RV insurance

[MagicBox]

Hi,

Could anyone direct me to rv insurance articles?
Not coming up with much with the search function.

We are going to buy a 2011 Roadtrek soon and are getting some quotes. Should I bother with the big companies or go right to an rv focused insurance company?

Thank you

[mkguitar]

I've been with progressive after calling around and getting quotes- not as costly as I'd thought it might be


Mike

[DUTCH in Atlanta]

Progressive was less than half the cost of my regular carrier, Amica. It just hurts me to put money in Soros's pockets.

[GallenH]

Originally Posted by DUTCH in Atlanta

Progressive was less than half the cost of my regular carrier, Amica. It just hurts me to put money in Soros's pockets.

Yeah but does Flo have to travel with you?

[mkguitar]

as with any insurance company you just don;t know how good they are until you have a claim-
until than they are only judged by the premium


I've have no claims but for glass coverage on the RV ( safelite- painless, 40 minutes in the driveway)


I've had similar glass claims on my cars and an accident where I got hit in one of my cars.
Progressive handled everything, I dropped off my car and got it back a week later fixed.


Mike

[mumkin]

First call would be to the company who has your other insurance. That will often be your cheapest option.

Then I would just call around and get quotes. Lots of people end up with Progressive. I use GEICO.

[jrobe]

We use State Farm for all of our insurance (2 cars, home, RV, etc.). They have been great with any claims we have ever made over the years which is the most important criteria for me. I know my agent will return my call within 10 minutes.

For what it is worth, we pay about $650 per year to fully insure our 2017 Sportsmobile Sprinter which cost more than $100k. For comparison, we pay $550 on a 2020 Lexus Rx350 that cost less than half the value of our RV. I am satisfied with our price on the RV for top notch insurance from a very reliable company with very personal service.

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by MagicBox

Hi,

Could anyone direct me to rv insurance articles?
...

I recommend cutting to the chase and going through Overland Insurance.

https://rvins.com/

They will probably line you up with one of the major insurers, but depending on your specific policy needs, the process might be a lot less painful if you use them as your agent.

My policy is both agreed-value and full-timer, and I got nowhere trying to negotiate that deal myself. They set it up for me. And this is amusing - they negotiated our policy with Progressive, something which I could accomplish myself even though Progressive was already our auto policy issuer for our daily drivers.

I receive no compensation from Overland for recommending them. There may be other competitor companies out there that are also worth considering, that specialize in RV insurance.

[MagicBox]

Thank you for all your replies.

We did price rv insurance with our present carrier, state farm. They want $936.00 a year(!).

Again we are getting an '11 Roadtrek 190, not a 2020 Adventurous xxxxxl ceo edition with tanning bed and heli-pad.

Seeing such a wide range. Geico wants around $500.
We will continue to shop, including overland. Thank you for all these tips.

All these insurers seem to want my social security number......

[Thevon]

I just paid about $550 (annual) for a 2006 190 P Roadtrek from Progressive.

[engnrsrule]

We use National General, and found them a bit higher but competitive with USAA, our main carrier. One consideration was that at that time we were considering renting our unit out through Outdoorsy.com. Many insurance carriers do not allow units to be rented, NG is among the few that do.

[Gary Rasmussen]

Your current carrier might be cheap, but that is not necessarily the best. You can likely get liability coverage to be legal to drive the vehicle on a public, and you may have collision insurance on the vehicle ('full' coverage), but that coverage may only be for the chassis, not necessarily the motorhome improvements. You need to MAKE SURE what is being insured. Do you have coverage for all the motorhome installation? How about your things? etc

[mkguitar]

Originally Posted by Gary Rasmussen

Foremost has many RV insurance options I like to be able to offer to my customers. .

Hi Gary,
I had an AZ Foremost policy thru Harley Owners Group with uninsured/underinsured which was about 1/3rd the cost of my premium


I was hit buy an uninsured driver ( she ran a stop sign, driving on the wrong side of the road)
Foremost was horrible to deal with, run around, denials, rescinded authorizations for repairs...


3 years later we settled for much much more than it would have cost if they'd honored the policy
During those 3 years I carried about $80,000 in property damage ( vehicle) and medical bills)
ALL the extra money in the settlement was for the lawyers


I'm sure every company has issues dealing with customers- I have multiple vehicles, multiple carriers, some specialty - this "cut & dry" claim should have been honored before my scrapes were healed.
The arbitrating Judge really went after Foremost Counsel as to why they were wasting the State's time



I don;t recommend that carrier


Mike

[avanti]

Three things to understand about insurance:
1) Insurance is regulated at the state level, so a company that is attractive in one state may not be so in another.
2) Different companies target different sub-markets. A customer with a driving profile, claim history and/or zip code that is different from yours may well be better off with a different carrier than you.
3) They frequently play games with new-policy rates trying to attract customers from their competitors, while taking existing customers for granted. It is similar to the cell carriers: If you really want the best rates, you need to change carriers every few years. You can spend a lot of time chasing a few bucks.

We have State Farm. They are probably on the expensive end, and if lowest prices were my priority I would look elsewhere. But, their claims service over the years has been excellent and we have concluded that life is too short to spend it chasing insurance bargains. Everybody's situation is different, though.

[Gary Rasmussen]

Thanks Avanti,

I agree with you for the most part on all three of your points. Comments on your item 3:

3) They frequently play games with new-policy rates trying to attract customers from their competitors, while taking existing customers for granted. It is similar to the cell carriers: If you really want the best rates, you need to change carriers every few years. You can spend a lot of time chasing a few bucks.

We have State Farm. They are probably on the expensive end, and if lowest prices were my priority I would look elsewhere. But, their claims service over the years has been excellent and we have concluded that life is too short to spend it chasing insurance bargains. Everybody's situation is different, though.


A study was done recently on auto and home rates over 10 years over many carriers. At any one point, one company is higher and another lower. 6 months later they all change. When you average it out, IT ALL COMES OUT TO THE SAME $'s, What is the difference? Your local agent, claims, etc. To get the best rates as you note, you need to be changing carriers at just about every renewal, not every few years. As you note, "You can spend a lot of time chasing a few bucks"

State Farm who you are with, does a great job on claims as you note. Farmers and their companies do also, that is why I am a Farmers agent. I almost became a State Farm agent, but went with Farmers instead (long story). Hopefully you also have a good State Farm agent that is also regularly reviewing insurance coverages with you.

In my opinion, for insurance, all need to find a knowledgeable local agent that will help you understand all your coverage options. Online insurance will not give you this. When you call 1-800 (any insurance company) to buy insurance, the person on the phone has one job, to get a credit card number from you. They are NOT working for your best interests. With a local person, when something bad happens, you have direct access to the person that sold you the policy.

When something bad happens, what do you want to happen? if you only want to be 'legal' so be it, take the cheapest. But if you want to know you will be well covered, find a local personal risk consultant with that is working for your best interests.

[Lostwolfak]

We have home, auto, ATV and Motorhome (Class B) with American Family Insurance. They cover all of our items unlike our previous carrier who would have needed to farm out the RV portion to an affiliate. Fair rates and prior Claims experience with them (before we were insured by them, they were the at-fault carrier) was very professional; timely acceptance of liability, good communication on the claim process and no hesitation on the shop of choice. We have a local agent who will talk over any coverage concerns and understands our needs.

[Snowy]

I suggest people call the insurance commissioner in their state to get an indication of the complaint rate for any insurer you are considering. I moved across state lines in 2002, called the insurance commissioner in my new state, and found that Geico had lots of complaints but State Farm had very few. I went with Sate Farm. Recently, i comparison shopped insurance and for me, since i have been with State Farm for so long, State Farm is cheaper than Geico.

[Jon in AZ]

Similar experience with State Farm here. We have 7 policies with them, and while I might get a better deal by parting them out to separate companies, the multi-policy and accident-free discounts negate most of the advantage each time I have shopped around. Most important, we have had excellent claims service over 35+ years.

Average 2-3 no-deductible windshield replacements a year covers about half our total premiums. I’ve got two now, including the Roadtrek, which cracked while sitting parked.

That said, it never hurts to shop around or work with a broker. What’s true in one state or situation may be quite different for another person in another state.

[avanti]

Originally Posted by Jon in AZ

Average 2-3 no-deductible windshield replacements a year covers about half our total premiums. I’ve got two now, including the Roadtrek, which cracked while sitting parked.

How do you get no-deductible windshield replacement from State Farm? In my state (at least), one of the few coverage downsides of State Farm is that they do not waive deductibles for windshield repair, as do many insurers.

Or, do you carry zero-deductible policies?

[Jon in AZ]

Must be one of those things that varies by state.. We do have a deductible for other stuff. Bummer!

Late thought... maybe it’s one of those things that’s being phased out. All the windshield-mounted cameras and sensors in more and more vehicles are driving up the cost of a windshield replacement. It’s crazy considering I’ve never had a daily driver go more than 3 months without a chip. Hope not!