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Old 07-18-2018, 05:15 PM   #201
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Geetings forum friends.

It's become time I'm the one strapping into the nauseating ride of van insurance. What's caused this is I have bundled policies of all of my vehicles and the house with one company which was a great deal several years ago. Those bundled policies premiums have now way more than doubled in price with no at fault claims so I'm looking for cheaper alternatives. That part is easy. The second goal of this project is to get the van insured appropriately and not as just a 2wd panel van. You've seen the pics, the whole thing is kind of ridiculous. I know I should have dealt with it before.

Anyway, what I have found so far is I can get the house and the other vehicles insured for much less than I am paying now, and for better coverage. As expected that's easy. The Van might need to be on it's own policy. Which is fine, even though it is more elegant a solution to only deal with one company.

What I'm hoping for is if someone would be able to chime in with a company or agent that has written a policy recently for a straight up built SMB built E350 4x4. I read through this thread back a few years but figured some more recent references might help not only myself but others as well. Put simply I'm looking for a referral as to avoid cold calling companies and reinventing the campervan over the phone.

Thank you and I'm proud/humbled to be a part of this community.

-Eric

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Old 07-18-2018, 09:25 PM   #202
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If it's an actual SMB with an RVIA sticker it should be cake......like a $500K policy for around $75/year.....ok just kidding....


If you need RV insurance try Progressive's online calculator, and there are many other alternatives. Seems like people with RV insurance are getting $70-80K worth of coverage for less than $1K/year.


If it's a homebuild, please let us know what you find....
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Old 07-19-2018, 08:10 AM   #203
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Quote:
Originally Posted by boywonder View Post
If you need RV insurance try Progressive's online calculator, and there are many other alternatives. Seems like people with RV insurance are getting $70-80K worth of coverage for less than $1K/year.


If it's a homebuild, please let us know what you find....
This was exactly my belief going into this. Especially with the fact that mine is not a home built. I have RIVA sticker, build sheet, van supplied to the original owner by SMB West, converted by SMB West, I bought used through SMB West in 2010. She should be as legit as any Airstream or Winebego. However my first attempt at Progressive yesterday turned up bupkis for the Van. Here was my experience with Progressive starting with the online calculator and leading to the entire afternoon on the phone speaking to several supervisors in their Auto, Comercial, and the RV departments.

I started with the online quote routine. Normal for today, but still creepy to me, the website already new all the cars I own and their vin # so I just had to confirm. However the van I had to enter the info manually. Once that vin number was entered I was stopped, told it was a modified vehicle, and had to call. How is that tied to the VIN? Whatever. Long story shortened. In the end I was on the phone with some high up supervisor in the RV department that said, " Sportsmobile is not an approved RV builder by progressive so we will not insure it. Furthermore, even if Sportsmobile was aproved, based on the fact the suspension has been modified we wouldn't be able to insure it. End of conversation".

This shocked me based on my belief of what boywonder described above. And that in no conversation I had with any of the departments did I say it was a 4x4. But somehow they knew how my van was reconfigured by SMB.

So the search continues. I might give progressive one more attempt through a local branch instead of corporate.

In spite of this one experience with one company I still believe there are a lot of folks with policies on vans just like mine. Valued at double what mine is probably worth. So, I'm hoping some of those folks would share specifically who they are with. There is a lot of vague suggestions of how to go about insuring an SMB on the internet but few current specifics. If anyone isn't comfortable publicly posting their referral feel free to PM me.

Thank you
- Eric
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Old 07-19-2018, 08:31 AM   #204
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This is what Progressive quoted me through their form without any fuss last night. They had Sportsmobile as an option in their pick list, a SMB 4x4 option too.
http://view.e.progressive.com/?qs=8c...b44a925b243848

I have RIVA sticker, build sheet supplied to the original owner by SMB West as well.

However, they based that quote on a Physical Damage Settlement Option of " Actual Cash Value", which was the only option available to select. So does that mean they'll tell me my van is worth $3k? When instead I want an "Agreed Value" of $30k, which isn't avalible on their form, in my scenario.
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Old 07-19-2018, 10:15 AM   #205
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They are covering mine with agreed value
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Old 07-19-2018, 11:41 AM   #206
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Thank you guys for posting your specific info with progressive. AND, I KNEW I WAS GETTING THE RUN AROUND!

So just now for kicks I started a new online quote with Progressive's RV web site to see what would happen and sure enough their is absolutely the options for Sportsmobile. Albeit with just the general options of vehicle description it will only accept the value of the van for 13k maximum which is crap but it's progress.

So armed with this new knowledge I'm going to have a "Bill Tindall" type conversation with Progressive.

If your into Aerospace history google Howard "Bill" Tindall to see what I mean by sending a Tindall Gram there way.

Thank you again for your help
-Eric
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Old 01-28-2019, 11:49 AM   #207
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Hi All,
I'm currently getting quotes for RV insurance on a brande new class b Winnebago Revel 4x4. I've got it narrowed down to my existing company Safeco, and a company I have used in the Past for another Sportsmobile a few years ago - Progressive.

anyone know whether the Personal Effects replacement would include a mountain bike that would be transported inside the back cargo area of the sprinter?
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Old 01-28-2019, 01:12 PM   #208
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Probably best to ask the insurance provider.

Gar
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Old 01-29-2019, 11:05 PM   #209
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Your homeowner's insurance (or renter's insurance) might cover the bike, since it's not a permanently attached item, so I'd check there too. Bear in mind the deductible, though; if your policy has a $1000 deductible it's not going to be much help if a $500 bike is stolen, unless a bunch of other stuff is too.
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Old 01-30-2019, 10:16 AM   #210
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My Homeowner insurance to add an addendum for personal property was pretty ridiculous when I tried to add some camera equipment a few years ago. Not sure why it was so expensive compared to renter's insurance. They would only insure specific items that I wanted to insure.

My bikes are pretty highend = above 5-6K in value so always a little concerned when I'm on mtn biking trips. I thought personal covered it from memory. I will check with the policy when I receive it.

Also, ended up going with Progressive over Safeco. I've had two vans stolen one about 4 years ago when I was with progressive and one last year when I was with Safeco. Both with similar payouts of insurance. There was a night and day difference as to how each company handled the claim. In Summary Progessive paid everything out immediately with almost no hassle while with Safeco we went through weeks with an assigned investigator and I had to constantly argue with them about getting what I was due. On top of that they repeatedly tried to cheat me out of what I was due by conveniently forgetting to put things in my claim.

While in the end I got most of what I was due the process with Safeco left a bitter taste in my mouth.



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Originally Posted by Orv View Post
Your homeowner's insurance (or renter's insurance) might cover the bike, since it's not a permanently attached item, so I'd check there too. Bear in mind the deductible, though; if your policy has a $1000 deductible it's not going to be much help if a $500 bike is stolen, unless a bunch of other stuff is too.
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