My RV was a total loss

Back in October of 2024, Hurricane Helene flooded my campground in Banner Elk, North Carolina.

(I thought hurricanes were supposed to stay in Florida and along the Gulf Coast.)

Water reached the top of the steps but didn't get inside my motorhome, so I didn't think there was a lot of damage.

Below is a picture I took standing inside the door of the RV after the water had gone down a lot. (I couldn't get outside to take a picture.)

After not having electricity or water in the campground for three weeks, I drove my motorhome to Florida and camped for a month. Then, I decided to leave it with a consignment company and let them sell it for me.

They inspected the motorhome and said some things needed to be fixed before listing it for sale. They said that after the repairs were made, they would list it at $10,000 and expect to sell it for about $8,000. They would take a $2,000 commission. That would leave me with $6,000.

But out of that $6,000, I would have to pay them to do the repairs at the rate of $195/hour, which could quickly come out to be more than the $6,000. The consignment company offered me $2,000 for the motorhome as-is.

Things were not looking good

They said that insurance might pay for some of the repairs. An adjustor came out and looked and decided the damage was $1,750, and since I had a $750 deductible, they would pay me $1,000. That wasn't sounding much better.

Then, more damage was discovered than originally thought. A second insurance adjustor inspected the RV and determined that water had entered the engine and transmission. He calculated that repairing it would cost $22,000, so he declared it a total loss.

Here's where things started to get better

During COVID, when used RV prices went up a lot, I changed my insurance to an agreed-on value type policy with an agreed-on value of $25,000.

My insurance cost went up a little, but I was going to change it back to the standard policy (where the insurance company would determine the fair market value at the time of the loss). I was going to make the change as soon as the prices of used RVs came back down. However, I never got around to doing it. Sometimes, procrastination pays.

This has been a good week

To make a long story short (and it was a long story trying to resolve all of this with me in Costa Rica), the insurance company paid me $25,092.25 this week. I guess the extra $92.25 was for interest from the time of the loss. They didn't take the $750 deductible from the payment either.

I bought the motorhome 13 years ago for $ 27,500 and have enjoyed traveling and living the RV lifestyle for the past 13 years. I made some improvements to the RV during those 13 years. I installed a washer/dryer combo, laminated hardwood flooring, a lithium-ion battery system, a steering stabilizer, and a few other things.

Bottom line: Getting rid of my motorhome was like saying goodbye to an old friend. I had 13 years of a wonderful life living and traveling in my RV. Now, I'm off on another adventure in Costa Rica. I'm glad I had the agreed-on value insurance clause in my policy, even though it cost me a little more for the years I had it.