RV Insurance / Liability Umbrella

My RV is covered by Nationwide at this time (not for much longer I fear/hope)

Last Easter (Well a couple days before) we bought a new (used) Jeep, I called my Nationwide agent and left voice mail, I E-mailed him and (Multiple contacts both ways) and no reply was received.

Turns out Holy Saturday was his last day with the company. he retired.

When on Easter Sunday my wife crashed the jeep, killing both herself and the car, but doing almost no damage to the tree she hit.. I contactred Nationwide asking them to sign the Financial Responsibility form, This would have cost them like 47 cents (postage stamp)

They refused, Said the motor home is not an automobile

Both my home state (michigan) and the accident state (SC) have laws that say if you already have an auto policy a new purchase is covered for a period of days (more than had passed).

Nationwide refused to cover the jeep.

Thankfully the jeep was (for other reasons) in my wife's name and since she is deceased there is no way to pursue a violation charge against her.

But.. I will be researching alternative companies over the winter and spring and switching away from nationwide.

The car I have is E-Sured.

another good thing about a high umbrella policy liability limit is that if something does happen, the insurance Co. has lots of skin in the game first, and will fight claims instead of leaving you out to dry.

If your net worth is higher than your liability limits on any policy you need an umbrella policy.

Texas Two Steppers wrote:
If you are a full-timer and don't own any anything else why carry an umbrella since your only exposure is your rv? I carry $500,000. liability and full-timers thru GMAC with 3 vehicles (car, truck and fifth wheel)for $1,500./yr. I also carry $300,000 liability thru Farm Bureau on some grazing land I own and rent which runs about $110./yr.

If you jackknife your trailer across an Interstate and 5 cars ram in to it you are going to have a very bad day. This is why you need an umbrella policy.

With our insurance co. they require that all vehicles, houses etc. be covered by them with regular policies for umbrella coverage. Actually our umbrella policy is "almost" free, because with the umbrella, the liability coverage on each of my vehicles went down considerably with a much lower limit and the umbrella picks up the rest. But then we have 3 cars, 3 motorcycles, Two trailers, and one house. Basically, the liability on each vehicle is the state minimmum and the umbrella picks up the rest to the umbrella max. ($2M) Otherwise each of the vehicles would need much much higher liability for my protection of assets.

Mike and Trish wrote:

Klueck wrote:

Texas Two Steppers wrote:
If you are a full-timer and don't own any anything else why carry an umbrella since your only exposure is your rv? I carry $500,000. liability and full-timers thru GMAC with 3 vehicles (car, truck and fifth wheel)for $1,500./yr. I also carry $300,000 liability thru Farm Bureau on some grazing land I own and rent which runs about $110./yr.

I disagree. Your only exposure is not just your RV. If you cause an accident with damages over your liability limits on your RV, they you are personally responsible, which is why an umbrella policy is needed in some cases.

An umbrella liability policy is there to protect you from anything (with exceptions, of course) that someone might sue you for. Vehicle accidents with damages exceeding your car or RV policy limits, or someone getting injured on your property, are only the obvious ones. You could accidentally start a fire, or injure someone while trying to give CPR. You could be sued for libel or slander. And do you own a gun? Think about the potential liability there.

To me, it's cheap peace of mind. If you don't have much, you might feel like you won't have much to lose, or wouldn't be a target for a lawsuit. But if you've spent your life working toward retirement, and don't want to be forced into poverty by a lawsuit in your golden years, make sure you have enough coverage.

Good points, I will look into this. Thanks

Klueck wrote:

Texas Two Steppers wrote:
If you are a full-timer and don't own any anything else why carry an umbrella since your only exposure is your rv? I carry $500,000. liability and full-timers thru GMAC with 3 vehicles (car, truck and fifth wheel)for $1,500./yr. I also carry $300,000 liability thru Farm Bureau on some grazing land I own and rent which runs about $110./yr.

I disagree. Your only exposure is not just your RV. If you cause an accident with damages over your liability limits on your RV, they you are personally responsible, which is why an umbrella policy is needed in some cases.

An umbrella liability policy is there to protect you from anything (with exceptions, of course) that someone might sue you for. Vehicle accidents with damages exceeding your car or RV policy limits, or someone getting injured on your property, are only the obvious ones. You could accidentally start a fire, or injure someone while trying to give CPR. You could be sued for libel or slander. And do you own a gun? Think about the potential liability there.

To me, it's cheap peace of mind. If you don't have much, you might feel like you won't have much to lose, or wouldn't be a target for a lawsuit. But if you've spent your life working toward retirement, and don't want to be forced into poverty by a lawsuit in your golden years, make sure you have enough coverage.

Texas Two Steppers wrote:
If you are a full-timer and don't own any anything else why carry an umbrella since your only exposure is your rv? I carry $500,000. liability and full-timers thru GMAC with 3 vehicles (car, truck and fifth wheel)for $1,500./yr. I also carry $300,000 liability thru Farm Bureau on some grazing land I own and rent which runs about $110./yr.

I disagree. Your only exposure is not just your RV. If you cause an accident with damages over your liability limits on your RV, they you are personally responsible, which is why an umbrella policy is needed in some cases.

If you are a full-timer and don't own any anything else why carry an umbrella since your only exposure is your rv? I carry $500,000. liability and full-timers thru GMAC with 3 vehicles (car, truck and fifth wheel)for $1,500./yr. I also carry $300,000 liability thru Farm Bureau on some grazing land I own and rent which runs about $110./yr.

Check with National Interstate Insurance thru an Insurance Broker. They insure our RV and toad and specialize in full timers.