Might be time to shop for insurance...

After having a mishap with our BC "kissing" the sides of our truck bed, we installed a Herrin Hauler Bed . Yesterday after doing some research on license and registration requirements in TX, I thought maybe I should check with my insurance carrier about the recent changes to my truck.

The agent was not sure if my new bed would make a difference so he called the State Farm offices to check. Well of course it made a difference! My truck is no longer considered a personal vehicle, it is now a Commercial Vehicle.......which translates to increased premiums of close to $300 a year! Not only did my truck premium go up, but they took away the multi-car discount on my wife's car.

I have been with the same company for almost 50 years, have the BC, home, life and umbrella with them but still my rates go up! The use of my truck will not change one bit, but having no sides or a tailgate makes it more expensive.

Guess I just needed to vent........I know it costs $$$ to "play", but some things just don't seem right! Glad I checked though......Agent told me that had I filed a claim without having changed my coverage they likely would not have paid.

Travel Safe!

Try Geico, I had been with Allstate for 25 years and they beat my premium by hundreds of dollars. In fact after 10 years and 1 more vehicle on the policy I still pay LESS than I was before the switch. My complacency I found was costing me money. ED

That's insane !!!!! It truck is considered "Commercial" once it tips the scale at 10K lbs or higher. I would ask your agent to provide you documentation where it lists that changing out the truck bed makes it a "Commercial Vehicle". Yes, every state is different but just don't take his/her word for it. Check TX's commercial vehicle definition.

I completely agree with shopping. I blindly stuck with state farm for over 25 years without a single claim thinking my loyalty would be rewarded should I ever need them. In a word... Wrong!

I now shop my insurance every two years. If I'm gonna get screwed... I may as well pay as little as possible for that privilege.

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Yeah, my 9 year old Dodge Ram 3500 is classed as "Commercial" by the state of California - This years license fees are $400, about 1 1/2 times the trailer's license fees, and the trailer is worth twice as much as the truck!!

After having made my first insurance claim of my life for scraping a gate pipe with the side of the trailer, I have a very positive opinion of Progressive insurance. The adjuster even found a dent my RV repairer missed, and added that to the repairs. I made the claim about 6 weeks after the incident happened, no problems with that. It just so happened that my annual premium came due the next month, and it went up about $100, but it is still going to take them about 7 years at this rate to recover what they paid out from me.

What makes it hard to shop is the fact that rates between carriers varies from state to state. The rate from Allstate in Michigan could beat every other carrier but for the same person in Georgia, Allstate could be higher than every other carrier.
The other thing I've found is a "come on" rate the first year then a significantly higher renewal rate.
I hate shopping for Clothes....Cars...and Insurance!

Find an Insurance Broker, and make him work for his commission.

I went through AARP. They use The Hartford. We saved a lot of money. I haven't had to file a claim yet, so who knows????

SilverRhino said:

The agent was not sure if my new bed would make a difference so he called the State Farm offices to check. Well of course it made a difference! My truck is no longer considered a personal vehicle, it is now a Commercial Vehicle.......which translates to increased premiums of close to $300 a year! Not only did my truck premium go up, but they took away the multi-car discount on my wife's car.

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One of the firehouse mantras - "never ask the question you may not like the answer too"

When I bought my F-350 DRW I was also surprised to find out I was going to be "commercial", lose my multi car discount and now pay 3 times what I was on my 2500, Allstate. But this was strictly related to the V.I.N. coming back to a 10,000+ pound vehicle.
Commercial insurance on a private vehicle is BS and nothing we can do about it in New Jersey.

And because of the insane insurance here many companies will not write a home owners unless you have all your policies with them. I really have no loyalty to any insurance company and when we bought our Allstate policies, home, auto and umbrella they had the best coverage for price.

Shopping for insurance now has become a real pain. Many of the preferred companies will not write homeowners coverage anymore if you live within 5 miles of the coast. We live 3 miles from the beach, are elevated enough that if we ever see flood waters insurance will not be a concern, yet I can't find affordable insurance.

On a plus though, Allstate did change their policies last year and allow the DRW to come back into the private plan, although not as low as it should be, better then when I had the commercial policy.

BTW, in order to get that commercial policy on my truck I had to have a federal tax ID, e.g. have a business!

I second the use of Progressive. They have handled a severe weather claim on the trailer, an "oops we clipped a pole" claim on the trailer, and an "oops clipped another vehicle in the parking lot" claim on the truck, plus a roadside assistance claim. We also tried out their "snapshot discount" plug-in.

Overall our rates have not gone up more than 10% in 3 years with the above.


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When you had the progressive dongle attached, was it during a towing session?

I should have kept my mouth shut!
We just got the renewal notice from Travelers on our vehicles...20% increase over the first year price.
Let the shopping begin.

porthole said:

When you had the progressive dongle attached, was it during a towing session?

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I don't think so for the initial "trial", but we have not been told to remove it and send it back yet. We've towed from Dallas to Elkhart and back, and just towed Dallas to Houston and back.

The "trial" gave us 11% off our rates.


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Well I have been checking on insurance for the truck......checked with 3 different brokers who write policies for all the companies previously mentioned and some others.......Same answer for every company...."pickup with that type of modification cannot be written under a personal policy, must be commercial".

The only exception might possibly be Progressive.....One broker said they "might be able to slide it through with them".......Did not sound like a good idea to me.

So, the state of Texas says that I do not have to license commercial, do not need a Class A license....but....the insurance companies all say my truck is now a "commercial vehicle".....Go figure!! One good thing came out of this, I now have a better understanding on the TX Drivers license class system.......My truck and any trailer under 15,001 lbs. GVWR and my Class "C" license will still be adequate.

Have you tried these RV specialists for quotes?

Good Sam http://www.goodsamrvinsurance.com/

RV America Insurance http://rvainsurance.com/

Overland Insurance http://www.rvins.com/

RV Insurance Professsionals http://www.rvinsurancepro.com/

Find more specifically tied to the RV market by Googling "RV Insurance Quotes". Look at the URL's and make sure it just isn't a subdivision of a big insurance provider. Good Luck!!!

We've had good luck with the TX Farm Bureau. They have our home, cars, TT. Our house insurance has gone up quite a bit in the last couple of years, but back in January I shopped around and for the whole package, they were still the cheapest by a few hundred bucks. Our problem is we are near enough the coast that some companies don't want to cover us at all because of possible storm damage.

NWILSON said:

I should have kept my mouth shut!
We just got the renewal notice from Travelers on our vehicles...20% increase over the first year price.
Let the shopping begin.

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I can tell you, Travelers took the biggest hit with boats for Sandy, followed by BoatUS (they broker their insurance though)