loss. Jayco will build the wall replacement but may sub the work out to one of four repair shops in the Middlebury, IN area.



The option is to go directly to one of the repair shops to get your estimate and work done. Labor for a sidewall replacement is usually at least twice the length of the unit times the per hour labor charge. Fivestar RV Repair or Tristar RV Repair are both well experienced shops with major repair jobs. The wall will take 4-6 weeks to get built and delivered. I would plan on the unit being out of service for several months. I would contact Jayco Customer Service for their repair schedule and an estimate, then go from there.

[PapiG]

Hopefully, it will be totaled.

But, if not, demand factory service, or require the insurance company to locate reputable facility.

[corv65]

Originally Posted by Luco

We had a tractor trailer come on the the interstate with a wide load and hit our Seneca in the passenger side pretty hard. The bed room slide is busted and bent, the awning crushed and the fiberglass on the passenger side pushed in and broken. When we were able to inspect the inside we found the kitchen and bathroom walls broken. The door frames are knocked loose and even the pocket door was torn from the hinges. It looks like all of the cabinets on the passenger side are loose or cracked. I am not sure if it is even repairable. If it is, what repair shops could fix this. I am in upstate SC. This just happened Friday, so I haven’t heard from insurance. The diver of the truck pulled over and when I got out he took off. Luckily I have a drive camera and got his company name and truck info on the video. Law enforcement is looking into it as a hit and run. I am going to make a claim with my insurance and let the insurance companies fight it out. My insurance company has already contacted to trucking company but they won’t accept liability at this time. Hopefully a charge from LEO to the driver will change that. Looking for advise from anyone that has had damage to their rig.

What the hell was he thinking and thank God for traffic cams mine is always on. I hope the Company gives him a nice Christmas present (your Fired ) then calls the Police Jail time for that guy.

So sorry for what has happened but physically your ok that's what counts.

[Jmac000]

Originally Posted by corv65

What the hell was he thinking

He was thinking, "I could save 15% on my insurance by dropping in *D* and getting the heck outa here"

[jsimonson]

Originally Posted by Luco

We had a tractor trailer come on the the interstate with a wide load and hit our Seneca in the passenger side pretty hard. The bed room slide is busted and bent, the awning crushed and the fiberglass on the passenger side pushed in and broken. When we were able to inspect the inside we found the kitchen and bathroom walls broken. The door frames are knocked loose and even the pocket door was torn from the hinges. It looks like all of the cabinets on the passenger side are loose or cracked. I am not sure if it is even repairable. If it is, what repair shops could fix this. I am in upstate SC. This just happened Friday, so I haven’t heard from insurance. The diver of the truck pulled over and when I got out he took off. Luckily I have a drive camera and got his company name and truck info on the video. Law enforcement is looking into it as a hit and run. I am going to make a claim with my insurance and let the insurance companies fight it out. My insurance company has already contacted to trucking company but they won’t accept liability at this time. Hopefully a charge from LEO to the driver will change that. Looking for advise from anyone that has had damage to their rig.

Call Seneca motorized division via customer care for direction. I had my Seneca bedroom slide pulled out and rebuilt in the bay next to my motorhome was a unit the entire side and roof was being replaced as an insurance claim.

[kndspd]

What kind of dash cameras do you guys use? Is there any reason for them other than postmortems like this?

[Jmac000]

Originally Posted by kndspd

What kind of dash cameras do you guys use? Is there any reason for them other than postmortems like this?

Dash cam's can be a good thing, they can also be a bad thing. Very bad.

I do have a dash camera in my truck but be awear, if YOU do something wrong, You make a mistake and cause an accident, then you errase the camera footage and Law Enforcment finds out, you could be in a world of trouble for distroying evidence.

You can get a decent Dash Cam from Amazon for $50 to $150. some of them record inside the cab and outside. Be awear that some of these cameras come from China (obviously) or Russia/Europe. everyone that I have come across has, for a lack of a better term, "Translation issues" in the instructions. So if you're good at 'figuring things out from pictures' you'll be fine

[Bob Marchenese]

OMG, I feel your pain..

[RetiredLEO]

Originally Posted by Luco

Additional Info: The truck was merging on to the interstate. I had another 18 wheeler to my left and a car was very close to my toad . I moved as far over as I could and maintaining my lane. I had actually passed the cab of the big truck but he kept coming over. All I could do was maintain my line and hope I wouldn’t turn over. We were not injured. Still waiting to hear from the final on the insurance. My uninsured motorist insurance is going to move forward. The trucking company is not being very cooperative. State Troopers are getting the transponder records to identify the driver.

I kind of figured this one correctly. 16 plus years working crashes gave me insight to what probably happened.
The O.P. was doing everything correctly. Some would have swerved left and that would have resulted in a multi vehicle incident.
I would find out from your insurance carrier if the trucking company was self insured, most are especially if they are oversized load transporters. Self insured companies mean that "usually" they are obligated to pay out of pocket for up to $250K, after that they usually have a company they go through to cover any "catastrophic" incidents.
Of course they are going to drag their heels to pay anything as it's coming directly out of their pocket. I would ask your carrier if it's paid under uninsured motorist what will happen to your rates? If it will go up because of the claim you might want to talk to a attorney for all your options to be "made whole" again.

I would only want a factory repair job. I believe it's your right to decide on which repair shop you want to use. They will be capable and your best shot at a good repair. Something to remember is EVEN after being repaired it will be worth less due to CARFAX. It will have a black eye due to the accident. I would want to be compensated for the loss of value also.
Luco...........you did a excellent job of driving by not causing a multi car accident. You did great!!! A State Trooper's report in your favor is your best item to make sure you come out in good shape. A State Trooper in a witness box in Court is a formidable witness, always hard to dispute their testimony. This is their specialty. Please get a copy of the Accident Report for your own use. You can get a copy from your carrier or from the Highway Patrol.

[Crossingover]

We all know the benefits of defensive driving techniques, and they would have prevented this incident. Anticipate merging traffic EARLY, way EARLY, and either move over OR slow down, way down, if that's what it takes to avoid a collision. Sure it's annoying to do this, but it sure beats a collision. While I do hang out in the far right lane because I'm always going at or below posted speeds, if there are several ramps coming up I'll move over in anticipation and avoid the merging drama to begin with. Also helps to have my DW as a keen merger spotter.

I wish the OP a quick return to camping life in a better than new RV, with the offender found and cited. But please, please learn from this incident and perhaps adjust your driving behavior.

[RetiredLEO]

Originally Posted by Crossingover

We all know the benefits of defensive driving techniques, and they would have prevented this incident. Anticipate merging traffic EARLY, way EARLY, and either move over OR slow down, way down, if that's what it takes to avoid a collision. Sure it's annoying to do this, but it sure beats a collision. While I do hang out in the far right lane because I'm always going at or below posted speeds, if there are several ramps coming up I'll move over in anticipation and avoid the merging drama to begin with. Also helps to have my DW as a keen merger spotter.

I wish the OP a quick return to camping life in a better than new RV, with the offender found and cited. But please, please learn from this incident and perhaps adjust your driving behavior.

More than a little harsh.
Some merging ramps are practically hidden, a lot are coming off a elevated roadway in a steep decline onto the main thorough fare. The Semi went over his lane to hit the O.P. in the center lane. The speed of the Semi would of have been a huge factor. Was this on a busy crowded highway? Sounds like it.
As far as slowing down and speeding up in anticipation is a sure way to get rear ended and be a traffic hazard at least. The interstates that I drive you usually have the car following behind you by just a couple car lengths.
We have all been behind the guy that speeds up, slows down, switching back and forth from lane to lane. They're a traffic hazard. You're better to stay in the middle lane, adjust your speed to driving conditions:weather and other traffic. The far left lane is for the fastest traffic, not R.V's, far right is most hazardous with traffic merging on and off.
The key here is the fact that the semi broadsided him. Not in the front. The Semi Driver was clearly and without doubt 100 percent at fault. The O.P. was in the center lane, the safest lane to be in as it "CAN" give you more escape routes. The O.P. was boxed in from the way he described the accident.
He surely doesn't need any lectures on defensive driving.
He did great by not panicking by not slamming on the brakes or swerving to the left.
To say that he could have done something different to prevent this without being there is pretty presumptive and armchair quarterbacking.
He did good

[SloPoke]

Originally Posted by RetiredLEO

More than a little harsh.
Some merging ramps are practically hidden, a lot are coming off a elevated roadway in a steep decline onto the main thorough fare. The Semi went over his lane to hit the O.P. in the center lane. The speed of the Semi would of have been a huge factor. Was this on a busy crowded highway? Sounds like it.
As far as slowing down and speeding up in anticipation is a sure way to get rear ended and be a traffic hazard at least. The interstates that I drive you usually have the car following behind you by just a couple car lengths.
We have all been behind the guy that speeds up, slows down, switching back and forth from lane to lane. They're a traffic hazard. You're better to stay in the middle lane, adjust your speed to driving conditions:weather and other traffic. The far left lane is for the fastest traffic, not R.V's, far right is most hazardous with traffic merging on and off.
The key here is the fact that the semi broadsided him. Not in the front. The Semi Driver was clearly and without doubt 100 percent at fault. The O.P. was in the center lane, the safest lane to be in as it "CAN" give you more escape routes. The O.P. was boxed in from the way he described the accident.
He surely doesn't need any lectures on defensive driving.
He did great by not panicking by not slamming on the brakes or swerving to the left.
To say that he could have done something different to prevent this without being there is pretty presumptive and armchair quarterbacking.
He did good

Thank you for clarifying.... I have been in similar situations you describe... There IS an expectation that a vehicle maintains it's position in it's lane. Fault is not transferred to the surrounding parties when evasive action could not be "anticipated" nor taken when another driver does not follow the most fundamental rules of the road.

[Crossingover]

Originally Posted by RetiredLEO

He surely doesn't need any lectures on defensive driving.
He did great by not panicking by not slamming on the brakes or swerving to the left.
To say that he could have done something different to prevent this without being there is pretty presumptive and armchair quarterbacking.
He did good

No lecturing intended. I'm simply of the belief that every accident is preventable and a teacher. Safely maneuvering and planning ahead to avoid problems are fundamental to surviving the highways with its distracted operators. I'd rather avoid something than take a hit because I owned my place and time in my lane. If that's presumptive, I'm guilty. And all IMHO and YMMV.

[Isaacs]

A forward escort would have seen that it was not safe for the wide load to proceed on the ramp and slowed or even stopped him 'till it was safe to merge. I can't imagine one not being required.

[RetiredLEO]

Originally Posted by Crossingover

No lecturing intended. I'm simply of the belief that every accident is preventable and a teacher. Safely maneuvering and planning ahead to avoid problems are fundamental to surviving the highways with its distracted operators. I'd rather avoid something than take a hit because I owned my place and time in my lane. If that's presumptive, I'm guilty. And all IMHO and YMMV.

As he stated, he was boxed in with no place to go, had a vehicle behind and to the side of him.
He didn't have any place to go. He did everything 100 percent correct. It's impossible to keep other traffic from following too close or passing you, it happens all the time.
16 1/2 years of working accidents experience says otherwise to the ridiculous belief that "all accidents are avoidable " If that was a true statement it would pertain only to the Semi Driver as he caused the accident.
He was in "his proper place" when the Semi broadsided him. Yes, it is very presumptive to think otherwise. In his shoes you would have been hit also. Face it..........it's pretty darn hard to miss seeing a large Seneca alongside of you but that semi driver sure did. He knew he was at fault and that's why he left the scene.
Armchair quarterbacking is presumptive unless you were there or have worked accidents involving a merging vehicle hitting a vehicle. Had the front of the Seneca made contact with the rear of the tractor trailer it would be a different story, instead it was the semi that struck him.
Again,
He did good, did not panic, did not cause other vehicles to be involved.