Travel Trailer Insurance ???

[Fire-N-Ice]

I was told that in order to park in the RV lot of the mobile home park where I live I must show proof of insurance with $100,000 liability and have park as additional insured. My auto ins (State Farm) covers the trailer only when actually hitched to my vehicle. They do not issue riders to include coverage when unhitched. So they transferred me to the RV insurer. They would cover my trailer when being used as a vacation home ( i.e. unhitched at a campsite) for $120/yr but that would NOT cover liability when parked in storage. An online quote from either Progressive or Good Sam was about the same price but not clear whether liability in storage was included.
I was then transferred to full-time RV insurer, which was Foremost (the company I have always used for mobile home insurance). They cover liability, replacement cost, contents, and medical claims when in use or in storage. $100,000 liability for my 1973 Compact II (with comp/collision but excluding road service) is $100/year. What a lot of hassle for the privilege of paying $65/month in storage fees!

[Glenn Baglo]

You live in a most litigious country. To have only $100,000 liability would keep me awake nights.
I have three million liability on the tow vehicle and three million on the trailer.

[Borrego Dave]

3 million each ????? The most anyone I know has is 1 million. What kind of lawyers do you have in BC ?

[Glenn Baglo]

Nothing to do with lawyers.
What do you think it costs for a person to live comfortably for another, say 40 years, when they have a broken neck? Wheelchairs, properly equipped vehicle, mods to the home, loss of income...

[honda03842]

The amount of insurance one buys in some measure seems to be personal choice. Ginny's big on insurance; me not so much. That said, we carry a general liability policy, not specific to the tow vehicle.

[stevebaz]

With 6 million in insurance coverage don't you become the deep pockets target? Hope nothing bad ever happens but the lawyers gotta love you.

[KevinScamps]

You want your insurance coverage to be more than your personal assets otherwise you become the deep pockets. If you have no assets, you can keep the maximums lower, screwing over anybody you harm. Of course if you end up needing the insurance, the only person you have screwed is yourself.

An umbrella policy is the way to go and are generally pretty cheap.

[SimplyLesa]

Call Ms Bobbie at Escapes Bancorp South she can get you straight! (936) 327-5626

[jrocmagoo]

My trailer is insured for $6000 (what it would cost me to restore another one to the same condition) and covered for fire/theft/vandelism and colision (i.e. comes detached or I go all derpy and back it into something) and 1 mil liability-ICBC charges me $98 for 6 months then for the other 6 months i put a storage policy on it (same coverage less the colision) for about $40. All in all for all the sweat i put into it worth every penny!

[Glenn Baglo]

$3 million third-party liability on the RAV4 cost $140 a year ( with my safe-driver discount of 40 per cent ). On the trailer it costs $27 a year ( case and a half of beer ).

[Roy in TO]

I'll be checking our insurance after a mishap with our trailer a few days ago. I'll post what I find out how insurance works here in Ontario.

A driverless car had rolled into our trailer as we were getting ready for bolerama 2014. Pictures are posted here: http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...tml#post469464

It appears that got away with minimal damage, a couple of smudges in the gel coat and stickers. Most of that was from the tow truck operator, who also ripped the furnace vent off. Yes I complained to the dispatch.

The police supervisor that attended stated that the trailer is still considered a vehicle even though it was parked in our driveway. I suggested it should be covered under the homeowners and he disagreed.

Now that I think about it, 3 million liability seems reasonable. If an unattended car can roll away, so can a trailer. Permanent disabilities can be costly.

As to not having comprehensive, there was a thing in the news last week. A car caught fire on the highway. No comprehensive it was a loss to the owner. What the owner was not expecting was receiving a bill of approximately $1150 for the fire department to send 3 trucks. Comprehensive would have covered all of it.

[honda03842]

I don't understand the fire department's charge. Don't 'we' already paying for fire services in our taxes?

[Glenn Baglo]

And then there is the family of the 19-year-old, driving too fast, who took out a power pole, as well as himself. Hydro sent the family a bill for the pole replacement. Couple thousand dollars.

[Roy in TO]

The municipalities are faced with deficit budgets and extreme pressure to balance the books. In their opinion, our taxes make the services available, but they are charging user fees. I think they got away with this initially charging for false alarms at condo's and apartment complexes. They now seem to be broadening their revenue base for all calls. One more reason for our insurance rates to skyrocket.

I'll have to check if our insurance is being billed for the call. I doubt the vehicle involved even had insurance considering it's plates had expired 10 years ago.

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by stevebaz

With 6 million in insurance coverage don't you become the deep pockets target? Hope nothing bad ever happens but the lawyers gotta love you.

Target? How? The insurance companies also have their own lawyers and you can be sure they will be fighting just as hard not to pay out anything more than they have to regardless of how much insurance you carry. The insurance company that Glenn and myself both *have to* have our min. insurance with is well known for not wanting to pay out much and in the cases of serious injury or death, so the parties more often than not end up in court due to the low offers of settlement by the insurance company we use.

How much the courts award the plaintiff isn't going to have anything to do with how much insurance you actually have! Its all going to be determined based on the losses the other party suffered regardless of whether or not you have the means to actually pay the judgement - whether it be through insurance or personal assets. For example if you where to hurt someone who lets say makes $150,000 a year & happened to be in there late 20's early 30's but they can not work any longer due to the injuries caused by you - what do you think the judgement against you will be? How far would your $100,000 in liability insurance go? I don't know about where others live but in mine and Glenn's part of the world homes are expensive - really hard to find a 55 year old 3 bed dump for less than $1 million & I have worked way to hard to pay for my old place to loose it in order to save a few dollars on insurance each year (the difference between carrying $200,000 and $2 million in liability is only about $20 a year). If I was still working and had a liability judgement against me I would not be happy to see half my pay check being taken away each month for the rest of my working life to cover off what I owe on the judgement - Yup that happens folks! Lots! Not just here in BC.


The province that Glenn and I live requires that all registered vehicles - thats the car and the trailer each carry a min. of $200,000 liability each as well as under insured protection for $1 million in the event that a motorist who causes an accident doesn’t hold sufficient insurance to cover all property damage and injuries caused to you - actually something you don't hear of to often happening in these parts but its good for traveling in the US where its as I understand it pretty common. We also must carry a min of $200,000 in hit and run insurance.

As far a liability issuance goes I also don't know anyone who is over the age of 18 and owns some personal assists of value who carries anything less than $2 million on their vehicles, most carry as Glenn does $3 million.

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by honda03842

I don't understand the fire department's charge. Don't 'we' already paying for fire services in our taxes?

Why would you as a tax payer want to have to pay for something twice if someone damages the first one you bought? Aren't there also a few states where the State has declared bankruptcy? That would suggest to me the taxes you are paying are not enough to cover the costs.

[honda03842]

"Aren't there also a few states where the State has declared bankruptcy?"

Carol, Don't want to extend this but no state has declared bankruptcy......yet....

I did find Roy's statement about the fire department interesting.

[frank_a]

Our ParkLiner is insured for replacement value, and I have travel insurance through Good Sam. We've been members a while. Good Sam is like AARP, they provide services, but are best at hawking insurance. I know folks who have had that travel insurance (motor homers) for years, and wouldn't be without it.

I think of this stuff as I'm on my way to Gibsonville NC (solo) with 006 Friday.

Frank

[Steve Outlaw]

Does anyone here carry personal life insurance? If so, you've already decided what you believe your life to be worth. Maybe THAT amount should be what a court should award.

[Roy in TO]

Originally Posted by honda03842

I did find Roy's statement about the fire department interesting.

OK here is the news clip:
Consumer Alert: Basic liability coverage | CTV Barrie News