OK, long story short my F250 was caught in a hail storm and it ruined the hood, the cab, and the $2200 custom aluminum topper. I went to progressive for a claim and discovered that my policy (and all standard policies) has this little thing called CPE, which means the maximum value of coverage for items not added by the manufacturer is $1000
combined.
Did everyone with a Progressive insurance policy just get a cold chill? Good.
It gets worse, but then it gets better. Still it bears checking your policy. Here is how I understand it works:
Standard Policy (CPE): Anything not added by the manufacturer will not be covered over $1000 total. You must show receipts. Addy has a Landcruiser. Addy added a $1200 lift, an $800 roof rack and $500 bumpers. The LC goes in the drink and is a total loss. Progressive reimburses Addy for the value of the LC plus $1000 ($1200+$800+$500 = $1000)
Standard Policy (ACPE): If you have between $1000 and $4999 of additions, you can pay for additional coverage of those parts by specifying a value. You must show receipts. So Addy reads my post and calls Progressive and changes his policy to ACPE, pays the fee and takes his Landcruiser to LA where it gets stolen, crashed, and returned in a ball. Addy has receipts for the suspension and the bumpers, but he won the roof rack in a raffle and therefor does not have a receipt. Progressive reimburses the value of the LC plus $1700, despite the fact that Addy has been paying for ACPE in the amount of $2500, since he didn't have a receipt for the roof rack.
One important point on SMBs, I was very clear in establishing that Aluminess bumpers, lights, winches, and similar items added by SMB were covered as part of the original manufacturer (ergo you do not need to list your front bumper as part of the ACPE)
and that SMB was considered an original manufacturer if they purchased an incomplete chassis from Ford. However if you remove the Aluminess front bumper and replace it with the exact same thing, the new bumper is no longer covered. Ditto winches, lights etc. So be wary of replacements and upgrades.
Stated Amount: Kind of like agreed value, but is based on the stated amount of accessories by insured plus the cash value of the vehicle as determined by Progressive. If the value of the vehicle is more than $5000 you can opt to change to stated amount. If the combined amount of the ACPE parts is over $5000 you automatically go must change to Stated Amount. Addy's LC is eligible and since he doesn't have a receipt for the $800 roof rack he pays for Stated Value of $2500 in additional parts and is fully covered (well as fully covered as you think "Actual Cash Value" gets you...)
Agreed Value Policy: Jay owns an SMB an buys a policy with the agreed value of his Sportsmobile. He replaces the factory installed winch and adds an $1000 roof rack. As long as the value of the SMB in total does not exceed the original agreed value, those items are fully covered. If Jay adds something that exceeds that value (hard to do with the base vehicle value dropping every day...) then he should call Progressive and establish the new agreed value.
My coverage is now as follows:
* I have standard CPE coverage on the F250, since the only added item is the topper, which is now hail damaged and worth only about $1000.
* I am switching to Stated Value coverage on the Jeep TJ since the lift alone cost nearly $5000 and I've spent years working and waiting to get the absolute best value on every item I've added, many of which are not reproducible (free rock rails with purchase of rear bumper) nor have I saved every receipt (like the Atlas II grandfathered from my XJ and purchased in '00).
* On the SMB I already had Agreed Value coverage, which I verified covers all add on items including after manufacturer and "swapped out" items (e.g. Deaver spring upgrade). Personally I think this is the type of coverage every SMB should have as you negate any issues of whether SMB added something or if SMB qualifies as a manufacturer in the first place.
See:
http://www.progressive.com/understan...implified.aspx for more info, although most of this information came from a ½ hour conversation with a Progressive rep (and her manager).
I don't think it would have mattered because I took the time to reestablish that SMB was the manufacturer and that originally it came with at least 4" of lift over factory-Fords, whereas with the Deavers I'm at about 6", so I personally have added at most 2". (Hard to say because the factory SMB springs were flat, so I may not have added any).
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