Commercial Insurance vs Private

Genghis · 01-22-2018, 07:55 PM

Woot!

I bought my bus last Friday (2001 Thomas Freightliner FS65) and I'm going to pick it up this coming Friday. My personal insurance company would not insure it until it has been "Converted". So today I went driving around to various local insurance offices on a quest to get insured before my trip to pickup the bus (13 hour drive).

Success!

Walked into Nationwide on my third try and they were able to give me a "Commercial" insurance liability only policy for a year for around $500 underwritten by Progressive. The price seems good.

Here's the question:

What are the pro's and con's of keeping this commercial policy or trying to get a personal RV insurance once I've converted the bus?

I Love this Forum!

Genghis Sends!

z

bman91 · 01-22-2018, 08:05 PM

I am looking for similar information in another discussion... Was told it kinda depends on your home state.. we are in Michigan and I drove mine home last Saturday!! Congrats...I will be watching to see what you come up with!

Robin97396 · 01-22-2018, 08:51 PM

Many of us stay on our commercial policy for private use. Generally speaking changing to MH registration depends on your level of completion on your conversion. Regardless of your intentions to make your vehicle into a motorhome it's still just a truck, without bus seats, so it gets insured like a truck. In a year or two when your vehicle actually qualifies as a motorhome you have the plates changed to MH and adjust insurance at that time.

I've done it both ways. One has higher registration fees and the other way had higher insurance rates. Overall they were within $10 of each other.

Speaking of an advantage, if you plan to cross any borders you would do well to have no quirks in your registration. In other words if you're living in the vehicle it should be logically registered as a MH for crossing northern or southern borders.

bman91 · 01-24-2018, 09:02 PM

I talked to an agent today and I think we are gonna lean towards keeping it titled a bus private, and commercial style insurance to stay out of all the red tape per say and higher insurance premiums... At least for now... We're in Michigan

brokedown · 01-24-2018, 09:05 PM

Lots of insurance threads here where people insured as a MH and got their policy cancelled. It's hard to get a policy in Florida unless you just don't ever bring up that you're converting it when purchasing your commercial policy.

bman91 · 01-24-2018, 09:26 PM

What do you tell the company when they ask what your doing with the bus tho lol...

brokedown · 01-24-2018, 09:27 PM

They didn't ask me. I could have honestly said I was using it to move furniture and appliances though!

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Robin97396 · 01-24-2018, 09:34 PM

I told them I was making a fishing cabin. They liked that.

Twigg · 01-24-2018, 09:34 PM

I told State Farm what I was doing with the bus. They said their underwriters were perfectly happy with a bus conversion titled as a MH.

I think this varies by state and by broker.

bman91 · 01-24-2018, 09:40 PM

There is a post on here talking about a state farm agent here in Michigan they had good luck with.. I'm.calling our local agent tomorrow and looking into it.. we also have commercial vehicles in a small business not certain we could add it there lol

EastCoastCB · 01-24-2018, 10:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bman91

What do you tell the company when they ask what your doing with the bus tho lol...

ANything. What do you do?
I use mine as mobile office/storage space. I'm unemployed and mow a few yards.

EastCoastCB · 01-24-2018, 10:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Twigg

I told State Farm what I was doing with the bus. They said their underwriters were perfectly happy with a bus conversion titled as a MH.

I think this varies by state and by broker.

Yes it totally does vary.

tobeamiss · 01-25-2018, 06:16 AM

First of all welcome to both new comers.
When I called State Farm she only asked for the Vin, asked what I'm going to do with it...I told her I had taken the seats out, was going to turn it into a Girl cave and yes, drive it around once in a while.
She had no problem with any of that and insured me.
Maybe because I was speaking with a female and she liked my idea? I don't know.
I'm in NY

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brokedown · 01-25-2018, 06:45 AM

Girl cave!

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bman91 · 01-25-2018, 10:26 AM

That is phenomenal!!! Girl cave should be the name of that rig!!

EastCoastCB · 01-25-2018, 11:03 AM

lol girl cave evokes funny thoughts.

efrem08 · 02-02-2018, 02:36 PM

I have a question as I am new to the Skoolie industry. Does the insurance agencies ask for pictures of the bus?

BigDeb68 · 02-02-2018, 03:26 PM

Hey Like I thought I've read on here where Progressive is known to drop policyies after 2 weeks and that Progressive doesn't do conversions. =/

Insurance is like playing russian roulette for sure!! Lmbao

PNW_Steve · 02-02-2018, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by efrem08

I have a question as I am new to the Skoolie industry. Does the insurance agencies ask for pictures of the bus?

I am also insured with State Farm and had no trouble insuring them.

I did get "commercial vehicle for personal use" policies.

I did have to remove the seats and send pictures. Regarding the seats, I did take all but one out. I thing that I could have left seating for up to 14.

Contrary to what some have said, in Washington you must have a CDL if you drive a vehicle capable of carrying 16 or more including the driver.

Robin97396 · 02-02-2018, 04:13 PM

You're right, Progressive doesn't do conversions. Your new to you bus is not a converted bus, yet. We don't generally mention converting a bus to an insurance company, EVER. For the first couple years while you're working on it, it's a van or truck or whatever you want to register it as. Whenever you retitle it as a motorhome, then you need to get motorhome insurance that will very much resemble the commercial policy for private use.

My bus is titled as a van. It is actually a van. No walls, no plumbing and a minimal electrical system. I can still actually empty this van out, which backs the whole van theory. I wasn't going for the motorhome build, as this is a basic fishing shack.

If you build a motorhome you'll need to re-register your bus, which happens every two years in this state anyway. So you change the title and then submit that to the insurance company. I think you'll agree that the differences are "six of one and a half dozen of the other."

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