Just got my renewal notice and it is up by $2500 to just over $5500! Now so apples to apples can be done, my coverage is on an agreed value of $425,000 with a $1000 deductible. I did have a claim in September following my front blowout so I am curious if it is due just to the claim or if anyone else is seeing a large increase. I was very pleased with the way my claim was handled I must say but I certainly did not expect this much of an increase.
Since the television commercials for all the insurance companies all claim to save money over their competitors and that is mathematically impossible I get the feeling they are low-balling new customers and then jacking their rates up in subsequent renewals. Geico claims to save $450 over Progressive; Progressive claims to save $450 over Geic... etc.
You might want to get a quote from another insurance agent (like Geico) and see what they say.
Craig
Do the insurers sign us up and then raise beyond the norm or average? I had my auto insurance with Allstate from age fifteen to age 50 - I'm loyal to the point of stupidity. I tried another insurer, Progressive, and their rate was half, almost to the dollar, for the same coverage. I experienced the same with our homeowners, changing companies saved me half.
I will check them again next year.
Shop around!
oldMattB
Hi Gerard,
Our coverage with Progressive has stayed the same or dropped slightly each year. Never has it gone up. Just paid for the upcoming year. It was down seventy dollars. Better than going up.
Raymond
Gerard,
I just changed from Progressive to Allstate on my coach. Was with Progressive since 1999 on two previous coaches. But their rate was over $1K higher than Allstate. My Home and Auto is with Allstate, so the discounts from that may have made the difference. But it seems Progressive is less competitive on the higher comprehensive limits.
One crazy experience with Progressive, I have a 2004 Ford F-150 Plain Jane pickup, had Montanna license on it, so had Progressive insurance, Liability & Comp, 1st year, $400.00 2nd year $600.00 now they wanted $1,200.00, that is when It left Mt, back to Va, insurance here is $329.00 year for same coverage.
Also Mt, tags are abt $145.00 year, Va tags $45.00 year.
So I figure if you like it, do it, but no thanks for me, I am still too cheap & tachy.
Cheers
Dave M
EVERY claim or even an inquiry about a claim that is not followed up can raise rates or cause a non-renewal letter. A document everyone should read is CLUE and You: How Insurers Size You Up | Privacy Rights Clearinghouse (http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs26-CLUE.htm) .
Insurance is for catastrophic losses, not for repairs.
CREDIT scores are often used to determine auto insurance rates, even though they do not directly represent your insurance risk. A credit problem with clear driving record will raise auto insurance rates.
After much examination, we just changed insurance agency and insurance company, using Ron Jarvie, owner of Overland Insurance Services Agency (Ron@rvins.com 800-677-4027). Ron has a relationship with Foretravel Motorcade Club and is a Country Coach owner. I found Ron VERY informed about RVs and our full time lifestyle. Ron writes with several insurance companies including National Interstate, Progressive and Nationwide among others. We chose to insure our vehicles with Nationwide's Allied division.
Beware of verbal statements made by GEICO. They told me that their full-timer's personal liability is comprehensive personal liability coverage, but upon reading the policy it only covered us around our campsite. They later said they did not offer the personal liability coverage that full-timers need. Homeowner's policys include comprehensive personal liability coverage, so full-timers need special coverage not normally offered with auto policies. We are pleased we did not take the phone agent's word on the subject.
Even new home owners have been turned down because of claims previous home owner has made. Not long ago there was publicity about a home owner that got a binder to close the purchase and when they went to get permanent home insurance after the house was in their name, they were turned down by all companies because seller had made way too many claims. New owner was left with no insurance until the State high risk pool took them on. They say they would not have made the home purchase if they knew of the problem.
I used to think that loyalty was rewarded with lower premiums, not anymore. Every year when it's time to renew my insurance I check around for coverage and costs. Often times the premiums will increase once you are in their system for a year or more.
We also use Overland Insurance (RV Insurance Quote From Overland Insurance | RV Insurance | Motorhomes, Travel (http://www.rvins.com/)), and also are insured with Nationwide's Allied product. Ron is excellent, as well as Meghan in their office in Scottsdale, AZ. They are indeed knowledgeable and have been very helpful under our changing circumstances.
When we owned the sticks-and-bricks as our permanent residence in NM, Overland wrote a Progressive policy (we used the coach for three months in the summer, and shorter trips in other months). We also had State Farm for our automobiles.
After selling the NM house, we moved our domicile to Texas and became full-timers (with home contents in PODS storage in AZ pending the build of a winter home), Overland found that Nationwide/Allied was more cost effective and also advised us that State Farm (in TX) would provide better rates for the Honda CRV.
After almost a year of full-timing, we moved into the AZ winter home (with a plan for 5-6 months in the coach and 6-7 months in the winter house). Overland kept us with Nationwide/Allied, but changed our status to seasonal (extended/full-time) to reflect our circumstances, again advising us to continue with State Farm in TX for automobile and homeowners). Those changes saved over $500/year on the coach policy.
When the policy came up for annual renewal earlier this month, we noted that the yearly premium had dropped almost $250 over the annualized rate of the policy just written in December.
Of course, your mileage (rate) may vary... but I also encourage folks to call Overland for a quote (800-677-4027). The agency is strictly devoted to writing recreational vehicle and motorhome insurance (including toads in some circumstances). They write in 49 states (excludes Hawaii) - and have been doing so for over 40 years.
I have no affiliation with this agency - I'm just very pleased to work with them and happy to recommend them. They are responsive, quick to answer their phone and my myriad of questions, and very helpful to my requests to send everything by email.
A timely topic (aren't they all) since our Progressive policy will be up for renewal at the beginning of May. I will definitely call Overland to see if there are any better options out there (especially if we see an increase similar to Gerard's this year).
I will say that our Progressive bill did not go up significantly after our $20K+ comprehensive claim in early 2010 either on that renewal or last year's and like Gerard we were pleased with the claims handling (once it was transferred to the East Texas adjuster, who was more RV-knowledgeable than the DFW guy).
Michelle
Got our Progressive renewal and it only went up $100 or so. Not a big increase at all.
I contacted Ron and got a quote on a market value policy rather that an agreed policy. A substantial savings but now I have to decide if I am willing to take a chance on not having a total loss and if so only getting market value.
Gerard,
Out of curiosity, does your Progressive policy include windshield coverage? I know I looked at adding it to our policy and it was an additional $1100 per year for the windshield coverage. Just a thought if it's there and you wanted to save a bit.
Michelle
$1100 for glass? Wow! :o Our Nationwide/Allied (agreed value) policy has a glass rider - and it's $65!
We added the glass coverage about 1.5 yrs ago, just before full-timing. At the time, the only stipulation was to have a glass company certify the glass did not need repair at the time it was added to the policy. We had a very minor chip, and had Safelite AutoGlass come out to the coach, repair it, and certify all repairs were complete (no extra charge - and the chip repair cost was minimal).
FYI, the Safety Glass Replacement Coverage rider adds coverage for "
broken glass, even if caused by collision or upset. A deductible of $100 will apply. For damage to your RV's windshield, we may offer to have it repaired in lieu of replacement. We will not apply a deductible for the repair of the windshield. However, if the repair is not satisfactory, we will replace the windshield subject to the $100 deductible."
Good luck with the quote from Overland!
Yeah, I was stunned, too. It was a couple of years ago that I had it quoted, so I'll likely revisit it in the future. Right now the PS has a small crack way on the outer edge that isn't a problem
unless we were wanting to qualify for glass coverage ;) .
-M
ETA I just checked. Yup, $85/month in additional premium if I add it to the policy :o
Fabulous amount of variation between insurors, I think they do it to make it difficult to compare policies. Regarding glass, my policy with Progressive has zero deductible glass as a standard component. I did, in fact, file a claim on glass last year and am now scheduled at FOT to have it replaced. My policy renewal cost did not increase, my declining deductible declined, apparently the glass claim does not count . I'm been pretty pleased with Progressive in the past, motorcycle policies mainly. They were good to deal with on the glass, no inspections, just asked if the crack could be covered by a dollar bill, if so they would try a repair rather than replacement.
Chuck
Your windshield coverage claims should be covered automatically under your comprehensive section unless there is a rider negating it. Your comprehensive deductible would apply unless there is a rider stating differently.
You must remember that Auto and homeowner insurance are state regulated industries. Each state may have differently worded policies, coverages, deductables offered and regulations. For example Florida has a zero deductable glass breakage coverage. Most companies use zip codes for rate classification, combining several in some cases.
My policy does have windshield coverage but it is a part of comprehensive. The renewal quote for comprehensive is $4645.00 so it is the line share of the policy. Collision is only $890. Both are annual figures of course.
I to had a pending substantial rate increase from Progressive after having a claim as a result of being forced off the road to avoid a head-on with a truck. I had spoken with Miller Insurance at the FMCA event in Perry, GA last spring and after contacting severl companies, went back to Miller for my insurance. It's now through Miller with Victoria.
Dan
Gerard - I second Miller insurance if you want someone to do the legwork for you. Miller Insurance Agency (http://www.millerrvinsurance.com/)
I ended up with a National policy after Miller went thru many "what if" policy configurations.
Also give Overland Insurance Agency an email or call as we found lower rates with them. They write with the major insurance companies like National Interstate, Progressive, Nationwide, etc
Agency owner Ron Jarvie is an RVer, knows all about RV lifestyles including, full-time insurance, Foretravel, Country Coach, etc. RV insurance is their business.
Our motorhome Allied-Nationwide application shows the company clearly knows about RVers and their specific needs. We even got a "RV Club Association" discount.
The RV application has boxes showing coverages for roadside assistance, custom equipment, glass coverage, personal effects, full-timer's liability & secured storage, awning coverage, vacation liability & Mexico Baja.
800-677-4027, RV Insurance Quote From Overland Insurance | RV Insurance | Motorhomes, Travel (http://www.rvins.com), ron@rvins.com
Barry
Bumping this since we got our renewal today, and like Tom, ours went up a small amount, just over $200. This on a purchase price policy with a total loss value of $343K, $1K deductible.
Michelle
Dredging up an older post because my Progessive policy is up for renewal and I want to look at my options. As suggested above I have sent Overland ins. some info for a quote and will see what they come back with.
I am curious about getting replacement value (or agreed value) on an older FT (2003). I was told by Progessive that the coach was to old to put on a replacement policy and would have to be a time of loss "current value" policy which is probably their interpretation of blue book value.
Wondering if anyone has any insight into this? I had "agreed value" on my prior coach (2008) and was happy with it just for the peace of mind.
Dean
Dean.... Overland is our agent. When we lived in NM in 2009 (when we bought our '03 U295 36'), they wrote a Progressive policy for us (with replacement value set at the level of our purchase price - bought from FOT off their consignment lot). When we sold the sticks-and-bricks in January 2011, we had to go "full-time" while we built a winter home in Tucson, after which we would travel for 5+ months in the summer and become (as Overland called it), "extended time." At that time (and currently), our domicile/legal residence became (is) TX, and Overland wrote a TX policy with Nationwide/Allied for the same replacement value (ie, our 2009 purchase price) - as the Progressive policy could not be written for full/extended-timers. FYI, the full-time policy is the same as the extended-time policy.
You are in good hands with Overland (no marketing pun intended!)... their entire business is writing RV policies for all states (except Hawaii). We have been pleased with their service. Hopefully, they can provide you with an agreed-value policy. For us, the bill of sale with FOT was all they needed to write our policy at that level. They'll be able guide you on what documentation you'll need for the agreed-value you desire. Good luck!
We also have our Jeep & Motorhome insurance with Overland using Allied-Nationwide. Ron Jarvie owns the agency and he really 'knows' RVing, which is a good thing when making sure we have the correct personal liability coverage as full-timers.
We don't believe in extra cost stuff, like disappearing deductible, low deductible amounts, medical coverage, etc. We think insurance is for catastrophic losses, and not maintenance items. It seems good business for us to partially self-insure and stay away from making any unnecessary claims than can raise premiums or cause a non-renewal situation.
We found Ron to be very informed, helpful, and in no way 'pushy'. Ron works with Foretravel Motorcade Club and many other RV manufacturer clubs. Much better than our previous Poliseek & National Interstate who badly mishandled switching our coverage from our 2002 Jeep Grand to our 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee.