Hail damage, salvage title, decisions

[bowie]

My 2019 298bh was just totaled due to minor hail damage. I didn't see that coming. I had total loss insurance so they will buy me a new 2021 one like or similar. Problem is I don't want the same, I want smaller. I'm looking for someone who has has been thru this. I don't know if they go by MSRP, which would be great or if they go by the dealers" on sale " prices. It seems my rv is about the only one that they never raise the price on, even now. $20,000 on sale 2019 and same now. MSRP is like $28,000 now compared to $25,000 then. If the insurance would tell me what price range I can look in, it would be easier. I've been to 12 dealers in the last 2 weeks and they are all low on inventory and nothing small to choose from. The prices have really gone up. One salesman said they are doing their 5th price hike this year in July!
If I do a buy back for $3800, it would be a great deal, a paid off trailer. It has minor hail dings but no roof, a/c, or skylight damage.This hail damage was from last year during shut down and I was totally disabled then. It doesn't leak at all, only camped 3 times in it. I'm not sure what the title will be, I'm in Texas and I read they don't do salvage on hail damage. I don't know if I could sale it without a problem, maybe a deer lease person? I don't think it can be insured again, but I don't know and insurance isn't helpful, they actually hung up on me today after they called to see what I want to do. I wanted questions answered to make a decision. If I can buy back and resell for $10,000 that would be alright, it's like new with some dings. I can't get around as good as I use to so either a small camper or take the payment of $2600, they won't add the power jack, weight distribution, battery cut off, camera, etc that I added, so I'm losing money and they refuse to give me a penny more. They want me to get a new trailer but I don't want the payments since my health is not getting any better, it's hard to camp with a scooter chair and no help! So 3 choices, $2600 and walk away, new trailer that I don't want, (could sell new one, but would be used and I would owe $17,500 on it) or keep my t.v. and try to resell as is??? Any suggestions? Anyone deal with total loss insurance? Anyone with a hail damage salvage title? I appreciate any help. The insurance is pushy and it's only been 11 days since they told me and I work full time. I don't have a lot of time to look but I have managed.

[RogerR]

I had a car "totaled by the insurance company because the repair would cost more than it was worth by the book. I "bought" it back by taking a smaller amount and kept it as is.

In another case mine was totaled and they gave me cash equivalent less deductible. Never heard of them buying one and giving it to you. Always been a money transaction. Check again with your insurance agent and by the adjuster exactly what they want to do.

Good luck

[Woodworker]

If they can sell Katrina trailers that were trashed by the occupants I'm sure you could sell yours. Only issue will be dealing with tire kickers, no shows an price bickering.
Tough decision I wish you the best

[67L48]

Tough to answer because you're oscillating between two strategies: one is that you want a camper to use without a payment and the other is can you buy it salvaged for $3,800 and flip it for more (e.g., your $10K number) and make money. So, I'm not sure what you're aiming for.

I don't think you can make money on that trailer that has a salvage title. At $3,800, you can use it and then later, get most of that money back out of it ... depending on how it ages. It shouldn't depreciate much past $2,500 based on the condition you describe.

Sounds like you can perpetuate your existing deal (new trailer plus whatever your loan was) or you walk away with $2,600 cash (no trailer, no loan).

From what I read, you definitely don't want your existing deal -- you state a few times that you don't want an RV loan anymore. So, I guess that leaves you with option B: $2,600 cash, no trailer, no loan.

From there, you can decide what you want to do. Do you want to:

1. Scrape together $1,200 and buy your salvaged trailer (with the assumption you won't be flipping it for profit)
2. Use that $2,600 toward a down payment on a smaller trailer which would probably incur a new loan, but a much smaller one
3. Use that $2,600 + the savings from loans, storage, insurance toward renting RVs, cabins, and other proxies for camping
4. Find a new hobby

That's a highly personal decision that few will be able to help with ... it's about you, your family, and your priorities.

Good luck.

[Jagiven]

I have no experience on a trailer with a salvaged title. But I have a car with one, that was totaled via a hail storm no broken windows, but it looked like a golf ball. It is a 2000 model year. I think it was totaled in 2002. Bought it back, so with no loan on it. We still own it. It is our son's car now. We never fixed it. At the time the insurance company stated if we did not fix it, they would not cover similar body damage. In the period of maybe 1.5 years, virtually every dent popped back out on there own. If you look at it today, you would never guess it looked like a golf ball. Body is straight.

I am sure a TT's aluminum side wall will not pop out as easily, especially if you are in Texas and do not have the extreme heat cycles we have here in Minnesota.

I would not have any concerns about buying back a vehicle with a salvaged title, especially when I know it's history. When you sell it off (not a trade in) in a year or so, in this market I bet you can get a lot for it. Just parting it out, I bet you can do good.

Anything you put on the TT is yours. It is like a picture frame on the wall. So your backup camera, remove it. WDH, typically people do not sell the TT with it, unless it is not sized for the new TT, so remove the brackets and keep it, sell it on the side, pending on the brand you might get $300-$600 for it. Tongue jack, almost every new TT has a power jack now days. So that is a bummer, but I guess you could replace it, especially if you kept the old one (that is what I do). But your new TT will probably come with one. Anything else? remove it. Technically even the propane tanks did not come with the TT out of the factory. So there is nothing illegal about keeping them too. Point being, if I was going to sell it back to the insurance company, I would strip back everything I added, as they are not purchasing those items. They are just bonus items for the scrap yard to make some extra money on when it is parted out or it will be a good selling point if they sell it with a salvage title.

Ultimately it is a hard decision on how to proceed. I just did an insurance review of our policies. The agent stated the value on our 2012 HTT, is within $500 of what I paid for it new. I wonder if I sold it today, could I get more than insurance value???? But then I would have to replace it .

One last though, someone posted a few years ago, about a similar issue regarding a replacement unit under their insurance. They stated they scoured the country online, found a few comparable to what they had. They looked for the units with the highest sale price and submitted that to the insurance company. I believe they just took the cash to buy something else.

[craigav]

You should review your insurance policy very carefully, perhaps with a lawyer if you are not comfortable in understanding every aspect of it. I suspect you have something in addition to the total loss insurance because with regular total loss insurance you will only get the used price coverage. In other words you would only receive the value of the RV at the time the incident occured, not the cost of a brand new one. There are other insurances you may have such as GAP insurance which covers if you owe more on it than it is worth, or replacement cost insurance which allows you to replace it with a very similar new unit (sounds like you may have replacement cost insurance). There should be the details to what you have in the insurance contract you signed that explains the differences and what you have and your options if a loss occurs. Not that it sounds like you have it but you may, I purchased a "declared value" coverage on mine which means that the amount I would receive is declared at the time the insurance policy is written, that allows me a set amount regardless of what it is worth or what I owe. I would carefully read your policy to get a better understanding of your options. ~CA