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TireCo paid my claim--THE PROCESS!!!!
As you may recall, we had a Mission tire fail on us two months ago--the tread came off one of the tires and, in the process, banged against the side of the rig and caused damage to several areas. Thereafter, we found that another of the Mission tires was experiencing tread separation from the steel belts. That was enough to persuade us to immediately buy five new Goodyear G614s. We filed a claim with Tireco for the damage to the rig and for the cost of the five new tires. Tireco has approved a partial payment of our claim. For the benefit of anyone who may have to deal with a similar situation in the future, here is the process for those who may file a claim with Tireco.
For the damage to the rig caused by a failed tire, Tireco insists that they get the tire in question returned to them to determine if it was defective. They will pay for shipping--just tell them where to pick the tire up. They also require you to provide them with three appraisals of the cost of repairs. They will pay the amount of the lowest appraisal, so don't go to some cheapo guy for one of your appraisals or that's the one they will pay on. In my case, I went to two large RV dealerships in the Tucson area as well as a small RV repair shop. I expected the small shop to come in the lowest, so I made sure that shop appreciated all the areas that were damaged. To my surprise, that shop was the highest of the three appraisals, but their appraisal was well documented and I think they accurately recorded what the cost would be to do a thorough and careful repair of the damage. One of the large RV dealerships came in with a very quick and sloppy appraisal which mischaracterized some of the work that needed to be done and missed some of the other needed work altogether. That appraisal, however, was the one that was lowest, and that's what Tireco paid. I encourage you to work closely with your appraisers to try to catch their mistakes and get them corrected before they submit their appraisals to Tireco. It never occurred to me that this large RV dealer would come in as the lowest, so I concentrated on the other two appraisals to make sure they were correct. Lesson learned.
My bigger hassle with Tireco related to reimbursement for the cost of replacement tires. Tireco originally only asked me to arrange for shipment to them of the tire that failed. At their request, I asked the tire dealer to hold onto the other three used Mission tires in case Tireco later wanted them. I kept the virtually unused Mission tire that had been my spare so I could have it as an extra spare this summer in Alaska. Tireco later contacted the tire dealer and arranged for pickup of the remaining tires in the dealer's possession so they could be inspected for defects. By that time, however, the dealer had misplaced one of the used tires. When I called Tireco to discuss this, they told me they would only provide compensation for those tires that had been returned to them and which were found to be defective.
Tireco subsequently called me and said that they had only found two of the tires to be defective and that I would therefore only be reimbursed for the cost of two replacement tires. They also said that, since I had purchased Goodyear LT 614 tires, I would only be reimbursed for 50% of their purchase cost on the grounds that I had purchased tires that were "double upgrades"--going from ST to LT and from load range E to load range G tires were considered to be double upgrades. I went round and round with Tireco on this, both because I felt entitled to replace all 5 tires when two of them had failed (thus rendering the rest of the batch suspect) and that the G614s were not voluntary upgrades because they were the only tires I could find in the Tucson area that had at least 3500# rating. After much huffing and puffing, Tireco agreed to reimburse me for 80% of the cost of three of the tires.
If you find yourself purchasing 5 new replacement tires and seeking compensation from Tireco, I'd recommend doing the following. First, photograph the condition of all of the tires, especially any that show signs of failure. Next, get your tire dealer to note and confirm any signs of failure. Also, insist that Tireco pickup all of the tires in question right away so you don't lose out if your dealer misplaces one or more of the tires, as happened with me. Finally, be prepared to challenge Tireco if and when they try to limit you to reimbursement for only those tires which had failed and/or limit you to a percentage of the cost of "upgraded" tires.
Also, while the people at Tireco can be pleasant to deal with, be persistent and continue to followup with them if you don't want things to languish for a long period. And good luck!!
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