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Tue May 03, 2016 6:59 am

Hi everyone,

My husband (icolquhoun) and I purchased an '82 Westy last fall and he has put in a ton of time and effort doing an engine swap and re-placing or fabricating pretty much everything soup to nuts.

I am in charge of finding insurance before we depart on our cross country road trip this summer and I am seeking some advice.

The van is titled in NJ as a motorhome so does that mean we can only get RV insurance?

We would prefer not to re-title the van

What type (or any)of collision and comprehensive do most people have as it seems near impossible to have it insured for what it is truly worth (20-25k) without a Haggerty or LLloyds of London policy.

I am looking at esurance as thats who we have our auto polices through now and progressive RV insurance which offers only "actual cash value"

Just seeing what others out there have done to balance the risk with the pocketbook.

Thanks so much for your helpful responses, I appreciate it!

Tue May 03, 2016 7:43 am

inverrary wrote: Hi everyone,

My husband (icolquhoun) and I purchased an '82 Westy last fall and he has put in a ton of time and effort doing an engine swap and re-placing or fabricating pretty much everything soup to nuts.

I am in charge of finding insurance before we depart on our cross country road trip this summer and I am seeking some advice.

The van is titled in NJ as a motorhome so does that mean we can only get RV insurance?

We would prefer not to re-title the van

What type (or any)of collision and comprehensive do most people have as it seems near impossible to have it insured for what it is truly worth (20-25k) without a Haggerty or LLloyds of London policy.

I am looking at esurance as thats who we have our auto polices through now and progressive RV insurance which offers only "actual cash value"

Just seeing what others out there have done to balance the risk with the pocketbook.

Thanks so much for your helpful responses, I appreciate it!

I got Safeco coverage on my van. they got my windshield fixed for the 50 buck deductible no hassle. got to pick who did the glass, which is nice.

best bet is shop around. buy the coverage you want.

make a list of coverage option you want and compair prices for like coverage. do not under insure for un insured motorists. lot of un or under insured cars out there, hit by one and you may not recover your actual expenses much less pain and suffering. having a big uninsured policy protected me from financial loss from being hit by a losser that only had state minimum coverage. her policy was not enough to handle my medical bills, that is where my 100K un insured policy kicked in.

Tue May 03, 2016 7:50 am

There is some good info in the FAQ's here

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6236040#6236040

The insurance topics are under the GENERAL section. :D

Tue May 03, 2016 7:52 am

I had to get an appraisal done and submitted that to my Insurance Company ( State Farm ).

There is at least proof of value and what 'actual cash value' means.

They based my premium on a full coverage policy and it is insured as a regular vehicle, not an RV. I inquired about insuring it as an RV for a lower rate but they said it would not make much of a difference in comparison.

What will happen if mine gets written off ? I'm not sure. I have done all I can to protect myself. if they offer me a decent cash settlement on what I have invested and can buy back the van as scrap, then I would be happy.

I almost lost my shirt on a 74 Beetle I freshly restored from the ground up. I didn't have an appraisal done.

Thankfully the adjuster managed to talk State Farm into fixing the vehicle which was over double the 'current value' of the car because they saw the work that went into it. I got lucky and learned to get that reputable appraisal as some type of insurance against the insurance !

Tue May 03, 2016 7:55 am

I second the appraisal as an aid to establish value (at the time the appraisal was done). It saved my bacon years ago.... :D

Tue May 03, 2016 9:05 am

Also worth mentioning to talk with your insurance or potential agent who THEY TRUST with appraising value.

Some off the internet third party appraisal may be totally worthless if it gets into a value fight.

Give them as little option as possible to cheap out of a fair settlement.

Tue May 03, 2016 9:41 am

My insurance, State Farm, would not insure as an RV since it doesn't have an on-board bathroom. They did give me a great rate (as compared to what I got in Michigan) now that we are in Illinois.

Tue May 03, 2016 10:57 am

metropoj wrote: Also worth mentioning to talk with your insurance or potential agent who THEY TRUST with appraising value.

Some off the internet third party appraisal may be totally worthless if it gets into a value fight.

Give them as little option as possible to cheap out of a fair settlement.

I would assume the insurance company works with appriasers on a regular basis and seeks the services of ones that tend to appriase low. I would not use an apprasier recommended by the insurance company. Too much conflict of interests for them to give you the best for you appraiser.
Id consider an apprasier that is experinced in apprasing vanagons and recieves high ratings by consumers, not insurance companies. if you want a legal challenge proof appraisal, get two or more of them. there will always be variations in the value appraised, but if you have several, and they are all close, you could claim the average, and it would be hard to beat in court with multible appraisals.

Tue May 03, 2016 11:14 am

inverrary wrote:
What type (or any)of collision and comprehensive do most people have as it seems near impossible to have it insured for what it is truly worth (20-25k) without a Haggerty or LLloyds of London policy.

And due to the nature of the vehicle, you will not be able to get Haggerty and the like.

inverrary wrote: I am looking at esurance as thats who we have our auto polices through now and progressive RV insurance which offers only "actual cash value"

I've got full coverage with Progressive and it's insured as a conversion van with a value of $18000.

I did the quote/sign-up online. Keeping the van as a regular van, I couldn't enter a value for it (stated value, as opposed to agreed, but it's better than no value at all). The van didn't fall under any of their online RV descriptions (at the time), thus going with conversion van, which allows for entering a value along with any extras (snazzy wheels, solar system, etc.).

Tue May 03, 2016 4:40 pm

Don't be afraid to go TALK to your agent in person. Bring the van. My agent is awesome, he loves my cars and is great to work with.

Tue May 03, 2016 7:32 pm

funny, I have State Farm for the van, and they only let me insure it as an RV… since it has a kitchenette.
I find it interesting that other state farms won't. it was actually insured as an auto at first then
the 'main office' called back and made them set it up as an RV.

it's under 'replacement value' but Ive been thinking an appraisal should be made.

Tue May 03, 2016 8:42 pm

I have regular insurance. I added it to my State Farm poilicy and it was painless. I was able to specify a dollar amount for aftermarket modifications. I told them $10K which mostly covers my camper conversion and accessories like awning, heater, 16" wheels, and bike rack. I can provide receipts if the van gets stolen or totaled, but with the $10K on top of whatever actual cash value is for a clean syncro, I am reasonably covered and have Collision, Comprehensive and Underinsured Motorist w/ Roadside assistance and I can drive it however I want. It is about $650/year for the van but I am getting a multi=car discount and homeowner policy discount.

I have added anti theft devices and will add fire suppression to do as much as I can to avoid a major loss.

Part of my thinking is they usually give you a fair settlement if it is totalled and let you buy the van back cheap which will still have a lot of valuable parts like transmission/decoupler, heater, camper cabinets etc. and I can use them to create the replacement van. Having an agreed value $50K policy sounds great but I couldn't a place that would do it.

Tue May 03, 2016 9:44 pm

I went through Progressive for insurance. Took a little convincing but since the state recognizes the van as a motor home the insurance company did, too. Way cheaper than if it were another car on my policy.

Fri Sep 23, 2016 5:36 am

I am working at gettinng agreed upon insurance. So far geico has quoted me 380 for six months. Can anyone share their premiums?

Tue Sep 27, 2016 1:09 pm

I had a Chubb policy and if they knew I camped in it they would of cancelled. So I found and insurance topic here and they mentioned farmers. I now have a farmers policy no mileage limits and I can camp in it with an agreed value based on a comprehensive appraisal of 50k policy is 700 for 6 months.

Tue Sep 27, 2016 5:37 pm

I tried haggarty. They would not insure my van if it was camped in.
Progressive would not insure the value.

I went with Foremost. USAA (progressive) suggested them and they are an affiliate. I insured it as an RV. Even though it did not have a bathroom they took care of me. They insured it for the amount I purchased it for. Costs a bit more than auto insurance, but it will have to do until I find something better.

Fri Feb 24, 2017 5:20 am

The good news is NJ has a lot of consumer protection to protect your actual value based on recent sales rather than a lookup table, so you should be able to,protect yourself. An agreed value policy is best if you don't relish a fight

Fri Feb 24, 2017 6:45 am

Mines insured as an RV and only cost me 58/ mo for a stated value of 15k. Progresive

Fri Feb 24, 2017 8:58 am

I'm going through this mess myself right now. I have a standard plan through StateFarm that was sold to me as Agreed Value. This being a somewhat new concept to me, I was adamant that what I was sold was Agreed Value the broker insisted it was, turns out it wasn't. The broker that sold it to me apparently was into some less then honorable stuff and has since been let go.

Anyway, anyone in Montana with an ACV policy have any company recommendations? Jeffrey from Wise Westy mentioned he has a great policy from X Company, I call them and they say they can only sell through Haggerty and only for a "car show" policy.

With that said, one thing clear in this thread is that it varies by company depending on who you speak with...any recommendation for when actually getting a quote as to how to present this to the broker to get ACV? It seems there is really some "coaching" that needs to happen to get an ACV policy out of a company.

Fri Feb 24, 2017 9:11 am

^^^^ This may help.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=660640&highlight=agreed