Insurance question
Am buying my 1st RV,a new 26 ft TT, and started calling for insurance quotes today - what a headache! I called Good Sam, State Farm (my long time company for car and home), GEICO (who won't insure ...
Forum Discussion
We are with AllState, been with them for 30 years. So, I'm biased toward AllState. But here is something you REALLY should know about insuring your RV, and why tying it with your auto insurance is really, not such a bad move. Here are the areas you REALLY should make sure you have coverage for. Combined with your household insurance, auto insurance, and RV insurance, all from one company, you should be covered. Here we go!
1. Insurance for when your trailer is not attached to our car/truck. This would cover if a tree branch fell on it, or a tornado swept it away, or if a fire broke out.
2. Insurance for vandalism (usually also covered in #1 above policy)
3. Insurance for Trailer Theft (also #1 above)
4. Insurance for when you are actually towing your trailer. This is NOT covered under #1 above. It is covered under your car/truck insurance policy. (Liability and Property damage... If you backed your trailer into another car for example. The tow vehicle did not hit the other car, the trailer did.)
5. If you have a wreck when in tow, the automobile policy will pay for the repair of the trailer or it's dollar value to repair/replace it. This usually follows if you have personal property damage on your vehicle. If you don't have personal property on your vehicle, you may not be reimbursed for trailer repair, because this will NOT (usually) be covered under #1 above. #1 above will usually have an exclusion that (in tow) the automobile insurance covers the trailer.
6. Insurance for personal property theft. Basically, take your camper, turn it upside down, and everything that falls out is personal property. (television, computer, electronics, pots, pans, even pets). This is usually covered under your home owner's policy. Not a trailer policy (#1 above). So it's important to UP your house hold insurance to make sure you have coverage, anywhere in the world, for everything you own. (AllState does this anyway). So if I have a computer stolen while I'm at McDonalds, my household insurance has it covered (provided I meet my deductible).
7. Insurance for personal liability. You are camped in a campground. You have a garden hose stretched across your camp site. A kid comes running through your campsite, trips, falls, breaks his arm. YOU can be sued because you were negligent. (it's not right, but it happens). Or, you have dog and it bites a kid (which actually happened to my parents when I was kid). In this situation, your home owners insurance covers you.
But if there is a hole in your campsite, and the kid trips and breaks an arm, that is not your fault. It's the campground's fault. They were neglegant by not filling in the hole, even if it was on your campsite. This insurance covers any personal liability that may be against you personally because of something YOU had control over, but failed to control.
This is why, unless you are a full timer, for the best coverage, to have all of this coordinated through your house hold and auto insurance carrier.
I do have personal memory of the heart break and stress we went through when I was a kid (about 10 years old - I'm 60 now) and we had to let "them" take the dog (an absolutely beautiful German Sheppard) and put it down, then test it for rabbis (court order) ... all on my parents insurance dime. Thank goodness they had the insurance! As I remember, the dog did not have rabbis, but the kid who got bit by the dog (because she stepped on its foot, which scared the dog to begin with), the parents walked away a lot richer because of it!
Even as a 10 year old boy, I understood the value of insurance after watching the trauma my parents went through because of this. When I got married, and got my first tent, I checked with my insurance company, and although renting an apartment way back then, I made sure, even if camping in a tent, we were covered.
1. Insurance for when your trailer is not attached to our car/truck. This would cover if a tree branch fell on it, or a tornado swept it away, or if a fire broke out.
2. Insurance for vandalism (usually also covered in #1 above policy)
3. Insurance for Trailer Theft (also #1 above)
4. Insurance for when you are actually towing your trailer. This is NOT covered under #1 above. It is covered under your car/truck insurance policy. (Liability and Property damage... If you backed your trailer into another car for example. The tow vehicle did not hit the other car, the trailer did.)
5. If you have a wreck when in tow, the automobile policy will pay for the repair of the trailer or it's dollar value to repair/replace it. This usually follows if you have personal property damage on your vehicle. If you don't have personal property on your vehicle, you may not be reimbursed for trailer repair, because this will NOT (usually) be covered under #1 above. #1 above will usually have an exclusion that (in tow) the automobile insurance covers the trailer.
6. Insurance for personal property theft. Basically, take your camper, turn it upside down, and everything that falls out is personal property. (television, computer, electronics, pots, pans, even pets). This is usually covered under your home owner's policy. Not a trailer policy (#1 above). So it's important to UP your house hold insurance to make sure you have coverage, anywhere in the world, for everything you own. (AllState does this anyway). So if I have a computer stolen while I'm at McDonalds, my household insurance has it covered (provided I meet my deductible).
7. Insurance for personal liability. You are camped in a campground. You have a garden hose stretched across your camp site. A kid comes running through your campsite, trips, falls, breaks his arm. YOU can be sued because you were negligent. (it's not right, but it happens). Or, you have dog and it bites a kid (which actually happened to my parents when I was kid). In this situation, your home owners insurance covers you.
But if there is a hole in your campsite, and the kid trips and breaks an arm, that is not your fault. It's the campground's fault. They were neglegant by not filling in the hole, even if it was on your campsite. This insurance covers any personal liability that may be against you personally because of something YOU had control over, but failed to control.
This is why, unless you are a full timer, for the best coverage, to have all of this coordinated through your house hold and auto insurance carrier.
I do have personal memory of the heart break and stress we went through when I was a kid (about 10 years old - I'm 60 now) and we had to let "them" take the dog (an absolutely beautiful German Sheppard) and put it down, then test it for rabbis (court order) ... all on my parents insurance dime. Thank goodness they had the insurance! As I remember, the dog did not have rabbis, but the kid who got bit by the dog (because she stepped on its foot, which scared the dog to begin with), the parents walked away a lot richer because of it!
Even as a 10 year old boy, I understood the value of insurance after watching the trauma my parents went through because of this. When I got married, and got my first tent, I checked with my insurance company, and although renting an apartment way back then, I made sure, even if camping in a tent, we were covered.
