RV Insurance - Rodent Damage Included (or Not)

I recently had an experience that it hope will be helpful to all of you as you consider your RV insurance options, as well as how you put your PC to bed this winter.

We returned home to Rhode Island from Florida in late January.  Upon arrival home, I winterized the PC, but neglected to do anything about mice prevention, thinking that mice would already be in hibernation elsewhere, so "no need", right?  Wrong.

In April, getting the PC ready for our first springtime trip, I encountered evidence of mice in the PC.  So fine, I'll clean it up.  However, cleaning didn't get rid of the terrible urine smell, which seemed to be concentrated in the right front cabinet to the right of the TV.  Multiple cleanings, ozone treatment, and chloride gas treatments got rid of some of the smell, but it was unbearable to open the cabinet.  Also, certain functionalities of the PC, including the leveling system and macerator weren't working any more. 

During the summer I tried local mobile RV repair guys to fix the non-working systems (they couldn't fix them), and just used the PC as best I could.  I decided to take the PC to the "mothership" to get things fixed this fall.  Keith and his team were terrific - - they provided thoughtful and exceptional service to get things resolved.  They found and fixed extensive damage to the wiring, and addressed an awful mess behind the front cabinet.  Phoenix USA was a 3-day drive from Rhode Island, and absolutely worth it. 

At that time, I called my insurance company National General (through Good Sam) to file an insurance claim - - and found that National General would not provide coverage for the damage.  They stated that my policy didn't explicitly cover pest damage, and that I didn't file the claim immediately upon discovering the problem.

So, passing my "lessons learned" on to my fellow PC owners:
(1) Review your RV insurance to be certain you have "Pest Damage Protection".
(2) Always have your rodent protection in place, even if you think it's not necessary.

I will be shopping for a new insurance carrier when my policy comes up for renewal next year.  (I will also use every rodent prevention method possible, regardless of the time of year.)

I appreciate all the "lessons learned" so many of you have passed along in the Forum.  I hope this helps you all to be avoid the experience I've had this year.

Rodent-proofing any motorhome seems a serious challenge.

Sharing here what I did with our little Saturn Sky we once owned......
Storing the car outside during the off-season here near Chicago, I put up a canopy under our deck and parked the car under it.  The first year, I did nothing for rodents and they quickly moved in storing acorns in between the headliner and convertible top, and left their little black rice in places.  Fortunately, there was no actual damage to wiring because during the winters, we feed the birds located about 20 feet away from the deck, so the rodents were also well fed.

What I ended up doing to keep the rodents away from the car, was buying a couple boxes of moth balls, and a bottle of very potent liquid fabric softener.  I folded old washcloths inside plastic trays, and poured fabric softener over them til saturated.  I hung 4 bags of mothballs under the hood and set mothballs on top of the engine and other places.  I had both mothballs and fabric softener trays inside the car and trunk.  I also capped-off the tail pipe with an empty medicine bottle that fit perfectly snug.

Between the moth balls and fabric softener, the rodents stayed away.  The problem came when it was time to enjoy the car.  It took until the end of July for my intentional potent odors to go away.  Being a convertible, it was okay with the top down, but not with the top up.

So keep this in-mind for yourself with your motorhome.  You can do such a good job at keeping the rodents out, that it will also keep you out.

For the curious, here was our Sky under the canopy during off-season usage.