Rodents and wiring

[gloria900]

Has anyone had problems with rodents chewing their rv wiring?  We have not been able to travel for a while due to surgeries.  Now that we are ready we find that rodents have chewed the wiring underneath the rv.  We are currently fighting National General Insurance trying to get them to pay on the repairs, but without much success.  Once the repairs are made, I'm sure we will be changing insurance companies.  We have been with them for 8 years and no claims so they sure could have done something on it.  I find it odd that an rv insurance company doesn't cover such a loss.  I'll definitely be looking for a new company that covers it.  Does anyone have experience with this and how did you approach it?  Thanks in advance.

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[richard5933]

Sorry to hear such a sad report, especially for your first posting. Hopefully the shop will be able to get things figured out and you will have some success against the insurance company.

We lost a generator a couple of years ago due to damage from mice. They really enjoy chewing on certain types of wire insulation. There are tons of threads on the forum talking about keeping mice away. My theory is to block all their points of entry and to keep the area near the coach free from anything that could be attractive such as high weeds, leaf piles, etc.

Sounds like it's time to pull out the long-form of your insurance policy and comb through the fine print. Unless there is some exclusion that covers things like that I'd assume it would be covered on the comprehensive portion of your policy. If you bought your policy through an independent agent you can give him/her a call. They might be able to go to bat for you.

[manholt]

In 52 years of RV'g, I have not heard of a Insurance that will pay for mice damage, anywhere,  be it coach, car, motor cycle, boat or house!

[richard5933]

Guess it depends on the policy and the situation. I had always assumed that we were covered for rodent damage, and when I read your post I pulled my policy and looked deeper.

Here's what it says under exclusions:

Coverage under this Part VI will not apply for loss:
1. caused by insects, birds, or other animals, including rodents and other types of vermin, while the covered vehicle or non-owned vehicle is unoccupied and has been so for more than two weeks;

Sounds like they won't cover it if the thing has been parked or unoccupied for more than two weeks. On the other hand, if we wake up one morning and discover that mice have caused damage while we slept it might be covered. Won't know for certain till a claim is made, and I hope that doesn't happen so I'll keep up with my mouse exclusion rounds.

[kaypsmith]

Just a word about todays wiring versus that of many years ago. The vinyl jacket (insulation) on todays wire is made largely from soybeans, rodents love it and are attracted to the smell and flavor. My wife's new KIA a few years ago was attacked by squirrels that ate the insulation causing similar damage. I was instructed by the KIA dealer to tie a ladies hose end filled with a few moth balls under the hood, I did this and have had no further problems since.

[gloria900]

Thanks for all the replies.  Our insurance reads "coverage to your auto other than collision means loss caused by .....contact with bird or animal".  Insurance is stretching that to mean "at one time" as an accident and not over a period of time.  Our contention is that it could have been a whole pack of rats as far as we know so it could have been at one time or over time.  We just don't know and insurance has no way of proving it wasn't at one time.  Our big problem is that the rv had been parked with jacks down and slides out.  We can't put the jacks up or the slides in with the wiring chewed without risking fire.  So, we can't move it or even have it towed to be repaired.  It's a big problem that I have no solution at this time.  

[manholt]

Most slides can be pulled in manually...no elect needed, are your Jacks elect or hydraulic?  They too have a over ride system! 

[richard5933]

First step might be to determine whether the damage is restricted to the house wiring, the chassis wiring, or both.
If it's just the house wiring you can hopefully do like mentioned above and manually retract slides and jacks. Then head to the nearest qualified shop.

 

[kaypsmith]

I don't know if you have roadside assistance or not. But a call to them may help with towing. I use AAA and am covered on the MH as well as the other cars in the family, I pay extra for that service, and have been towed from home due to circumstances similar to yours.