Questions About Getting Started with Full Time Insurance

[KJRitchie]

I'm starting research into full time insurance for our Airstream and tow vehicle as we plan to start full timing in October.

We will probably domicile in South Dakota or Texas, leaning SD. Our house in Missouri is under contract.

I figured it would be easy to find information on this subject but doing internet searches doesn't seem to bring up all that much and a lot of it is old comments.

Is it best to call companies directly or use an insurance agent?

When getting quotes do you give them the address of the mail forwarding company?

Do you insure the tow vehicle with the same company as the trailer?

Do most just insure for the current value of the trailer? We've put some money into ours to make if more livable for full timing so I'm wondering if I should get an agreed value?

Can anyone recommend a list of companies or agencies to start with?

Thanks

Kelvin

[dznf0g]

FCIS in Forest City Iowa does agreed value. You'll need to get an appraisal. I got mine from an AS dealer.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Part of the "assumption" in a typical insurance setup is that you have a homeowners policy. It covers various things that an auto policy or a "typical" RV policy does not. What you will need is a set of policies that cover all the bases. Either you will need to do some research on how this works in your chosen state or you will need a very good agent.

Bob

[KJRitchie]

I understand this. Only a subset of insurance companies offer full time insurance which includes liabilities not associated with normal trailer/tow vehicle insurance.

Hopefully, a full timer who has gone through this exercise will contribute.

The insurance is the only stumbling block I'm encountering. Plenty of info on which states are best for domicile but the trailer/tow vehicle insurance information is sparse.

Kelvin

[Visioneer]

Originally Posted by KJRitchie

I'm starting research into full time insurance for our Airstream and tow vehicle as we plan to start full timing in October.

We will probably domicile in South Dakota or Texas, leaning SD. Our house in Missouri is under contract.

I figured it would be easy to find information on this subject but doing internet searches doesn't seem to bring up all that much and a lot of it is old comments.

Is it best to call companies directly or use an insurance agent?

When getting quotes do you give them the address of the mail forwarding company?

Do you insure the tow vehicle with the same company as the trailer?

Do most just insure for the current value of the trailer? We've put some money into ours to make if more livable for full timing so I'm wondering if I should get an agreed value?

Can anyone recommend a list of companies or agencies to start with?

Thanks

Kelvin

There are several good places to get started on full-timers insurance research:

www.escapees.com (search their web site, lots of great info)
www.technomadia.com (research their blogs)
www.gonewiththewynns.com (research their blogs)

Here is a full-timer insurance agent whose very good:

Gina Shaver, CIC
Epic Insurance
5032 S Bur Oak Pl Ste 130
Sioux Falls, SD 57108
(605) 271-8100 office
(605) 271-8898 fax
(605) 929-1333 cell

We domicile in FL (St. Brendan's Isle Domicile & Mail Forwarding Service) use Progressive for our Airstream and Amica for our tow vehicle.

There are lots of things to consider, research and carefully read and understand; and, you want to get very good guidance.

I highly recommend getting great insurance with great insurance companies (you can research them) versus the "cheapest" insurance. Insurance is like a life boat you only need it when it is really important and when its important you don't want to to have the "cheapest" life raft.

Hope that helps.

[Claudiaj]

I'd talk to your agent. You can get specific full timers insurance through such companies as Foremost, progressive just to name a few. The two vehicle is usually insured separately. The full timers insurance will cover the Airstream and your contents in the AS and liability similar to Homeowners insurance. Some will include upgrades such as solar.

[vito98103]

You can always check with Good Sam/Camping World - they sell everything.
Or check the Blue Beret magazine - several insurance companies advertise there.

[KJRitchie]

I've already contacted my local insurance agent in Missouri and they can't handle our situation.

I've contacted Rverinsurance.com (affiliated with Escapees) and filled out their form. That put me into contact with an affiliated agent in California and they worked the numbers for Progressive. I understand RV Full Time insurance will be more expensive but the quote for the 2015 Ram was $1500-$1600/yr with Progressive and about $800 for the Airstream. She didn't run the numbers for splitting the trailer and tow vehicle with different companies. This is with supposedly USAA membership discount. The Ram seems to me kinda high, more than twice the amount I'm paying now with my homeowners insurance.

Left a message for Epic yesterday, no call backs yet. May try to call back.

Talked Overland Insurance yesterday. She seemed to be very informed with RV fulltime issues and is currently working on a quote for a SD domicile.

Kelvin

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Something like $800 for the AS on top of a normal auto + home policy is pretty typical. The "home" part of the process needs to get stuffed in somewhere .... I've always had an umbrella liability policy to fill various gaps. That may be something that works in this case.

Bob

[KJRitchie]

I was able to get in touch with Epic insurance. They have run the numbers for three mail forwarding locations in South Dakota (Box Elder, Sioux Falls, Emery) and one in Texas (Livingston).

Looks like the trailer plus tow vehicle insurance is cheaper in South Dakota but vehicle registration is cheaper in Texas. So for these two items it appears to be a wash.

Going to have an appraisal performed on my Airstream since we had a remodel performed last winter.

Kelvin

[KJRitchie]

Appraisal completed by Pinnacle Auto Appraisers. Cost was $250 for the trailer. With the remodel changes we were pleasantly surprised at the evaluation, better than expected.

Hmm, I was hoping more full timers would've chimed in with their experiences with choosing full timer insurance.

Kelvin

[DreamStreamr]

Kelvin,
Sorry I was off line awhile and didn't catch your query. We have info on this on our web page for full timing FAQ at http://dreamstreamr.com/2243.html#C30.

We're seeing our premiums go down because our truck's aging. But we're covering the trailer on agreed value, so premium on it's not gonna go down.

The big deal tho was in getting with an insurance company that understands and agrees to cover our liability whether the trailer is attached (hitched) to the truck or not. Until we specifically called them out on it our prior insurer didn't disclose this important gap in coverage. Without a house we no longer had access to the homeowners umbrella liability coverage. Looking into it further we learned that insurance company lacked any applicable coverage for full timers. We changed insurance company.

Hope this helps. PM me if questions we can help with?

[uncle_bob]

Hi

When we insured this trailer, I think I got asked about six different ways "are you living in it full time". At that point in the process I did not understand the whole "homeowners covers this and that" part of the process. It seemed really odd that they kept checking and asking basically the same thing.

A while after the policy on the trailer came through, I got another note from them. "We've reviewed your homeowners coverage and recommend ... ". Yup, they boosted this and that to cover an event that nuked both the trailer and home at the same time. That also seemed a bit odd back then. Looking at hurricane damage on TV, it now makes perfect sense.

Bob

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by KJRitchie

Appraisal completed by Pinnacle Auto Appraisers. Cost was $250 for the trailer. With the remodel changes we were pleasantly surprised at the evaluation, better than expected.

Hmm, I was hoping more full timers would've chimed in with their experiences with choosing full timer insurance.

Kelvin

Curious whether you have completed this process, and if you could update us all on the company and coverages you found. We are thinking of going the full-time route as well.

Thanks,

Peter

[uncle_bob]

Hi

One of the significant details about insurance is the state it's issued in. Moving from place to place over the years has taught me that what works in one state is impossible in another insurance wise. I've also seen a wide range of prices on same / same coverage (like from $186 to $1595) depending on the address on the policy.

Bob

[KJRitchie]

Since my last post we've gotten fulltime quotes from several insurance agencies for the popular SD and TX mail forwarding company addresses. This would be Box Elder and Madison in SD and Livingston, TX. The quotes we got were for insuring the 2015 Ram Cummins truck and our 2008 Classic 25fb.

Most seemed to want to use Progressive. However there were limitations on agreed value. I ended up choosing Epic Insurance in Sioux Falls, SD, the agent being Gina Shaver and is licensed for TX and SD.

Because of the popularity of SD for full timers insurance rates have increase faster there than in other locations as full timers start making claims. Between SD and TX the yearly rates were within $100-$150 of each other.

Another area of research for domicile was vehicle registration. SD has higher registration based on weight and wheel tax in most counties except for Pennington County, Box Elder, SD where America's Mailbox and Escapees is located. MyDakotaAddress in in Madison and imposes a $5 wheel tax or $40 on our two vehicles. Basically the registration costs in SD for a truck and travel trailer combo seem twice as high as in Texas. The annoyance of Texas is the safety inspection but its still renewable on line if your are out of state. You declare the vehicles are out of state an the online program allows you to continue.

I also checked on rates for Medigap insurance. SD seems a little cheaper on monthly premiums compared to Livingston, TX

In my research I found a mail forwarding company, TexasHomeBase, in Wichita Falls. The zip code generated a slightly better insurance rate than Livingston and SD zip codes. Same with Medigap insurance.

My plan for insuring the Airstream is probably use the appraisal value for the first year and subsequent years reduce the agreed value as the trailer depreciates. I also will carry $1000 deductibles on both vehicles, not carry the towing service/rental car features and will pay for the year up front. The truck and trailer are owned free and clear.

Kelvin

[uncle_bob]

Hi

One thing that traditionally swung the rates between areas was the minimum required liability insurance. In addition a good agent might wisely suggest the state you just moved into actually had low minimums, but high awards in typical cases.

Since we tend to chug around the country, who knows where things might hit the fan. One solution to the issue is a blanket liability policy. For whatever strange reason, they aren't horribly expensive.

Bob

[KJRitchie]

I ended up signing up with Progressive in TX for the Ram and Airstream. I was going with a policy under National General and they will not insure agreed value in Texas despite my insurance agent working with them the last couple of weeks. They just announced this out of the blue. Nationwide will but I don't want to pay almost $3k a year for truck and Airstream for a $58k agreed value. Even $45k was over $2500. So I've decided I'll take on the extra risk and go with the best agreed value Progressive will offer for my 2008 Airstream, $33k. I just don't want to give any more money to insurance than I have to.


According to my insurance agent the insurance companies don't really like full timing insurance and costs expected to rise in the future or not offered. National General doesn't like Airstreams much due to the "loss ratios being atrocious". With the popularity of Airstreams the claims have gone up and the insurance companies don't like it.

Eventually the combination of insurance and state governments will force everyone to have a stick and brick of some sort.

Kelvin

[uncle_bob]

Hi

If you have a policy that *actually* covers $20K of loss and costs $800 a year, it's not insane for a policy that covers $60K of loss to cost you $2,400 a year (or more). This is yet another gotcha as we all pop off about "my insurance is cheaper than yours". There are always layers and layers to the details.

Some (many...) trailers have a useful life of 10 years before they begin to rot out. Look around the campground for the people with tarps over their roof's ... Those trailers also are priced accordingly. An insurance company likely has a *lot* more customers with those trailers compared to AS trailers. Running the numbers, yes, the AS is different. They may make a business decision to go with the majority.

There's also the issue that it is hard to do "minor" damage to an AS in an accident. The magic aluminum that we all love the look of is not cheap. The same factory that we all visit from time to time (don't we ...) is the sole source for most of those parts. A pretty minor scrape can nuke a bunch of panels to the "time to replace" level. Body putty and a bit of spray paint ....not so much with an AS.

The ultimate gotcha is that you never really know how good your policy is until disaster strikes. By then it's a bit late to fiddle the terms of the policy. No two disasters are ever quite the same. Comparing my disaster to yours may still not fully answer all the questions.

Insurance is good to have. Counting on it to "make you whole" is never a good idea. If it does (and sometimes that happens) you done good. If it doesn't, you likely saved a bunch of money on premiums over the years.

Bob

[Sarah198]

Originally Posted by KJRitchie

I ended up signing up with Progressive in TX for the Ram and Airstream. I was going with a policy under National General and they will not insure agreed value in Texas despite my insurance agent working with them the last couple of weeks. They just announced this out of the blue. Nationwide will but I don't want to pay almost $3k a year for truck and Airstream for a $58k agreed value. Even $45k was over $2500. So I've decided I'll take on the extra risk and go with the best agreed value Progressive will offer for my 2008 Airstream, $33k. I just don't want to give any more money to insurance than I have to.


According to my insurance agent the insurance companies don't really like full timing insurance and costs expected to rise in the future or not offered. National General doesn't like Airstreams much due to the "loss ratios being atrocious". With the popularity of Airstreams the claims have gone up and the insurance companies don't like it.

Eventually the combination of insurance and state governments will force everyone to have a stick and brick of some sort.

Kelvin

Just read an article a few days ago that insurance rates are going to skyrocket in Texas due to the hurricane. Just FYI.
I have also been debating between the two and because of this I think I’ve been swayed back to SD. I was going to go Texas and had decided prior to the hurricanes as I’m leaving in January for FT.