In that thread I was asking about pick-up trucks and trailer towing capacity. After careful consideration of the pros and cons, my wife and I decided to buy a class C motorhome instead. We pick it up on Friday.
So now I have a couple of questions about insurance.
First of all, is it better to insure through the same company as our cars, or get a new policy with someone else?
When I Googled “RV Insurance,” Good Sam came up. I’ve heard of them, but I’m not very familiar with them. One feature they have is saving money during the times the RV isn’t being used, I think they called it a “storage period” (I can’t find it now). But their website didn’t go into any more detail. If we take the motorhome out one weekend a month or so, it seems silly to have to pay insurance like a car, as if we’re driving it every day. So I am intrigued by this idea. Anyone know how it works? My insurance company (American Familiy) does not appear to offer a feature like this.
I know nothing about RV insurance, and will be watching this thread for info. My question for you is did you rent a RV before buying so you could try it out, or just jump in to learn how to swim?
I am looking at getting a smaller one (camper van sized) to allow us to “tourist” and get out of the house, but really don’t want to spend the money if we can’t live that close to each other for that long.
I’d just call up your insurance company. Most allow you to lower coverage on any vehicle you are storing for the off-season. You’ll likely have a form to sign, attesting that you will not use the vehicle during the specified period. The company that I’m with, you can put it on “storage mode” indefinitely - you just contact the company when you’re about to get it out of storage, and they restore full coverage for you.
We just jumped right in. I’ve never driven one before. The one we bought is small, though, 22 feet. My understanding is that it’s not a lot different than driving a large pickup truck. I’ll report back after we pick it up on Friday.
If you do decide you want to take it out for a weekend in December, though, how does that work? Is that not an option? Or does it make your annual premium go up? Or something else?
It might be best to go with the same company as your cars, or it might not. Insurance rates are weird, and different companies put their focus on different things. One company might have the best rates for teen drivers, one might be cheapest in Oregon, and one might have the best plans for partial usage.
I would recommend contacting an independent insurance agent in your area. They place insurance with multiple carriers, and their job is to know which companies provide the best rates for your specific situation. You could do all the research yourself, but why do it when someone else already has and it won’t cost you any more money.
Mrs. L handles this. We thought we got a pretty good deal, but then it turned out that we didn’t because our agent was incompetent or something.
Your post doesn’t indicate whether you bought something new or used. There can be a big disparity between what it cost you (used) and what they think it’s worth. If we had an accident they might have tapped out early and left us upside down, so to speak.
Bundling was our best option…if I’m driving the RV, I’m not driving my commuter car, right? Add to that insurance on the home and it adds up.
Hopefully a new rig means some troublefree performance for the first few years.
We bought used and a lot of places won’t work on them because of their size. With time, we found a few places around here that do. Then we go on the road and…?
I found yourmechanic.com and it’s a good resource. They have mechanics in many areas who come to you; if you find yourself broken down in a strange place, it’s great to have a network. Put in your info and the website tells you what services cost, what ratings the mechanics have, and so on. I mean, usually you get a tow to the shop, get on the shop’s list, wait for a mechanic to become available, have it fixed (and maybe submit towing claim to insurance later). This way, mechanic comes to you, no tow, get it fixed, and you’re on your way—optimally, at least, that’s how it works.
Just something to file for future reference. I guess I’m uber weirded out at the thought of breaking down where I don’t know how to get hold of a mechanic, etc. It’s reassuring to think they’re there.
Okay, here’s my $0.10 as a former Insurance Agent for Progressive who did quote a few RV policies, and who when working for CSAA (Triple A of Northern California) as a claims adjuster, handled claims on a few. Now it’s been 10 years, so take it all with a grain of salt.
The specialty insurance companies will normally have a cheaper price, especially with storage option.
The specialty companies are more likely to have dedicated towing teams for motorhomes as well as specialty repair shops they work with.
Bundling your policy with your current auto carrier can save money, but depending on the carrier it may not be significant, I’d say at progressive it was about 10-15% (years ago).
The specialty carriers tend to be very good with things like comprehensive (damage to vehicle not coming from a collision) and collision damage (damage to the RV from hitting something, or something hitting it), but very poor at handling liability claims (you hit someone or something and have responsibility)
Check areas of coverage. National chains will normally have SOMEONE to deal with no matter where you go in the US, but some regional carriers won’t. They’ll have to work something out and that can take more time than you like. Also check if there is a requirement to use partner repair facilities (not saying they’re bad, but you may have preferences yourself).
Things to consider regardless of where you get your insurance.
Since you bought new, consider looking into Total Loss Replacement options (progressive did/still does offer this on new, first owner models) where for the first few years, if you have a total loss, they replace it with a like model new year, otherwise, like almost all insurance, you get value minus depreciation which is HUGE on any RV or Motorhome.
If you financed, check with your financing company, they will likely require Comprehensive and Collision to be maintained year round, which your storage/non-use policy may NOT include.
Check with whichever carrier you go with, what internal materials will be covered under that policy, as opposed to your homeowners policy. Make sure you have enough coverage for the contents, not just the vehicle itself.
Lots of the storage style policies have requirements as to the ‘safe’ storage of the vehicle, your home/driveway/backyard may not be eligible, and if you have to pay to store it, it may add substantially to your costs.
Carry lots of liability, I’d say 100/300/100 at a minimum, and consider an umbrella policy with your RV/Car/Home. Yeah, you’re not driving around a half million dollar model, but this is a big vehicle, and can do a lot of damage and you aren’t used to driving it. More coverage is good. (sorry, my P&C license expired years ago, so I’m advising as a private common sense individual).
If you spring for any additions (especially awnings), keep your original receipts of purchase and installation, and make sure your policy is amended to cover any custom parts or equipment. You don’t want to put an extra $2-3 grand in customization in and find out it’s not covered.
Thanks, good info there! I think for now, I’m going to just add the motorhome onto my existing auto policy. The place we bought it from won’t release it to us without proof of insurance, so I’d rather not deal with the hassle of finding a new insurance company when there’s something of a time crunch. Easier to add it to my existing policy, then over the next couple of months research whether there are better options.
One maybe thing worth mentioning: our condo complex has a gated RV storage area, where we’ve already reserved a spot.
Oh, and the motorhome comes with an electric awning. Will I need to mention that specifically, or will the insurance company figure that out when they run the VIN?
Happy to help! Glad to see you have storage lined up. I’ve seen the claims from RVs parked in the street where the popped out sides were torn off by a hit and run driver. Not fun. As for the VIN, it includes pretty minimal info, so no, I wouldn’t expect it to come up. If it is bog standard to all models, don’t worry about the electric awning, if it is a optional feature, yeah, mention it. Many carriers include a small amount (for Progressive it was $1000) of custom parts and equipment as a given, since many vehicles have some dealer included features. However, awnings were always at high risk in claims (especially wind damage), so I’d ask about it.
I had a Class C driver’s license (up to 26000 lbs) for an old job to drive the box truck. It was pretty big, dock level floor, about a 25 foot long box. This was the kind where the top of the tires are about hip height and you’d have to climb up some steps mounted to the exposed diesel tanks to get in.
Anyway, I found it very easy to drive and I’d never driven anything bigger than a conversion van before then. In fact, the first time I got behind the wheel was in the parking lot of the DMV a half hour befor my driving test.
I’d definitely get a backup camera if the motor home doesn’t have one.
Your Class C will be very easy to drive. One cautionary note: watch out for low overhangs, like at some gas stations. It’s easy to forget about that cab-over part of the motor home that’s hanging out there just waiting to smack into a tree branch or some other obstacle.
As for insurance, we just have ours bundled with our car/home insurance. When it sits idle during the winter, we call them and reduce the coverage to just the basic “what if a tree falls on it” type, which is much cheaper than having the full liability, etc. They have no problem with that. Our insurance includes roadside assistance, which is what Good Sam uses to try to sell their insurance. Also, you get a small discount on many private RV parks with membership. I don’t think it’s worth it, personally.
Again, as a former insurance agent, just want to mention that this is generally referred to as Comprehensive only policy. It is certainly cheap, and 95% of what can happen to a stationary vehicle which is not in use is a Comprehensive claim… but that other 5% is a pain. Speaking from a claim I handled, the owner of the RV came to get it out of storage, and found sometime during the three months it had been put up, that another driver had pulled out of the adjacent storage tearing half a panel out. And then it snowed. And then it thawed.
The other party denied any contact, and this was before there were cameras everywhere. Since the proximate cause was a collision, there was no coverage for the body damage, or the resultant water damage. When we closed the claim, the owner was trying to sue the RV storage park and the adjacent unit, but who knows how it turned out.
Again, this is an extreme example, but they do happen. And again, OP, do check with the financing company - they may require comprehensive AND collision regardless of storage. I’m not going to panic you, because this is the single example of such a circumstance that I had in two years of handling claims, but insurance is all about stupid stuff happening.
Plus other stuff like emergency roadside assistance, personal property, and so on.
I was quite surprised at the cost. $25 per month, or $270 if I pay for a year up front. I was prepared for it to be 3 or 4 times as much.
When I was on the phone and the agent was taking my information, he asked how often I’d be using the motorhome. I replied “roughly, one weekend per month.” He then said “One to three months per year, then.” No where on the quote he sent me does it say anything about a limit on use.
When Mrs. L and I bought ours, the salesman explained that we could write off the interest on our income taxes. I guess they’ve tinkered with standard deduction (Mrs. L handles our taxes) but if you’re one who itemizes…
