Insurance for valuables?

[TMG51]

I'm going to be traveling with computer equipment, cameras, power tools.... I asked my insurance company about theft type coverage and they said that is handled by my home policy.

And yet, I aspire to have no (conventional) home.


Options:

1) BS my renter's insurance policy to a physical address of a relative when I hit the road?
          a) Caveat: This may incur incredulity if making a claim 8 states removed from the listed address.
2) Some type of motorhome coverage maybe? What are the options here?

Surely there is some way to insure the monetary worth of possessions in one's vehicle.

 

[Almost There]

I'm going to be traveling with computer equipment, cameras, power tools.... I asked my insurance company about theft type coverage and they said that is handled by my home policy.

And yet, I aspire to have no (conventional) home.


Options:

1) BS my renter's insurance policy to a physical address of a relative when I hit the road?
          a) Caveat: This may incur incredulity if making a claim 8 states removed from the listed address.
2) Some type of motorhome coverage maybe? What are the options here?

Surely there is some way to insure the monetary worth of possessions in one's vehicle.

I just went through this whole thing with my insurance company.

Whether you can get full time RV insurance that will cover contents will depend on:

 a)where you're domiciled (your legal address for banking, IRS, drivers licence etc), because each state/province has different insurance rules.

b) what you're living in. If it's a commercially made RV, TT etc, then there are insurance companies that specialize in RV coverage. If it's a DIY conversion van like mine, maybe, maybe not.

Here's a link to the recent thread that details what I and several others found out about insurance -

https://vanlivingforum.com/Thread-Insurance-Hades

If you find that you need to keep a 'tenants' policy in force to protect your worldly goods, just remember if you have a loss that you are simply on an extended camping trip which explains why you're 8 states away!

My advice, if you're not running a commercially manufactured RV, is to proceed very carefully. I will never, ever ask my own insurance agent about anything again. I actually refused to tell my old broker who I was moving my insurance to so that neither they nor the insurance company could tattle on me for the 'modifications' I was making to the van. Call me paranoid, I don't care after what I went through.

 

[TMG51]

It's a Doge Ram factory-made "Phoenix Cruiser" RV.

I had been thinking of it as a van, but was surprised when my insurance carrier recognized it as a motorhome from the VIN.

Thanks for the reference - I think I may try to sneak by transferring the address on my renter's policy since I have good coverage.

 

[Almost There]

It's a Doge Ram factory-made "Phoenix Cruiser" RV.

I had been thinking of it as a van, but was surprised when my insurance carrier recognized it as a motorhome from the VIN.

Thanks for the reference - I think I may try to sneak by transferring the address on my renter's policy since I have good coverage.

The problem with that is that you have two deductibles to meet in case of a serious loss of the RV and contents.

Also, don't think of it as sneaking - you will have to have a legal address anyways...no one understands 'I live on the road', not the bank, not your health insurance, not the DMV, not the IRS...no one!!

The 2 deductible problem was precisely why I asked my insurance agent about moving to RV insurance when I had completed the conversion. I got stuck with a broken window (less than the deductible) and $1,100 worth of loss of valuables a couple of years ago. My tenant's policy has a $1,000 deductible so had I claimed anything it would have been reduced to a $100. ..   I was out of pocket almost $,400. The tenants' policy was also replacement value which meant I had to replace with like items...I chose to upgrade while I was shopping.

Since it's a commercially made RV, shop around for full-timers coverage. Your agent recognized it as an RV and undoubtedly  has it covered as an RV and most standard RV policies don't cover you if you're living in it for more than 30 days at a time. There are full time RV policies available that cover you for long term usage. The only problem I foresee is that some of the insurance companies that do offer full-timer insurance won't touch something that's less than 20'.

15 years ago, so I can't remember the insurance company name, I had full time coverage on my 35' Class A. When I wanted the same coverage on a Class B I couldn't get it through them because it was too small...sigh!! I found it but I had to hunt!