VAN INSURANCE

[jage]

Originally Posted by carringb

Progressive seams hit and miss. They sometimes deny a claim unjustly, but then when that is disputed the claim then gets elevated, and it seems to go smooth after that.

My experience with Progressive is they are very "by the book". They'll process your claim and give you the vanilla value as determined by the computer without hemming or hawing- but no wiggle, no discussion, and no extras (ATV in the back? tough). The $500 add on cap screwed me lightly on total hail damage to my aluminum camper shell and (as I said) the $500 no contents trailer coverage is BS.

And if you have a stated value policy, be prepared to provide receipts- not just proof you had rock rails, but proof of how much you bought those rock rails for- that goes for every light, switch and bumper. I've gotten very deep in discussions about whether or not my Jeep is covered- considering I built it over 10+ years and waited for things like "free rock rails with purchase of swing arm bumper", and then used a coupon. I can't produce a receipt, nor can they be replaced at the same value, but progressive's baseline attitude was that I would have to have a receipt for each thing if a total loss claim was filed despite the stated value policy.

After escalating the question I finally got to a level that could consider that everything does not come with a receipt, and I should be covered- but I'm always leery if that will be the case. Push comes to shove, my used hardtop and everything else might be "out" despite the stated value policy and at the least I expect a fight.

Farmers (who still carries our home owner) at least I had an agent who was on my side, at least in understanding the policies and navigating the waters of a claim. To wit, our recent renter-trashing of our house in Indiana drew a policy cancellation instead of a claim ( ) an our agent proactively addressed it and made sure we were reinstated.

My experience with State Farm on the other hand is that they don't like to pay anybody anything if possible- including their own insured. I don't think I'd ever go with State Farm, but everybody has different experiences.

[Ford_6L_E350]

I have State Farm on my SMB and everything else. The SMB is insured as an RV and runs $750/yr.

A couple of years ago I had an accident with new car. State Farm paid up quickly, and gave me more than I had paid for the car! The even paid for unused DMV fees, etc.

I'm very pleased with them.

Mike

[twogone]

I left State Farm to go with Good Sam/GMAC, because SF wouldn't give me a an answer on what was/wasn't covered. Good Sam said they fully cover the cost of the rig as an RV and cover my YukonXL also.

Soooo, after redoing the entire rig, (and spending $30K), I called Good Sam to see if all of my changes were covered. Nope, just the original purchase price. Full cost coverage not available on my rig at it's age, even though it is effectively new. No luck finding any full coverage AT ANY PRICE.

All that said, I'm not sure it is logical to spend a huge amount of insurance money on a part-time use vehicle... just gotta be "self-insured" (pay for what's broke out-of-pocket)

[rltilley]

I just took delivery of my new SMB last month & currently have USAA insurance. Unfortunately USAA does not cover RV's & they sent me over to Progressive. I didn't really shop around & just went with them. I got replacement value coverage of $125K plus all the other stuff they add on like roadside coverage & all of the rest. My yearly premium came out to about $1,200.

So far they seem fine & responsive whenever I have called them with questions. We'll see how it goes should I ever need to file a claim. This policy was picked up as a transfer from the USAA site & the USAA link is stated in Progressive's mailings to me so if I ever have any issues getting things resolved I'll get USAA involved. USAA have never been anything but great to work with for me in the past.

[winvest]

Check out Blue Sky. They just lowered my premium. I've never had a claim, so I don't know how they do with them.

[daveb]

Well I contacted 3 different State Farm agents and my personal agent came up with this:
827.02 per year if driven over 8K miles per year and 677.98 if the mileage is under 8,000. This is for a 2006 diesel E-350 4x4 EB-50 based on a 109K purchase price. MSRP on line was 85K according to them. This is way lower than I was quoted in 2005 but I had also wanted full replacement value which is over now on my current policy with GMAC. Also I’m basing this on a single male, 54, with a clean driving record. Other vehicles insured by State Farm do not make a difference on a RV policy but were taken into account and owning a home seemed to be a factor.

100K-300K-100K Liability
500-500 Comp/collision.
100K-300K Uninsured Motorist.
5K medical.
Towing

In a total out, I’m told reimbursement will vary and everything will be based on age of thr vehicle, mileage and condition. Pictures and receipts (if I have no pictures) are required of all extra equipment added.

Other quotes are still coming in from other State Farm agents. Overall, this is comparable or slightly more expensive than GMAC when I bundle another vehicle with that company. Being I’ve never had a total I don’t have a clue who would be the better. GMAC did an excellent job for me when I met an Acura decided to see what bumper would win in a backing incident…Aluminess won BTW and even though this was a pushing contest @ .1MPH, the lady claimed her neck was hurt and filed a claim against me. GMAC contacted me a couple of times and that was the end of that. I even got my bumper re-powder coated even though there was about an inch scratch on it.

It is nice dealing with a single company though and in six months I might switch back.
I stayed clear of the black water tank thing with my own agent but expect a call back from one of the other agents where the issue was brought up.

[winvest]

I'm paying about the same through Blue Sky, $650 a year, and they valued my '07 at $85,000 also.

[Viva]

Originally Posted by twogone

Soooo, after redoing the entire rig, (and spending $30K), I called Good Sam to see if all of my changes were covered. Nope, just the original purchase price.

This always drives me crazy as it is so illogical. I mean, let's say you were a sucker and overpaid when you bought your SMB, so you paid $75k for an SMB that was really worth about $50k. Yet now they are going to insure/reimburse you for $75k since that was the purchase price? Riiiiight. Conversely, a friend sells me his 2005 SMB for $500. Now it's only "worth" $500? Um, no. Purchase price and market value *may* be closely related much of the time, but not always. And if I have to replace my $500 SMB, is the same friend going to be there with another identical one for $500? I don't think so! (Actually, I'd just like to have this friend even once ).

Total pet peeve of mine! Of all things, insurance should be logical since it's based on statistics!

[CaptainBilly]

The cost of vehicle insurance can vary greatly depending based upon not only the type of vehicle, age of vehicle and / or driver, but also vary a lot based on where you live. When I lived in PA I found that if you lived in rural counties your insurance for identical car and driver was 1/3 to 1/4 what it was if you lived in or near to Philadelphia. Far, far more risk for an insurance company for a Philly car.
I believe that comparisons state to state will also vary due to variations in state insurance laws and laws regarding lawsuits.

CB

[jage]

Originally Posted by Viva

This always drives me crazy as it is so illogical.

Yeah, or your pappy gave you a deal- ie. not a reproducible occurrence (unless his name is A.Feld).

I just re-evaluated based on the new trailer and GMAC is the shiznat [Edit: or maybe not, see below]. I bought trailer insurance, and it's real coverage- not "it can only be covered when attached to your RV (not pickup) when moving on the 3rd Sunday of every month" and then only for producible receipt cost. I got a smoking deal, and there is nothing like paying for twice the coverage you are possibly able to get because you got a bargain.

GMAC agents actually LOOK at what similar things are selling for and use that as a basis. They actually consider features and add ons- e.g. awning is fully covered. There is none of the Progressive "you must produce a receipt!" BS.

With multi-car, GMAC for the SMB is no more expensive than my current Progressive (YMMV of course). The only drawback is they don't offer stated value- still I'll take actual value from evidence any day over NADA. Lot of other good features too- discount on Good Sam road service, when towing the trailer and SMB (or truck, or anything I want to pull with!) are covered as one, meaning no doubling down on deductibles.

So I have trailer insurance with GMAC as of today, my cars are moving over later this month and the Sportsmobile before our big May trip (only to defer the cost so I don't get double wammied in January).

The agent I picked up is in Iowa, she is only a GMAC agent and is now aware of the forum and SMB issues. You can call her directly (PM me for info) or go through the GMAC website to find an agent. Gotta thank daveb for throwing them out!

Edit: Oh dear. While trying to move the non-SMB vehicles to GMAC and asking questions about the Jeep it turns out there is no coverage for offroading. Since my agent had no concept of the difference between offroading and offpavement, nor could fathom that I've done more crazier things with the van than with this particular Jeep, it honestly wasn't a very productive conversation. Considering that I can find a beautiful legal road that turns into a nightmare for any vehicle in about an hour from my driveway (and that's not even really IN the mountains) I'm very concerned that there will actually be no coverage. Both Farmer's and Progressive have/had the same definition: as long as you're not in an organized racing event, you're covered. That's easy. Discussing "offroad" with someone who thinks it means hitting a mud pit at 60mph and nothing else? Not easy.

So I'm awaiting clarification, however now I'm concerned enough I'll be calling Farmer's as a backup plan.