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Old 04-06-2010, 02:45 PM   #41
adelmoll
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Steve, I think you have the same insurance that we have with National Interstate.. It would be great to hear how this works for you after the bad publicity Nick Russell gave them on his site.. I have had only good dealings with them but am anxious to hear what they do for you.

Helen
 
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Old 04-06-2010, 05:31 PM   #42
sreigle
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Helen, yes, we have National Interstate. We're not yet at the "paying" stage but so far I am pleased. I contacted them by phone. The lady took all the information and asked what I think were the correct questions, then gave me the claim number and some other information. She said it would be assigned to an adjuster within 2 hours and I would be contacted within 8 business hours. I was called 2 hours later by the adjuster. She said I can take it anywhere I want (or she'd help me find someone) and to give them the claim number and have them fax the estimates to her. Then between the three of us we can decide who gets paid by whom. In other words, if the repair facility will take payment from them and bill me for any difference (e.g. deductible), that's fine. Or, I can pay it all and then send receipts to the insurance company for reimbursement. I will, of course, see if the repair folks will work directly with the insurance company and accept their payment or I'll go elsewhere.

How well they actually pay remains to be seen. But I've seen no foot dragging so far.

Oh, I almost forgot. The adjuster asked whether I still have the blown tire, then asked me to email her every number and text I can find on the tire, along with the pictures I have of the blown tire and the damage. She wants to check for recalls and other reasons to subrogate against Tireco. This tells me National Interstate will pay the bill and THEN go after Tireco for whatever they can get. That's a whole lot better than making me play the waiting game. She also asked me to hold on to the blown tire until this is all settled. I have no problem with that.
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Old 04-07-2010, 02:53 AM   #43
adelmoll
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Sounds like National Interstate has been doing a great job. I'm glad that we have them.

Helen
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Old 04-07-2010, 01:21 PM   #44
sreigle
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So far, yes, Helen. But I'll know better later in the month when all is done.
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Old 04-08-2010, 04:32 AM   #45
mopar1
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Steve, I thought the RV lifestyle was suppose to be care free? At least that was what I thought when I was on the outside looking in so to speak.
Some friends of ours have a SOB 5th wheel. When there tire blew out it snagged the wiring of the camper and pulled it completely out from the roof including the A/C wiring. They had to have the entire side removed and rewired!
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Old 04-11-2010, 07:22 PM   #46
sreigle
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Ouch. As far as I know we didn't have anything like that. Mostly body damage plus the protective covering under the slide floor and it appears some abrasion on the lower slide seal, plus three screws pulled out of that seal. But that's it. Tuesday we get the estimates done and the new tires installed. Then we wait until parts arrive. I'm hoping we won't have a long wait for the appt for the repairs once the parts arrive. We're planning to leave here end of the month.
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Old 04-12-2010, 02:43 AM   #47
KathyandDave
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Steve, I'm relieved that you were able to stop safely. I trust the insurance and repairs will work out satisfactorily. What was your customary inflation pressure prior to the blowout?
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Old 04-12-2010, 03:22 AM   #48
SlickWillie
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Steve, I think you're doing the correct thing letting the insurance handle the claim. My friend here finally got his money out of Tireco, almost a year after filing a claim. From what I had read on here and other forums, I recommended the G614 Goodyears to him. So, he bought 5 new G614 tires for his 3400RL.
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Old 04-12-2010, 07:16 AM   #49
rrheik
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Steve and Vicki, glad you are all safe and sound. Sounds like your insurance company taking good care of you. We had blowout on our 08 Cameo in September on our way to Gulf Shores and it did about $3500 in damage. Good old Chinese tires. Carriage stopped using them due to numerous blowouts. I have a friend with a 09 Monty who went thrugh three blowouts which were all due to defective tires. Seems to continue to be problem in rv industry. We wish you safe travels and maybe see you again in Gulf Shores someday. barb and bob.
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Old 04-12-2010, 10:13 AM   #50
pbahlin
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Here's a tale to make ya' go hmmmmm. My neighbor was out on his Harley last weekend and was behind a fifth wheel when it had a blowout. The 5er was able to recover from a nasty back and forth fish tale and my neighbor pulled in behind to assist.

When he got to the TV on foot he discovered the TV was a dealer (my dealer by coincidence) making a delivery of a brand new fifth wheel.

Do you thing the industry knows they have a problem?????

You betcha!
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Old 04-17-2010, 02:35 PM   #51
sreigle
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Wow, I've never experienced anything like that and hope I never do! Of all the flats and blowouts, we've never experienced any handling problem or even been able to tell from the handling there was a tire problem. We either heard the pop of the blowout, or saw flying rubber in the mirror, or someone pulled up alongside and signaled a problem.

Helen, here's an update.

Got the estimate from Camping World. $2081 and change, including replacing the rim but excluding all tires. National Interstate will work with Camping World and vice versa. CW has a single person handling our case, which I like. That's my contact point.

However, CW will NOT order parts from Keystone until someone pays up front for those parts and shipping. No problem with the parts they carry but those from outside their system must be paid in advance. And, of course, National Interstate operates like all other insurance companies I'm aware of and will not pay a dime until the work is completed. Maybe if it's a multi-stage repair they would but that's not the case here. SO, somebody had to pay to get the parts ordered.

So, we paid the $535.xx for parts and shipping from Keystone. CW faxed them pictures plus the estimates. Within two hours of that fax I got a call from our contact at National Interstate saying she had reviewed and approved the estimate. I told her I'd paid to get the parts ordered and will pay the final bill and NI can reimburse me. She said since we have a lien on the Montana, she will need CW to notify her that the work is completed so she can send me a single party check. Otherwise she'd have to include the lienholder on the check. CW said they'll notify her and put a note on the file. I, of course, will contact CW when it's all done and make sure that happens. The body shop is physically separate from CW's bays, a quarter mile or so away.

So far it's going well. The body shop guy told me soon as he has the parts he can get us in there within 24 hours. He will need the rig all day and possibly into a second day. If so, we can stay in the rig and connect to his electric and water. I'd bet the electric is 15 or 20 amp but we've done that before. We should not need AC this time of year. If we can have the rig to him by 8 am then possibly he can finish it in one day. We'll sure try.

We got the Goodyear G614 tires same day we got the estimates done. We used the tirepros.com link that LonnieB provided by email (and now in the forum) and were very pleased with the results. The company we selected from that link gave me the best price of all I checked and also the workers were very professional, worked quickly but were friendly and smiling. We were very pleased. The $1334.xx for five new tires, mounted and balanced, hurts but I feel a lot better that maybe our tire problems are behind us.

I sure wish Montana would go with better tires. Even make it an extra cost option.
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Old 04-17-2010, 02:59 PM   #52
HughM
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Steve, With those G614's you won't have to endure this again. We love our G614's on our new SOB. We had Michelin's Ribs on our old SOB 6,000 lb axles and they were great but these G614 are a class above.
Hugh
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Old 04-18-2010, 03:11 AM   #53
adelmoll
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Thanks Steve... That confirms my faith in National Interstate.

I know it is a real pain in the butt to go thru what you are having to do but what the heck, you have nothing better to do anyway.. LOL I agree that having the option up front would sure be nice but I also understand the problem Keystone would have if they had to keep several brands of tires on hand to please the thousands of buyers. I would sooner see them put on the best right from the start and charge a few $$ more for the unit.

Helen
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Old 04-18-2010, 01:23 PM   #54
KathyandDave
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I'd like to see Keystone offer a menu of two, maybe three options for each key item (e.g., tires, hitch, suspension, etc.), with a price tag for each. Computers and the internet should make this fairly painless for them. Then, they could advertise a cheap price for the trailer, which would allow them to stay competitive, but more seasoned (i.e., repeat) owners could order the upgrades and save themselves the large hassle of fixing broken stuff.
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Old 05-05-2010, 05:29 PM   #55
sreigle
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The parts finally all arrived last Thursday, but too late to have the work done that day. We had granddaughter plans for Friday and family for Monday so had the repair work done Tuesday (yesterday). I will say CW's body shop did good work although coordination between CW and their body shop (in a different location) could be much better.

Helen, I told you I agreed to pay for the work and be reimbursed by National Interstate because of Camping World's (the Montana dealer) requirement for all parts (and shipping) to be paid for up front if those parts are not something they normally stock. So, to make things simpler and to keep it moving along I paid and will get reimbursed.

CW agreed to let the insurance company, National Interstate, know when the work is done. When it was finished yesterday the insurance company (office is in the eastern time zone) was closed for the day. CW said they'd call this morning. I got a call this morning from the guy at CW saying he'd talked to the adjuster at NI who was handling this case. He said she told him she'd mailed the check to me last Thursday. The amount he was told is correct. So the check should arrive at our South Dakota address this week and be forwarded to us next week.

Helen, to answer your question about this, our first, claim with National Interstate... I feel it was handled professionally and expeditiously. The only thing I didn't like is they would not pay for parts up front but I doubt any insurance company would do that. Most body shops will front the parts and collect when the work is done. So I put that on Camping World. The only thing left is to actually receive the check and send it off to our bank for deposit.
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Old 05-06-2010, 02:23 AM   #56
8.1al
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Thanks for the update. It's good to hear that things went so well with National
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Old 05-06-2010, 02:44 AM   #57
adelmoll
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Thank you Steve.. That is great to hear. We will be at AR today. If you want me to pick up your check and deposit it I will be happy to do that (in my account of course.

We will be testing out the drivers license renewal laws... As you know, I got an extension on my renewal so we didn't have to be here in March. I will be trading that paper in for my new card. We will check into Jellystone for tonight under my name to show proof of residence and I will bring my passport with me. Hope all goes well. I'll let you know the results.

Helen
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Old 05-16-2010, 08:49 AM   #58
lenlin84
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Coming in on this one a little late but here's my two cents worth. I just replaced the 4 tires on our Monty. I had Denman ST tires on and they seemed to be good tires. I found a huge bubble in one on the drivers side. That was enough of that so after reading on the moc site,Lonnies comments about tire brands and the big issue --LT or ST-tires. Long story short here I decided on the B.F.Goodrich Commertial TA's. NO MORE ST tires for me. The thought came to me that I nor anyone I know has had a catastrophic failure on their Truck tires, but I know many RV'ers that have destructive blowouts on their Trailers on ST tires. Now I know that the ST tires are supposed to be built stronger because of the stresses put on trailer tires but the fact remains that ST tires blow more often than LT tires. Lastly, the Commertial TA's have the magic words on the side of the tire --'Made in the USA'. Also always check the DOT cartouch on the side of the tire for date of manufacture. Those Denmans I bought had been sitting in a warehouse somewhere for 3 years before I got them. That won't happen again!!!!!
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Old 05-17-2010, 04:08 PM   #59
Jdrobone
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Kathy and Dave - seems to me you have a great idea.
Jerry
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Old 05-18-2010, 01:39 PM   #60
cbgaloot
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Glad you guys are alright. Now I'm going to go have look at my tires.
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