Progressive Insurance? Beware Of Exclusions!

[Mr. & Mrs. G]

Thought I would share my recent experience with Progressive insurance in hopes it can be of benefit to others. I will try to relate the story in the short form. My Reflection 337RLS is about 1 year 5 months old and has damage to the roof membrane from birds. I called Progressive and they said bird damage is covered so I filed a claim. Adjuster calls me to ask questions and says she needs to record conversation and asks if it's ok. After asking questions and establishing time line she informs me there is an exclusion in the policy that may apply.

From the policy,

" 13. caused by insects, birds, or other animals, including rodents and other types of vermin, while the vehicle is unoccupied and has been so for more than two weeks;"

So basically, I had just returned from a 27 day road trip, not in my 337. Two days later I brought my 5th wheel to my house to wash it and discovered the damage. Since it had been more than twp weeks since I could definitively say I saw the roof undamaged, they could exclude the claim.

Estimator comes to my house. Confers with a colleague and decides trailer needs to have the roof replaced. His supervisor approves the estimate. Estimate is sent to adjuster. Her supervisor decides they will cover the claim but, will not pay for roof replacement but instead will pay for patch and repair. There are at least nine damaged areas where the roof membrane would need to be patched. Repair shop won't even do the "patch and repair" because it is not a proper repair. Progressive takes hard line position and will only pay reduced estimate. They also convey they are doing me a favor because they could exclude the entire claim.

So the lesson here, if you have Progressive insurance make sure you "occupy" your RV at least every two weeks and inspect your roof while doing so....

Hope this information is useful to someone.......

Erick

[Aridon]

Just so you know, this exclusion is pretty standard and you'll see it in just about any type of insurance policy that has physical damage coverage for owned property. Especially on an RV policy with full replacement value.

Most, if not all companies are going to have a use clause for damage due to animals and in general damage that goes unnoticed or dis-repaired. The reason is the damage animals cause can be devastating, especially if it is allowed to remain without removal / repair. Vermin and bugs are generally considered infestation and usually not covered from the get go for most policies.

Same with damage that is not repaired or noticed from any source. Which would of happened had it rained and you had not noticed the damage. You can file this under the same category of leaving your house, having a water loss and not coming back for 3 months. The amount of damage and remediation involved between someone living in the house and finding a leak vs that leak happening over weeks or months isn't comparable.

That is where the insurance company is coming from on this. Really any festering damage an RV owner has on their RV that is in storage or forgotten about for significant time will likely have have claim problems. Birds, water, etc doesn't matter. So that means people should be checking on their units every so often or run the risk of issues.

Now they aren't denying your claim, they are paying the claim. Since the time frame is really close I'm not surprised they are paying it. So let us move on to that.

Please post some pictures of the damage. Generally speaking, insurance companies are not into half ****** repairs. They are on the hook if that patch leaks or causes further damage because the next step will be removing the membrane and replacing it. The original repairs are sunk cost. They usually don't want to deal with that so if it is even remotely likely they will have issues with it down the road they'll replace.

The shop wanting to do a new roof isn't exactly surprising. Insurance is paying so why not? I'd like to see pictures to see if a new roof is really necessary. My guess is patches would be perfectly fine.

[Country Campers]

Why we pay insurance? Because we think someday we will use it and if financed it is required.
Why insurance companies accept our payments? Because it is free money to them and they will somehow figure out a way to keep it, even if it is not in the fine print.

Brian

[Mr. & Mrs. G]

Just so you know, this exclusion is pretty standard and you'll see it in just about any type of insurance policy that has physical damage coverage for owned property. Especially on an RV policy with full replacement value.

Most, if not all companies are going to have a use clause for damage due to animals and in general damage that goes unnoticed or dis-repaired. The reason is the damage animals cause can be devastating, especially if it is allowed to remain without removal / repair. Vermin and bugs are generally considered infestation and usually not covered from the get go for most policies.

Same with damage that is not repaired or noticed from any source. Which would of happened had it rained and you had not noticed the damage. You can file this under the same category of leaving your house, having a water loss and not coming back for 3 months. The amount of damage and remediation involved between someone living in the house and finding a leak vs that leak happening over weeks or months isn't comparable.

That is where the insurance company is coming from on this. Really any festering damage an RV owner has on their RV that is in storage or forgotten about for significant time will likely have have claim problems. Birds, water, etc doesn't matter. So that means people should be checking on their units every so often or run the risk of issues.

Now they aren't denying your claim, they are paying the claim. Since the time frame is really close I'm not surprised they are paying it. So let us move on to that.

Please post some pictures of the damage. Generally speaking, insurance companies are not into half ****** repairs. They are on the hook if that patch leaks or causes further damage because the next step will be removing the membrane and replacing it. The original repairs are sunk cost. They usually don't want to deal with that so if it is even remotely likely they will have issues with it down the road they'll replace.

The shop wanting to do a new roof isn't exactly surprising. Insurance is paying so why not? I'd like to see pictures to see if a new roof is really necessary. My guess is patches would be perfectly fine.

First of all, thanks for taking the time to reply to my post. The reason for the post was to draw attention to the exclusion in the policy for those who might not be aware of it. As you mentioned, people storing their RVs need to know to check on them. Now the exclusion I referenced states "occupy". Does checking on the RV count as occupy?? And is 2 weeks reasonable? Do most RV owners occupy their RV at least every 2 weeks?

As to replacing the membrane vs repairing. When the Progressive estimator did the estimate, he and his colleague both agreed the membrane needed to be replaced. He actually explained to me that if they did a repair(s) and it leaked they would then be responsible for that damage. Also noteworthy is that there are at least nine areas on the roof that would need to be patched/repaired. The estimators supervisor agreed and approved the estimate. The adjuster also agreed until her supervisor decided that tho they would cover the claim, he would reduce the estimate to patch/repair only.

I have a friend who is a master RV tech at a manufacturer's repair facility (not Grand Design) He also agrees the best way to repair the roof is to replace it and a patch/repair will be only temporary and require more roof maintenance.

I have shared this information on a different RV owners forum as well. A few of the members that replied have checked their own policy documents. Some have the exclusion and some don't. So again my point is to share this information with those who aren't aware. Maybe prompt some people to check their own policies so they are better informed.

I do have some pics and will post them shortly. Again, thanks for your reply.......

[Mr. & Mrs. G]

Here are some pics. Damage along the front cap and rear termination...

[Mr. & Mrs. G]

And there about 7 or 8 of these along the side edges....

[tmrut5]

And there about 7 or 8 of these along the side edges....

That is a bummer. I know replacing the roof would be ideal, and this is just my own opinion. I got some similar holes from a low tree branch on the edge near the rear. I used 3" wide eternabond tape and it did a great job covering. That stuff is thick and sticky and will last 15 years, so they claim. The caulking can be redone. Actually on my rear caulking seam I put a 6"strip of eternabond tape right over the caulking all the way across the rear. The caulking had some pin holes and I just used the eternabond tape to seal. I think it does a much better job then the caulking, and now I won't have to worry about caulking that section again. Hope you get this solved to your satisfaction

[Aridon]

Checking every two weeks is fine and satisfies the requirement.

Interesting damage.

I'd be fine with a patch from what I see. I've patched worse myself. Some eternabond and you'd be just fine.

[Bob/OlallaWA]

Thank you for the good information. Now for the repair, let them patch it up and if it goes bad, turn in another claim for replacement as the patching didn't work.

[JCZhome]

Have you thought about getting letters of recommendation from the professionals (your original recommendation and your friend that is a Master Tech.) and give an attorney $100 to write a letter to your insurance company to include the letters of recommendation from the professionals? The insurance company adjusters are just that and not considered "professional witness" in court where as your "professionals" are just that (they make their living doing what they do on a daily basis). At that point I would be surprised if the insurance company didn't cough and give you the new roof.

On another note....you need a new roof. Even it it turns out that the insurance company is only willing to do a patch and repair, I would seriously consider taking that money and putting it towards an RV Armor roof...... https://rv-armor.com/index.html?gcli...xoCS68QAvD_BwE

You can google RV Armor Reviews. This roof is guaranteed for life and the warranty is transferable when you sale your rig (adding value). They come to you and it takes two days....so you don't have to be without your rig for weeks or months. Under the warranty, down the road, if you should need a warranty repair, they come to you again. It is a maintenance free roof....no more sealant checks every six months!

Full disclosure....I have no connection to RV Armor but I do believe it's a valuable product that stands alone (kind of like disc brakes!). As a Level 2 RV Inspector certified by NRVIA, I have access to a fb group that only inspectors have access to and I can tell you that many inspectors feel the same way that I do about RV Armor and a number of them have had that roof put on their own RV. I am considering paying out of pocket to get it put on my 2017 Momentum and I am far from needing a new roof.