Body Damage
Hello To Y'all:
Several weeks ago, while on the way to a great camping/fishing experience, we stopped aned parked at a grocery store to pick up last minute items. When we left the parking lot, I had barely begun moving our tow vehicle when a lady beside us opened her car door, the edge of which impacted the curbside corner of our front shell. The edge frame piece was bent and also some crumpling of the shell sidewall. Since we were in a private parking lot and we were the ones who were moving, my insurance company declared us responsible. They have fixed the door that hit us; it barely had a small dent in its edge. They advised me to find a repair shop and get an estimate.
I contacted our nearest TM dealer who happens to be 400 miles away in Colorado Springs. At their request, I emailed them some photos of the damage. Upon receiving them, the TM dealer contacted me and said that it looked like a lot of damage, that my TM may have to be totalled but that they would get back to me with a preliminary estimate. Let me clarify that the damage does not impede our camping activity or experience one whit. It is 99% cosmetic. We have camped for 10 nights with the damaged trailer with no problem.
The dealer, after about 2 weeks, has finally contacted me and has estimated the cost of repair to our TM at $4,000 to $5,000. Please keep in mind that, and I swear this to be true, I was moving at no more than 2 miles per hour when the damaged occurred.
I have yet to recontact my insurance company as I am ashamed to pass on the TM dealer's estimate, which I consider ridiculous. Even if my insurance company agrees, I cannot allow $4,000 to be spent on cosmetic repair of our TM that cost maybe $25,000 new and which we paid less than $10,000 for.
Have any of you had bodywork repair issues with your trailers and how did they get resolved. I intend to try to find a travel trailer body repair facility in my own city and see what they can do. We don't mind if repair to our TM is not cosmetically perfect; a few "battle scars" will give it character. If I cannot find such a facility, I intend to attempt to improve our TM's myself with a hammer and a piece of 2 X 4.
I sure would appreciate some feedback.
Thanks!!
WWG
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Bill & Eileen in "The Land of Enchantment"
2000 2619 TM
2005 Toyota 4Runner V6
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