Insurance increase

[jcanavera]

I just received my renewals on my auto and trailer insurance from AIG. No accidents, no claims, no tickets. All was fine on the vehicles but the insurance on the Airstream went up $500. Obviously I'm not planning on spending $1,300 every six months so I'll be doing a little shopping.

Anyone see a big increase lately on their Airstream? I'm assuming AIG has taken some big Airstream hits or they no longer want the business.

I checked Good Sam last year and they were over $2,000 for six months. They didn't want the business either.

Jack

[jordandvm]

Jack, have you spent time in the service? If so, USAA offers a great package for A/S's. I pay $275/ 6 months for our 2004 22' CCD, with $250 deductible. USAA only offers insurance for people who've served with Uncle Sam. It's top rated, and very user friendly.
Jim

[GStephens]

My independent agent went shopping at renewal time and managed to save me enough money on my auto insurance policy to completely pay all costs for coverage on the trailer. If you aren't using an independent agent, you might try this as an option.

In my case, I now have auto coverage through the Traveler's Insurance Co. and trailer coverage through Foremost. The Foremost insurance, is I feel, the best trailer insurance as the replacement cost (what you paid for the trailer or the value that you insure your trailer) is locked in for 5 years. There isn't any depreciation for "current value" in case of a catostrophic event with Foremost. I think I have $17,000 in trailer coverage for about $500. I can check to make sure if you need me to do so, but it would be just as easy for you to have your independent agent plug in the numbers and get a quote for you. Or, you can get a quote yourself over the internet from the Foremost website. Foremost isn't the cheapest insurance, just one of the better policies. In this case, I think you get what you pay for.

The point I was making here is that whatever the cost of the trailer insurance, my agent saved me enough on the auto policies to more than pay the cost of the trailer insurance just by shopping around.

The Formost website is http://www.foremost.com/products/rv/travel_trailer.htm
You might wish to check it out.
GStephens

[jcanavera]

I had Foremost on my Safari but they wanted over $1,200 for the Classic. I'm not ex military so I don't qualify for USAA.

I probably will go with Progressive who is quoting me $838 which matches the Foremost policy regarding replacement during the first 5 years and amount paid for the trailer the on years 6-10. This cost includes road service for both the trailer and tow vehicle ($42) a year and a disappearing deductable which is reduced every year until it hits $0 at year 4 if I have no claims.

I only took AIG because I called on the Friday after Thanksgiving prior to picking up my trailer at the dealer and found that Progressive telephone sales was closed. My auto insurer (AIG) was available so I took their policy which was $775.

My question was just more of wondering whether others had seen major increases. I just got off the phone with AIG and they are puzzled also why I got this big increase. They referred the call to a supervisor who is trying to find the justification. Bottom line I'm changing anyway since the Progressive coverage is much better.

Jack

[kposey]

Who do folks that have vintage TT do? Since mine is vintage, I was told that insurance would only cover liability and not replacement. This was from an independent agent.

[jcanavera]

Originally Posted by kposey

Who do folks that have vintage TT do? Since mine is vintage, I was told that insurance would only cover liability and not replacement. This was from an independent agent.

Yep that is true. Your insurance for your trailer may have 2 components, liability and comprehensive. The comprehensive is the issue where you need to watch. In many cases you reach a point where it may not be practical to keep comprehensive coverage due to the low value of the trailer.

If your vintage trailer has significant value either as a collectible or based on improvements you have made, you probably need to have it appraised for insurance purposes otherwise you are pretty much tied to value after depreciation. It's important to understand that, and also adjust your coverages as your unit grows older.

Many insurance companies do not do this adjustment as your unit grows older. They are happy to accept your money based on the original value that you insured for. The nastyness comes when they total it out and offer you much less than what you thought the value was for.

Before I had the replacement coverage, I used to check the value of my trailer annually, and reduce the coverage to match the actual value. Saved a lot of $$$ when I kept my old Hi-Lo over a period of 14 years.

Jack

[markparker22]

The person who sold me my Airstream had spent a career in the insurance business and he recommended Foremost Insurance with whom I am currently insured. They just offered to fix the rate for the next three years with prepayment which I accepted. With the current "cost of money/interest rates" I felt this was good protection due to many insurance coverages increasing in rates.

[jcanavera]

Originally Posted by markparker22

They just offered to fix the rate for the next three years with prepayment which I accepted. With the current "cost of money/interest rates" I felt this was good protection due to many insurance coverages increasing in rates.

On the surface this sounds good. The question relative is whether in actuality they raise the rates for those not taking the prepayment plan. Foremost offered me this same plan when I owned my Safari. I turned it down and with the following renewals the price remained flat. As it ended up there was no value to me to give them the upfront premium.

With the times we have had the past couple of years, insurance companies have been taking it too us pretty good. My home insurance went up almost 100% in the last 3 years. Auto has remained flat for me since vehicles depreciate and rate increases tend to be offset by depreciation.

Our insurance for our physical facility at the dome and convention center has risen by a factor of 4 since 9/11.

Jack

[Tinsel Loaf]

Our insurance rates went up 40% this year alone for auto, home and the AS. When we asked the agent why the increase, he told us that all insurance companies reavaluated their profit to losses and adjusted the rates accordingly. When we told him if we raised my business rates that much in one year we would be out of business. How can you do this? we asked, " because we can, " he answered. "We want to cancel all our policies with you", he was in shock, "why" he said. "Because we can!". Boy, was he pissed. We posted a bond with the state so we could drive while looking for reasonable coverage. One of the problems with insurance is in the small print, the stuff they don't or won't cover just to nickel and dime you to death.

[LTD30]

Get your insurance directly from Formost,by-passing an agent,it saved us around
$200,with better coverage!

[JohnG]

Originally Posted by Tinsel Loaf

Our insurance rates went up 40% this year alone for auto, home and the AS. When we asked the agent why the increase, he told us that all insurance companies reavaluated their profit to losses and adjusted the rates accordingly. When we told him if we raised my business rates that much in one year we would be out of business. How can you do this? we asked, " because we can, " he answered. "We want to cancel all our policies with you", he was in shock, "why" he said. "Because we can!". Boy, was he pissed. We posted a bond with the state so we could drive while looking for reasonable coverage. One of the problems with insurance is in the small print, the stuff they don't or won't cover just to nickel and dime you to death.

It is really gotton to the extreme these days. Since many states have made insurance coverage on autos manditory it seems that the insurance companies have really taken advantage of this by rasing the rates and a 40% increase should be agaist the law.

In fact since most states have placed this manditory thing on the residents they should also make a law to make insurance companies have to provide insurance on a deterimined schedule for each driver according to the drivers record. The schedule should be determined by the state and not the insurance company. They should also reward good drivers with a decreasing premium instead of being able to get all these increases all of the time.............

[overlander64]

Greetings Kathy!

Originally Posted by kposey

Who do folks that have vintage TT do? Since mine is vintage, I was told that insurance would only cover liability and not replacement. This was from an independent agent.

The one thing that I learned when trying to insure my collector cars was that not all insurance agents/brokers were familiar with collector car policies; and since becoming involved with Vintage Airstreams/Argosys, I have learned that far fewer agents/brokers are familiar with the issues involved in insuring a Vintage Airstream/Argosy. I too insure my Vintage Airstream and Argosy through my local Independent Insurance Agent - - one of the reasons that I went through him is that he has a good reputation for claims service among the local collector car owners. He was able to negotiate an agreed-value policy for each of my coaches with Foremost - - this was almost three years ago. In the interim, we have increased the coverage on both trailers due to restoration progress. The premiums have increased modestly - - but even with the increased valuations, the cost for the policy on the Overlander has only increased by $70 per year and the Minuet's policy has only increased by $52 per year. I am just waiting to learn whether my pending relocation to a community 400 miles South of the Quad Cities will make a difference in the premiums.

What you may want to do is ask your agent/broker about stated-value or agreed-value insurance. In some cases, the underwriters at the insurance company will ask for an appraisal. In my case, I had appraisals from the shop that did much of the restoration work on my coaches as well as the restoration receipts.

Good luck with your quest for insurance!

Kevin

[JohnG]

In all truthfulness it might be a good idea to only make certain that your auto coverage covers anything that would happen to the towing vehicle when it is under tow, and then to set up a type of emergency fund for yourself in case something happens to your AS.

If you consider making a payment to yourself of $135 every month and just continue to do that each month from now on it wouldn't take long to have a nice fund to not only replace your AS if something happened, but to make any repairs or modifications, or restoration as needed.

On a note: I would start just such a fund with what I considered the replacement value of my AS. If you consider it worth $8000 then start your fund with that amount and just add the monthly payment to your fund........

Cuts out the Insurance cost, and if nothing ever happens you end up with a nice little nest egg.

[Tinsel Loaf]

John G
My thoughts exactly. We made an account for the amount we purchased the AS for and are contributing our own monthly insurance payment to the account. Since the account is growing in ( interest and monthly additions ) value and the AS is decreasing in value it seems a much better plan than insurance companies.
We tow, watch and are much more aware of what’s happing around us than even when we had AS insurance. We want our private policy to give us a payback for taking personal responsibility for our AS.

[dmac]

For about $20 every 6 months Farmers added our Airstream to our car insurance policy. It includes liability, collision, and comprehensive. Of course it has the same deductable as our car insurance, and payout on a totaled unit would be based on depreciated value. From statements earlier in this thread this has saved us $1500-$2000 in premiums for the first 2 years, which is a good start to cover a possible future incident.

[jcanavera]

I guess the question is whether the comprehensive covers the trailer when you aren't towing? Many of these low cost alternatives don't cover the trailer when it is parked unhitched.

Jack

[dmac]

My agent assures me that the trailer is covered when parked. If anyone else has Farmers Insurance for their cars, please call your agent and see what they say... to verify.

[JohnG]

That's true Jack, but if you have that emergency fund set up and something should happen you would have the money to make the repairs or replace the unit if necessary.
I know that it seems a bit risky, but I guess it's all in how you look at it. When you pay the insurance company you're betting that something will happen and they will have to pay you, and they are betting the other way. I just like the idea of betting against myself because then I really don't loose.

[jcanavera]

Originally Posted by JohnG

That's true Jack, but if you have that emergency fund set up and something should happen you would have the money to make the repairs or replace the unit if necessary.
I know that it seems a bit risky, but I guess it's all in how you look at it. When you pay the insurance company you're betting that something will happen and they will have to pay you, and they are betting the other way. I just like the idea of betting against myself because then I really don't loose.

John, I would agree with you. The bet in many cases is when the payout comes, if your escrow that you set up is large enough to cover the damage. It's those early years when the trailer is worth a lot that the escrow wouldn't cover.

Jack

[Tinsel Loaf]

Look at a real life insurance hassle that happened to us. On our first trip someone bashed in the AS. It was a hit and run and whoever did it got away. The insurance company paid about $ 1,500.00 and we paid the $ 500.00 deductible. My annual policy was also $ 500.00 a year so technically we shelled out $ 1,000.00. Now the dealer did such a lousy job, actually put additional dents, drill marks and a nasty scratch. The dealer denied he was responsible for the damage but the second insurance adjuster which we dragged along for the dispute proved ( without doubt ) that the dealer was at fault. We voted a NO CONFIDENCE in the dealer. The dealer under pressure agreed to furnish a new panel, rivets and other material, so we could redo the job ourselves, which we did. We pointed out to the insurance agent that we were charged for 53 rivets that weren’t even used and other miscellaneous incidentals, the agent replied “We get screwed all the time”. What we learned was, it cost us well over $1,000.00 in money, time and that the insurance companies don’t care about us, unless you apply pressure on them to perform their fiduciary duties. There are good companies out their and perhaps we just got two lazy adjusters. Just our lesson. Never Again!