We are new to rv/trailer traveling. We live in Alaska and own two airstream trailers. We want to keep one up here in AK for local trips, and one in the lower 48 with a truck for trips down there, to save us having to drive the Alaska highway (2600 miles and 5 days). We keep the second airstream in a secured storage yard in Washington state. Our insurance company found out and promptly cancelled us of all of our vehicles because the second airstream is "not in our custody and control." The insurance company is AIG. Does this sound right? What do other rv/trailer owners do? We presume that many people keep there units in some kind of storage facility. Do they all lie to the insurance company and pretend that the unit is in their driveway? We are very frustrated about this and are looking for another company to insure our three vehicles and two trailers.
insurance
- Thread starter barstow
- Start date
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Carl L
Moderator Emeritus
I insure with USAA and have so for over 20 years. They know full well that my trailer is stored in another location than my car and my truck. In fact, it is so listed in the policy. I suspect your ex-insurance company has a corporate failing -- they are idiots.
Gary RV_Wizard
Site Team
You have a situation that few insurers know how to deal with. Their private vehicle policies are predicated on the notion that the vehicle is, as they say, in your custody and under your control. Storage off your own private premises is not the issue, but when it is out of state and probably never in your "home" jurisdiction at all. it probably tripped some alarms somewhere. Your best bet, I think, would be to insure the extra truck & trailer separately, listing Washington state rather than AK as its home base (the insurance industry calls it "the place the vehicle is principally garaged").
Fulltimers face a similar problem and most insurers that handle fulltimers maintain a polite fiction that the rig really is, at least occasionally, at the location listed in the insurance as the home base. They don't have any other way to deal with it.
Fulltimers face a similar problem and most insurers that handle fulltimers maintain a polite fiction that the rig really is, at least occasionally, at the location listed in the insurance as the home base. They don't have any other way to deal with it.
blsmith25
Well-known member
Hello,
I will be getting delivery of my brand new PleasureWay Plateau in a few weeks and need some ideas of insurance companies. I live in Santa Clara, CA and plan to live full-time in it.
I'm new to California and the US and do not have a US driving record. I've already been refused by one company because I haven't been driving in CA for 3 years or more.
I've inquired at a few companies and some do not insure RV's. I do have one that I can fall back on - State Farm in case I can't get another one, but I did want to check. Also, will insurance companies care if you're living full-time in it or not?
Any tips and ideas would be helpful as to where to look. I also used to belong to Explorer RV Cluib in Canada, but haven't found anything like it here yet.
Thanks,
BL
I will be getting delivery of my brand new PleasureWay Plateau in a few weeks and need some ideas of insurance companies. I live in Santa Clara, CA and plan to live full-time in it.
I'm new to California and the US and do not have a US driving record. I've already been refused by one company because I haven't been driving in CA for 3 years or more.
I've inquired at a few companies and some do not insure RV's. I do have one that I can fall back on - State Farm in case I can't get another one, but I did want to check. Also, will insurance companies care if you're living full-time in it or not?
Any tips and ideas would be helpful as to where to look. I also used to belong to Explorer RV Cluib in Canada, but haven't found anything like it here yet.
Thanks,
BL
Gary RV_Wizard
Site Team
You are actually looking for multiple kinds of insurance. One covers the RV as a house and the other covers it as a vehicle. Vehicle insurance is primarily liability & collision coverage, in case you do damage to yourself and others in an accident while driving down the road. Living in it is not relevent to vehicle insurance. But your Rv is also a home and has many of the aspects of a home, e.g. it contains your worldly goods, you cook and may entertain others, and visitors may trip over your lawn chair and break an ankle. For this, you want something called fulltimer's insurance, which is to RVing what a homeowners policy is to a house. For that purpose, yes hey want to know if you live in it.
Try the Rv insurers rather than car insurers. I have had good results with Explorer RV, which is a compnay owned agency for National Interstate and a specialist in RV coverage. Explorer RV
Some
others are:
RV America
GMAC RV Insurance
You can also get insurance through the Good Sam Club and Family Motor Coach Assc., both nationwide Rv clubs. I heartily recomend the FMCA for any motorhome owner - the magazine alone is worth the annual dues.
Try the Rv insurers rather than car insurers. I have had good results with Explorer RV, which is a compnay owned agency for National Interstate and a specialist in RV coverage. Explorer RV
Some
others are:
RV America
GMAC RV Insurance
You can also get insurance through the Good Sam Club and Family Motor Coach Assc., both nationwide Rv clubs. I heartily recomend the FMCA for any motorhome owner - the magazine alone is worth the annual dues.
blsmith25
Well-known member
Thanks for the information. I will look into the places you mentioned and get some quotes.
If I specify full-timers insurance, would that package be enough or do I need to add anything onto it?
I don't want to either over or under insure it.
GMAC Insurance was the company I got through Camping World and they won't insure me unless I have 3 years of good driving in California. Outside CA doesn't count with them.
I will check out the other ones and see if they will. I also don't have a CA drivers license yet, although now, I could theoretically get one, but I'm working long hours at work and don't have the time to study and go get it. My Ontario license is valid till the end of the year, so I will have to find someone that will insure me with that until I get it changed over. I'm hoping the other companies will be ok with it, but if they aren't, I guess I gotta get one sooner, but it still won't solve the 3years of driving required by GMAC if other companies have the same requirement...
If that happens, I don't know what else to do...
Thanks,
B.L>
If I specify full-timers insurance, would that package be enough or do I need to add anything onto it?
I don't want to either over or under insure it.
GMAC Insurance was the company I got through Camping World and they won't insure me unless I have 3 years of good driving in California. Outside CA doesn't count with them.
I will check out the other ones and see if they will. I also don't have a CA drivers license yet, although now, I could theoretically get one, but I'm working long hours at work and don't have the time to study and go get it. My Ontario license is valid till the end of the year, so I will have to find someone that will insure me with that until I get it changed over. I'm hoping the other companies will be ok with it, but if they aren't, I guess I gotta get one sooner, but it still won't solve the 3years of driving required by GMAC if other companies have the same requirement...
If that happens, I don't know what else to do...
Thanks,
B.L>
Be sure you have enough personal property coverage. Fulltimer policies tend to be a little under on that item. Also, if you have some particularly valuable items, ask about scheduling them separately on the policy. These are things like expensive jewelry, cameras, high end electronics, computers, etc. It's easy to exceed the standard PP coverage with a few big ticket items.
Carl L
Moderator Emeritus
Whoops! Better move that licensing task up in priority. To quote the CA DMV website
If you take a job here or become a resident, you must get a California driver license within 10 days. Residency is established by voting in a California election, paying resident tuition, filing for a homeowner's property tax exemption, or any other privilege or benefit not ordinarily extended to nonresidents.
Note that " must get a California driver license within 10 days". If you get a traffic ticket here and don't have that CA DL, things start getting piled on.
Tom
Administrator
- Joined
- Jan 13, 2005
- Posts
- 51,906
Carl,
When we first moved to CA I bugged Chris for 6 months before she eventually took the driver's test. After waiting for hours (this was before the DMV days of appointments) and completing the written test, Chris and the examiner moved to the driving part of the test. First thing was to check the lights and, wouldn't you know it, one of the brake lights on our new Toyota didn't work. I was too mad to check the fuse box, so we came again another time.
I waited patiently as all the examiners took off with their respective would-be drivers. Our car came back in a fraction of the time the others did and I was convinced Chris had blown it. I cautiously approached the car and the examiner wound down the window and said "Mr. Jones, we came back early because I felt sorry for your car". Chris was so nervous during the driving part that her legs were shaking uncontrollably and the car was continually lurching forward. She passed.
When we first moved to CA I bugged Chris for 6 months before she eventually took the driver's test. After waiting for hours (this was before the DMV days of appointments) and completing the written test, Chris and the examiner moved to the driving part of the test. First thing was to check the lights and, wouldn't you know it, one of the brake lights on our new Toyota didn't work. I was too mad to check the fuse box, so we came again another time.
I waited patiently as all the examiners took off with their respective would-be drivers. Our car came back in a fraction of the time the others did and I was convinced Chris had blown it. I cautiously approached the car and the examiner wound down the window and said "Mr. Jones, we came back early because I felt sorry for your car". Chris was so nervous during the driving part that her legs were shaking uncontrollably and the car was continually lurching forward. She passed.
blsmith25
Well-known member
Hi Carl,
The reason I didn't get a CA drivers license yet is because I didn't have a SSN yet. I went to the DMV to take care of my license, but they wouldn't do anything till I got the SSN card, which the SSN people told me could take upwards of 3 months. However, now I just got it, so I will have to take care of the DL now.
The DMV knew I was driving around with a non-CA DL, and they said it wasn't a big deal since neither they nor I could do anything about it. The number is just a number so people actually do it. If they don't put a number in for a deadline, then no one would get it taken care of. That's what they told me... I try to follow the rules, but sometimes there is no choice. Some of the rules don't make sense and don't work with other time or schedule liimitations. There has to be some built-in flexibility in these systems or it's impossible to get anything done in time. Most businesses can take that into account and deal with it pretty good.
The reason I didn't get a CA drivers license yet is because I didn't have a SSN yet. I went to the DMV to take care of my license, but they wouldn't do anything till I got the SSN card, which the SSN people told me could take upwards of 3 months. However, now I just got it, so I will have to take care of the DL now.
The DMV knew I was driving around with a non-CA DL, and they said it wasn't a big deal since neither they nor I could do anything about it. The number is just a number so people actually do it. If they don't put a number in for a deadline, then no one would get it taken care of. That's what they told me... I try to follow the rules, but sometimes there is no choice. Some of the rules don't make sense and don't work with other time or schedule liimitations. There has to be some built-in flexibility in these systems or it's impossible to get anything done in time. Most businesses can take that into account and deal with it pretty good.
