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Old 01-12-2016, 10:42 AM   #21
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I suggest going to a small local insurance office and talk to someone. I got a commercial Progressive policy this way. It was really easy.

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Old 01-12-2016, 12:13 PM   #22
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I have been lurking here on this site for some time. Very interested in the insurance questions (my in-laws are in the biz). Just curious if the non-skoolies, ie. Greyhound, Eagle, etc. owners have the same problems, or are the insurers just prejudice? Hope I did not stir up a hornets nest.....
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Old 01-12-2016, 12:16 PM   #23
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Old 01-12-2016, 12:24 PM   #24
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geez, i've been following this thread wondering what everyone is complaining about... then i googled the quote in the OP's first post.

the quote of disappearing insurance coverage is from a skoolie insurer?

this whole thread is an ad for AIS bus conversion insurance.

https://www.aisinsurance.com/product...ersion.aspx#t3



its not that hard... if you get rejected try a different company. i think most of us have insured our buses.
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Old 01-12-2016, 12:54 PM   #25
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I remember looking at that site before. I also remember talking to an agent that spewed the garbage about narrow axles. It was all I could do to not verbally shred them on the phone.

Quote:
The main reason cited for this is the axle of a school bus is generally a narrower axle than that of a regular bus.
At the same time, there have been more than a few rigs on the net and here that push the limits. Roof raises of 2-3 feet. Roof racks that are meant for people. Tanks being held on with ratchet straps, etc. It's no wonder that the companies shy away from insuring skoolies when they see some of the pictures. You want them to take a few hundred bucks in exchange for tens of thousands in coverage. I agree that an off the shelf school bus is safer that a stick and staple RV, but the RV is a known commodity. Who knows what crazy stuff a skoolie will come up with. Think about it when you build your bus.
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Old 01-12-2016, 01:19 PM   #26
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simple liability coverage doesn't protect you or your bus.

if you want to protect your bus and investment, you need an expensive full coverage , agree-ed value policy.

still an easy policy to buy from most insurance carriers.

its the same type of auto policy a collector car would have.
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Old 01-12-2016, 01:29 PM   #27
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This is why I choose a bus.



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Old 01-12-2016, 01:30 PM   #28
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simple liability coverage doesn't protect you or your bus.

if you want to protect your bus and investment, you need an expensive full coverage , agree-ed value policy.

still an easy policy to buy from most insurance carriers.

its the same type of auto policy a collector car would have.

I am only talking about liability.
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Old 01-12-2016, 02:15 PM   #29
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I have a problem with people drawing attention to themselves & the Skoolie site thru news papers, Yahoo headlines & such.
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Old 01-12-2016, 05:02 PM   #30
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Originally Posted by crazycal View Post
I remember looking at that site before. I also remember talking to an agent that spewed the garbage about narrow axles. It was all I could do to not verbally shred them on the phone.



At the same time, there have been more than a few rigs on the net and here that push the limits. Roof raises of 2-3 feet. Roof racks that are meant for people. Tanks being held on with ratchet straps, etc. It's no wonder that the companies shy away from insuring skoolies when they see some of the pictures. You want them to take a few hundred bucks in exchange for tens of thousands in coverage. I agree that an off the shelf school bus is safer that a stick and staple RV, but the RV is a known commodity. Who knows what crazy stuff a skoolie will come up with. Think about it when you build your bus.
i agree.

Im sure if we do our rigs correctly and safely we will have no issue insuring, now or in the future. I was getting a bit worried till i realized that the providers have to make sure we are doing it right. they need to limit their risk and i understand. Im the type of person that needs to know things are warm and fuzzy before i invest such time and money.

Thanks for everyones response. Hope everyone is staying warm. Good evening all!
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Old 01-12-2016, 05:54 PM   #31
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[QUOTE=mdl76;133141]i agree.

Im sure if we do our rigs correctly and safely we will have no issue insuring, now or in the future. I was getting a bit worried till i realized that the providers have to make sure we are doing it right. they need to limit their risk and i understand. Im the type of person that needs to know things are warm and fuzzy before i invest such time and money.

Thanks for everyones response. Hope everyone is staying warm. Good evening all![/Qh


Like I said, if your bus is built properly you would think there would be no
reason for insurance company's not to give you insurance, you meet the same requirements as a rv, but there are a lot of company's that just won't, here in Canada, and the USA. it sucks, but that's the reality.
I'm with alstate, and they will no longer insure conversions , I'v been grandfathered in,
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Old 01-13-2016, 10:13 AM   #32
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Grandfathered in... that is what I'm seeing with some people...

I read in a blog a skoolie owner had to email a higher level executive and then they finally got insurance. they spent A lot of time and money on their conversion and they had to literally beg for insurance.

I still have the same feeling, all this time and money and there is a possibility I will not be insured. I have no claims and a clean driving record.... this is making no sense. This is what happens when government requires a service from a private company who's goal is MAX profit
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Old 01-13-2016, 10:29 AM   #33
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we just called a provider that insured our friend who has a bus that is in the process of conversion. our bus is at the same state in the process. they said they won't insure our bus. i did not give him my friends info, only referred to him as my friend, and the agent said he will most likely be getting dropped when it goes to underwriting. He said in his 5 years as a agent, he has yet to be able to get a converted bus pass underwriting. Im guess he is not the same agent my friend went through. So as i see it, some people are getting insurance while other are sol.
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Old 01-13-2016, 12:01 PM   #34
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we are getting different answers from the same company, just different agents.. its like no one understands what to do.
The same thing at the DMV. Just go to a different office.
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Old 01-13-2016, 12:24 PM   #35
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Yea, compare how those start to these and its a no-brainer lol



(Sorry, not sure how to insert videos...)
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Old 01-13-2016, 12:36 PM   #36
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Originally Posted by mdl76 View Post
Grandfathered in... that is what I'm seeing with some people...

I read in a blog a skoolie owner had to email a higher level executive and then they finally got insurance. they spent A lot of time and money on their conversion and they had to literally beg for insurance.

I still have the same feeling, all this time and money and there is a possibility I will not be insured. I have no claims and a clean driving record.... this is making no sense. This is what happens when government requires a service from a private company who's goal is MAX profit
apologies for the political twist at the end.. just my emotions talking there.. sorry for that
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Old 01-13-2016, 02:37 PM   #37
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Is AIS bad?
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Old 03-08-2016, 10:00 AM   #38
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Alright, this is how it went down for us.

1st - American General didn't like our graphics and blog site and wouldn't give us a policy saying that they thought it was for commercial use and the excuses there after were endless.

2nd - attempt was through a local agent who told us she was working for weeks before we gave up and never heard back from them.

3rd - attempt and over a month into the process. Seriously frustrated at this point. Called another Local Agent who gave us a quote in 2min and said to come to their office to sign and pay for pollicy. Which we did promptly. When she printed off our insurance card is when we realized it was Progressive. We thought oh well but I needed to test drive the bus after I pulled the top end of the motor apart not to mention test the rest of the build. In addition we only needed the insurance for about 4weeks to get us to Mexico where we had to buy Mexican insurance.

Well, unfortunately we had to take out a claim two weeks into our journey do to a minor fender bender in a parking lot (word of advise: when in reverse in your skoolie you will not feel backing into another car. You'll just push it along like a small trailer).

Much to our amazement Progressive paid the claim and didn't drop us. It's been 6 weeks since that claim.

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Old 03-08-2016, 06:04 PM   #39
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Well, I was this close to a policy with a local agent (local to where we're moving in a month) and the underwriters denied it because of the paint job. SO frustrating - even for her! She said it's because if a claim were made, the insured would get a paint job out of the deal because you're not going to get a part that has surface rust, right? Plus they're seeing a lot of non-payment issues on premiums and a lot of Skoolie drivers with no experience driving a bus getting into accidents. So it makes sense and it's frustrating - she even agrees that the older buses are far safer than an RV in an accident! She's trying a liability only policy, then we'll go a commercial policy (both about $400 more a year) and then when we've painted it we can resubmit for a motorhome policy.

And we've been accident/incident free for 20+ years.
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Old 03-08-2016, 09:40 PM   #40
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I have my bus insured as a commercial truck, liability only and it cost 400 a year through progressive, this might cause me problems later but it was what I could get
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