Foretravel Owner's Forum For owners and Fans of Foretravel Motorcoaches April 19, 2024 ...

My favorite time of the year: Insurance Renewal.

Background: We have owned our coach going on 5 years, so we only have 4 years of experience with the RV insurance game.  We have been going through Overland Insurance Services the whole time, based on glowing recommendations of Forum members.  Our policy through them is written by Nationwide (Allied).  We have a basic "Part Timers" policy, with $500k Combined Single Limit on the liability items, $500 deductible on the physical damage, and ACV settlement option.  We have had zero claims in that time, and yet our premiums have been steadily increasing.  We went from $378 in 2013 to $582 this past year.  Now they tell me our premium will jump up another 28% to $745 for the next year!  Something needs to change...

I called Overland, and they are getting bids from the "other carriers" they represent, who can do business in Texas.  Haven't heard back from them yet.  They asked me if I want to lower the "value" of our coach.  I have it listed at $30k, which I think is pretty reasonable.  That is what we paid for it 5 years ago, and we have put (at least) another $30k into it doing interior upgrades and adding a complete solar system.  I said there was no way I could replace our coach with one in similar condition for less than $30k, so I wanted to stick with that number.  Besides, since we have the "ACV" (Actual Cash Value) settlement option, in case of a total loss they would never actually give me $30k so why do they care where I set the value?

I also have a bid I got from Progressive by going through USAA (our home and auto insurer).  They say they will write a policy that is (best I can tell) equal to the one we have now for $566.  If I change carriers, I would lose the $600 "vanishing deductible" credit we have built up on our current policy, and start over building the credit, with a initial $500 deductible on the new policy.

At the same time, I am also looking at our Coach-net coverage.  Their premiums have also been going up...from $95 (2013) to $169 for the coming year.  Since the RV policy we now have includes a "Roadside Assistance" benefit, I am wondering if we really get any worthwhile additional benefit from the Coach-net coverage.  I have linked (below) to the current benefit guide for their motorhome policy.  Worth your time to read through it, and make sure you understand what you are getting for your premium.  For instance, as noted by one of our members in a recent thread, they do not cover the cost of bringing a new tire out to your location and mounting it on your wheel in place of the blown tire.  All they cover is:

"Flat Tire - Changing of your vehicle's flat tire using the vehicle's mounted and inflated spare tire, or for towing of your vehicle to a repair facility. The cost of any replacement tire, alignment, mounting and balancing is not covered."

https://coach-net.com/Portals/0/Benefit%20Guides/Premier%20Coach_SAMPLE_0718.pdf?ver=2018-07-10-122352-993

So unless you carry a good mounted spare tire on a wheel, most of the cost of fixing a flat is on your dime.  Just food for thought.

Comments?  Thoughts?  Recommendations?


Good info on the tire change. CoachNet also tried to raise my yearly rate to $169, I called them to cancel, and they quickly said they could give me the same $99 rate but it would not provide coverage for any other vehicles I own. Overland also said my rates world be 20% more this year. I ended up with my house insurance company, Allstate, which just recently lowed all their mh insurance rates. But only about 10% cheaper than my present policy.

  I have learned that you must be proactive on this matter, and not assume you are getting the best available deal from your agent. Live and learn!

Is our 'stuff' (computers, cameras, t.v., compressor, etc. covered?"

Your main risk is liability.  Lose the coach and contents and you can still make it somehow.    Get sued for a bunch of bucks and you might be out tens of thousands on defense if you aren't covered properly.  Most on this forum should have a liability umbrella because most folks on here may not be rich but we aren't broke either.

Pay by the year and save more, and lower your risk of not being insured from a late payment.

Thing is, we HAVE our insurance with Progressive, so according to the above statement, I better look into my roadside coverage options. I will call them, and figure out if I'm doubled up.

Whether for roadside service, or for towing, they can find a provider of that service pretty much anywhere in the nation. Does the Progressive service do the same?

I'm still thinking about the Roadside Assistance coverage question.  Rick's comments (I'm considering his insurance industry background) have prompted me to take a closer look at this subject.  To cut down on typing, I will shorten Roadside Assistance to RA.

If I leave out Good Sam (and I am leaving out Good Sam), then as I see it there are 4 popular choices in this market, as follows.

The cheapest solution is to add the RA coverage to my new Progressive RV insurance policy.  In my case, that's $21 per year.  Reading the fine print, I see that USAA (my auto insurer) and Progressive (now my coach insurer) both use Cross Country Automotive Services (AGERO) to provide this service.  Doing a Google search on that outfit does not give me a lot of confidence in their ability to provide motorhome specific repair and towing services.  They seem to be the provider for most of the "free" RA benefits you get when you buy a new car, but their online reviews are pretty terrible.  Locating someone to tow or repair a diesel pusher is most likely NOT in their area of expertise.

My next cheapest (or should I say least expensive) choice would be the RA benefit available through FMCA.  Including my regular membership fee ($50) plus the RA fee ($69) brings the one year total to $119.  There are discounts available for multi-year contracts.  FMCA uses the SafeRide Motor Club to provide their RA services.  SafeRide seems to be a better known and more established player in this market, and I suppose would be better qualified to handle motorhome breakdowns.

My third choice would be Escapees.  They also use SafeRide to provide their service, so would theoretically be comparable to FMCA, but it would require a close scrutiny of the fine print to know for sure.  Assuming they are the same, cost through Escapees would be my regular membership fee of $40 plus RA fee of $99 for a total of $139.  Once again, you might save some money with a multi-year subscription.

Finally, we have Coach-Net.  As a current subscriber, they offer me a renewal rate of $169 for the coming year.  Jim C. mentioned in his earlier post that he got them to drop it to $99 by removing coverage of "other vehicles".  There seems to be strong consensus on this and other online forums that Coach-Net is the best choice in the motorhome RA market, although that does not mean they will always do a good job in every situation.  What they do will depend a lot (it seems) on the professionalism of the customer service rep who answers the phone when you call, what kind of towing/repair services are located near where you break down, time of day and week, and a myriad of other variables.  In other words, the best RA service can still send you a crappy tow truck driver who will destroy your coach and still charge the insurance company 1000's of dollars.  It's a crap shoot.

I'm undecided.  We have never needed RA in 5 years of coach ownership, but we also have not used our coach as much as I would like to.  The more you drive, the more likely it is that you will experience a serious breakdown.  I guess, if I can get Coach-Net to come down a bit on their renewal premium, that I will go ahead and stick with them.  Either way, I would keep the $21 RA benefit in our new Progressive policy, just as a back-up plan.  Gotta think about it some more...

Comments, advice and dire warnings from the Collective are cheerfully accepted! 

I think Progressive is definitely geared more to cars and trailers, not larger motor coaches.