How do insure your Class B? (Particularly Sprinter Owners.)

[Rok]

Hi again, everyone.

For all of your Class B'ers out there, please let us know what insurance you unltimately chose for your rig.

We are particularly interested in Sprinter based B owners, but any information in the decision process is helpful.

We are thinking about getting Good Sam's insurance, but it isn't local, and seems like it might be a hassle if there was a claim. Our regular car insurers don't seem to want to cover the entire thing--Good Sam and Progressive warned about the current value coverage other companies offer, and it seems to be real (trying to get a straight answer out of any insurance salesperson is difficult). If someone could explaing the difference to us, we'd appreciate it.

I imagine everyone has had to go through this, so I'll clam up and listen to people who have already been through the decision process on this.

We are getting a Sprinter Based Great West Legend SE brand new this week and we want to insure it the best we can.

Thanks in advance for your input.

............Rocky

[stanw909]

Progressive

[markopolo]

I'd recommend RV or Motorhome specific coverage with Replacement Cost coverage.
I know that sounds kind of obvious but I have the choice here to insure my van under a regular automobile policy or an RV specific policy.

The Motorhome or RV policy will have extra coverage for things like Emergency Vacation Expenses.

I recommend specific coverage even on old RV's like my 1997. I'm not eligible for Replacement Cost Coverage but I do get to declare a value for my RV. At the time of a claim on an old RV I would need to prove the value of the RV but it would be higher than if it was simply insured as a 1997 van and not a motorhome.

Motorhome policies can have these coverages or features:

Guaranteed Replacement Cost (best)
Replacement Cost (2nd best)
Limited Depreciation (3rd best)
Declared Value (4th best) applies to older RV's
High third party liability limit
All perils coverage
Personal property coverage (for personal property permanently kept in the motorhome - not temporarily removed from your house)
Emergency vacation expense
ERS (emergency road service)
Anit-theft discount
Loss of Use
Appliance Extended Warranty - coverage starts on the day after the manufacturer’s warranty ends - applies to manufacturer installed generator, air conditioner, water heater, propane gas system, range, refrigerator, TV etc.

[Quanyin]

Peggy has Progressive!
Paul

[Karsty]

Not sure where you are from ... like "markopolo" suggested you should look at a company that is RV specific and not just your regular car insurance carrier.

I'm in Canada and there are several companies that I could have went with. Ultimately I went with Wayfarers Insurance Brokers Ltd. They are underwritten by Aviva Elite. One of the selling features for me was that I have complete replacement cost for the RV for the first 5 years.

I also imagine that your RV dealer will have some suggestions for you ... but by now I imagine you already have your unit and are enjoying it.

Happy travels!!

[teachergal]

I went with State Farm - I was impressed with their coverage options - although I made the agent research some of my RV-specific questions which stumped him, but he came back with acceptable answers, and it was cheaper than the RV specific companies and I only have one company to deal with.

[Rok]

Thanks for everyone's comments. In the end we chose Good Sam insurance. It came down to crunch time before we went on our trip, and the Good Sam guy really seemed to know what he was talking about. Many of the others were evasive when we talked to them and some simply had issues conveying what they offered because of what appeared to be a lack of a command of the English language. Whether it really was such an issue or just them trying to obfuscate the topics because they knew they were selling a substandard product we couldn't tell. My wife finally chose Good Sam (which I think is backed by GMAC) because it was inexpensive, offered full coverage and there didn't seem to be a bunch of smarmy double talking and deception on the part of the agent she dealt with.

The one kicker was the full replacement value issue. With some of the other companies, if we bought our rig and drove it off the lot and immediately had an accident, the most they would cover (after the deductable) would be somewhere around 70 to 80% of what we paid for the rig. With Good Sam, they will cover getting another new rig for us (I think it is for a couple of years after your initial purchase.

Anyway that is where we ended up after a lot of research.

As always, your mileage may vary.

........Rocky