Hey fellow dream livers,

I thought I would write this post and add some pictures and show what kind of damage a little debris can do.

We we had left St. Lawrence south of Sarina in Queensland heading north to eventually get to a house sit in the beautiful Atherton Tablelands at a place called Peeramon just out of Malanda, when we came around a corner on the Bruce Highway about 20klms south of Sarina where we ran over some debris on the road. It looked like pieces off of a truck mudguard or a caravan ( I would guess a truck) as there was plastic and rubber all over the place, and bang smack in the middle was a piece of checker plate about 500mm x 200mm (roughly guessed from sight). Now as we all know it is almost impossible to swerve with the van on the back without any notice. As we passed over this mess I looked in the rear mirrors and did not see the checker plate on the road but everything felt fine and I could see no visible damage so I kept going until we got to Sarina.

The boss wanted to do some shopping so she headed off and to kill some time I thought I would give the van the once over to double check all was well. There was no damage to the running gear or tires e.t.c. I went to open the door and check inside and it stuck a little but opened and all inside was well. When I went to close the door it wouldn't shut no matter how hard I tried. I looked underneath and the piece that comes down from the side and goes under the door and back up to the wheel channel was bent right up to the floor and the timber was shattered and splintered. I managed to get the door shut but not so as I would say it was secured, and we drove on to Bowen for our first house sit on the way to the Tablelands. While driving there my lovely lady Jules rang the insurance company (R.A.C.Q) and explained what was wrong and then she put the phone on hands free so I could translate to the insurance guy. He told us to get a quote locally and mentioned a place in Airlie Beach to get a quote done. Now we used to live in Airlie, that is where we started our life on the road from 2 1/2 years ago and we know this repairer and I would rather spend Christmas with my 90 year old mother in-law while sawing my arms off with a blunt knife than trust this guy to fix my van. He is as straight as a bend in the road, so R.A.C.Q sent us to Townsville where we proceeded to get a quote done.

After a week and a half waiting we went in to the local R.A.C.Q office to see what was happening and ended up talking to a guy in Toowoomba 1300klms away as the local assessor was away on holidays and wouldn't be back until the end of the week. Now don't fall off you chair reading this as I did, but the insurance assessor asked us if we knew how much the repair bill was, we answered that we thought a new door would be needed plus repairs about $3 to $4,000. Get this....$13,000 to $14,000, the quote was to replace the whole side of the van as a fresh crack had appeared above the door. They approved the quote and then we went to take the van in and the guy said next Monday so luckily we found a house sit in Townsville to keep a roof over our heads. I rang him on the Friday to check that Monday was still good and get this.... he forgot to pencil us in the book and had taken on other work. Well fellow travellers, needless to say I was spitting nails and before I could say ffffff...ffff....friggin` fair go mate , I thought, keep your cool mate, work it out. We came to an agreement and it went in on the Tuesday. They got the damage assessment right because when they pulled the side sheeting off the door frame timber was cracked and broken which caused the middle of the van to sag as the structual timber was damaged too. Also the front stabilizer leg was slightly bent therefore unable to lower down.

Our house owners decided to come home a week early, which really helped us but good old R.A.C.Q will pay for a weeks accommodation. We are now on the Tablelands just starting a 2 week house sit, the repairers have had the van for 3 weeks now and still have not finished our van but have promised it will be done by the time we get back.....hopefully.

Our current house owners rang from Cairns airport and said a Typhoon was off the coast of Japan where they were heading and that their flight might be cancelled. This time friggin` hell didn't pass my lips but another 'F' word, but these good folks said if it was cancelled they would come home and repack and do a 2 week road trip, but their flight left ok and they got there fine.....thankfully.

To cut a long story a little shorter, if you run over something on the road, stop and check for damage because you never know what has been done until you check.

Stay safe travellers and keep a spot by the camp fire for me and the missus.

Cheers

Dave & Jules

P.S;

A big thank you to R.A.C.Q Insurance for coming through and getting the van repaired. It is our home and we didn't want to lose her so once again thank you.

Thanks,

it is our home so of course we were worried, but the repairers seem to be doing a great job.

Back on the road in a week and a half.

Hahaha Jeff, yes bugger did come out a couple of times.

Appreciate the kind words.

Dave

Dave I have never used them myself (I am in WA) however I have heard very good reports of Caboolture Caravan Repairs (in Caboolture) who have a lot of experience in repairing all types of vans.   Google them for their contact details and website if you wish.

Hope you get you repairs finished off ok and happy travels.  

Thanks for asking Delta18,

No we were not happy with the final results, it looked like a blind man put it all together. The joins in the paneling had not been cleaned or joined correctly, our new door sticks, there is silicone everywhere where the guy just wiped his fingers on the side of the van. Trims have not been put on properly or straight and the bottom trim that was quoted to be replaced was our old one straightened out. LED outdoor light was put on upside down and there is loads more. To top it all off the next day I went to pull the wheels off to put new electric brake assy's in and found that the repaired side wheels had all the lug nuts on both wheels loose. They forgot to tighten them up. Oh, and they broke a window when re-fitting so replaced it with a plastic bubble window when all our windows are flat glass, it looked so wrong and when it rained we found 2 new water leaks, they forgot to seal behind the awning track when re-fitting.....bloody amateurs.

We let the insurance company handle it as I reckon I would have killed somebody....lol. Any way I refused to go back there so we got the repairs to the repairs done in Brisbane and they did it properly and to my satisfaction. They did overcharge for work we needed done separate but I guess that's what happens these days. I'm just glad to have our home back and to be back out on the road.

Dave

Thanks for your support folks, just glad it is over now.

SnowT wrote:

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Sorry to hear about the damage to your van..

A few thing's stick out..
- in the last photo their seems to be a lack of insulation..

- The power cable's that meet above the wheel arch.. [Personally I would not strip that much cable insulation back, especially when it is a metal lined area..]

Other than that it looks good..

Juergen

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 When the repairs were done to the repairs they added in the insulation the other idiots forgot. Thanks for pointing it out though Juergen.

Dave

Vic41 wrote:

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Dave I have never used them myself (I am in WA) however I have heard very good reports of Caboolture Caravan Repairs (in Caboolture) who have a lot of experience in repairing all types of vans.   Google them for their contact details and website if you wish.

Hope you get you repairs finished off ok and happy travels.  

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 Thanks for that Vic, will keep them in mind but it was up to the insurance company and they sent me elsewhere.