So I joke a lot about doing well every time one of my vehicles get hit with hail, but this time I may have hit the jackpot. My travel trailer was hit with a really big storm this August and my insurance company has declared it a total loss. Interestingly because this travel trailer is insured under my property insurance and NOT my auto insurance, they are replacing it with brand new and not paying me the depreciated value. I hadn't realized it would work like this when I started my claim, but I've clarified with both my trusted broker and the claims rep from the insurance company.
Just to get this out of the way, yes I could keep the trailer, fix the portion of the damage that effect weather-tightness and pocket a cheque from the insurance company. This was honestly how I anticipated this going. In this case I'm entitled to the difference between the trailer value and the trailer "salvage" value, which works out to around $5500. That's a good deal.
However, for a replacement, they will pay me the full value of the trailer before it was damaged PLUS any additional amount up to the cost of the brand new trailer of "similar like, kind and quality" as long as I actually buy that brand new trailer. So that value is for round numbers $34,000. This is a better deal.
So step 1 is to get a quote for what a brand new "as-close-as-possible" replacement would be worth. I've done that, the insurance company has accepted that quote, so that's the $34,000 value that I'm working with.
Must-have features:
- Under 31 feet bumper to ball (I have one spot I visit regularly that is quite short and this is not negotiable).
- Bunkhouse layout
- Under 9000 lbs Gross weight (this seems to be no problem, but thought I'd mention it)
Nice-to have features
- "true" 60x80 queen master bed.
- U-shaped dinette
- lots of kitchen storage
- Wife would love the bathroom sink outside the bathroom like our current trailer, but that seems not to be a thing anymore. Helps when kids are brushing teeth for bed.
Outside sink/kitchen
- "quality" components, although most seem to be built the same way to the same somewhat low standard. In the end anything new will be fine I'm sure.
Don't care about
- TV. (I'd probably remove it if one came standard anyway. Like fuck I want my kids watching tv when we are camping.)
I never in a million years thought I'd be buying a brand new trailer. So I don't keep up on reputations, features, reliability or anything like that. Some of you guys know a lot more about it than me. Have been comparing everything to Jayco because that's what I have now and they seem fine and not the cheapest, which would scare me.
Models under consideration below: