[Bailey'sMom]

Originally Posted by Bill

I'm with you at least part way.

Why would I surrender the title? The insurance company has no ownership rights to the trailer. They simply agreed to pay up to a certain maximum amount in the event of damage, and when they pay that, they have met their obligation. The insurance company has no further responsibility or involvement.

Please clarify - agrees to accept a lesser amount than what? If less than the amount of the damage, then I agree with you. The insurance company pays, I retain, end of story. (If you meant less than the policy coverage, then I don't agree, but I don't think you meant that.) Assuming I agree to accept a lesser amount than the amount of the damage, and I retain the item, then nothing should happen to the title. And that includes the insurance company calling DMV.

Why does the insurance company want (or have right to) ownership? I agree that this is where the problem occurs.

But how does this help if DMV alters the official title of record? As soon as the new owner submits the paper title you gave him, DMV will spot the discrepancy, and the nastiness begins.

You are certainly correct in saying that things are different in different states. And I'm not even close to understanding all of it. But some of this seems like core issues, and I feel like there is something basic that I am not understanding.

Bill

If the camper is totalled and you don't buy it back...then it is owned by the insurance company. They paid you full value for it.

If you buy it back, you own it and you get new title with brand.

If you completely repair at a repair shop, you should be able to get brand modified if it passes whatever inspection is necessary in your state. Again remember the reason for the branded title is because of the percentage of damage. Even after repair Its never as good as new, thus less valuable. Remember, value only matters when you go to sell. If you are keeping it for years it doesn't matter.

Think about this....what something is worth to you is vastly different than what KBB or NADA say something is worth. Insurance company doesn't care that you just put in a new $500 toilet a week ago, and redid the flooring, and painted it and made it the best camper ever...that is not in blue book so it doesn't count. That is why it sucks so bad when an accident or weather damage occurs and it's not your fault. You will never get what it's worth to you.

This is also why you never want to have a loan on your camper or your car (I know, in an ideal world) because then you have even less control over the situation. In those instances the bank will control a lot of what happens. Or you end up owing them significantly more after it's totaled because you had a high deductible and or it was underwater when you took out the loan or the insurance company Just didn't pay as much as you think it's worth.

A Great example is hail damage. If you have a loan on your vehicle and there's hail damage your choices will be to get it repaired or to put that money down on the loan and not advance the due date. You can't just pocket the money. The reason is because if you don't fix it that vehicle value has decreased and therefore the lender will require that money to pay down the loan.




I don't know how many states require inspection of a pull behind camper. Wisconsin doesn't. So would they know if you fixed the damage and are using it? No. But then again it has to be registered each year to get sticker for plates, so maybe they would red flag it at that point.

Best thing as I said before is to call your state and find out your options before deciding whether to buy it back.