More problems getting insurance.

[working on it]

What if you never kept receipts (a smoking gun to the wife!), and had already registered it as "utility trailer" . And mine is definitely "home-built" looking, by intention, and not as smooth and polished as many trailers here (built like at a factory!). Should I try for an appraisal, or just rely on the minimal coverage afforded by regular "towed" insurance? Neither I, nor any of my fellow racers have their "utility" car-haulers with separate insurance. Our '07 Puma travel trailer is insured though.

[Oldragbaggers]

Working on it....I have no idea how to answer that question. My best guess would be to register it as a utility trailer, but I don't know. I would be happy to register mine as a utility trailer if it would get me a cheaper premium, although I imagine they would set the replacement value lower if it was registered as a utility trailer. Not too many 5x8 utility trailers, even cargo trailers, out there go for what I spent building my teardrop.

[TPMcGinty]

I have my trailer registered as a utility trailer. When I called my State Farm agent up about getting insurance on it, they told me to bring it in. They took a few photos and asked me how much I wanted to ensure it for. That was it. Super easy.

[tamnalan]

I didn't even think about insurance for my teardrop until I read this thread.

I didn't spend very much to build it though. Maybe I'll just saving to build another one, just in case.

[Oldragbaggers]

Tamnalan, I'm sure there are many others who do the same. I would just make sure that it is covered for liability under your tow vehicle policy.

[planovet]

Just checked my policy, I'm paying $160 per year. $200 deductible on collision and comprehensive, $15K total value.

Funny, they have the make of the trailer as LITTLE and the model as SWITZERLAND

[Captain Monkeyshines]

To all the people posting with: "Its covered with the tow vehicle liability"

The problem with the liability insurance is the trailer is only covered when attached to the tow vehicle and it only covers the damage to other property not the trailer itself. I totally understand only having liability if you have not invested a goodly sum of time and money into a build, however, some of the homebuilt teardrops on this site are absolutely spectacular . Their owners have a huge investment in them not only monetarily, but in design and craftsmanship. It's these trailers that need an actual insurance policy that would cover any damage obtained while parked at a campsite. It would really suck to have one of these beauties vandalized, stolen, or pelted by a hailstorm and not be covered.

[48Rob]

Seems like we have this conversation regularly...

It is good to keep bringing it up it is amazing the number of people who think they are insured, but aren't, or worse, who know they are insured, and believe they know what they "will get" if something happens, but won't because they don't understand the terms, and or what type of policy they really have
I don't say this to put anyone down, rather to try to spread the word that most policies are not what people think they are (possibly by design...)
With all the members we have, it would be fantastic if a knowledgeable insurance underwriter or adjuster would write and post an F.A.Q.

Rob

[nuyork212]

Be nice to hear from others that own home built TD

[GPW]

Insurance ... what a scam !!! You pay and pay , and when it comes time for them to to pay , they give you excuses , clauses ,deductibles , and the “fine print” ... Ask 200,000 Katrina victims about "insurance "...

[mustangcats]

In order to determine how your claim on your teardrop will be handled, you need to find out how it is insured. In order to have it insured for the amount you have listed on the policy, it has to be an "agreed value" policy. The insurance company agrees to pay you that amount in the event of a total loss. Good luck in finding a company to issue this type of policy on a homemade trailer. Most will have a "stated amount" policy for their trailer which is essentially "actual cash value". Since the insurance company needs to have a rating basis to determine a rate to charge for a homemade trailer, they will ask for a "stated amount", and will charge based on that amount. However, that does not mean they will pay that amount in the event of a total loss. They will pay the "stated amount" or "actual cash value", whichever is less. The "actual cash value" can be a number things...what a similar trailer in age and condition can be purchased for, what its actual value would have been prior to the loss based on depreciation, what a willing and able buyer would have paid for the trailer prior to loss, etc. Ask your agent how you will be paid in the event of a total loss. If he/she says it will be the amount you have listed on the policy, I would get that in writing because I would doubt if that was true. If you do have an amount listed on the policy and it is not an "agreed value" policy, then you may want to lower that amount every so often to keep it in line with the "actual cash value" so you aren't paying for something you could never collect on. Smaller claims will be less of an issue, because the repair will probably be less than the "actual cash value" of the trailer. There would come a point though that the insurance company may total the trailer if they determined the cost of the repairs to exceed a percentage of the "actual cash value". Then instead of repairing it, they would pay the "actual cash value"...a figure they come up with...they like to pay as little as possible.

It's easy to understand why insurance companies are not willing to insure homemade trailers. One reason is that it is difficult to determine their value. Another is that there could be some concerns about the road worthiness of the trailer and the potential for it to be involved in a property or liability claim.

[Oldragbaggers]

Good info, Mustang. As I said previously, Good Sam offered to insure my trailer (home built and they know it) for an agreed value of the amount I spent building it (with my receipts to support the value) since it is much less than a new commercial teardrop would have cost. They actually offered to insure it for $10,000 (the value of a commercial unit) but I didn't need to get greedy or pay a higher premium. They also offered no depreciation for 5 full years. So even if I total it 4.5 years from now, I still get that full agreed upon value. They are certainly not the cheapest around. As a matter of fact pretty much everyone else who has chimed in here is paying less than what they quoted me, which is $236 a year. But if you want that kind of coverage it can apparently be had through them (if you are a member). I have not decided whether I am going with them or not. I still want to get a couple of more quotes and see what kind of coverage I can get for less than that.

Oh, one more thing. They have a "storage clause" with their policy. If you only use the teardrop for part of the year, any months that it is in storage and not on the road you can call them and they will inactivate your collision insurance and credit you back $8 per month.

[_Ryan_]

Last night I went online with Good Sam and filled out a quote request. Under make of trailer they have Teardrop listed, so I chose that. Today I got a call back from an agent wanting to go over the quote with me. We talked at length and I explained to him it was homebuilt, told him I had my receipts and what they total. He asked about what amenities it had, the exact size, and the vin # (which fortunately I just got yesterday from the MVA). He said they could insure it for full value (no depreciation) for up to 5 years, collision with $500 deductible (my choice), and comprehensive with $250 deductible for $236 per year. I don't know if that's good or not. (You're all welcome to chime in on that.) But the fact that it was homebuilt did not seem to be an issue unless it were to get kicked back somewhere further up the line.

I saw the same thing, but after calling them directly they didn't want to have anything to do with insuring my TD.

I just posted my experiences in this other thread and was finally able to get insurance through State Farm for much less than you were quoted here. http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?p=1020649#p1020649

Ryan

[Oldragbaggers]

Thanks Ryan. I have not purchased insurance from Good Sam at this point, because based on what I have been reading it is obvious that their rates are on the high side. I'm taking a walk on the wild side temporarily by just going with the liability protection I have with the tow vehicle. I will get around it to eventually, hopefully before we leave for the CRA.