home built plans

JBarca wrote:

Gdetrailer wrote:


Insurance on a depreciating asset does not work that way, period.

If the coverage you have is "replacement value" then you are only going to get what it was worth the DAY it was damaged or stolen. You WILL not get reimbursed from the PRICE you paid when it was NEW.

Using your "logic" I could buy a 10 yr old trailer for $4K, insure it for the price it cost when it was brand new ($10K). Then damage it and collect $10K... netting me a cool $6K "profit" from the insurance co.

Put it to you this way, would YOU pay $10K for your near 10yr old trailer? I highly doubt that you would be willing to part with even $4K to buy it at 10yrs old.

Try putting your trailer up for sale for the price you paid for it when it was new. See if you can find anyone willing to pay that much for a 10 yr old trailer . if you do find someone that foolish, run and take the money.. Report back with your results...


If anything happens to your trailer as of this moment I would doubt you would get much more than a couple of thousand..

Well, maybe but I don't think so in my case. I did not say I had "replacement value" insurance. For a total loss, when I bought my 1st camper new, they would replace it with a new camper of equal value of my policy within the 1st 5 years. After 5 years they only pay out the value of the policy.

My current camper I bought used. Was 2.5 years old. The prior owner paid the heavy hit in deprecation. Since it was not new I could not get the same coverage as I had on the prior new camper. I have a "declared value" or what I believe they call "agreed value" which is less than what it is when new however it covers what I paid for it and that was in line with it's book value at the time. In a total loss they will pay the policy value/agreed value/purchase price stated on the policy less the scrap value if there is anything left to scrap.

Seems like I need to re-ask my agent the same questions again I did about 3 years ago when my friend wrecked his. They clearly said, they would payout the value of the policy in the event of a total loss, which in my case is what I paid for it at the start of the policy.

As far as selling it, selling a camper is totally different than an agreed value insuring one. That is understood. A camper in pristine shape stored in a barn and barely used that is 10 years old has to find a special buyer that is willing to pay above current book value.

I do not know where you were going with the buy a 10 year old camper for $4K, insuring it for new and expecting to get a collection of new value. First off I do not know what insurance company would allow new coverage on a 10 year old camper unless it was some special collectors edition that had to go through a special appraisal process first. They normally will not allow the sale of a policy for more than it was worth at the time it was bought. Which is why they would not issue my policy at the cost of new, but did issue it at the agreed/declared/purchase value at the time I bought it. If I tried to do this today on the same camper, they would only issue the policy at the value of a 10 year old camper that I bought it for. Both have to line up, the value at the time I bought and what I paid for it. If I grossly over paid, they would not issue for the gross overpayment.

You may be right, I have been wrong before. And I'm sure I'll be wrong again. Just I asked this exact question 3 years a ago. I'll see if I get the same answer again this time.

Man, I got to get me some of this "insurance", I have a bunch of "projects" in my garage and back yard which perhaps I can get an insurance company to "pay" me to have a professional restoration done on them...

Honestly, I think your agent is joshing you.

I would highly recommend reading your policy declarations yourself and if you do not understand it take the policy to a different insurance company. Insurance "ease" is often confusing and difficult to figure out exactly what you are paying for, a second opinion from a third party might be a good idea.

I can't imagine an insurance company that would be willing to write a policy which would basically "payout" a SET amount which would exceed the depreciating value of the trailer.

In reality the agent may have sold you a policy basically covering "contents" (works like "renters insurance"), now this I can understand. If this is the case then your insurance policy is really only covering your contents in case of loss not the trailer and THAT would make sense.

In a sense if what you are saying your agent created a policy which does not depreciate the value of the trailer which would be an unbelievable "deal". Almost to good to be true and you know when there is a deal which appears to be to good to be true it typically turns out in a bad way.