The roof of my MH lifted & cracked the fiberglass skin in the center

Hi all,I am new to this forum and was searching for any advice concerning my roof problems with my 98 Winnebago Adventurer.
Mainly we had a 60 + MPH windstorm come through here in central Florida,blowing roofs off park model homes and lifting the roof of my MH cracking the fiberglass skin in the center.It is currently repaired [temporarily] with gorilla tape and roof seal.
My Good Sam Insurance calls this a wear and tear Issue  and refuses to deal with the claim.Is this common or have I been Slammed?Is this just an issue with Winnebago?
The seam has been painted several times with elastic paint for roofs,I even coated the new skylight after the old one cracked from sun damage.No leaks are visible anywhere inside the MH. Any Thoughts?

Welcome!  Did your roof lift up at the sidewall to roof seam/joint or what?  Can you post some pictures?

Cheechwizard said:

My Good Sam Insurance calls this a wear and tear Issue  and refuses to deal with the claim.

Any Thoughts?

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It would not be a wear and tear issue in my mind....  It would be wind damage.

Yes I thought it was a wind damage claim also but National General Assurance Company,
[formerly GMAC ], even refuses to mediate via the Consumer Services department of Financial Affairs here in Florida.I had contacted them  and sent in a check for 100$ for mediation, but apparently it is not mandatory for them to mediate in good faith with an independent arbitrator.It is the law that you have insurance but it is optional as to weather they pay a claim.Ten years a customer .
So they have blown it off and my only choice is to hire a lawyer and fight the issue which to me seems like a waste of time after a 500 dollar deductible.
Lawyers get paid win or lose and I have never had a good experience with a lawyer.Has anyone?

All my pictures are to large a file to post.

Cheechwizard said:

..All my pictures are to large a file to post.

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If you are a Windows user, use Paint to open the files and save for the web.  If you want opinions about the roof damage, we need pictures.  If you want opinions about attorneys, please start a new topic in the Under the Shade Tree section of the forum.

I would be hesitant to blame Winnebago for that type of damage to a 16 year old roof.  More like an act of God.  Good Sam (of which I am a charter member but not sure how much longer) is developing a reputation that is not highly thought of among a lot of RVers.  I think that most of the word is being spread by today's means of instant communication via the internet and forums such as this and others.  In the past, the only way to communicate with Good Sam was via snail mail or the developing internet system.  Today it is a wholly different company than it was when originally formed.  They should change their name to Insurance America or something similar

It is the law that you have insurance but it is optional as to weather they pay a claim.

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Well, we are talking about your comprehensive (wind damage, etc.) insurance rather than liability, so there is no law requiring it. So what you have is a civil matter regarding your contract with the insurer.

Is it possible they are saying the roof has already lived out its useful life, so it's value has depreciated to near zero as far as the insurer is concerned? This is a 1998 coach, so the roof is 16 years old unless it has been replaced in the interim.  I've run into that with some insured items, even those that supposedly were covered for full replacement value. If they judge it to be a wear & tear item, they still depreciate it even though it was destroyed in an accident. It's part of the fine print in the policy, one of the many gotchas they never mention until you make a claim.  You could try to get some expert opinions that your fiberglass roof has a longer usable life than 16 years - maybe somebody at Winnebago would put a better number on it? They would still depreciate it and pro rate payment. Say Winnie says it's a 20 year roof and the insurer accepts that. They would still reduce their payout by 80% (16/20).

I had an insurer claim that a windshield wiper motor (destroyed in an accident) had a useful life of only 10 years. Preposterous, but they wouldn't budge. The dollar amount was small enough that I gave up after awhile, but it always irritates me to think about it.

Insurance companies frown on any attempt to cover up the point of impact or said damage. I never recommend a person to apply any materials that would hinder the field representative from determining the cause of damage with a substance that would hide the apparent damage. I know its terrible to have cracks in the roof, but a tarp or covered shelter would have been my recommendation before the inspection. After the inspection then I would say its ok to secure the impact areas with a permanent material.

You mentioned Good Sam, I have heard where Good Sam will go to bat for you and try to deal with the insurance company. Might be worth a try.

Highways magazine, the GS publication, has a Hotline where you can ask for help. They write a formal inquiry to the vendor and sometimes they get more attention to your problem than you yourself can. Can't hurt to try.

All good suggestions,Thanks.
I think the main lesson I have learned here is to know that the Insurance company's can insert wording like "wear and Tear" that means nothing specific and yet covers anything they deem it to cover.
I have changed my Insurance on my truck to Geico. The RV is in storage Not insured.If/ when  I add coverage from any company I will read and ask questions about any  Vague and nebulous wording like "acts of God,wear and tear,Ect". I believe I should be insured for Wind and storm damage "other than Collision",Not some Deity having a bad day.Nor did I intend to insure my tires from wear and tear.
The temporary repairs I have made were done after inspection and photos were taken by the Insurance adjuster.
The best thing Highways magazine could do for all RV's would be to publish an honest report of the facts and ask readers to submit any reports of thier own as an indication of the company policy's and business practices.Probably won't happen.

Never forget the objective of insurance companies is to keep your money and avoid having it go the other way.

Tires are another good example of the wear & tear devaluation: if you have a tire damaged by fire or vandalism or whatever, they will pro-rate the tire value based on age & wear.  This often applies even if you have 'full replacement value' coverage.

Most people have no issue with pro-rating a tire, but a roof is more subjective. There is no accepted standard of wear or service life for a fiberglass RV roof.  I wouldn't be surprised if the adjuster applied a generic age factor that encompasses EPDM and TPO roofs as well as fiberglass. EPDM material is warranted for 10 years, so that might be considered its useful life. Fiberglass is should be a different story.  You might try to question the insurer about roof types and age factors. I'm not optimistic it would work, but it's worth a try.

Never forget the objective of insurance companies is to keep your money and avoid having it go the other way.

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That's a common view, but not as true as you might think. An insurance company makes money the same way a bank does - they invest the money they hold and earn a profit from the investments. The premiums are designed to make sure they cover what they pay back out, so the theory is they can pay you back every single dime you paid in, and they still make money because they held your premium dollars for some amount of time and earned money from it.  The sticky part is that the premium amounts are based on statistical data and assumptions about payouts, and those assumptions get coded into payout policies that get rigidly enforced by low echelon employees. The claims staff is managed and measured on their loss payout ratio, so they have no motivation to make exceptions, regardless of the particular situation.

My first thought was that the insurance company is treating this poorly. Then I thought about the damage being caused by 60 mph wind. I wonder if they assume this roof was either not maintained properly of had some damage which contributed to the problem. It is not like this is a house that remains stationary, presumably it is designed and built to take more wind load than that, as you would have on the highway.

Suppose after a day of highway driving some similar roof damage occurred, with no accident. I think we might then be more inclined to question Winnebago since they built the roof. I am not suggesting the Winny should take responsibility considering the age of the unit however.

Either way this is a bad situation and I hope you have good luck with resolving it.

Most people have no issue with pro-rating a tire, but a roof is more subjective. There is no accepted standard of wear or service life for a fiberglass RV roof.  I wouldn't be surprised if the adjuster applied a generic age factor that encompasses EPDM and TPO roofs as well as fiberglass. EPDM material is warranted for 10 years, so that might be considered its useful life. Fiberglass is should be a different story.  You might try to question the insurer about roof types and age factors. I'm not optimistic it would work, but it's worth a try.

Interesting that you mention this.When I asked for a case  review the person I spoke with condescendingly explained to me that Rubber roofs have a limited life span,I let him go on until he was done,then I mentioned to him this is a Fiberglass Roof and if he really had looked at the Pictures as he claimed he had,that he might have noticed that fact.My concern was for the cracked and broken area in the center of the piece. Hmmm.
It was obvious he had no clue and was just "Managing the situation".
Does anyone have a good RV insurance company they can recommend based on personal experience?

I was very surprised at the construction of the roof to wall joint.It has no mechanical fastening system,just a bead of RTV like sealant.I used a roof sealer called White seal by Lanco at least 4 times since I bought this RV.The seal had never failed but even with a 10 year warranty it had turned dark with mildew so I washed it with dilute bleach water and repainted the entire perimeter and cap ends. But to my surprise the roof skin overlaps and is held in place only by the awning rail and RTV.
WIT Club News OCT/Nov 2010 has a service tip drawing of the joint.Also the roof skin is not continuously glued down, just randomly applied adhesive.Really? Is this the best way to do this?

Cheechwizard said:

I was very surprised at the construction of the roof to wall joint.It has no mechanical fastening system,just a bead of RTV like sealant.I used a roof sealer called White seal by Lanco at least 4 times since I bought this RV.The seal had never failed but even with a 10 year warranty it had turned dark with mildew so I washed it with dilute bleach water and repainted the entire perimeter and cap ends. But to my surprise the roof skin overlaps and is held in place only by the awning rail and RTV.
WIT Club News OCT/Nov 2010 has a service tip drawing of the joint.Also the roof skin is not continuously glued down, just randomly applied adhesive.Really? Is this the best way to do this?

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Certainly not the best way to build the roof. It is hard to imagine they would choose to do it that way, if they cared about their reputation. And their customers.

Cheechwizard said:

....Also the roof skin is not continuously glued down, just randomly applied adhesive.Really? Is this the best way to do this?

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Really?  That's news to me.  Winnebago is very specific about inspecting the roof to sidewall joint every six months and they are very specific about the sealant to be used.

You never did mention if your roof skin lifted up at the roof to to sidewall joint.

I am sure they apply adhesive to the entire roof and then seal it in a press

http://youtu.be/b-pC9IZazZI?t=9m54s
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This is a U Tube factory tour of Winnebago showing the install of the roof and sidewall joint.Also starts with the bonding process of the walls and roof.When I lifted the fiberglass skin of the roof it was not a continuous bond,if it was I see no way it could have lifted.This process may have been changed since 1997.It does not show how the adhesive is laid down on the part.
I used a wooden Spatula to reset the fiberglass skin back into the groove formed by the Awning rail.Seems like they do the same thing at the factory.I bought the RV used  in San Diego [2001] and picked it up in Yuma Arizona,they just waved bye bye.They did show me how everything worked but seals were not part of that.

Yes John,it lifted completely out of the groove from the front cap to the rear cap I had to loosen some screws at the cap to get the end of the roof skin back in place.I tried to reduce the photos down in resolution but Paint did not cooperate with me,sorry.