On 8/24/2020, our family (My wife, two daughters and I) rented an RV at 83 R.V., Inc.
located at : 25514 N. Route 83
Mundelein, IL 60060
Unfortunately, the rental service was inadequate and the terms were misleading because the business refused to honor the terms of the contract which put our family in a dangerous, unpredictable and unsafe situation. I am disappointed for the following reasons:
1- The term of the contract and especially the insurance coverage were not disclosed clearly and were misrepresented to us by 83 RV on the day of the rental mentioned above.
2- 83RV sold us insurance, then denied us coverage when we needed it.
We had to make a gas stop the following day, it was raining and the side view cameras were somehow foggy, while pulling out of the gas station, the rear left side of the RV hit one of the protective yellow bollard posts near the gas pump, which resulted in a scratch on the rear driver side and the detachment of the corresponding section of back wall of the RV, inside the RV, we could see an opening in the rear large enough for a child to go through.
As it was explained to us, we have payed for roadside assistance anywhere in the US, and that the extra insurance we have purchased through 83RV had liability, comprehensive and collision. At 83RV's office, we were asked if our own car insurance covered RVs, and we clearly answered no because we have verified that, we were then told that purchasing the extra insurance will cover us during our trip with the understanding that there was a deductible and so we did purchase the renters insurance offered by the business.
To our surprise, when we called 83RV and sent them pictures of the accident damage, they asked us to file a police report, then they refused to provide us with the insurance information, they have also denied our coverage altogether.
They claim that there is a clause in their contract that makes them not responsible for this kind of accident, which is simply false.
We have inquired about that clause when we were about to sign the contract in their office, the caluse states that their insurance won't cover any damage that is above the roof or bellow the floor, and it was explained to us that it only means that they won't cover damage caused by driving the RV in a rough terrain where it is not supposed to be driven, which made sense. However, in our case, the damage from the accident is clearly to the side (we have photo evidence and a police report to support that), and we were driving on a national highway then exited to a gas station.
All we got from talking to 83RV was that we had to bring the vehicle one day prior to the end of our vacation, and that if we decide to bring it back immediately, we won't get refunded for the remaining days.
3- 83RV refused to take any steps to assist us on the road and/or to assist fix the damage to the vehicle, they simply asked us to eiher keep driving the vehicle as is, bring it back or somehow fix it ourselves, we were 800 miles away at that point and not close to any major city or town where we can find help, we barely had voice coverage on our phones. That situation was dangerous on many levels, the RV was hazardous to drive in that state with kids on board, we had no way of fixing such damage manually without professional help. Have we been told that if the RV breaks down we had to fix it ourselves, we would have refused to take this trip.
After almost one full day of confusion, trying different things, and wasting a lot of money and effort, we finally were able to patch things up and decided to go our destination since it was closer and safer at that point.
4- The RV that we rented was not as advertised, many essential features to a road trip were not working and or missing, like the side awning, the auto balancing etc.