There was a couple passing through southeast Idaho last week and they were involved in a rollover. Killed the husband and wife was in critical condition last I heard. Compare this to a school bus rollover last year in Idaho, no seat belts, no serious injuries. Its amazing how a 300,000 dollar motorhome gets reduced to rubble in an accident.
And despite these wrecks, the same airheads that refuse to insure skoolie conversions will write a policy for whatever the hell the above make & model of motor home was - without batting an eye.
there are a few of the motorhomes that are built on bus chassis and body and those fair OK in crashes.. but many are bnuilt on a spartan chassis and just sticks N stapes even the cab.. never understood why a protected cab isnt built for these things,,
the van cutaway motorhomes usually protect the occupants well as the van chassis rarely collapses...
of course the million dollar motorhomes do OK in crashes as they are converted busses from the get-go..
It's all about the liability involved with the "Cargo".
RV has 2-4 people (cargo) maybe inside who are generally related and the insurance pays to the family/owner of the bus.
School bus accident generally involves CHILDREN who are not related to the driver or the bus owner. BIG liability issues!
Skoolie conversions as noted above ultimately have much of the same liability issues as a Motorhome after conversion HOWEVER the insurer must be certain this former "Transport Bus" no longer has the capability to haul multiple unrelated people in a commercial setting and the ownership/driver relationship is personal.
Believe it or not people have been known to "LIE" to the insurance company to acquire insurance coverage they can afford.
It's all about the liability involved with the "Cargo".
RV has 2-4 people (cargo) maybe inside who are generally related and the insurance pays to the family/owner of the bus.
School bus accident generally involves CHILDREN who are not related to the driver or the bus owner. BIG liability issues!
Skoolie conversions as noted above ultimately have much of the same liability issues as a Motorhome after conversion HOWEVER the insurer must be certain this former "Transport Bus" no longer has the capability to haul multiple unrelated people in a commercial setting and the ownership/driver relationship is personal.
Believe it or not people have been known to "LIE" to the insurance company to acquire insurance coverage they can afford.
Imagine that!
Though your point has some merit, it is but a small cog on the big wheel.
That MH in the pictures is a tandem axle, air braked, very heavy vehicle. As a MH it requires no, or very little depending on your state, education about the air brakes and the very high potential to kill people in an accident with it's mass at speed. On average, those MH vehicles will drive many, many times the miles on the highways than a out of service skoolie ever dreamed of. Thus, a very much increased chance of killing and maiming in an accident, not only of others on the road, but of the occupants of the very poorly factory built cabin structure.
The in service skoolie requires a special license to operate.That license can only be offered once a fair bit of training has been passed. So the likely hood of killing by the judgement error of the operator of the in service skoolie is very reduced. Ad to that, the limited range from HQ and other safety aspects like tires chains in winter and the likely hood of school closures when it's too terrible out, even more greatly reduce the chance of a pay out by an insurance company. RR crossings in the fog are the greater likely hood of injury and death in an in service skoolie.
Just the shear numbers of poorly maintained, and over loaded HMs with inexperienced and often not physically fit operators on the road far, far out pace the chances of a high level insurance claim over even a highly modified, raised roof, over loaded skoolie. There's just not enough skoolies on the road at any given time to really cause worry to an insurance company. Yet, millions of MHs on the road in any weather condition, and causing daily fatalities across the nation, get premium rates not much higher than a car.
For 4 years I was working for a small RV community in Colorado. They had permanent RV's for rent, just placed down and pretty much hooked up permanently to power/water/sewage.
It's nothing about the owners or the park itself, they did their best to keep up these stationary RV's. Lot's of money went into them, yet despite only experiencing stationary weather (rain, snow, wind) they wore out ridiculously quick.
They're not just a cheap frame, everything in them is cheaply made. The majority of repairs were on items that were not affected by being on the road or stationary. Just bad quality hidden by fancy veneer strips.
If they could make them out of cardboard, they would.
There was a couple passing through southeast Idaho last week and they were involved in a rollover. Killed the husband and wife was in critical condition last I heard. Compare this to a school bus rollover last year in Idaho, no seat belts, no serious injuries. Its amazing how a 300,000 dollar motorhome gets reduced to rubble in an accident.
Just the shear numbers of poorly maintained, and over loaded HMs with inexperienced and often not physically fit operators on the road far, far out pace the chances of a high level insurance claim over even a highly modified, raised roof, over loaded skoolie. There's just not enough skoolies on the road at any given time to really cause worry to an insurance company. Yet, millions of MHs on the road in any weather condition, and causing daily fatalities across the nation, get premium rates not much higher than a car.
There's a Beaver MH similar to the one in the Washington (state) wreck (see above) advertised for sale in Iowa. Its GVWR is listed at 38,000 lb! If it were a truck, the driver would need a CDL with air-brake endorsement.
I fully believe the RV industry gets away with stapling toilet paper together because there's a lot of money trading hands with industry leaders, government and advocates.
same as the limousine industry I was involved in for 7 years...
let a politician's parents or children get killed in an RV or limousine, and watch what happens!
__________________
I once complained I had no shoes....
Until I met a man with no feet