Re: [A/S] Insurance for my Airstream PLEASE HELP!!!

["John P Sargeant" <john.sargeant@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Most insurers only will pay you the actual cash value of the trailer if its
insured on a regular auto policy. Actual cash value is what a willing buyer,
supposedly, would pay for your trailer with its good points and bad points
taken into consideration. This is usually done by the insurance company's
vehicle appraiser researching the market. The figure is not cast in concrete
and you certainly can get into negotiating the settlement figure, if you
have the sand.

What you want is a pre-valued or agreed value policy. With that kind of
policy, you and the insurer agree on the value of the trailer before the
loss. The insurer will ask for an appraisal of the value of your trailer. To
get that appraisal, you need to talk to a Vintage car or Antique appraiser
and get him to put a value on it. He should research the market for what a
trailer of like kind and quality will sell for and insert those figures into
his appraisal. There is usually a small fee paid to the appraiser by the
owner of the trailer. The insurer will then charge you so much per thousand
for insurance. This is the way that most antique or vintage vehicles are
insured.
The thing you have to remember is that as you work on your trailer and
improve its value, your insurer needs to be kept abreast of the increased
value so they can charge you more premium so you can get more should your
trailer go to that great trailer park in the sky.

Remember the first rule of settling with the insurance company....the first
figure offered is the figure the adjuster thinks he's going to have to add
to, to settle your claim.

Sarge
37 years of insurance adjusting

John & Louise Sargeant
London Ontario Canada
WBCCI #5530