Insurance questions

ericandalice

Senior Question Asker
Our RV is finally ready! Yay!

I have a few questions from you fine folks.

What insurance company do you have?

We've been offered a 5 year bumper to bumper service contract which makes us wonder what it covers that insurance doesn't.

As newbies, we're wondering what we should be looking for/ considering insurance wise.

Any guidance would be most appreciated.
 

MTPockets

Well-known member
If you're talking about the extended coverage Insurance, We purchased the extra insurance at closing, but now I wish we had not. After reading the fine print in the contract, the coverage is actually highly questionable what with all the exclusions and special circumstances... in hindsite, I wish we had investigated other carriers (Including Good Sam) and made an informed decision after looking into all the options; even then, i'm not sure we would have gotten any... Bottom line, don't let 'em talk you into it at the closing table. You can add it later if you want. My 2 cents.
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Some of the extended warranties are very pricey. Check out Good Sam's. We found it very reasonable. Ask whoever you're considering to email or give you a copy of the policy that shows exactly what's covered and what's not.
 

GOTTOYS

Well-known member
I have my RV insured through my auto ins. carrier. What you are talking about is an Extended Service Contract which is totally different. Your normal insurance will cover damage and if you have coverage any liability issues. An Extended Service Contract covers issues with the trailer AFTER your normal warranty coverage runs out..maybe. If you are interested be sure to read over the contract yourself before you buy it. Don't just take a salesperson's word for it. The term "Bumper to bumper" is extremely misleading and it's very doubtful they will cover absolutely anything that can go wrong. They will have more ways to get out of paying than anything you have ever seen. I have never seen a Service Contract that covers water damage, leaks or tons of other things. Check the company out thoroughly and see what their track record is. Chances are you've never heard of them before. Many of them last only a couple years, go out of business and take your money with them. This is a HIGHLY profitable "extra" that some dealers push more than others. I have never bought one. If you MUST get one wait until you are close to the end of your normal warranty then decide if you need it or not. The only one I would consider would be from Good Sam not one from a dealer....
Just my opinion...Don
 

berky

Well-known member
Don't sign at the table like I did. Take a sample of the contract home and read it. Only after the fact did I discover that the lawyers must have used the word "breakdown" 100 times in my contract. So I might know that something is FAILING, but my contract is worthless until it actually FAILS and leaves me up the creek without a paddle.
 

pegmikef

Well-known member
Mine is insured also through my auto insurance carrier (in my case, Farmers) and I am pleased. They replaced my roof last year. I don't carry the extended warranty. Most of the appliances, A/Cs, Furnace, etc. have multiple year warranties over and above the trailer warranty. I have only heard mostly bad things about the extended warranties, but if I had to get one I, too, would look to Good Sam for it. I have their ERS and am happy with that. The one service call I have had so far paid 80 percent of the premium.
 

ericandalice

Senior Question Asker
Don't know if it's appropriate to mention but here goes. Jim can smack me. :)

According to Eric who spoke to the sales person, the company selling the service contract is Heartland. Sales person mentioned that it would not cover anything we do to the vehicle (like break a window with a baseball.) But the bigger thing is if we get financing with them, buying the service contract also lowers our interest rate.

We need to do the math. And yes, I want a copy of all this before I get there. I hate last minute decisions on big ticket items.

I guess the bigger thing is just the insurance. Since we've never bought an RV before, we're wondering what we should look for insurance wise. We have Progressive for our truck and like them well enough. If I understand correctly, Good Sam offers insurance. Is that right? I know they offer some triple A like plans.

This is all the stuff we're going over tonight but I told Eric I'd ask the experts on the forums. :)
 

Boca_Shuffles

Well-known member
As far is general insurance is concerned, ask the company how much is covered if your RV is totaled. Some companies only give you a pro-rated value for your unit. Even if you kept your unit in perfect shape, you might only get a portion of the replacement value. Check it see if you get full replacement, regardless of the age.

Good Sam's (GMAC) can provide a full replacement value policy. This may cost more, but could be significant in a year or two if you have a major problem.

Check to see if you can get a partial refund if you put your unit in storage for a couple months. Since the unit isn't moving, you don't don't need collision and liability. You can call them when you are planning to take the unit out of storage and re-add this coverage.


.
 

branson4020

Icantre Member
It makes my blood boil to hear these stories of dealers taking advantage of naive buyers. If I were you, I would negotiate only one thing with the dealer - the price.
I would not even consider financing through them. Shop around - you can do better. Finally, I'm pretty sure Heartland does not sell extended service plans or endorse any particular plan. So, the dealer is lying to you and trying to sell you an overpriced plan. Again, shop around, you can do better, and you don't need it for a year.
 

danemayer

Well-known member
According to Eric who spoke to the sales person, the company selling the service contract is Heartland.

I've not hear this before. Maybe someone from Heartland will weigh in. If not, you can always look at the document to see what company is named as the insurer and how it's administered.

Liability coverage (your RV hits something and you have to pay) should come automatically with your tow vehicle insurance. You can verify this with your agent.

Collision, Comprehensive and other coverages require a separate policy, or an addition to your auto policy. We currently have our car, truck and RV all on one Geico policy. Last year the car and truck were insured elsewhere.

There are 2 main differences I've seen in the Collision/Comp coverage.

1) Some insurers let you turn off collision coverage when the RV is not being used, reducing cost. I think Good Sam does this. If you're leaving the rig in a storage lot for 6 months of the year, this may be a good way to save. Didn't work for us since we use our rig all through the year.

2) If the rig suffers a total loss, replacement coverage varies. Geico coverage: "Total Loss Replacement – provides you with a new, comparably-equipped RV if your RV is totaled within its first four model years." Good Sam provides something similar as an optional coverage. Don't remember what the others do.
 

ericandalice

Senior Question Asker
It makes my blood boil to hear these stories of dealers taking advantage of naive buyers. If I were you, I would negotiate only one thing with the dealer - the price.
I would not even consider financing through them. Shop around - you can do better. Finally, I'm pretty sure Heartland does not sell extended service plans or endorse any particular plan. So, the dealer is lying to you and trying to sell you an overpriced plan. Again, shop around, you can do better, and you don't need it for a year.

Yeah, I'm not big on the financing through them either. We have financing through a bank but the bank is taking longer than we'd anticipated to get the paperwork to us b/c the agent is on vacation. Between Heartland delaying the build and the bank, we're already behind our schedule for the summer. I know, that's funny. Don't even have the thing yet and we have a schedule. Anyway, we're not thrilled with the bank for the simple reason that they keep requesting more paperwork which means more faxing, they won't send the check to the RV dealer (only to our house, which makes sense but means another delay since we're driving so far to get the RV), and they conveniently didn't tell us about a "loan fee" until today. We went with them because they offered the best rate. But between the time our original loan was approved and now, the interest rate went up half a point. No idea why.

If we go with the dealer, we can pick the unit up immediately.

Anywho, now the dealer's rate is actually better than the bank's rate. And it'd be even better if we bought the service plan (which is on sale...or something.)

Again, that will all come down to the math I suppose. How much will the lower rate save us compared to the price. And then what will insurance cover.

We called Progressive and they said they'd cover the baseball breaking the window, scratch damage, tire blow outs, things like that. After the deductible of course. Eric specifically asked about replacement and they will completely replace the vehicle should something awful happen. They won't cover the leveling system if it goes.

Thanks for all your help!
 

jnbhobe

Well-known member
You got some sound advice about extended warrantys and financing, what you do with it is up to you.
 

bobber

Member
Our insurance is thru Foremost. They do cover replacement cost on the unit and contents. It has very good liability coverage while the unit is parked in the campground in case someone visiting is hurt. Have had coverage with them on all of our trailers and our fifth wheel
 

JohnDar

Prolifically Gabby Member
Ditto on Foremost. They were nice enough to cover a claim for a replacement awning and struts on our TT, even though I had the work done before I contacted them. A little admonishment to call first next time, but no hassles. When the low lifes broke in and stole the TV's from the BH and mucked up the door, again, no problem and the settlement check came a few days after I sent them the invoice from Jensen for the replacements and they dealt directly with the dealer on fixing the damages.

But then, the agency owner is related to the owners of our dealership, General RV.
 

Sandpirate69

Well-known member
Not much into extended warranties. What I did was; I asked how much it was & for how long. I took the sum divided it up into the 4 years they were trying to sell me and placed that cash in an interest bearing account. So if something major goes south, i'll have that money & maybe a wee bit more. They also tried to sell me tire coverage, so once again I asked them how much. I put that cash away into the same account. Eventhough I can get just about any brand tire at cost. I also have Geico for 5ver, because USAA uses Progressive & they were a bit high for the same coverage as Geico.

Have a Great Summer !

Roiz Family
 

Porkchop

Well-known member
Like pp said, it sounds like an extended warranty type deal. I bought it when I got my RV b/c they said I could get a 1/4 % off my rate. I went through the dealer b/c it wasn't that bad. They did come down a bit after I told them I could get it cheaper from the bank.

I cancelled the extended warranty after doing some research (I had 60 days to do so) and found that the SAME extended warranty can be bought within our warranty period for almost 1/2 the cost. If I had kept this warranty, it would have run concurrently and I would have lost 1 year of the aftermarket one.

I might still get the extended warranty when the year goes by because it was around 1200-1500. I forgot the terminology, but it was an exclusionary policy, which I think means, it covers everything except what is excluded on a short list. I know most people don't like them and instead self insure, but I might just go ahead and do it in a year....

For regular insurance we went through progressive through Good Sam. I think we pay around 400 a year for it.
 

ericandalice

Senior Question Asker
Pork hop, ditto that. We'd decided against it and we're going to do our own thing. But they dropped the price of the extended warranty, dropped the interest, and gave us 0 deductible. So we took it. It covers roadside assistance which is nice, though we'll look into Good Sam.

It's a lot to take in. Driving is easier than we thought it'd be. The purchase went smoothly but was a lot of numbers. Now we're just learning how to set up once we park. And also learning to trust the RV.
 

Porkchop

Well-known member
Darn autocorrect. I know I wrote Porkchop the first time. That's what I get for not proof reading.

Lol. When I'm replying on my phone my spelling and EVERYTHING is terrible, so don't worry!

I just saw that good sam is having a special on their roadside assistance. Its now around $56 for the first year, then $79 for every year after that and you can buy up to 8 years if you want. If you just go with one year, then renew it, I think its then 112 per year.

AND you can buy into their lifetime membership for around $199 I think was the promo that someone posted? You have to be a member first so make that an additional $20.

I didn't buy the extended warranty b/c it was around 2500. The same one at the wholesale dealer was around 1200, maybe 1400 at the most. I know everyone says not to buy it, to self insure and that they will make their money on you, but I will probably buy it too.

Anyway, congrats!!!!!!! You have pictures yet?

Irene

PS I forgot to add, I got a few quotes and the one for insurance through Good Sam was relatively cheap. It was progressive but good sam gave me a $20 discount give or take... I called progressive directly and was quoted a little bit higher.
 

AnnR

Active Member
Be careful about cancelling your collision insurance during storage if you are financing it! We have our TT on a seasonal site - blocked and levelled with a 25' deck. We have our insurance through Foremost, who have been great - we have extra insurance due to the seasonal site - more like homeowners' insurance including liability in case a visitor is injured, etc. We also have full replacement insurance for the TT and contents. We thought we were going beyond all necessary insurance - then the bank we financed with through our dealer (NorthShore - big mistake) informed us that we needed collision insurance in addition to everything we had. I called the bank several times, our insurance agent and Foremost called and faxed them, explaining that the insurance we have exceeds collision and the trailer DOES NOT MOVE. They actually threatened to repossess our TT if we did not add collision insurance. I asked if they required collision insurance for home mortgages. Didn't matter. Banks have no sense of humor...or logic.
 
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