Insurance options for a no-build build van

[turnip4545]

I currently have State Farm, but they've recently cancelled some of the discounts and the new rates are a little to hard to make peace with.

I've found is that some insurance companies will only insure a van if it's commercially registered OR they will insure a van if it's registered as an RV.

But so far only State Farm would insure a no-build-build van. I.e. nothing in the van is modified, I just put some IKEA, Walmart and Amazon furniture. I use it only as a personal travel vehicle, never for business, and it's not registered as any sort of Recreational Vehicle.

What are other peoples experiences with insuring this type of car? What other insurance companies can you recommend?

thank you all

PS: I didn't have any accidents recently (knock on wood) and I haven't crossed any age threshold either.

 

[Happy Camper]

What year, make, and model is your van?
What state is it registered and insured in?

That will make a big difference in the information you get here, as both are important and vary depending on location.

 

[Gr8ful]

State Farm had no problem with my ambulance tagged & registered as an RV.

 

[turnip4545]

State Farm had no problem with my ambulance tagged & registered as an RV.

For me the problem is that my van is NOT registered as an RV. I think most, if not all, insurance companies WOULD register a registered RV vehicle, sure. But mine isn't.

 

[jacqueg]

For me the problem is that my van is NOT registered as an RV. I think most, if not all, insurance companies WOULD register a registered RV vehicle, sure. But mine isn't.

I don't see insurance as a real solution to anything except being a way to legally drive.

I have a 2001 van with essentially a no-build build. Because of my van's age, just about any damage to it will result in the insurance company wanting to total it. Keep in mind that insurance company standards are to restore the damage to "like new" condition. I do still have renter's insurance, which would pay for loss of contents - but only if I can document the purchase in the first place. Quick now - how many folks keep receipts for the camera you bought four years ago?

The only thing I carry is liability. If I got in a wreck tomorrow, I would be paying for the van replacement out-of-pocket. Regardless of insurance.

 

[turnip4545]

I don't see insurance as a real solution to anything except being a way to legally drive.

I have a 2001 van with essentially a no-build build. Because of my van's age, just about any damage to it will result in the insurance company wanting to total it. Keep in mind that insurance company standards are to restore the damage to "like new" condition. I do still have renter's insurance, which would pay for loss of contents - but only if I can document the purchase in the first place. Quick now - how many folks keep receipts for the camera you bought four years ago?

The only thing I carry is liability. If I got in a wreck tomorrow, I would be paying for the van replacement out-of-pocket. Regardless of insurance.

I understand all of this. But I still need the insurance for legal requirements; whether they pay-up or not. That is my question: which insurance company would be willing to insure my setup, besides StateFarm.

 

[abnorm]

Vehicle insurance is a State issue...........Best advice........"Talk to an independent insurance agent in your state"

 

[Happy Camper]

What year, make, and model is your van?
What state is it registered and insured in?

That will make a big difference in the information you get here, as both are important and vary depending on location.

Vehicle insurance is a State issue...........Best advice........"Talk to an independent insurance agent in your state"

 

[Carla618]

Vehicle insurance is a State issue...........Best advice........"Talk to an independent insurance agent in your state"

abnorm is right. Look up Independent Insurance Agents or Insurance Brokers. They will shop around and find what you want.

 

[maki2]

I currently have State Farm, but they've recently cancelled some of the discounts and the new rates are a little to hard to make peace with.

I've found is that some insurance companies will only insure a van if it's commercially registered OR they will insure a van if it's registered as an RV.

The key issue here is not that it is a “van” it is that it is a CARGO van rather than a PASSENGER van. So you are getting lumped into the Commercial insurance rates category. You need to talk to the licensing department about getting it registered on the title for strictly personal use. Then you show that newly modified title to the insurance company and your rate classification will be changed to match your officially sanctioned use.

Best of luck. Paperwork and bureaucracy rules are a challenge and it cost extra to get titles changed but persistence helps. You just have to find the right pathway in to get through the maze.

If the licensing bureau ask you why you wanted a cargo van for personal use tell them you like to go mountain bike riding and camping and want secure inside storage for the bikes and camping gear when at trail heads. Or even just say you like to go camping and take along a big tent and outdoor kitchen stuff, camp chairs, inner tubes, too much stuff to fit in a passenger car. Just say something plausible that is not at all business related but instead is weekend recreational oriented. But do not talk about RV conversion unless you are willing to make the required conversions to register it as an RV.

 

[VanFan]

I sympathize! It's like a Catch 22. I recently went through this with a new Explorer conversion van, a luxury passenger vehicle built on a cargo van chassis.

It took about six hours of phone time to get coverage of any kind through my carrier, including being passed around to various affiliates for consideration. Numerous times, I was asked whether we would be camping in it. I told them we definitely would, but that it is not an RV (it did not meet their criteria for that).

The sticking point, apparently, was the GVWR being just above their threshold for coverage. Finally, an exception was granted. They had previously covered a similar vehicle on a lighter chassis with no issue other than a limit on coverage for non-OEM items. That chassis shows up as an "incomplete chassis," whereas the new one appears as a "truck".

 

[overlandsiberia]

I also would like an answer to this question.

The generic answer "go to a broker" is useless as these brokers have no clue.
If someone knows a specific broker who does not give you cookie cutter response that cargo vans have to get commercial insurance it would be helpful.
I had called multiple broker with no results.

So far only StateFarm agent told me there's no problem insuring a cargo type van under personal policy. Brokers usually answer than none of their carriers would do so.

It does not have anything to do with "registering as non-commersial vehicle", insurers are not asking this question, they are plainly refusing to insure as non-commercial based on the type of vehicle, in any state. (I do not want or plan to be converting the van into RV either, I own a motorhome and getting rid of it now, all I want is no build van, precisely, to use for a year and resell as cargo van)

Also, to insure it as an RV one has to have a garaging address, not a registered mail agent address, and when you're full timing there's no address (some of them are checking addresses though google street views), I guess one option might be renting a parking spot in storage and giving it to them, but then how you can claim it's your 'daily driver'? I had trouble insuring my motorhome because I'm a full timer, at first, but at least Progressive insured it as such, for fulltime dwelling not bothering about garaging address, but it will be different with a personal or commercial policy.

 

[Headache]

For the below I'm using the word "commercial" which in the state I'm from at least until a couple few years back meant pretty much the same thing as cargo. Something used to haul stuff in an assumed commercial capacity and at least they used to register cargo vans as commercial and required one to pay a tonnage fee, at least back in the day.

My van is labeled as a BUS from the manufacturer. It's a 1992 Ford E350 extended Club Wagon that was built for a rec center toting around disabled kids from school to the rec center. In all capacities it was a commercial vehicle and registered as one. But WA state is a bit different than other states as it used to be that anything that came out of the factory in a commercial capacity had to be registered and insured for that as well as you ending up paying tonnage for it.

I bought my van from a used car place and nothing on the registration identified it as commercial so that was a couple headaches avoided. I noticed this year that the registration included some wordage that looks like its being identified as a former commercial vehicle.

As far as vans and insurance go, if you read the fine print on virtually any policy it will notate by some means that you can't live in it full time. As far as my insurance company knew I camped on occasion and used it to store and haul my camping gear around. I have a trailer now but still have State Farm. I ditched Progressive for State Farm.

Good luck with this. Its some of the most purposefully convoluted BS I've ever tried to read.

 

[VanFan]

I also would like an answer to this question.

It does not have anything to do with "registering as non-commersial vehicle"...

True in my case, at least. The insurers' systems initially "kicked it out" based on the VIN identifying it as a truck/cargo van. It had nothing to do with how it was registered with the state motor vehicle department.

 

[Tony's Dream]

I'm insured through Progressive as a commercial van used for personal pleasure. NE catagorizes all vans as commercial vehicles because that is there purpose and design. I did modify the van by adding windows and installing a roof vent/fan. I did my own build and spent less than $1500 doing it. If my van is in an accident, the isurance company will not cover anything I renovated......meaning they will not replace the windows or fan that I installed, nor will it replace anything I built into the van. I'm OK with that since I kept my costs so low. If I had paid to have it renovated, then I could upgrade it from a commercial van to an RV as long as the renovations meet NE's RV requirements (stove, refrigerator, ect, permanently installed) and Progressive when then insure it as an RV and cover those items too.

 

[rruff]

I understand all of this. But I still need the insurance for legal requirements; whether they pay-up or not. That is my question: which insurance company would be willing to insure my setup, besides StateFarm.

You need liability, only... I think... unless you are making payments... which is something I've never done on a vehicle since I bought my first one at 17. And if insurance companies will not insure a van for liability, then I don't know what the hell the world has come to...

BTW, I've had State Farm my whole life and I'm happy with them... although they should be happy with me too, since I never cost them anything.

 

[BelgianPup]

Contact your local Progressive Insurance and chat with them.

 

[maki2]

I understand all of this. But I still need the insurance for legal requirements; whether they pay-up or not. That is my question: which insurance company would be willing to insure my setup, besides StateFarm.

When I had a van it was insured by Allstate. They offer quite a few discounts but your vehicle might not qualify for some of them if it is an older model. If you yearly my mileage is below a certain amount that is a discount. So are anti lock brakes, security system, taking a qualified defensive driving course, being accident and violation free for a certain amount of years, plus more.

 

[Gr8ful]

You need liability, only... I think... unless you are making payments... which is something I've never done on a vehicle since I bought my first one at 17. And if insurance companies will not insure a van for liability, then I don't know what the hell the world has come to...

BTW, I've had State Farm my whole life and I'm happy with them... although they should be happy with me too, since I never cost them anything.

I get liability & Comp in case of deer, glass breakage, trees or limb falling, etc. It's cheap. I hit 3 deer in 1 week years ago.

 

[quilting22]

I currently have State Farm, but they've recently cancelled some of the discounts and the new rates are a little to hard to make peace with.

I've found is that some insurance companies will only insure a van if it's commercially registered OR they will insure a van if it's registered as an RV.

But so far only State Farm would insure a no-build-build van. I.e. nothing in the van is modified, I just put some IKEA, Walmart and Amazon furniture. I use it only as a personal travel vehicle, never for business, and it's not registered as any sort of Recreational Vehicle.

What are other peoples experiences with insuring this type of car? What other insurance companies can you recommend?

thank you all

PS: I didn't have any accidents recently (knock on wood) and I haven't crossed any age threshold either.

I've used GEICO for yrs on all my vehicles. No problem getting my 2023 Ram Promaster cargo van insured. No questions asked. I did not build it out. Just have in my van what l need to live on BLM land at LTVA. Hope this helps.