--- title: "Storage Fees and Loss of Use on a West Covina RV Claim" description: "Two claim line items owners rarely think about until they cost real money. What storage accrues, what loss of use covers on an RV, and how to keep both from becoming yours." canonical: https://ocrv.xyz/library/blog/storage-fees-and-loss-of-use-west-covina-rv-claim/ business: "OCRV Center" phone: "(949) 799-3387" address: "23281 La Palma Ave, Yorba Linda, CA 92887" market_served: "West Covina, California" --- # Storage Fees and Loss of Use on a West Covina RV Claim Published 2026-04-27. Storage is what a facility charges to hold a damaged vehicle. Loss of use is what your policy pays because you cannot use the unit. On RV claims both run longer than on auto claims, and both are commonly capped. Getting the unit moved and authorized quickly is what controls them. ## The two things people confuse Storage and loss of use point in opposite directions and they get mixed up constantly. Storage is money going out: a fee charged by whoever is holding your damaged vehicle. Loss of use is money coming in: a benefit your policy pays because the vehicle is unavailable to you. You can owe storage while collecting loss of use at the same time. You can also collect neither, which is what happens to most owners who did not read this part of the policy until the loss happened. Both are time driven, which makes them the two line items most affected by how quickly decisions get made in the first two weeks of a claim. ## Where storage charges come from on an RV loss There are three places an RV commonly sits after a loss, and each generates a different exposure. A tow yard or impound is the expensive one. Yards charge a daily rate, and rates for oversized vehicles are frequently double or triple what a passenger car accrues because the unit occupies multiple spaces. A forty foot coach in a yard for three weeks while a claim gets sorted out is a genuinely serious number, and yards do not release vehicles until they are paid. A storage facility or the owner's own space generates little or nothing, which is why moving the unit out of a yard early is the single highest value action on the whole claim. A repair facility may or may not charge storage. Most shops do not charge while a vehicle is in active repair or waiting on parts. What triggers charges at a shop is a vehicle sitting undisassembled for weeks because nobody authorized teardown, or a completed vehicle nobody has picked up. - Tow yard and impound: highest daily rate, oversize surcharges, releases only on payment - Owner property or a rented space: usually the cheapest holding option during a dispute - Repair facility: typically no charge during active repair, charges possible during long inactivity ## Does your policy pay for storage Usually yes, but with limits and with a strong expectation that you acted reasonably. Most physical damage coverage includes reasonable storage charges incurred as part of the loss. Carriers will pay a tow yard for a reasonable period while they inspect the vehicle and make a decision. What they resist is open ended storage that accrued because the owner did nothing. If a carrier tells you on day four that the vehicle needs to move to a repair facility and it is still in the yard on day thirty, you should expect an argument about the twenty six days in between. The practical protection is simple: get written direction. Ask your adjuster in writing where the carrier wants the vehicle and by when, then act on it and keep the reply. If the vehicle has to stay somewhere because the carrier has not inspected it yet, that is the carrier's delay and the record will show it. ## Loss of use on an RV is not the same as a rental car On an auto policy, loss of use usually shows up as rental reimbursement with a daily limit and a total cap. You go get a rental car, the carrier pays up to the limit, and everyone understands the mechanism. RV policies handle it differently and the variation between carriers is wide. Some specialty RV policies include an emergency expense benefit that pays lodging and transportation when a covered loss leaves you stranded away from home, often with a per day figure and a per occurrence cap. Some include a vacation liability or trip interruption element. Some include a genuine RV rental reimbursement, which is comparatively rare and usually modest against actual RV rental rates. Many policies include none of it. If your unit is a fifth wheel that lives in storage and comes out four times a year, there is a reasonable chance nobody sold you loss of use at all, because the coverage is optional on most RV products. Full timer policies are a separate category. If the unit is your residence, loss of use behaves more like additional living expense on a homeowner policy and the numbers involved are much larger. ## How a long repair interacts with the caps Here is the timing problem specific to recreational vehicles. Loss of use benefits are usually written with an auto repair timeline in mind. A cap that comfortably covers a three week car repair does not cover an eleven week front cap rebuild. So on a significant RV loss, expect the benefit to run out before the repair finishes. That is not a failure of the shop and it is not something the carrier will extend on request in most cases. It is the policy limit doing what it says. There is one place worth pushing. If a substantial part of the calendar was carrier caused delay, such as a slow supplement review or a reinspection that took two weeks to schedule, some carriers will extend loss of use for that period. You need a dated record of every request and every response to make that argument, which is another reason to keep everything in writing from day one. ## The commercial version of the same problem Owners of food trucks, box trucks and other work vehicles run into a harder version of this. A personal auto or RV loss of use benefit compensates inconvenience. A commercial vehicle that is down is lost revenue. Standard commercial auto physical damage coverage frequently pays nothing for downtime. The coverage that addresses it is usually a separate endorsement, variously called loss of use, rental reimbursement or downtime coverage, and many operators discover they do not have it at exactly the wrong moment. There is a second gap worth knowing about on a mobile business build. The physical damage coverage on the chassis may not extend to the equipment mounted in or on it. A food truck's cooking suite, hood, generator, tanks and serving window are frequently treated as separate insured property and need to be scheduled. When they are not, a claim that should have rebuilt the whole unit rebuilds the truck body and leaves the interior to the owner. Check the declarations page for scheduled equipment before the loss, not after. It is a five minute phone call to your agent. ## Six actions that control both numbers First, get the unit out of a tow yard as fast as it is safe to move it. Nothing else on this list matters as much. Second, authorize teardown promptly. A unit sitting closed while everyone waits for full approval is the most common source of dead calendar on an RV claim. Third, ask your adjuster in writing where they want the vehicle and confirm you followed it. Fourth, read your declarations page for loss of use, emergency expense and, on a commercial unit, scheduled equipment. Do it now rather than mid claim. Fifth, keep every receipt. Lodging, transportation and storage all need documentation to be reimbursed, and a credit card statement line is weaker evidence than an itemized receipt. Sixth, put the shop and the adjuster in direct contact. Owner relayed technical questions add days per exchange, and days are what both of these line items are made of. The facility is at 23281 La Palma Avenue in Yorba Linda, about twenty two miles from West Covina by the 57 and the 91. Units are stored indoors during repair. Call (949) 799-3387 if your unit is sitting in a yard and you need it moved into a repair queue. ## Frequently asked questions ### Who pays the tow yard while my claim is being investigated? Typically the carrier pays reasonable storage as part of the physical damage claim, then either pays the yard directly or reimburses you. The word doing the work is reasonable. Carriers pay for the period they needed to inspect and decide, and they push back on time that accrued because nobody moved the vehicle. Ask your adjuster in writing to confirm storage is covered and to state where they want the unit relocated, then act on that answer quickly. ### Does my RV policy pay for a hotel while the coach is being repaired? Only if you bought a benefit that covers it, and usually only in specific circumstances. Emergency expense coverage on many RV policies pays lodging and transportation when a covered loss leaves you away from home and unable to use the unit. It generally does not pay for lodging months later during the repair itself. Full timer policies are different, because the unit is your residence and the coverage behaves more like additional living expense. Check the declarations page. ### My repair is taking longer than my rental coverage allows. Any options? A few. Ask whether any part of the delay was carrier caused, such as a slow supplement review or a reinspection that took weeks to schedule, and request an extension for that period with your dated record attached. Ask whether the policy has a separate emergency expense benefit that has not been used. And ask the shop for a realistic completion date so you can plan the gap rather than discovering it. Extensions are discretionary and documentation is what moves them. ### Can a repair shop charge me storage while waiting on the insurance company? It is possible and it varies by shop, so ask before the vehicle arrives. Most facilities do not charge while a unit is in active repair or waiting on ordered parts, because the vehicle is occupying a bay it would occupy anyway. Charges typically apply to a unit sitting untouched for an extended period with no authorization to proceed, or to a completed vehicle nobody has collected. Getting teardown authorized early avoids the first situation entirely. ### Does a food truck policy cover lost income while the truck is in the shop? Standard commercial auto physical damage generally does not. Downtime is usually addressed by a separate endorsement, and many operators do not carry one. Separately, check whether your cooking equipment, generator, tanks and serving window are scheduled as insured property. Chassis coverage often does not extend to the buildout, which means a claim can pay to rebuild the box and leave the interior equipment to you. Both questions are worth resolving with your agent before a loss. --- OCRV Center, 23281 La Palma Ave, Yorba Linda, CA 92887. Phone (949) 799-3387. All work is performed in shop at the Yorba Linda facility. We do not run mobile, roadside or fleet route service. Ranges are planning figures, not a quote. Final numbers come from a written estimate on your vehicle.