Major Dilemna

[CaptSquid]

Backstory: As many of us well know, it is almost impossible to find a parking space for our babies that does not run afoul of the local gendermaries. Such is the case of my beautiful Brunhilde. Five years ago (give or take) I bought Brunhilde and drove her from Kankakee to Billings, MT. After about a month of searching, I managed to find a place to park and live(?).Five brutal Montana winters later, my landlady decided that I need renter's insurance. Mind, all that needs insuring is the ground and electrical connection.

NOW: I have gone through countless insurance agencies, all of them declining to cover me. If I do NOT get renter's insurance, my rent goes up $50/mo to $600 total -- and this is WITHOUT sewerage or fresh water. (Yeah, I know - find another place.)

How do I get coverage that placates both the landlady and the insurance companies?

 

[musigenesis]

Seems like your vehicle's liability coverage would already provide protection to your landlady in the event of an accident of some sort caused by you.

 

[CaptSquid]

What insurance? i have none.

 

[kazetsukai]

NOW: I have gone through countless insurance agencies, all of them declining to cover me. If I do NOT get renter's insurance, my rent goes up $50/mo to $600 total -- and this is WITHOUT sewerage or fresh water. (Yeah, I know - find another place.

What are you telling the insurance agencies that you are doing or need?

 

[CaptSquid]

That I need renters insurance. Initially, the response is good, until they get the VIN.

 

[Sehnsucht-SKO]

Not to be didactic but why do they need the VIN for renter's insurance anyways? If you're not insuring the vehicle then they don't need that info and you don't need to volunteer it. Renter's insurance applies to your property housed in someone else's property otherwise you'd have homeowners insurance. And since you don't actually WANT insurance but are only trying to satisfy the landlord then in my perspective this is simply a renter's insurance policy on a storage unit, contents irrelevant. In fact, if you have insurance on your current residence then you could likely add this renter's policy rider for a few bucks. Just say it's a storage unit and don't tell them it houses a vehicle of any type. It's really not going to matter whether the policy actually covers the storage of a vehicle at all because you're not planning to file any claims, you don't even WANT the insurance! Am I missing something?

 

[CHEESE_WAGON]

Not to be didactic but why do they need the VIN for renter's insurance anyways? If you're not insuring the vehicle then they don't need that info and you don't need to volunteer it. Renter's insurance applies to your property housed in someone else's property otherwise you'd have homeowners insurance. And since you don't actually WANT insurance but are only trying to satisfy the landlord then in my perspective this is simply a renter's insurance policy on a storage unit, contents irrelevant. In fact, if you have insurance on your current residence then you could likely add this renter's policy rider for a few bucks. Just say it's a storage unit and don't tell them it houses a vehicle of any type. It's really not going to matter whether the policy actually covers the storage of a vehicle at all because you're not planning to file any claims, you don't even WANT the insurance! Am I missing something?

I suspect this is in case of a fire breaking out on the property and damaging the OP's bus. Insurance is for any one of a million reasons you can think of. But more often than not, it's for the reasons you can't think of...

 

[Sehnsucht-SKO]

I suspect this is in case of a fire breaking out on the property and damaging the OP's bus. Insurance is for any one of a million reasons you can think of. But more often than not, it's for the reasons you can't think of...

Agreed but the OP hasn't carried insurance for five years and sounds like this sudden requirement is to satisfy the landlord not compensate for actual loss of personal property otherwise he would have had insurance all along. It just seems like telling the insurance agent there's a bus stored there is complicating the process because that's how insurers think, not the OP.

 

[Native-SKO]

I doubt one could get renter's insurance for less than $50.00/month anyway. Just have the rent raised and have the lease agreement reflect that the increase is for insurance on the non-owner's equipment stored on the property. This way, the landlord gets her insurance and you get a little peace of mind that should something happen to your bus, it will be covered.

 

[Sehnsucht-SKO]

I doubt one could get renter's insurance for less than $50.00/month anyway. Just have the rent raised and have the lease agreement reflect that the increase is for insurance on the non-owner's equipment stored on the property. This way, the landlord gets her insurance and you get a little peace of mind that should something happen to your bus, it will be covered.

IDK, when I had a storage unit my current renter's policy already extended to it and the storage facility mgmt only wanted to see that the policy included that clause. That was with State Farm in my state so I cannot speak to the circumstances of the OP. Even so though, renter's insurance usually isn't that expensive anyways at least I know mine isn't nearly that much. Also, I'm not convinced from the original explanation that the increase in rent is going to cover the OP's property like an insurance by proxy, more likely just additional compensation to the landlord for the tenant not maintaining renter's insurance because of the potentially litigious circumstances that can arise in that situation.

 

[cadillackid]

I doubt one could get renter's insurance for less than $50.00/month anyway. Just have the rent raised and have the lease agreement reflect that the increase is for insurance on the non-owner's equipment stored on the property. This way, the landlord gets her insurance and you get a little peace of mind that should something happen to your bus, it will be covered.

is that a texas thing for renters to be so pricey? I carried renters insurance in my Fancy downtown modern florida apartment for $20 / month..



im guessing they full time in the bus so there is no adding it to an existing policy.. what about mobile home insurance? is the issue that its a motor vehicle and not a permanent structure?

 

[bigskypc50]

I have never really heard of anything like that. I alway thought rents insurance will cover your stuff if something happens to the landlords house or you get your stuff stolen etc.

I frankly would just take the rent increase. I don't think renters insurance would help it's not a building that the landlord owns.. Normal Lib. insurance won't help it's not being driven. She's renting the lot to you, it's her problem to have the correct insurance in place since she owns the land.

 

[cadillackid]

something else i thought about.



years ago when the situation went down where i had a bus in a shared garage space.. we all rented from a landlord.. one of the other tenants was trying to start their vehicle and instead touched off a fire.. since the vehicle was being started at the time and cause of the fire was determined to originate in the vehicle. (it was touchy since a fuel spill by its owner was the actual cause).. we all claimed against that vehicle owners vehicle liability policy for the damage to our vehicles.. I dont know about the building owner as we never heard who paid them.. my bus was totalled so I terminated my rental after the fire..



point being that the offending vehicle's insurance had to cover damages.. im also guessing thats what fixed the building also.. (smoke and heat)..



everyone in there was required to carry liability insurance on their vehicles stored there..


so if you carry vehicle insurance you would be covered? carry the lowest level liability (state minimum) you can get..



if your bus meets the requirements for an RV can you simply carry something like good sam RV insurance? at a rate of a couple hundred a year which would be less than the $50 rider she wants to charge you..

 

[musigenesis]

I have never really heard of anything like that. I alway thought rents insurance will cover your stuff if something happens to the landlords house or you get your stuff stolen etc.

I frankly would just take the rent increase. I don't think renters insurance would help it's not a building that the landlord owns.. Normal Lib. insurance won't help it's not being driven. She's renting the lot to you, it's her problem to have the correct insurance in place since she owns the land.

Renter's insurance covers your own stuff in case of whatever, but it also includes liability coverage that protects the landlord if the renter damages or destroys the landlord's property. At my last rental house, the lease included the requirement that I have renter's insurance with at least $300,000 of liability coverage (I paid $15 a month - and it just occurred to me that I may have forgotten to cancel this policy).

I assume OP's landlady is looking for the same protection, which would be reasonable if not for the fact that it's just an electrical hookup and there's not really much chance at all of his doing $300,000 worth of damage to it.

 

[demoman]

renters insurance

for my rental house in ca through state farm renters liability and all my property is about 100 per year. i also have a 40 foot motor home which was 800 a year for full coverage but only 100 a year for just liability. maybe a cheap liability policy that would cover any damage to the landladys property would suffice? in my house my landlord doesnt even care if i have renters insurance because there is no benefit at all to him.it just covers my property and my liability due to my actions against others. his policy covers the house. 600 a year is close to what my whole insurance cost when i owned a house.

 

[BarnYardCamp]

I wonder if you had a general liability policy...some sort of "umbrella coverage" if that would satisfy the land lord.