How Bad Is It?

[HelpMeLOL]

2021 Forest River Wildwood X-Lite 273QBXL
So, I was driving home today and came around this tight curve — there’s a rock wall on the passenger side and the road climbs pretty steeply there. You’ve got to be careful because if you get too close, you’ll scrape the wall, but if you drift out too far, you risk crossing into the oncoming lane — and you never know when a car might come flying over the top.

I’ve taken that route plenty of times without a problem, but today a car came flying over the top out of nowhere. I had to make a split-second decision — either hit him head-on or rub the rock wall. I chose the wall. I ended up scraping the side of my trailer pretty good. I’m not sure yet how bad the damage is. Any thoughts?

 

[TheBar]

I hope you have insurance and can find someone willing to repair it properly.

 

[Isaac-1]

Its hard to tell much here from the photos, for example you may just need a new Suburban water heater cover panel circa $60 online, or you may need an entire new water heater also about $400-$500. I assume the awning itself is ok, and you just need new power arms, call that $750-$900 A new trailer entry door will be $500-$900, then there is the siding which should be fairly cheap, of course then comes the labor, painting to match, etc. which is where the real money tends to be, all total my ballpark guess, and it is a BIG ball park $6,500-$9,500 out the door from an independent RV repair shop, but that is really a seat of the pants guess.

 

[HelpMeLOL]

Thanks for everyone’s responses — this site is a lifesaver. My biggest concern right now is the exposed wood around the water heater compartment. It was raining, and I had to drive home with it like that. I’m fairly sure the water heater is toast. The awning is toast as well, and the door’s shot too. It won’t even stay shut properly, and when I try to open it, I have to pry it with a hammer.

It was such a great camping trip, too. Wood is exposed in other areas, the floor looks damaged, and a couple of studs appear to be compromised. Thankfully, I have good insurance on it. I’ve replayed it a thousand times in my head, wondering if there was something I could have done differently—but I really don’t think there was. It was a split-second decision: hit him head-on or trash the trailer.

It all sucks. And of course, that guy took off.

 

[Rene T]

I would call the insurance company today and explained what happened, they’ll send out an adjuster to look at it. I had a trailer that was rear ended on the passenger side. The adjuster said the whole side had shifted forward an inch or so and that was what totaled it. An adjuster knows where to look.

 

[whiteva]

I am so sorry this happened. You will now have to put up with the aggravation that goes along with trying to recover from damage caused by a careless driver. That much damage may result in a total loss. Glad there were no physical injures.

BTW, I advise everyone to have a dash cam. Makes it easy for the police & insurance company to see what happened. Front and rear if possible.

 

[Martian]

The upside to all your issues is that you will know more about your unit than you ever expected to. None of that looks structural but there is sure a lot of cosmetic and r and r work to be done.
You state that the other driver took off. In what way would his stopping have helped being that the incident was all about your hitting the rocks. Did your vehicle contact the other car? You say you had to avoid a head on collision. Which of you was in the wrong lane?

 

[richclover]

BTW, I advise everyone to have a dash cam. Makes it easy for the police & insurance company to see what happened.

Maybe, maybe not. I was recently hit by a driver who came through the stop sign at a “T” intersection and drove right into my left rear bumper. Very minor scratches on my bumper, but crunched the other SUV right front fender pretty good. A fender bender, no injuries. No claim from me. The responding officer, local city police, agreed that the other driver was at fault, but declined to issue a citation because he didn’t know if the stop sign was “run”. I pointed out my dash cam and was told that he couldn’t use it. I didn’t ask why. As always, YMMV.

An insurance investigator will likely see it differently.

OTOH, should I unfortunately cause a problem, that dash cam will instantly disappear

 

[Mark_K5LXP]

I don't know what your long term plans are or what you have into this camper but one option might be to just patch it up and go camping. If insurance covers it you can go down that road. But if not you are faced with repairs costing a lot of money and personal time just to get back to where you were. Maybe just make it functional, and go camping. At least get some use out of the thing before you trade out of it. I bought a popup that at some point in it's life parted ways with the tow vehicle and encountered a fixed object. There was no way that trailer would ever look original again so why try. I welded up the bent tongue, fixed up the fractured framing, replaced the section of damaged skin with sheet PVC, and went camping. These aren't heirlooms or collector items, they're a schlupped together plywood box that facilitates sleeping off the ground and out of the rain. So with the idea the cosmetic ship has sailed maybe be OK with getting the intended use out of the thing and not locking in loss up front.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

 

[HelpMeLOL]

I would call the insurance company today and explained what happened, they’ll send out an adjuster to look at it. I had a trailer that was rear ended on the passenger side. The adjuster said the whole side had shifted forward an inch or so and that was what totaled it. An adjuster knows where to look.

I'll probably call tomorrow. Gotta get my Hensley Hitch off first—no way that's going with the trailer. It's raining today, but I'll call as soon as I can.

 

[HelpMeLOL]

I am so sorry this happened. You will now have to put up with the aggravation that goes along with trying to recover from damage caused by a careless driver. That much damage may result in a total loss. Glad there were no physical injures.

BTW, I advise everyone to have a dash cam. Makes it easy for the police & insurance company to see what happened. Front and rear if possible.

I spent several hours last night researching this, and from everything I've read, it's a total loss. Just the fact that there's exposed wood that got wet is a huge issue. The wood soaks up water, expands, and causes all kinds of other problems down the line. Plus, the water heater's toast, the awning's done, and obviously the siding. The actual cash value is only around $18K, and in Missouri, if repairs hit 80% or so of that, it's totaled.

 

[HelpMeLOL]

You're right that I'm getting an education I didn't ask for. I should clarify though—while there's definitely cosmetic damage, it's also structural. The exposed wood soaked up water, and once that happens, it expands and compromises the integrity of the structure. Add in the water damage around the water heater and the fact that the water heater itself is toast, and you're looking at some serious structural issues beyond just cosmetic fixes. That's why everything I've researched points to this being a total loss. In Missouri, once repairs hit around 80% of the actual cash value, it's totaled—and with this kind of structural damage, we're well past that.
As for the other driver, no, there was no contact between our vehicles. I was in my lane when he came into mine head-on after speeding over a hill recklessly. I had to swerve to avoid a head-on collision, which put me into the rocks. So yeah, the damage was from hitting the rocks, but it was caused by him being reckless and forcing me off the road. If he'd stopped, I could have at least gotten a proper police report, even if it ended up being determined a no-fault accident. But I'm pretty sure he didn't stop because either he didn't realize what he'd caused, or he thought, "There was no contact—I'm getting out of here." Honestly, that's probably what I would've done too. I mean, what actually caused it would just be a he said, she said situation anyway.

 

[HelpMeLOL]

Maybe, maybe not. I was recently hit by a driver who came through the stop sign at a “T” intersection and drove right into my left rear bumper. Very minor scratches on my bumper, but crunched the other SUV right front fender pretty good. A fender bender, no injuries. No claim from me. The responding officer, local city police, agreed that the other driver was at fault, but declined to issue a citation because he didn’t know if the stop sign was “run”. I pointed out my dash cam and was told that he couldn’t use it. I didn’t ask why. As always, YMMV.

An insurance investigator will likely see it differently.

OTOH, should I unfortunately cause a problem, that dash cam will instantly disappear

Ran him off the road today,
Dashcam fell in the bay.
SD card? Lost in the fray.
Officer, what'd you say?
There was an accident? No way.

LOLOLOL!

 

[HelpMeLOL]

I don't know what your long term plans are or what you have into this camper but one option might be to just patch it up and go camping. If insurance covers it you can go down that road. But if not you are faced with repairs costing a lot of money and personal time just to get back to where you were. Maybe just make it functional, and go camping. At least get some use out of the thing before you trade out of it. I bought a popup that at some point in it's life parted ways with the tow vehicle and encountered a fixed object. There was no way that trailer would ever look original again so why try. I welded up the bent tongue, fixed up the fractured framing, replaced the section of damaged skin with sheet PVC, and went camping. These aren't heirlooms or collector items, they're a schlupped together plywood box that facilitates sleeping off the ground and out of the rain. So with the idea the cosmetic ship has sailed maybe be OK with getting the intended use out of the thing and not locking in loss up front.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

I appreciate the perspective, and you're absolutely right that these aren't heirlooms. If I'd bought a used, cheap camper, I'd be all over the patch-and-go approach—just get it functional and keep camping. But here's the thing: I still owe money on this camper, so I need to keep it in as good a condition as possible. Plus, I'd like to be able to trade it one day, and this event will probably make that difficult if not impossible. Bottom line—I purchased a new camper in 2021 because I wanted a nice camper. If insurance covers it, great. If not, I'm faced with either eating the loss on what should still be a decent asset or dumping more money into something that'll never be right. I get the pragmatic approach, and I respect it, but when you're still making payments on something you bought new, "functional camping box" just hits different, you know?

 

[Kirk]

Good luck with your insurance company. I agree with the others that its the first place you need to go. Let us know what happens next.

 

[HelpMeLOL]

Good luck with your insurance company. I agree with the others that its the first place you need to go. Let us know what happens next.

I definitely will! Oh...USS Lake Champlain (CG-57) 1993 to 1991 (in the Navy from 91 to 97 - Two Years of ET School).

 

[Arch Hoagland]

OP said "Two Years of ET School"

Went through ET A school in 1963 and it was 38 weeks at Great Lakes.

Tell me more.

 

[HelpMeLOL]

OP said "Two Years of ET School"

Went through ET A school in 1963 and it was 38 weeks at Great Lakes.

Tell me more.

I forget exactly how many weeks it was. Thirty-eight or so sounds about right. I went through in 1991/1992. I went to bootcamp in Orlando, and the first phase of ET school was there. Seems like it was a couple of months. We learned a lot of very basic stuff. Then on to Great Mistakes for the rest. I remember the radar school the best...having to troubleshoot that thing. I got really lucky and found the resister hanging out...lol. Then I did my C school in San Diego...I got NAVMACS v3...it was like...3 months if I remember right. Then on to the "The Champ". I have to say, I was not much of an ET. I know I broke WAY more stuff than I ever fixed. And, when I left the boat in '97...I still had no clue what NAVMACS did! LOL. The first problem was, it was a totally different version than the one I learned in C school. The second problem was, the equipment in C school was all in one room, it was spread all over **** and back on the ship and some of it was in the crypto room. Meh...at least I was good at soldering - when I wasn't hung over.

 

[Arch Hoagland]

I thought the boot camp in Orlando was for Waves only. Am I correct?

 

[whiteva]

OTOH, should I unfortunately cause a problem, that dash cam will instantly disappear

I thought that was what the "format disk" function was for!