VAN INSURANCE

[maxacceleration]

Originally Posted by daveb

Coverage seems to change from state to state, company to company, and agent to agent. How in the hell can the underwriters make different conclusions on similar vehicles is beyond me. I think the whole thing is a scam

Its their job to confuse. Its all lawyer speak and loopholes. Loop holes for the insurance companies, not us.
We have called and had a quote given and then the same agent went back on it saying there is no way we can or will insure for that quoted price. This was Allstate.
Its not a scam its crooked. The one with the most/best lawyers wins!

[daveb]

Originally Posted by maxacceleration

Its their job to confuse. Its all lawyer speak and loopholes. Loop holes for the insurance companies, not us.
We have called and had a quote given and then the same agent went back on it saying there is no way we can or will insure for that quoted price. This was Allstate.
Its not a scam its crooked. The one with the most/best lawyers wins!

As if you know E

Sorry, I didn't want to make fun of your accident. You are one of the few who have been through such a thing!

[maxacceleration]

No worries Dave.
Insurance is like politics or religion - people are going to believe what they want to believe.
...With the 'facts' given.
I have seen a side of insurance where they barely act in 'good faith'. ...Courtroom term.
I have also seen attorneys make a big time good move, to, on the back end disappear on their client.
Ask me how I know.

As far as being caught out in the middle on nowhere, there is some common sense that needs to be applied (not speaking of you Dave - you got common sense in spades ).
We ask a lot of these big 'ole rigs....

Its all a gamble friends.

[daveb]

Originally Posted by Ford_6L_E350

How did you get it registered as an SMB Dave? I tried to do that, but both DMV and SF said the serial number says it is a Ford van, so it is registered as a Ford van and insured as a Ford Van based RV.

Mike

So I'm looking at my proof of insurance card and it says nothing about Ford. It shows make and model as Sportsmobile. Don't know what the DMV says though, but I'm kinda thinking it says Ford on it somewhere as well as Sportsmobile.

[WVvan]

As a baseline comparison, I have State Farm coverage but it's just for the basic 1999 Ford van and not an RV. I've never had the insurance increased as improvements were made. It's $491.56 a year.
I do receive discounts for having more than one vehicle and my home covered with them as well.
After reading some of the posts in this thread don't know that I could get extra coverage on my own improvements but really should get some kind of a rider for the penthouse top.

[daveb]

I called GMAC and talked with an guy about a quote and told them I was looking at purchasing a new Sportsmobile but before I got into it with him I tried to nail him down to the lifted vehicle issue. Now I'm not so stupid to think this guy was all knowing, and did realize he's out to suck me into the GMAC world, so I did take his information as a big maybe. The word was if the vehicle comes out of the factory lifted it was indeed covered. I got this from two of the other folks and one was a supervisor. This took over 45 minutes to get the answer. Like I posted earlier, my insurance card shows it as a Sportsmobile not a Ford. In a total it would be valued as a combination of purchase price, current value, depreciation, and condition of the van.

Do I trust they will come through---well, maybe but I bet it will be a fight and I doubt I'll ever get too close to what I paid.

[Spenard]

I have State Farm and when my VW westy was totaled in 2009, with me at the wheel at 50mph by an on coming driver making an illegal left into my lane who we could not get insurance information from, I called State Farm and they immediately took care of as an uninsured motorist and paid the outrageous weekend 10 mile cash only $650 tow fee, paid for added on accessories (stereo, van awning and rack) and the offered above average lower 48 VW Westy replacement price and plus the cost to ship up the VW Westy to AK from Seattle without any haggling and got me into physical therapy and let me remove some Westy stuff off the van at salvage in the first 4 days. Progressive contacted me 2 weeks later to say they were the responsible party for the errant driver and wanted me to work with them instead of State Farm. I said I was sticking with State Farm till everything was resolved and they reluctantly said ok. State Farm said it was ok with them. They have great service in my opinion. My New 2012 SMB Sprinter costs about $695/year for full value, first 5 years on my existing SF motor vehicle/homeowner policy in pricey Alaska. I save some of that money by carrying only comp when its stored in the winter for 6 months. Same with the replacement VW Westy on the policy which is now stored when not in use in Ashland, Oregon. I call them up to activate the full insurance for sometimes only a week when I get down there and they are ok with it, bill me for a month minimum and rebate me 2 weeks with a check the next month.

[daveb]

Was the Westy a lifted four wheel drive? Syncro?

[Spenard]

Nope. wished it was

[taylorvon]

I'm insured through Farmers.

A little background...

Zurich owns Farmers, 21 Century, Bristol West, and Foremost.

Foremost provides an RV product that will cover an SMB, however the premium was more than I wanted to pay.

Farmers recently introduced higher coverage availability on their Customized Vehicle endorsement. The endorsement previously only covered up to $10K additional and now will cover up to $50K via a call from your Farmers agent to service operations.

Since my van is not as valuable as some of your newer vans, I opted to insure it as a cargo van via the VIN decode and add $20K in customized equipment coverage.

Taylor