RV Insurance: The Coverages Worth Understanding

Coverage, in plain words

RV insurance is not car insurance with a bigger picture on the card. A fifth wheel is a vehicle on the road and a home at the site, and the coverages worth understanding are the ones that treat it as both. This page explains the kinds of coverage in general terms. It is general information, not insurance advice; a licensed agent who knows RVs is who should fit coverage to your rig.

The coverages worth understanding

• Collision and comprehensive: the rig itself, on the road and parked: crashes, theft, fire, storm, and the tree limb in the night.
• Total loss settlement terms: policies differ sharply here. Replacement-cost style terms aim at a comparable new rig for newer units; actual-cash-value terms pay what the rig was worth, which is a smaller and sadder number. Know which one you own before the loss, not after.
• Personal effects: the things inside: in our case that includes care equipment that travels with the family, which adds up faster than people think.
• Vacation liability: coverage for when the parked rig is your premises and someone gets hurt at your site.
• Emergency expense: lodging and transport money when the rig is disabled far from home. For a caregiving family, getting everyone somewhere safe is not a small problem.
• Roadside assistance that can actually tow you: a 44-foot fifth wheel needs the right truck and the right rating. Confirm the service will tow the trailer, not just the truck.
• Use matters: recreational use and living in the rig full-time are different policies. How you actually use it is what you must insure.

Our one rule

Ask the agent to explain, in writing, what happens in your three worst days: a wreck on the highway, a fire at a site, and a breakdown 300 miles from home with your whole family aboard. If the answers are thin, the policy is thin, whatever the price says.