Can’t insure full-time camper and truck
Hello everyone - just ran into an unexpected problem. I retired in June, been traveling the world since, and returned to the USA to try full-timing in a truck camper. Got a new F-350 and Bigfoot 10.4 ...
Forum Discussion
I’m the OP and grateful for the advice here. My experience may be of some use to people considering full-timing in a TC. I retired last May, got a South Dakota mail service, address, and driver’s license, then travelled out of the country for the next seven months. I returned planning to buy a truck and camper, intending to pay cash, flew to a Ford dealer in Texas, lined up truck and camper, and that’s where there was a glitch in getting insurance.
I talked to two agents regularly recommended for fulltimers here. They each contacted their usual fulltiming-friendly companies, and came up dry with each one. At 65 I’ve never had an accident or moving violation, my credit score is about perfect, and I make a respectable income. The issue, repeated again and again, is that underwriters don’t want to cover a truck and camper unless you tow another vehicle behind you or have a permanent residence you would store the camper in for much of the year. It was a flat, unwavering, nonnegotiable no from all of them.
Much of the advice here was helpful, some of it from my point of view dangerous. I first considered what some posters suggested, getting a quote on the truck, then a separate one for the camper, without ever mentioning my situation or plans. I went to the majors online, got some very attractive offers for the truck, and almost went with them. The problem is that they all asked a “rent or own” question. Of course, I could lie, or tell myself my month-long Airbnbs around the world constituted renting. So I did some searching, “lying to an insurance company for a good rate”, and such. The results did not recommend this course of action to me, though others may have a higher tolerance of risk. The best advice I got was to go through Good Sam and Escapees. Went through an agent affiliated with Good Sam, told her everything about my plans, and got a rate on the truck and camper that was over double the earlier quotes, but on the level.
My advice to people doing what I just did. First, don’t expect that insurance company databases aren’t ever-more tightly linked. It wasn’t that long ago when it would have taken a merger or a migrating file clerk with a photographic memory to link two separate policies; soon, maybe even already, AI will sniff out such inconsistencies. You can be very seriously harmed by taking out a policy on false pretenses. Second, try to get your truck and camper before you retire. I planned to pay cash for both but failed to anticipate the insurance question. Third, it’ll be expensive, but go through Good Sam or someone like them. The industry has apparently convinced itself that fulltiming truck campers are riskier than fulltime motorhomes or trailers. You are going to pay them for that risk or take the (in my view) much riskier path of misleading them. None of this applies to those of you who’ve had your insurance for years - you all have your individual solutions and for the time being these are working. I don’t mean to criticize anyone here-you all know much more than I do. But as a newbie just going through the process I’d like to suggest that times are changing and may require some adaptation.
I talked to two agents regularly recommended for fulltimers here. They each contacted their usual fulltiming-friendly companies, and came up dry with each one. At 65 I’ve never had an accident or moving violation, my credit score is about perfect, and I make a respectable income. The issue, repeated again and again, is that underwriters don’t want to cover a truck and camper unless you tow another vehicle behind you or have a permanent residence you would store the camper in for much of the year. It was a flat, unwavering, nonnegotiable no from all of them.
Much of the advice here was helpful, some of it from my point of view dangerous. I first considered what some posters suggested, getting a quote on the truck, then a separate one for the camper, without ever mentioning my situation or plans. I went to the majors online, got some very attractive offers for the truck, and almost went with them. The problem is that they all asked a “rent or own” question. Of course, I could lie, or tell myself my month-long Airbnbs around the world constituted renting. So I did some searching, “lying to an insurance company for a good rate”, and such. The results did not recommend this course of action to me, though others may have a higher tolerance of risk. The best advice I got was to go through Good Sam and Escapees. Went through an agent affiliated with Good Sam, told her everything about my plans, and got a rate on the truck and camper that was over double the earlier quotes, but on the level.
My advice to people doing what I just did. First, don’t expect that insurance company databases aren’t ever-more tightly linked. It wasn’t that long ago when it would have taken a merger or a migrating file clerk with a photographic memory to link two separate policies; soon, maybe even already, AI will sniff out such inconsistencies. You can be very seriously harmed by taking out a policy on false pretenses. Second, try to get your truck and camper before you retire. I planned to pay cash for both but failed to anticipate the insurance question. Third, it’ll be expensive, but go through Good Sam or someone like them. The industry has apparently convinced itself that fulltiming truck campers are riskier than fulltime motorhomes or trailers. You are going to pay them for that risk or take the (in my view) much riskier path of misleading them. None of this applies to those of you who’ve had your insurance for years - you all have your individual solutions and for the time being these are working. I don’t mean to criticize anyone here-you all know much more than I do. But as a newbie just going through the process I’d like to suggest that times are changing and may require some adaptation.
