Various questions about an italian RV in the U.S.

Francesca, do your parents speak English, perhaps a little bit? Assuming they have a strong Italian accent while attempting to communicate in English everyone here will understand that they are tourists and help them figure things out. I bet they have a great vacation! Life is full of risks, this seems like a pretty safe one!
...and by the way, your English is very, very good.

1) What about the Florida law forbidding motorhomes to stay in rest areas more than 3 hours? Is it normally possible to park for a longer time in other locations not to far from the city center so my parents could, for example, visit a city during the day and then go elsewhere to sleep?

Click to expand...

I'm guessing you probably think rest areas are close to tourist places.  They usually are along major inter-state highways and often "in the middle of nowhere" so they would not be reasonable for sightseeing tourists to use for sleeping.  Florida instituted that 3-hour restriction a number of years ago after some foreign tourists were murdered in rest areas.  I don't mean to frighten people, but travelers need to be aware of their surroundings and avoid situations that make them too vulnerable.  Florida and other states don't want people "camping" in rest areas which are designed for short-term rest breaks or naps if you're too tired to drive. 

Aside from the law, rest areas can be pretty noisy because trucks leave their diesel engines running and it's not very conducive to restful sleep.  I would suggest your parents get a copy of the Trailer Life Campground Directory which includes thousands of public and private campgrounds arranged by state (or province for Canada).  Our public campgrounds might be in national, state, or county parks, or on Corps of Engineers lands.  Most are in the directory and many are in scenic locations.  As your parents travel the interstate highways, many states have visitor centers at the state line and some contain a wealth of information on campgrounds and tourist attractions.  The ones that are staffed often have friendly and very helpful people to answer questions.

I think your parents will have a wonderful visit in the U.S., although their travel might be a little different here than in Europe.

ArdraF

Thank you Michael and AndraF.
In fact I hadn't understood what rest areas are. It's clearly dangerous and my parents wouldn't sleep there. They never did so in Europe.
Michael, thank you very much for your compliment! My mother was an English teacher, so there won't be problems with the language, although she's probably going to find it difficult to understand your accent at the beginning because she's used to British English. The reason I write on their behalf and I did most part of the organisation for their trip is that they have learned to write e-mails and use skype in order to keep in touch with me from the U.S., but otherwise they don't know anything about technology! That's also the reason why I'm concerned about mobile phoning. I'd like to know in advance what they should do, so that I can explain it to them and then send them to a shop where they know exactly what they have to ask for.

I read that PAI, LIS, LDW and CDW are the most important insurances/coverages to make.

Click to expand...

Those terms apply to rental vehicles and are supplements to the basic insurance provided with the rental, but you mentioned they would "buy" from Cruise America. Are they renting or buying? If buying, they will need to arrange their total insurance coverage package.

If renting, those supplemental coverages can be useful, though often expensive. I believe that LDW and CDW are one and the same - they cover the rented vehicle so that the renter does not have to pay for damages to it. LIS increases the amount of accident liability coverage from the minimum required amount. Whether it is needed depends on what the minimum is, so I can't give a good answer to that. PAI is supplemental personal medical insurance, probably a good thing for a foreign visitor whose own medical coverage probably does not apply in the USA.

The only other thing I can think of is Personal Effects Coverage, which covers your own goods carried in the vehicle. If they have expensive cameras, computers, jewelry, etc. they may want to consider that.

All of the above are usually very expensive if bought through the rental agency, but there may not be many options for short term use of a rental vehicle.

Francesca,

there is Seabridge-Tours (www.seabridge-tours.de/) which is specialized in bringing European RVers and their RVs to other countries as the USA and tour them around.
Go to www.microsofttranslator.com and copy www.seabridge.de into the left field. Then choose the language you want. Maybe you find a useful information.

Good stuff, Mike.  It works, went from German to Italia.

Gary, they are buying one from Cruise America. So is what I mentioned above not necessary? For what insurances should they ask for?
Mike, I know Seabridge but it wasn't a good option as my parents wanted to leave in January, so they would have had to drive from Italy to the north of Germany with very law temperatures, snow etc. Anyway, we found another solution and hopefully everything is going to be ok.
Thank you for your replies.

Most of the insurance companies and many states have a web page explaining all the insurance terms. Here's one example, and others will be very similar. The main coverages your parents might want/need to purchase are:

• Liability
• Collision.
• Comprehensive.

Some of us purchase additional coverage, such as:

• Uninsured or underinsured motorist.
• Medical.

Another term they should become familiar with is

• Deductible.

All the above terms are explained on the page I linked to above. For clarification, they will only need to purchase one insurance policy, and the various coverages listed above can be added/included; Each added coverage will, of course, affect the premium (price).

One thing they'll likely run into will be a high premium/price, due to the fact that they haven"t driven in the USA for any length of time. US auto insurance companies typically don't recognize or give credit for driving experience/history in other countries. Things might have changed but, when we first came the US, our insurance premium was double what it would have been if we had a history of driving here. One year later, the premium was only half of the first year.

Edit:  We have a list of some companies offering RV insurance. Click the Resources button above and scroll down to RV Insurance.

To your phone question, you may wish to check who your parents' current mobile phone service provider is, and if they operate here in the US. I mention this because, when we visit the UK, we take along a couple of T-Mobile phones that we no longer use in the US. I get free SIM cards from T-Mobile in the UK, and I add minutes at grocery stores, supermarkets, fuel stations, (or a T-Mobile store).

Aside from this, there are a couple of options, but the most covenient will probably be to purchase a 'pay as you go' phone(s), either at one of the US service providers stores, or at a store like WalMart. They can then purchase minutes for their use. When I did this for a neighbor a few years ago, I bought the phone and minutes at a WalMart store, and they gave me a lot of extra 'free' minutes. It was surprisingly inexpensive.

The alternative to the above is sign up with a US carrier for a service plan; The phone will be relatively inexpensive, but the carriers usually require a 2-year plan. They'll also ask for a US address, and possibly a US social security number.

Whichever option they choose, you should check out the coverage maps on each carrier's web site, and look for coverage in the areas they'll be traveling. There's also an issue if they expect to make calls back to.Italy; This can be very expensive, and usually requires activation of the international feature by the carrier.

As Tom has described, they will buy one policy with coverage tailored to their needs. One of the confusion factors in the USA is that different states have different minimum requirements for vehicle insurance, so the state where they register and insure their motorhome will make a difference in what is needed and what is optional.

Liability insurance, to cover damage done to the person or property of others, is mandatory but the required amount of coverage is usually minimal and most people increase it. There are diverse opinions as to how much is "enough", but I would suggest at least $100,000 per person for bodily injury and $50,000 for property. More would be better - these amounts are not a lot with todays medical and repair costs - but cost will be a factor in the decision.

Collision insurance protects them in the event of collision damage to their own RV if they are at fault. Typically people insure for the current value of the RV, to pay for it in case of a total loss. Note that if the damage to the RV is done by someone else, the other persons liability insurance (if any) pays the cost. But if the other driver does not have the required liability, your own collision insurance would still protect you. Collision normally has a "deductible", the amount you pay out of pocket before the insurance begins to pay.  A higher deductible means a lower insurance premium. Collision is entirely optional.

Comprehensive, sometimes called "other than collision", pays for damage to the RV caused by something other than a collision to another vehicle or object, e.g. fire, theft, weather, etc. It also has a deductible (see collision). Comprehensive is entirely optional.

Personal Injury Protection (PIP) pays medical costs for them if they are injured in a vehicle accident. It is included in the mandatory package in some states but is optional in others. PIP is a good idea unless they have other medical insurance that will cover them while in the USA.

Uninsured Motorist Coverage (UIM) provides medical coverage on the vehicle owners/passengers if they are injured by someone who does not have the mandatory liability coverage in effect, i.e. are driving illegally. If they have no other medical insurance in effect, it may be a good idea.

Hi everyone,
I wanted to let you know that my parents has arrived in the U.S. and everything is going well despite some difficulties.
As expected they didn't obtain a 9-month-authorisation although they have a return ticket, but the officer at the airport was very nice and gave them papers and the address of the nearest office where they'll apply to extend their status.
What really shocked me is that... their luggage wasn't inspected at all!!!
Thanks again,
Francesca

Good news Francesca. We hope they'll have a great time touring the USA. Please keep us updated on their adventure.

Francheska, I hope they have as good a time here as my wife and I had in Italy. I wouldn't mind coming back for another visit, but I would appreciate it if you would not let Gemona shake on us again. We had been in Gemona in the morning, and was in Pordone having dinner when everything started shaking. Your country is beautiful, and the people were great every where we went.



Lee

Lee,
I'm happy you and your wife enjoyed your stay in Italy.
Unfortunately hearthquakes were frequent in the last years, but I hope you'll be able to come to Europe again and have a great time.
Francesca

Hello everyone!
Today it's exactly 5 months since my parents arrived in Miami from Italy and finally I joined them in the U.S.! We are now in Colorado and I'm visiting Colorado and Utah with them before going back to Italy in 3 weeks.
I wanted to let you know that they obtained an extension of their non-immigrant visa, so they're staying until october. They waited some time, but it's possible to get it!
They are going to leave from Washington D.C. and are mainly concerned about 2 things:
- are there campgrounds in Washington,  New York, Boston and Chicago were they could stay and go visiting the cities by public transportation?
- what is the best way to sell their motorhome before leaving?
I would greatly appreciate your suggestions.
Thank you very much as always,
Francesca

Both tough questions! What size RV did they buy? If its a van size (class B) or small (<25') class C they shouldn't really have any problem driving right into any of those cities. ...or at least close enough to avail themselves of public transportation. They should be prepared to pay for parking though.
As for selling the RV, that's really tough. Try Craigslist online, or perhaps dealerships, but be prepared to lose a lot of value, and whatever they do, don't let on that they have to sell it in a hurry!
You must be back home by now?