We want to rent, but can't find an "insurance binder"

We reserved a RV from an individual owner for a spring break trip next week in Arizona thinking that it would be easy to get the required "insurance binder," since the owner made it sound very commonplace.  However, after talking to my insurance agent (Allstate) in NC and talking to several other carriers (State Farm, Progressive, Geico, etc), we have not been able to find anyone that provides (or has even heard of) insurance binders for RV rentals.  I was even willing to change my auto policies away from Allstate to any other company that could provide a binder.

Has anyone ever dealt with this situation before?  Any recommendations on carriers that are known to provide "insurance binders"?

Thanks!

From what I understand of an insurance binder, it's a temporary policy until a permanent one is issued.  Are there other options they have that would suit your needs?  Maybe instead of asking for a specific product, tell them you are renting an RV for a week and you need insurance coverage and ask what product offerings they have for that.

Thanks for the reply Marc.  We have asked about standalone temporary policies, but have had even less luck there.  The most common route appears to be where they link/bind it to the renter's existing auto policy and coverages for a small fee.  But alas, it seems to be a big problem finding a company that does that

I have something similar on my policy. For 30$/year, I am covered for any vehicle I drive. However I'm not sure if it would cover damages when parked.

I wonder if you could go at this from another direction.  I would ask the owner if he can add you to his policy as an additional driver almost like a "rider" instead of a separate "binder".  But before you do that, ask to see the policy and get proof of how much coverage he actually has on the motor home.  To play a devils advocate here, if he has limited coverage and something drastic happens, believe me the lawyers will go after you if his policy isn't adequate.

Also, have you checked with your policy to see if it covers you if you drive someone else's vehicle?

We are probably over insured; but we have regular coverage for our motorhome and have an "umbrella" policy to cover everything if we ever need it.

I believe you are running into the basic problem with renting from a private individual.  RV rental companies most likely carry their own insurance.

Marsha~

Unless the owner has the RV insured commercially as an "RV Rental" business, his insurer will not be too happy when they find out he's renting it out. If he just has this insured on a personal policy, renting it out may even be grounds for denial of any claim and cancellation of his policy. I would not be comfortable renting an RV from an individual.

You are having trouble finding coverage since most mainstream insurance companies are not in the business of providing short term insurance. Short term coverage is a specialty (read: "expensive") market. Marc is right - a binder is just temporary proof of coverage. I'm afraid what the owner might have been suggesting is that you get a binder from your agent and hope that by the time your insurance company found out what it was for, they would decline to write you a policy but you'd be done with the RV so you would no longer need the coverage anyway. Trust me - it happens.

Joe

I think you could buy yourself a blanket (aka umbrella) liability policy to cover yourself in the event you became liable for any damages done to someone else of their property.  You probably already have "drive other car" privileges on your auto policy, but it would likely fall short of covering damages to an expensive RV. Then the umbrella should kick in and cover the rest that you rae personally responsible for. Just make sure that it includes damages resulting from a motor vehicle loss.

   
    Idog, I've been having the same problem...... 

    I contacted a private owner through an rv listing company and asked about renting a new diesel pusher for 3 ~ 4 weeks.  The owner assured me that "you shouldn't have any problem getting a binder; most companies tell you they don't do it but they do".  He told me "I'll give you the information you have to know to tell them in order to get an umbrella policy binder ", when he needed to have the verification. 
    Well, we spent a good many days/hours planning a trip through the Southwest, called him, reserved the motor home and (without even considering it might be a problem) sent him the required deposit.  He telephoned to tell us he got it and that he was including a number of things not normally included and wasn't going to charge me mileage or generator costs since I was renting it for a month during the off season.
      Then, we started the "hunt" for a binder.  Well, all the companies you mentioned told us the same as they told you.  I called yesterday and left a message informing the owner that I needed his help and the information he promised me; he didn't call me back last night, so here's hoping he will.  I went on a "scavenger hunt" on the 'Net and found out that, supposedly, Farmers Insurance will do it, American Families Insurance(? new to me) does it, and State Farm will do it for free, provided you're an existing policy holder.  Also, if you're a Vet, USAA will do it for you also (according to agents from 2 rental companies).
    I talked to the local State Farm agent and he explained that, were I a policyholder, they'd simply add it onto my existing auto policy and cover the motor home for just the rental time.  However, there's another insurance caveat that "loss of use" is not covered that way.  That means, should I wreck it and it would be in the repair shop for a month, I'd have to pay the entire rental fees for the month that it couldn't be rented it, should the owner demand it. The agent told me this(apologetically) because they have an Un-owned Motor Coverage (UNOC) that would cover loss of use, but he'd have to charge me a fee for UNOC. It could be added onto my policy for just the time I had the motor home rented so it "wouldn't be much".
    I haven't had time to contact the other companies but I hope to do it before the Virtual Campfire tonight.  I hope this'll help you.

   

Yujo,

Did you have any luck finding information on the expected life of RV tires?

I'm having this problem also, and USAA also said no, although they have insured us for 40 years now.  Where to go for this?  We live in NC.

Jaegower..I don't know if you realize it, but this thread is 6 years old?

My local State Farm agent issued me an insurance binder (14 day policy) when I bought my motorhome last year from out of state.  It seemed common and easy enough for my situation where I was going to potentially buy, but did not want to buy a full year of coverage in case the deal fell through once I saw the motorhome in person.

Allstate has add-on rental insurance for their policy holders.
https://www.allstate.com/tools-and-resources/power-sports/motorhome-rental-insurance.aspx

MBA Insurance offers policies to renters, but I think they are available only through the company doing the renting. Those companies might sell you a policy even though you are renting from some private source?  Rates are high, like $35/day, and $1000 deductible. Maybe if you contact MBA they could tell you where you might be able to get a policy, even though not direct from them.

What type of insurance is he asking you to provide? Liability for damages to someone else if in a vehicle accident? Coverage for damage to the RV itself (collision & comp), damage that YOU caused somehow? Or maybe loss of use & income in case the RV is in a shop for 6 months after an accident? Note that you are probably liable for his loss if your action deprives him of normal use of his RV after the rental period. In other words, you could end up paying rent for several months if repairs take that long (and they often do).