Insurance question - Stolen tow vehicle

[Lew_Schiller]

This might not be the right forum - please advise if so.
I tow a cargo trailer to shows and events, so not a camper but the issue is the same.

A month ago while in Dallas my van was stolen from a hotel parking lot. My trailer was detached and wasn't taken - Thank God. This left me 800 miles from home with no way to get the trailer and myself back home. I ended up having to get a U-Haul truck, which cost +- $850 for the one way rental.
My insurance provider - State Farm - pays $25/day up to $750 for an interim vehicle, so if you need a Hyundai Sonata you're good to go. If you need something that can tow you're not. I received $137.50 reimbursement for the 5.5 day rental. Yay.

I was talking about it with my insurance agent trying to find out what coverage I should have had. Apparently nothing they offer. There's an upgrade replacement vehicle policy but it,too, is per day. So if you don't need an inexpensive sedan for 30 days but you do need a relatively expensive rental for 10 or 15 during the period between theft and Total Loss Settlement you still lose. He said my situation was unique. I pointed out that had I been pulling a camper it would be the same.

So....what coverage do you have that would address this situation without having to eat the over 700 unreimbursed dollars that I had to spend to get home.

[Lew_Schiller]

Grit dog wrote:
To that point, just switched our vehicles to Am Fam and I recall seeing an option for “additional” rental coverage. I took whatever was offered with the basic comp/collision which was like $30 a day. But you may check with them.

Will do!

[Grit_dog]

To that point, just switched our vehicles to Am Fam and I recall seeing an option for “additional” rental coverage. I took whatever was offered with the basic comp/collision which was like $30 a day. But you may check with them.

[Lew_Schiller]

Grit dog wrote:
That's cool, I missed that part.
sorry.

We're good 🙂

[Grit_dog]

That's cool, I missed that part.
sorry.

[Lew_Schiller]

Grit dog wrote:
Lew, you can buy insurance for whatever you want. You may not like the premiums though. It’s unfortunate that you didn’t have the coverage to do what you needed to do but we’re kind of beating a dead horse here.
If you want a specific coverage, your insurance agent will be a better resource for that than the forum members here.

I said earlier that I thought we'd taken this as far as it could go unless somebody had a policy that would cover this situation.
Actually, my agent isn't a better resource as I've said. State Farm doesn't have anything that would cover it regardless of premium.

I brought this question here to see if anybody had an answer. nobody does. I'm fine with ending the thread.

[Grit_dog]

Lew, you can buy insurance for whatever you want. You may not like the premiums though. It’s unfortunate that you didn’t have the coverage to do what you needed to do but we’re kind of beating a dead horse here.
If you want a specific coverage, your insurance agent will be a better resource for that than the forum members here.

[Lew_Schiller]

It might be a CDN / US difference, but I use State Farm because I get a substantial discount for having many properties and vehicles insured with them.
When my F-350 was stolen in Miami a few years ago, 1,500 miles from home, they gave me 2 options. They would ship my trailer home for free and give me a rented car, or they would give me a Suburban / Excursion and I could tow the trailer myself

Up here at least they call it “loss of use” coverage, it provides for a replacement vehicle comparable to the insured vehicle.

This is exactly what I needed.
A quick search for State Farm and Loss of Use only turned up case law that provides compensation for rental fleet owners when one of their vehicles is damaged.

[JaxDad]

Lew Schiller wrote:

skipro3 wrote:
For that price, I would have contracted to have the trailer delivered with a trucking/shipping/transport company. My best guess is maybe $400 to move it. Any company that can transport a car should be able to handle a trailer. I once bought a 22' pontoon boat with tandem axle trailer of eBay in El Paso, TX and had it shipped to Sacramento, CA for $400.

****EDIT****
42 cents a mile for 1,000+ miles.

That approach isn't viable.
If I shipped the trailer how do my wife and I get home along with everything we had in the hotel room? Can't fly with all that and in any event air fare would be around $500 for last minute one way tickets for two - plus Air Fare isn't covered at all.
Can't rent a $25 car - those aren't one way rates.

I'm gathering that nobody here has coverage that's any better than mine in the event the tow vehicle is stolen away from home which is why I posed the question. To find out if I should be looking elsewhere and as a cautionary tale.

It might be a CDN / US difference, but I use State Farm because I get a substantial discount for having many properties and vehicles insured with them.

When my F-350 was stolen in Miami a few years ago, 1,500 miles from home, they gave me 2 options. They would ship my trailer home for free and give me a rented car, or they would give me a Suburban / Excursion and I could tow the trailer myself

Up here at least they call it “loss of use” coverage, it provides for a replacement vehicle comparable to the insured vehicle.

[Lew_Schiller]

Deb and Ed M wrote:
Lew - I'm just curious as to what kind of van you had? I saw a video of how easy it is to break into a Transit (the others are probably as easy) and it made me want to throw up.....

It was a 90's Conversion van that I bought from the original owner. Exceptionally well maintained.
It had vent windows. I had a break in a year or so ago - they punched the vent window in backwards. It was empty other than some odds and ends but they took my registration and garage door opener so that was of concern. It happened in Kansas so I had a neighbor go in and unplug my openers. Nothing further came of it.
They might have gone in that way or with some version of a bump key.

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

Lew - I'm just curious as to what kind of van you had? I saw a video of how easy it is to break into a Transit (the others are probably as easy) and it made me want to throw up.....

[Jarlaxle]

beemerphile1 wrote:

SusanDallas wrote:

...The next year, I went to eat downtown with my cousin. We were approached by another couple with two young kids in their car. Again, they offered us their ticket and said they were just leaving. I told them no and I was aware of their scam. This has happened to me four times in the West End area of Dallas....

Reminds me of the expression; "You can't cheat an honest man".

Naah. Honest people are the EASIEST to scam, because they think everyone is basically honest.

[NJRVer]

Lew Schiller wrote:

I have a business auto policy through State Farm and when i got rearended I went to Enterprise and rented a brandnew Ford F250 with tow hitch.
I have rental insurance in my policy and it is for a higher grade vehicle cost, not just an econobox.

Do you have the 80/20 interim vehicle coverage with the $1500 cap?
My agent brought that up but it still only paid per day.

From what I remember without digging out the policy, I had a choice of how much rental coverage to buy.
It was a thirty day limit, but I could choose my per day dollar coverage. I had to use it a few years prior, and that was only $25 a day which as I now know won't rent anything but a econobox.
At the time they had a Ram 2500 without a trailer hitch and the F250 with the hitch. I thought I might need to use my cargo trailer so i opted for the F250.
I get $50 per day now, and when I rented the F250 I think it cost $60 a day. I didn't mind putting out $20 for the two days I had it.

[Lew_Schiller]

discovery4us wrote:
Do you have a policy on the trailer or just using the van's policy to cover the trailer? I carry a policy on my cargo trailer that will return the trailer and contents back home in case of a catastrophic (or some such language) event. Memory is not that good but I think it includes up to 600 miles. It also covers theft, damage, and so forth when the trailer is traveling. Home owners covers it when it is parked in the back yard.

With out a policy on the trailer I don't think any insurer is going to help with moving the trailer. The insurer is only going to be concerned with what vehicle the policy was written for.

That's correct. Trailer towing is independent of the vehicle. Ran into that when I had a mechanical on the road. Yes - I have trailer coverage. Not sure if it buys me 600 miles or not. That coverage is good to have especially with the high rate of trailer theft these days.
A fellow vendor was out for a show and while they didn't steal the trailer as it was well secured they backed out the fasteners and peeled back the skin. It was a mess.

[Lew_Schiller]

I have a business auto policy through State Farm and when i got rearended I went to Enterprise and rented a brandnew Ford F250 with tow hitch.
I have rental insurance in my policy and it is for a higher grade vehicle cost, not just an econobox.

Do you have the 80/20 interim vehicle coverage with the $1500 cap?
My agent brought that up but it still only paid per day.