Quote:
Originally Posted by franktafl
please explain!
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May 26, 2020 returning to Oklahoma from a trip to Kansas, in the 291 RESL with brand new Firestone tires after 4 years of walking on eggshells after listening to people here talk about "China Bombs" and having the opportunity to purchase 4 new tires from a major dealer, we pulled into our driveway and my wife noticed there was a problem with the right front trailer tire... It had no rubber on the rim. As we had also had an issue with the driver side slide and it was scheduled for delivery to a dealership on Friday, I just changed the tire to the spare after disconnecting.
Now I need to say that the tow vehicle was a new to me Chevy silverado 2500 and I had maybe 150 miles of travel time in it without a trailer before we left for a 250 mile trip to Kansas, I was cautious because I was interested in learning how this vehicle would act with the RV based on the experiences I had had with the RV on a Ford F-150... so both the wife and I were listening for any different sounds or vibrations, etc... to learn how the two would behave...
We never felt anything and the trip had seemed smooth other for one point when we had to move over for a wide vehicle load on a two lane county highway, I thought I had felt the camper tires leave the roadway and travel onto the shoulder, for a second but felt no difference in travel, after that. We had no indication of any trouble until we pulled into the drive to unload.
Changed the tire and saw no apparent damage to the undercarriage except for the plastic trim piece on the slide. Took the rim to the National chain store where I bought the Firestone tires and they informed me I did not have road hazard insurance because they don't offer it for trailer tires... as they can't be sure you won't overload them... BUT they, out of good faith, and as I was a loyal customer... would replace the tire this one time...
took the tire and the trailer in for the warranty repair on the slide and asked them to replace the spare and put the chrome rime back on (for 1/2 hour labor charge) ... then left thinking all was well... Silly me...
Got a call from the advisor, "You have 2 bent axles, and frame rail damage... gonna cost over $5,000 to fix" PANIC! settled down and started off by going through my options...
1. Call the truck insurance... It was a trailer being pulled by my covered vehicle so it is included right? NO if I had borrowed it from a neighbor yes it would be covered, but as I owned it no. I needed to purchase a separate rider
2. Called tire company and they laughed at me...
3. Called extended Warranty company and they said if the tire blew it was not RV manufacture issue, so no coverage...
4. Called Good Sam insurance to see if the insurance I had through them would cover it, Lady said maybe... then no after checking because it sounded like a tire malfunction.
All this time getting more and more frustrated - Its June of 2020 - No one is working at the office, all from home due to COVID-19 and I am getting the runaround...
Finally the Service advisor and I were talking and he listened to me relate the trip home story on more time and caught the glaring issue... Had I gone off the road or hit something on the side of the road? He found a chip on the chrome rim that indicated I had hit something... called Good Sam's Insurance partner National General and they started a claim...
Result after 60 days of review and consideration I will be getting a check to fix the undercarriage .... End of Story
From Now on If I even think I might have had an incident I am pulling over and calling for roadside assistance... No more MR Macho for me - I am too old for that kind of stress!