The First 48 Hours After an RV Collision, in Order

People first, then hazards, then evidence, then paperwork. Get everyone out of traffic and account for pets, which on an RV is a genuine step and not a footnote. Shut the LP supply off at the tank if there is any smell of gas or any impact near a compartment, and disconnect nothing else. Then place warning devices far enough back that a driver cresting a rise has time to react.

Only after that does the phone come out. The first photographs are the ones that cannot be recreated: final resting positions, debris spread, skid marks, the other vehicle where it stopped, and the road itself. Within an hour a tow operator will have changed all of it, and no amount of later documentation replaces a wide shot showing how two vehicles came to rest.

The default is to leave it until it has been photographed, unless it is creating a hazard or an officer directs otherwise. Long units in particular tell a story through position, because the angle of a thirty five foot trailer relative to the lane says something that a close up of a cracked skirt never will. If it must move immediately for safety, photograph from inside the cab first.

Once it is clear of the roadway, the second decision is whether it is safe to drive at all. Fluid on the ground, a wheel that is not tracking straight, a slide room that will not retract, or any impact near the LP compartment means it travels on a truck. We do not offer roadside service, so a unit in that condition arrives here on a flatbed rather than under its own power.

• Fluid pooling under the chassis or a wet trail behind a wheel
• A tyre or wheel visibly out of line, or a rubbing noise on a slow roll
• A slide room that will not fully retract and seal
• Any impact adjacent to the LP compartment, or a gas smell
• Sidewall damage that has opened the wall to weather

Names, phone numbers, insurer and policy details for every driver involved, plus plate numbers and a photograph of each. Independent witnesses matter more on RV incidents than most people expect, because judgements about lane position and turning radius on a long vehicle get contested constantly, and a neutral account recorded on day one carries weight that a reconstruction on day thirty does not.

Get a report number. If law enforcement, fire or a storage lot office attended, ask for the incident or report number and write it down rather than trusting that it will be findable later. On a hit and run in a storage lot, the lot's own incident report plus any gate log or camera reference is frequently the only evidence that an event occurred at all.

Report the sequence of events, not a theory of cause. What you saw, heard and felt, in order, with a time. Resist the urge to characterise fault or to speculate about whether something was already weak before the impact, because those remarks get recorded and they shape how a file is categorised long before anyone has looked at the vehicle.

Come away with four things written down: the claim number, the adjuster's name, a direct phone number, and whether an appraiser will attend or the file will be handled from photographs. Then give the carrier permission to discuss the file with the facility you have chosen. That single authorisation removes several days of avoidable delay from the approval stage.

Where a unit goes first matters, because the scope gets written wherever it lands and moving it a second time costs money and days. A holding lot is not a facility. If the vehicle is going somewhere it cannot be measured, photographed properly and assessed, it will have to move again. Ask the tow operator to take it to the shop that will write the scope.

Many policies include towing coverage, and whether yours reaches this particular tow is a question for your carrier rather than for us. From Rancho Santa Margarita the run we recommend for anything over thirty feet is the 241 to the 91, roughly twenty minutes without traffic, because it avoids the surface street turns through Anaheim Hills that catch long rear overhangs.

An opening in a wall or roof turns a contained collision claim into a water claim, and carriers generally expect an owner to take reasonable steps to prevent further damage. So a torn membrane gets covered, a broken window gets sheeted, and a compromised seam gets taped, using a proper tarp or Eternabond rather than anything decorative. Photograph the damage thoroughly before you cover it.

Keep the receipts for tarps, tape, straps and any temporary storage. Those costs are frequently part of the conversation with the adjuster, and they are far easier to raise with paperwork attached. Do not attempt a structural fix, and do not remove damaged material to tidy the area, because the material itself is evidence of what happened.

Do not authorize teardown, disposal or parts ordering yet. Once panels are off and material is in a bin, establishing what the pre existing condition was becomes far harder, and if a supplement later depends on that condition the argument is already lost. Documentation comes first, and it takes a day rather than a week.

Also hold off on signing anything open ended. A written scope with operations and hours is the thing worth authorizing against, and we produce one for $150, credited in full against an authorized repair. Insurance walk ins are accepted during posted hours, and all inspection and estimating happens in shop at the Yorba Linda facility.