Found a nice 2008 F450 I like, insurance seems to be another matter. My agent can't help me. Progressive told me they can't cover me if I pull our 5th wheel more than 500 miles from home. I have a current CDL and it didn't matter. What are some options guys? I'm in Minnesota
I have an F550 2000 model and it is insured by Nationwide, they have never come up with any restrictions. I was offered Progressive by an agent in Orlando that specializes in RVs and they said they would cover the F550 as a motorhome and they didn't mention restrictions either. I think you need to call around. Nationwide had never heard of an F550 when I bought mine!! I filled out a quote from the Good Sam Club's GMAC insurance and they showed the truck as a semi! However they were more expensive than Nationwide.
Rob and Jet
2000 Ford F550 with custom bed
1998 Jayco Designer 3710 fifthwheel
Fred and Barney de Katz
Progressive seems to be good with RVing. Perhaps the agent has limited creativity or knowledge in this area. Try another agent. If you don't want to offend the original agent, try another carrier, then bring the quote back to the original agent to help them better understand how to properly classify an F450 for a non-commerical application.
I have mine insured through RV America. Both truck and unit are covered by Progressive. The mileage limit your agent speaks of is for a commercial policy.
Ours is insured with AAA (Michigan). When they first saw F450, they questioned the use but when I told them it was to pull my 5th wheel they said no problem. There are no restrictions on the policy and it was within $100/yr of the F350 it replaced.
Progressive has (or had) a limit of 10,000 lbs GVWR for a vehicle. They insured a lot of vehicles greater than that without even knowing (350/3500) vehicles. Other insurance companies are/were the same. Ford created a F350 with a GVWR of 10,000 lbs, I believe due to thi s issue. Insurance companies determined some time ago that anything with a GVWR over 10,000 lbs was not a "passenger" vehicle. Obviously times have changed and GVWR has increased for one-ton trucks.
What you found was an astute, knowledgeable agent that knows his policies better than some. The Ford F450 is not an insurable risk under the "personal" auto policy, at least not the way the policy was written when I worked there. The F450 would have to be written as a commerical policy, there's no way around it (again, as the personal policy was written when I was there).
Progressive is not the only carrier to have their policies written this way.
By the way, I brought this point up several years ago and was told not to worry about it, that everyone knew an F350 wasn't necessarily a commercial vehicle and could be written as a personal vehicle. Agents would write them all the time, and they would be covered because it was a given that people were driving them as personal vehicles. Problem is now the F450 is marketed and sold as a personal vehicle, not necessarily a commercial vehicle and insurance companies either have to draw the line somewhere are haven't caught up with current vehilce marketing. So, it's likely the policies are still written with a 10,000 lbs GVWR limit (hence Ford's F350 with a 10,000 GVWR, which by the way is no different than the F350 sitting next to it with a higher GVWR...it's just a difference in the paperwork).
When you go to insure your vehicle you might as the agent, with whatever company you choose, if there is a GVWR limit on a personal lines policy. If you were to have a claim you'd likely be covered, but would perhaps have your policy terminated when you filed the claim.
Edited to add:
By the way, the commercial policy does have a 500 mile restriction; however, I believe you can get an endorsement that allows for longer distance travel, you might bring that up with the Progressive agent. I could be wrong about that, but I'm pretty sure you can change the mileage/distance restriction for an additional premium.
Try Trese Hallett, RV Specialist, Farm and City Insurance Services, Ph:800-331-1520, email:thallett@rvadvantage.com. They specialize in this type of insurance and are great to work with.
Rich & Sheryl
1997 Peterbilt 385
210" Wheelbase, Cummins ISM 400 hp, 3.70 ratio, Super 10
1997 Avion 38'
TrailerSaver
If you are eligible to join, I have had great success with USAA(found out how GEICO can afford all those silly commercials), now have everything insured by USAA, including the 450. Policy was only $50 more for the 450 over the cost of the F-250 I had.
Capt Skup
AD-1(AW)USNRet.
Wonderful Wife,3 Daughters,2Goldens Gus&Riley
"Never get in a battle of wits with an unarmed man"
Thanks everyone! My insurance carrier West Bend has a limit of 12,000 GVWR I did solve my problem when I got the Oasis report on this truck. It has a history I don't want to buy into, perhaps that's why the deal was so good.
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