What did my 1988 29' Excella Cost New?

[Sandi & Bob]

I received a strange request from my insurance company when I called to add it to my existing policy and I am having a hard time finding the answer. Their question was "what did your 1988 29foot Excella cost when it was new?" I have no idea, I can find some listed for sale now. Even when I searched the history I found a lot of information, but not the cost of if new. Any ideas??

[Lumatic]

Insurance companies often ask the new cost even if it is stoopid. They are following a script. Try to insure for "agreed value" and have them call someone or ask to speak to someone up the food chain. Not all insurance companies know what to do with an agreed value policy. Regular insurance policies take the purchase price and depreciate it over the age of the trailer. Your trailer may not be quite vintage enough for an agreed value policy. I donno.

[2airishuman]

Originally Posted by Sandi & Bob

I received a strange request from my insurance company...

this is really an INSURANCE thread/post, not a/s history... ( mod. note: just relocated it to the proper category )

and when a company want's the msrp for a 20 year old unit, u are likely buying the WRONG POLICY or coverage.

there are a many threads on this issue in the INSURANCE and PRICE sub forums...

the msrp for 20 years back is available, but only the original BUYER knows what was actually PAID for the unit.

so decide if you want 'agreed value' insurance or coverage for the current used/blue book type pricing.

IF there is a loan involved make sure the coverage COVERS the loan value.

the msrp will ONLY help them determine a current DEPRECIATED price, while charging YOU a premium based on a 20 year old figure.

IF you want coverage for the loan OR improvements OR what YOU perceive the value, get AGREED VALUE coverage.

cheers
2air'

[Kevin245]

Just my $0.02. I recently went throught the same girations last year. Here's my take, but by all means choose the path you feel best suits your needs.

Tell them what you value you want it insured for. The original purchase price is irrevelant in most cases. My prior agent (as in I dumped him) gave me this standard BS line about needing the original purchase price and could not justify the reason why when I questioned him about it. I contacted another agent with the same underwriter for a quote. He asked me several questions such as my purchase price, replacement value, and desired deductable. Then beat the #$*% out of the other guy's quote.

Points I pondered:

1. It's not realistic to expect someone to know the original purchase price of an older unit, and NADA values don't typically give a good representation of some market trends.

2. Say it cost $10,000 ten years ago, and now it's a rare, or highly desireable model worth considerably more than the original purchase price. Or worth substantially less than the original prurchase price. In either case you could end up significantly under/over insured.

It was worth another phone call in my case. I received more coverage and a better rate.
Regards,


Kevin

[Sandi & Bob]

Thanks for the quick responses. First of all I didn't know there was an insurance thread out there since we are new to the site, my apologies. But I really didn't ask for the insurance company, I danced around her question and we settled on a number. I really was interested in the history part of it. What did something like I have cost new???

[Rog0525]

The NADA RV Guide lists the approximate price of the unit when it was brand new. They call it the “Suggested List” price.
The suggested list price of a 1988 29’ Excella, according to NADA, was $28,764.

[2airishuman]

Originally Posted by Rog0525

... The suggested list price of a 1988 29’ Excella, according to NADA, was $28,764.

so ~51,000$ in today's money, a bit less than a 28 or 30 now.

and thanks roger!

cheers
2air'

[85MH325]

I changed the title of your thread to more accurately reflect what the thread is about. This will aid in future searches.

Thanks!

Roger