Wish me luck...insurance wants photos

[dbsoundman]

I got insurance for the drive home through a State Farm agent my friend uses for his vintage semi truck, surprisingly easy.


Emailed him today to send the correct VIN number for the bus I purchased (I was looking at one of two buses, and ended up with the bus he didn't run for the quote but was identical to the first one in make/model), now the underwriters are asking weird questions. Detailed photos of the exterior and interior, am I removing the seats, and they asked what exactly I'm going to do with the bus in two separate questions (as in, how will I use it).


I have another agent lined up with pre-conversion coverage through Nat Gen I think, but they of course have all these qualifications as well.


I'm beginning to think there must have been a bunch of idiots building skoolies and getting in wrecks or something, otherwise insurance companies wouldn't have such a keen interest in what we're doing now.

[Mr4btTahoe]

Tell them that you're doing an RV conversion.. send pics.


They asked the same questions when I insured my short bus through them.. wanted pics of the interior to verify conversion as RV insurance is cheaper.


If you only have the seats out, they wont insure it as an RV. If you wont be driving it during the conversion, just leave commercial comprehensive coverage on it. It's only ~$12 a month and covers it while sitting.

[flattracker]

When I bought the "new Crown" State Farm wanted a picture of the inside with no seats. I paid my old racing buddy $100 for him and a friend to remove the seats. The seller of the bus did metal recycling and was happy to keep the seats. I provided the picture, and a policy was issued (commercial). I have never been unable to insure a vehicle with State farm. (even my HMMWV, however Oregon registration is another story) I would have to say that insuring your skoolie is really one of the small expenses of the project when looking at the big picture.

[Danjo]

Standard procedure.

Hey does anyone know if State Farm bus policies are underwritten by National General?

[Booyah45828]

Shouldn't be much of an issue.

As you said, people were doing half baked conversions that didn't really meet the RV qualification. I know of a few that were using RV tags and insurance to haul people with, because it was cheaper then going commercial, and was a gray area on cdl requirements. I imagine one got in a wreck and made a headache for a lot of people.

My first policy was through national general and was super easy to get. No photos, no fuss, no complications. Like a moron, I thought I could save a few bucks and let it lapse over the winter. When I went to reapply in the summer, national general was no longer interested in insuring me. So I had a buddy get me a policy through foremost, who required pictures and scanned documents. Foremost actually ended up being cheaper, so I'm pretty diligent on keeping up with this one.

Be aware that some companies frown upon seeing roof decks or wood stoves. So if that's in your plans, maybe omit installing them before purchasing insurance. Mine specifically got real curious on the threaded rods the previous owner used for an awning. This is an old picture, but you can kind of see the rods along the top of the bus in it. They all got removed/sealed with the new awning.

[ReverendWilliams]

Originally Posted by dbsoundman

I got insurance for the drive home through a State Farm agent my friend uses for his vintage semi truck, surprisingly easy.


Emailed him today to send the correct VIN number for the bus I purchased (I was looking at one of two buses, and ended up with the bus he didn't run for the quote but was identical to the first one in make/model), now the underwriters are asking weird questions. Detailed photos of the exterior and interior, am I removing the seats, and they asked what exactly I'm going to do with the bus in two separate questions (as in, how will I use it).


I have another agent lined up with pre-conversion coverage through Nat Gen I think, but they of course have all these qualifications as well.


I'm beginning to think there must have been a bunch of idiots building skoolies and getting in wrecks or something, otherwise insurance companies wouldn't have such a keen interest in what we're doing now.

Nat Gen are some =&#&% because they told me. Since I have a house in SC (my main residency) and I own a house in NYC. They consider that as me having two places of storing my bus.
I sent them pictures twice.

[Simplicity]

It all seems to boil down to this:

Pre or during conversion, insure it as a Private Commercial Vehicle. Essentially, it's a commercial vehicle that will not be used for hire (to make money)

Post conversion, or like what I did, after completing the required aspects of the conversion, I made it look as RV like (bed spread, cushions, a lamp, etc), took pictures and sent it to them.

The main difference I found was the RV insurance was less expensive, yet they limit the amount of miles you can use it for. This is why it's less expensive...less miles = less risk. Mine is like 7,000 miles a year.

In general, they don't like to insure full timers.

[WIbluebird]

It seems like there's been increased scrutiny on the part of insurance companies lately. The skoolie market is small enough that most large insurance companies aren't going to bother offering coverage if it becomes this much of a hassle.

Allstate completely stopped accepting new skoolies and that one agent (Kelly Newsome I think her name was?) quit and was looking for a new insurance company.

I don't plan on letting mine lapse, especially seeing all the difficulty folks are encountering lately as far as getting coverage. This is why all the folks that lie about having roof decks and wood stoves on their buses make it harder for everyone.

At some point the insurance companies are going to get sick of it and just not offer coverage for skoolies period.

[s2mikon]

I have National General on the bus. It has many limitations. I have all my other vehicles insured with Farmers and have tried to get my bus insured there a couple of times. I like my agent, but was told Farmers had to many problems with skoolies in the past and won’t insure them now. It may not be to long before we have no companies left that will insure us. My liability insurance for my rv park had an exclusion for non RVIA vehicles. In other words no skoolies. I’d like to know what the problems were.

[Simplicity]

People who afford the big new RVs have the money to pay for higher RV camping fees and amenities. they don't want an old RV or converted vehicle parked next to them, so the RV park owners follow the money.

Insurance is legal gambling...risk versus reward. Unfortunately, they are not smart enough to ask for pictures of RVs, otherwise they would not insure a lot of those.

Anything that isn't listed in their bibles must be a higher risk.

It's the way of the world.

That said, they are all greedy bastards, and if there's money to be made and they can put conditions on coverage, they'll keep insuring them. Yet, those who are converting are going to have to up the game to meet the conditions for coverage.

[jeffmakley]

My insurance (State Farm) wanted pictures inside and out and all 4 sides also.He also wanted the max weight.

[Bluthebus00]

Originally Posted by dbsoundman

I got insurance for the drive home through a State Farm agent my friend uses for his vintage semi truck, surprisingly easy.


Emailed him today to send the correct VIN number for the bus I purchased (I was looking at one of two buses, and ended up with the bus he didn't run for the quote but was identical to the first one in make/model), now the underwriters are asking weird questions. Detailed photos of the exterior and interior, am I removing the seats, and they asked what exactly I'm going to do with the bus in two separate questions (as in, how will I use it).


I have another agent lined up with pre-conversion coverage through Nat Gen I think, but they of course have all these qualifications as well.


I'm beginning to think there must have been a bunch of idiots building skoolies and getting in wrecks or something, otherwise insurance companies wouldn't have such a keen interest in what we're doing now.

State farm insured my rig. They wanted pictures and the vin. My conversion was just about finished by the time i contacted them. We also went through a local agent to get a 12mo standard rv policy with full coverage. Someone also asked about State Farm using National General underwriters which wasn't the case for me. My underwriters were affiliated with State Farm. Process was straight forward.

One thing that might have helped us was we already re-titled it as an RV and we were also previously insured by National General during the conversion process.

[incubus]

Make sure they know your not going to live in it,seats are out so non comercial use,dont mention roof top deck or solar panels(afraid you'll fall off) and no ,NO WOOD BURNING HEAT SORCE. General cancled my insurance because they thought an electric heater was wood stove. No convincing them otherwise.

[Danjo]

NG says solar panels are OK.

No wood stoves
No racks
No decks

[cadillackid]

Originally Posted by Danjo

NG says solar panels are OK.

No wood stoves
No racks
No decks

there would be some idiot who would ride on the roof-deck.. or forget their deck chairs, drive off and they end up through a windshield..



people have even asked here before about burning their wood stove on the road.. the fact its even in someone's brain means its probably been done..



regular RVs are no exception to Dumb-ism.. the other day I hopped off the freeway to get fuel.. I was following a fancy ram cummins with a monster goosneck camper trailer.. we pulled up next to each other at the station and out jumped 4 people from the truck cab.. and 4 more from the RV trailer...

[cadillackid]

Originally Posted by Booyah45828

Shouldn't be much of an issue.

As you said, people were doing half baked conversions that didn't really meet the RV qualification. I know of a few that were using RV tags and insurance to haul people with, because it was cheaper then going commercial, and was a gray area on cdl requirements. I imagine one got in a wreck and made a headache for a lot of people.

My first policy was through national general and was super easy to get. No photos, no fuss, no complications. Like a moron, I thought I could save a few bucks and let it lapse over the winter. When I went to reapply in the summer, national general was no longer interested in insuring me. So I had a buddy get me a policy through foremost, who required pictures and scanned documents. Foremost actually ended up being cheaper, so I'm pretty diligent on keeping up with this one.

Be aware that some companies frown upon seeing roof decks or wood stoves. So if that's in your plans, maybe omit installing them before purchasing insurance. Mine specifically got real curious on the threaded rods the previous owner used for an awning. This is an old picture, but you can kind of see the rods along the top of the bus in it. They all got removed/sealed with the new awning.

Love this bus!! rode a couple these to school when they were brand new!(1986)

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

people have even asked here before about burning their wood stove on the road.. the fact its even in someone's brain means its probably been done..

A dude on /r/skoolies posted pics of his wood stove being used while driving. I suggested that this could turn a minor fender-bender (or even just a sudden stop) into a conflagration and he insisted that he was a good enough driver to never get into an accident. He stored his firewood and kindling (a large amount of it) underneath the stove.

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

A dude on /r/skoolies posted pics of his wood stove being used while driving. I suggested that this could turn a minor fender-bender (or even just a sudden stop) into a conflagration and he insisted that he was a good enough driver to never get into an accident. He stored his firewood and kindling (a large amount of it) underneath the stove.

r/skoolies and facebook are pretty full of skoolie cringe.

[Rwnielsen]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

r/skoolies and facebook are pretty full of skoolie cringe.

It's the worst and they constantly back each other up on horrible decisions and ideas. I did get a nice table saw for $50 though

[cadillackid]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

A dude on /r/skoolies posted pics of his wood stove being used while driving. I suggested that this could turn a minor fender-bender (or even just a sudden stop) into a conflagration and he insisted that he was a good enough driver to never get into an accident. He stored his firewood and kindling (a large amount of it) underneath the stove.

what I think is even more crazy about this is they somehow think they are "saving" something by burning a wood stove on the road.. all while their engine throws away 10X the amount of heat to the outside while they drive... the wind-mill on the roof on the road mentality I guess...