lost rear wheel on freeway My insurance nightmare

[dig255]

Started out for a fun time at Glamis with the quads April 14 2017 coming from Chatsworth CA. I had purchased 2 new BFG KO2 for the rear of the van, the day before, drove it home from tire shop 2 miles hitched the trailer packed and on my way. Well exactly 99 miles from the shop I had all 8 lugs shear off the left rear right at the Calimesa rest stop off the 10. Luckily the CHP guy got the
separated wheel about a mile up the road, and luckily it didn't hit anyone and I didn't swerve and hit some one. Luckily I was only going about 35 MPH in the slow lane in traffic. amazing on a packed frwy that the wheel didn't hit anyone it took some 50 feet in the air bounces.
Well I called the tire shop immediately and of course they went defensive saying they always torque the nuts bye two different people as a precaution.
Luckily my AAA RV towing got me home for free but I had to have my son come get the trailer they wouldn't tow.
the tire shop owner came and saw the damage and he said he would take care of it himself, well when his body shop guy told him what it would coast to fix he then turned it over to his insurance company Liberty Mutual about 30K, same as my guy quoted and insurance co. so that's the number we started at. that breaks down to 12K for SM to take the interior out and put it back in with NEW cabinets but same layout, and about 17K for the body shop. The body shop is going to replace the whole left side of the van from drivers door to the rear doors, and had to remove interior to do the metal work and they don't do interiors, so that's why SM had to remove the interior.
The owner did give me $2k cash to fix mechanical work, new disk with new studs and back plate, bearings and break parts. did the work myself.
well it took all this time to get the insurance to come around. at first they wanted to total a 2012 E350 van with 85K miles on it and only give me 15K, so I had to prove that I bought a SM RV not just a van. Thanks SM for help with that. Thanks Peter Del Toro for agreeing to to do rework of interior, this is normally not what they get involved with.
Well I thought I had everything straitened out and set to go. took it to SM November 15 took three days to remove interior. Took it to the body shop on the 20th prepared for the 45 to 90 days to fix it. After three weeks of not hearing I went to check on progress and found my van had not been worked on except to remove rear bumper, left rear tail light, and rock slider bars. WTF!!! there excuse was that insurance company had called them and told them not to do the work, that they were going to total the van. But shop or insurance never called me to tell me whats going on. It was true insurance did do that, they gave my claim to another adjuster and he made that call.
Got that straitened out the same day, and shop was told to resume work.
Was very upset that body shop didn't call they said that was insurance co responsibility. went back to body shop a week later and still no movement parts not ordered. body shop explains there busy and I have to wait to get my van back in production line, could be a couple more weeks. I LOST IT and told the owner he better get started right away, HE said he didn't like my attitude and wasn't going to work on my van. Wanted me to take it as is. well I told him I would take it but he had to put the safety equipment back on can't drive around with out brake lights and a bumper. took him 2 days to do that. DO NOT USE SCHIRO'S A/B IN Chatsworth.
so its a couple of days before Christmas I get my Van back still damaged and now the interior is ripped out and not very usable and now looking for another body shop. It is hard to find a shop with a big enough paint both for our lifted vans and one that wants to take on such a complicated job.
Had to have the insurance co. get the money they paid Schiro's and issue me the check, Schiro's tried to bill ins co for the parts they ordered but i told the ins co they never ordered any parts and in the end got all my money from them, they didn't get a dime.
Well at this time I have a new shop and they are locating a side panel and then work will begin hopefully next week.
Sorry for the long sad story.
so yes it will get fixed but man what a hassle!

[dig255]

The GOOD

The BAD

The UGLY

[dig255]

What it used to look like

The inside damage to floor and side panel

[86Scotty]

Ugh.


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[arctictraveller]

Holy crap, what a friggin nightmare. My take away here is CHECK THOSE DAMN LUG NUTS OFTEN It would be lovely if somehow you ended up with something better than what you started with, good luck.

[BrianW]

Wow, another loose lug story. Can’t believe this has happened to so many in the Forum.

[marret]

Yeah, wow. Another one and a saga to get it fixed. Hope you have smooth sailing going forward.

[Twoxentrix]

Originally Posted by BrianW

Wow, another loose lug story. Can’t believe this has happened to so many in the Forum.

I'm with you on that! I felt like an idiot when my wheel fell off after an oil change a month ago. I was already aware that this isnt an uncommon issue (from several similar Forum posts I've read over the last 2 years). My initial reaction of being pissed-off just after it happened was immediately followed by overwhelming disappointment in myself for not checking them before leaving.
Have to say I am surprised most of these incidents (including mine) didnt seem to involve another vehicle - fortunatly for all!
Dig255 - Sounds like you've endured enough, Hope the rest goes smoothly!

[wanderers]

Another wow. I would sure hate to be without my van for that long. I hope you're back on the road soon.

[mikracer]

Hope you can get it back together asap, DIG.

On another note, we set off for a camping trip last weekend to San Diego. Just bought a little tent trailer and taking it on its maiden voyage. Before I left, I made sure to check the lug nuts on the van and the trailer and it was a good thing I did. Some of the lug nuts on the front took several turns and most took at least a half turn with the torque wrench.