TT Insurance

GrumpyG · 06-17-2015, 10:59 PM

RV insurance is a real crap shoot. I recently made a deal on a Passport 23RB, then checked around for insurance. I got a quote from a company called Blue Sky, then Progressive. They were both around $500 a year for pretty standard coverage.

My regular insurance company is Farm Bureau, and I didn't think they insured travel trailers. Well, I was wrong. I checked with my agent and he came back with a comparable quote of $62 every 6 months.

How strange is that?

**JRTJH** · 06-18-2015, 02:54 AM

It's not "strange" at all. Read the policy you've been offered. You will probably find a number of "gaps" in coverage. Remember that an RV is not the same as a truck or car and coverage is quite different also. There are no household items, TV's, beds, furniture, clothing, pots and pans, or similar items included in the coverage from most "car insurance" companies. Additionally, if you have your home and auto coverage with that agent, you may be getting some significant discounts on the premium price. You'd get similar discounts with most insurance companies for "multiple policy coverage".

As long as you're getting "similar coverage" for a significantly reduced price, it's probably a good deal, but you are likely to find that when you "really compare" all you're getting is a "skeleton policy" that doesn't include the coverage from Good Sam or Progressive.

GaryWT · 06-18-2015, 03:58 AM

I go through an agent and she always has the truck and trailer linked so that there is some savings. We also have the house and 2 other cars through the same company so there are discounts. She knows what the bank requires to protect their investment so I go with that. I think this past year it was around $160.

GrumpyG · 06-18-2015, 12:54 PM

My agent pointed out that getting personal property coverage on my TT was unnecessary because between my home owner coverage and auto coverage, personal property was already covered. I guess things like that vary from policy to policy. I'm just glad I checked with him.

Ken / Claudia · 06-18-2015, 01:34 PM

Read thru the policy closely to make sure it is what you expect. Here's some of what I found. RV sitting at home maybe covered under homeowners policy. Than whats that, glass breaking, theft? water damage unlikely but, maybe. Pull it with your truck may come under it's own policy or added onto the TV policy. If added to the TV policy again what is covered, water, propane systems maybe not. Someone hits it or you crash likely covered. Just check it out good and make sure it is what you need or want. Current TT is financed and needs it's stand alone policy. Last RV, truck camper value was near same as TT and was OK under home ins until mounted onto the ruck, than covered under a add on truck policy.

therink · 06-18-2015, 02:00 PM

I recently sat down with my agent to do a thorough audit of our auto, rv and homeowners policies.
Our premium for mandatory rv comprehensive coverage is around $300/yr. This only covers damage to the rv while traveling. I found that our existing home owners policy covers damage and liability while parked at home or at a campground. I asked these specific questions.
It was explained to me that if a tree falls on my rv while parked on private property (campground), or if my rv causes damage or injury to others, my homeowners policy covers it. Sounds strange but my agent was very clear about that. I Park the rv at a seasonal site half the year so my qquestions were very specific.
If my rv is damaged say by backing into a tree, the rv ccomprehensive policy covers that.

**sourdough** · 06-18-2015, 03:09 PM

As has been mentioned look very closely at the coverages offered on RV specific insurance vs an "add on" policy. I found big discrepancies.

For the OP; I would shy away from Farmer's if it were me. Read up on the fines they are facing in TX. My son in Dallas, who has endured severe storms in his home for the last 2 years, finally had the roof start leaking after a heavy hailstorm. He filed with Farmer's and they refuse to replace or repair the roof. Sent 2 adjusters; neither got on the roof, just looked at it from the ground and said they didn't cover it. The roof is 6 years old and was inspected by a qualified home inspector 2 years ago. The roofing contractor my son contacted looked at it (got up there) and told him the hail beat it to death - there was no way Farmer's could deny that......but they did....twice (of course they've yet to get up there and "look" at it). Just a word of caution.

GrumpyG · 06-18-2015, 06:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sourdough

As has been mentioned look very closely at the coverages offered on RV specific insurance vs an "add on" policy. I found big discrepancies.

For the OP; I would shy away from Farmer's if it were me. Read up on the fines they are facing in TX. My son in Dallas, who has endured severe storms in his home for the last 2 years, finally had the roof start leaking after a heavy hailstorm. He filed with Farmer's and they refuse to replace or repair the roof. Sent 2 adjusters; neither got on the roof, just looked at it from the ground and said they didn't cover it. The roof is 6 years old and was inspected by a qualified home inspector 2 years ago. The roofing contractor my son contacted looked at it (got up there) and told him the hail beat it to death - there was no way Farmer's could deny that......but they did....twice (of course they've yet to get up there and "look" at it). Just a word of caution.

It is confusing, but my company is Farm Bureau of TN, not the same as Farmer's. They have be excellent for almost 10 years now.

**sourdough** · 06-18-2015, 06:41 PM

Yes, Farm Bureau and Farmer's are different animals...sorry. Please look over what they offer for RVs vs RV specific insurance....total replacement? Personal effects? Yes, I know some say that your home policy will cover that but.....it's a bad time to find all the fine print after the loss. Just make sure the RV is covered on its own-it doesn't cost much.

cjelliott81 · 06-19-2015, 07:31 AM

Reading this thread, I'm afraid I may be paying too much. I shopped when I bought my camper and the best price was with Progressive @ ~$36 a month.

**JRTJH** · 06-19-2015, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cjelliott81

Reading this thread, I'm afraid I may be paying too much. I shopped when I bought my camper and the best price was with Progressive @ ~$36 a month.

You're probably NOT paying too much (for what you're getting), but certainly there are cheaper premiums available. Do a "line for line" or "benefit for benefit" comparison and you'll find that Progressive and Good Sam are competitive in their pricing. Other companies do offer much the same policy benefits, but they aren't the $130 a year premiums.

Check closely before you make a decision to break ties with Progressive, and if you do, make sure you've got the coverage that you "think" you are paying for. Very few "auto insurance companies" have the coverage available that the "RV specific companies" offer.

RavensFan24 · 06-24-2015, 06:53 AM

I pay $62/month for my trailer insurance, but I have full replacement coverage, diminishing deductibles, $250 deductibles for comprehensive and collision, up to $3k personal property coverage and prob a couple other things. With a brand new trailer, I'm happy to pay for the extras to make sure I'm taken care of in the event of an accident or issue with the trailer.

When I first started RVing I was amazed at how cheap my policy was, but then I learned it was so cheap because I was basically only insured when my trailer was hitched to the truck. If it was in storage and had issues, I would've been screwed. This was when I was in the $100/6 months price range. It was worth it to me to upgrade.

BTW, I compared Progressive (my current company) against Good Sam before renewing. It's basically the same exact coverage, but Good Sam will also offer you the ability to cut back coverage for months it's in storage. I'm in FL, so I'm never "winterized" and packed away, so that option doesn't make sense for me, but seemed like a cool option if you live up north and don't camp in the winter. The Progressive pricing was a couple hundred bucks better than Good Sam...most likely because Good Sam has Progressive write the policy and then GS tacks on a premium to buy through them.

greengiant · 07-15-2015, 08:48 PM

Call me crazy, but I'm paying $46/year for TT insurance via Liberty Mutual. This is combined with all the discounts combined with 3 autos and a home. Either way, quite affordable. It's factored in that I live in upstate NY and TT are useless for 5 months a year. Maybe I'm way under covered? Or maybe it's fair based on cost of my TT vs others?

Seabee · 07-16-2015, 02:51 AM

We have Blue Sky for the trailer and have as much insurance as we can get regardless of it being towed or in storage. Sitting right at $600ish a year.

{tpc} · 07-16-2015, 04:14 AM

I think ours with state farm is something like $3-400/year or something like that. As it was stated to me it covers just about everything I could think of, but the deductible is fairly high, $6-700 or something like that. I also have gap insurance on the trailer just in case. Typically on any new vehicle purchase I by gap insurance, because ya just never know.

Timcharlie · 07-21-2015, 03:34 AM

I am looking into insurance for our yet to be delivered trailer (delivery in August) and I have been looking at Progressive, Geico, Traveler's as well as Good Sam's. I am finding Good Sam's to be the cheapest for the same coverage as Progressive, Geico and Traveler's.

Anybody have any experience with Good Sam's? I have my auto insurance and homeowners through Traveler's but they are more expensive for the trailer insurance.

Thanks

Tim

{tpc} · 07-21-2015, 04:23 AM

Timcharlie,

I would head over to the Good Sam forums and peek around there. Honestly, I wouldn't purchase any product or service from them right now. I bought their membership for one year...$25 I'll never see again. Wasn't worth the hassle and frustration.

Timcharlie · 07-21-2015, 05:21 AM

Thanks for the info Tony. I did not think to see if there was a Good Sam's forum. I did sign up for the membership too and it sounds like it was not a good experience for you? I will see what i can find.

Tim

{tpc} · 07-21-2015, 09:17 AM

Well I signed up just after we got the trailer. Needing gear and seeing the thing on the webpage "sign up and save XX percent today" got me to sign up. When I signed up, they took my money just fine, but left no way to get the account number or any way to "save today", and I wanted to order online. From what I hear, it was better I did not.

Anyways, I finally got the account number and was told it might take 2-3 weeks to get the card...I find this ridiculous at best. But I got the number. So I call up the closest place, and they take down everything I want, put it in a cart to hold for me to pickup the next week.

I go on my lunch break, with just enough time to pick up stuff and go back. They had most of the stuff I wanted but I had to go search for a cpl things they forgot. No biggie. Get to the counter...plug in the number...can't find me in the system. 20 min...30 min..find me in the system but my account says it is expired. Can't find the manager or anyone who knew how to use the system...another 20 - 30 min, they finally just agree to give me the discounted price manually. But that can't happen all at once because of the system.

So they proceed to take the 20 or 30 items I was buying and one at a time painfully go through 3 screens to get to the spot where they could turn a key and plug in a number to get me the right price...something like that. I think I had 2 1/2 hr lunch that day.

I'm glad I didn't order online though, no way I would have got it in time, and they don't have a way to expedite shipping? Maybe they do now, or maybe they did then and I couldn't find it. I don't know.

I do like browsing the catalogs they send, but I've find that 9 times out of 10 I can get the same stuff cheaper and faster from amazon or a local retailer other than them.

RavensFan24 · 07-23-2015, 07:37 AM

I had Progressive, but decided to give Good Sam a try for a quote when I became an Elite member by buying my trailer through Camping World.

Good Sam has a lot of good features including the ability to basically downgrade your insurance while in storage, but other than that I could get everything Good Sam had through Progressive and it was cheaper. Good Sam told me they'd prob write the policy through Progressive anyway, so I'm thinking Good Sam just tacks on a premium for them to make commission selling other people's insurance.

I decided to stay direct and just upgrade to full replacement coverage with diminishing deductible for an extra $100 a year. With a brand new trailer, it seemed stupid NOT to have it.

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