Community Forums

judatt · 10-30-2015, 06:24 PM

Greetings, everyone. Some of these questions might need to go to other components of this website. However, everyone here on the Newmar Forum has been very helpful so I thought I'd start here. If anyone has suggestions of where I might ask these questions and get better responses please feel free to chime in.

First, we finally looked at the 2008 Mountain Aire today and if you ever fall in love with a MH I think we did. It is in fabulous shape - honestly it looks new inside and out. It has 41,000 miles on it. We have tentatively told the owners that pending a trip to get the engine/transmission/generator, etc checked out that we want to buy the unit assuming the checks go ok.

So now we have to make some decisions. We are somewhat torn about whether to finance or just pay cash. I said to myself that if I could get 4% money we should finance because I should be able to earn that much. So far we have a proposal for 4.4% for 180 months and another similar proposal but they also offered a 3.9% for 60 months - payments are high but not a problem. So we just have to decide - either way not a big deal.

Next is insurance. We have our auto insurance (Buick Enclave and Nissan Pickup) with USAA and are very pleased. I went to USAA website and it indicated they did MH insurance - great I thought until I started filling out the info and at the bottom it said we use Progressive for our MH insurance and you will be redirected to their site. I went ahead and filled it in - came back at $3,000 per year for nice coverage - could save about $300 a year for lesser coverage. Is there a particular company that others use that seems to give good rates??? I thought I saw somewhere you should be able to get insurance for $1,000 to $2,000 per year. By the way, I used a $200,000 value for the MH. Would be interested in recommendations.

Final question for this message - should we give consideration to registering in a particular state? I don't think we want to go the LLC Montana route, but could go to another state. We most likely won't go full timing until next spring. Our daughter and her family are buying our house but not until they sell theirs and they won't put it on the market until next spring. So we'll have a house until April or so. We plan to take several extended trips between now and then but won't officially be on the road pretty much full time until next spring/summer. I've thought about Florida/Tennessee/Texas. Have some ties to any of those and none of them have state income tax. I'm somewhat inclined to just register it in Virginia and be done with it. But I'm open to suggestions as to what others have done.

This is long enough. Thank you, thank you, thank you for all of your good advice on my previous messages. Look forward to hearing your suggestions. David and Judy

unw1red · 10-30-2015, 06:52 PM

A couple of perspectives. I am by no means a professional financial advisor.

Whether to finance or pay cash would, for me, depend on how much gain I could get from $200K being invested. I think I would finance at 4% and keep the lump sum drawing interest/principle.

My insurance is through Progressive. It is $2400/yr on about the same value. I have not filed a claim but I think they are very reputable. The difference in premium is probably because I am in small town America and a part-timer.

In decided where to put your permanent residency, consider personally property tax as well as state income tax. Alabama is a very viable choice. Capital gains taxes are another consideration.

Just my two cents.

Congratulations on the new coach.

ghaynes754 · 10-30-2015, 07:28 PM

Shop all of the major insurance companies. On my initial due diligence by far the best price with good coverage was through FMCA (Family Motor Coach Association). Less than what you were quoted for a 2016 London Aire. Also try Americas Best insurance (part of the Americas Mailbox operation Americas-Mailbox Home - mail forwarding - Americas-Mailbox) They can quickly quote multiple companies. Also a good mailing service, especially if you want to domicile in a low cost state like South Dakota.

Slydog · 10-31-2015, 02:00 PM

Just got a quote from Progressive on 300,000.00 as cash value for 5years, 1,000.00 deductible, 10,000.00 personal contents, high limits, full time policy, with no support vehicle (yet)

Multi driver discount, $2600.00 +

(Montana rates)

allynne · 10-31-2015, 02:28 PM

judatt, My thoughts on your questions: I started with USAA with my DS and was grandfathered when they stopped insuring RV's had several claims and they were as you know top notch. They sent me to progressive with a new coach and the initial rate was higher, but acceptable. The next two succeeding years rates went up 15-20 % each year with no change in record or claims. Changed to GEICO, rates were good for similar coverage. No claims. Now with FCIS (Farm and City insurance Services) located in Forest City IA.. They specialize in RV insurance. Phone 641 585 2925. Very good service and rates.

For a Mail service and state to call home I recommend SD. No income tax, low insurance rates, modest registration fees, low sales tax 4% for any vehicle changes you may make.

Dakota Post is the mail service we use and have for 11 years. They have been flawless for all that time. They will assist with vehicle registration and licensing, voting and any other issues you may inquire about. They are the FMCA mail service as of a couple years ago.

I would also recommend a membership in FMCA (Family Motor Coach Assn)

Al Sawyer
'05 Mt. Aire

imgoin4it · 11-02-2015, 05:53 PM

I would (and did) finance the coach. Make sure when you finance there is no penility for paying off the loan early. Should you later decide to pay it off you can do so at that time. I too was insured with USAA and as a 53 year plus member they said they would grandfather me. Had them give me a quote from progressive and that turned out to be less expensive than USAA so that's how I went. Progressive started increasing rates big time so went to Miller insurance agency which advertises in all the RV mags. They currently have us with Victoria insurance. . As for full timing, we are not, but if we were it would be south dakota. You may have to register in current state if you have not sold your house and changed driver licence, voting place etc. Not sure because every state is different.

KenNJ · 11-02-2015, 06:23 PM

David, you should get a quote from National Interstate. I think you will find their rates are very competitive

OB-One · 11-02-2015, 09:28 PM

We've been full-timing for about 15 months. We use Allied to insure the coach and toad. Coach insurance is just under $2k per year. South Dakota is probably the cheapest state to register your coach if you don't go with a Montana LLC. If considering an LLC, contact Bennett Law Firm. They started the Montana LLC and they will provide good advice. LLC's won't work for everyone, but full-timers have the best shot at meeting all the requirements.

Mr_D · 11-02-2015, 09:44 PM

We had Progressive with the cars and MH (2002 Dutch Star). When we got the Magna they wanted about $3,000 for it alone. Switched to Allied and saved $1,500 just on the MH although we did go from $500 ded to $1,000 since I haven't had a ticket for over 25 years and no accidents since high school.

We financed the rig because we, like the OP, could make more on the annuity than the loan costs and we never touch the principal. That makes a difference to us as we plan on willing it to a charity in town.

The OP might get away with keeping it out of state till they actually go full timing but then again they might get caught and the tax assessors don't play nice with tax cheats!

JMonroe · 11-03-2015, 10:26 AM

Firstly, settle on a legal domicile before getting insurance quotes. I can imagine that rates in Virginia are much higher than those in South Dakota, where we and many other full timers have established ours for tax purposes but can also save a bundle, depending on where your starting point is, on insurance costs (one caveat, if you do not yet qualify for Medicare, and don't have access to a group policy, as we do, the health coverage options in South Dakota suck).

Your personal circumstances will also affect your rates, as well as the coverage and limits you request. Asking others what they are paying just isn't all that accurate in predicting what you would/should be quoted.

Just for comparison, we have very high liability limits, full timer liability coverage and replacement cost coverage for our 2011 Revolution. If we were to remove the latter we'd probably cut our annual rate by 1/3 to 1/2. The rates have gone up every year (yet comparison shopping still shows Progressive to be the lowest - for us - domiciled in South Dakota), the last annual premium was just under $2k.

Jager · 11-03-2015, 10:39 AM

I don't know what your financial situation is but you might want to look into inheritance taxes. Most states did away with them but there are still a few that remain and some of them are crazy money. Your heirs could end up having to pay depending on where you reside.

ghaynes754 · 11-03-2015, 10:58 AM

If you are an Escapees member there is a good article on all of the insurance changes for this 2016. https://www.escapees.com/articles-an...nrollment-2016

Hit_the_Rhod · 11-03-2015, 06:21 PM

Consider The Hartford through AARP. I too had USAA/Progressive first. They raised my rates about 30% per year with no claims/tickets etc. The 2nd time they raised my rates I went with National General from Good Sam . . . Same thing, raised the rates a bunch the 2nd year. Now with The Hartford thru AARP. Best rates around. One claim for just under $5000 back in April. Got my renewal recently, rates went up $37.00 per year . . . I can live with that. Their response when I filed my claim was absolutely great! Fast, courteous, and professional. Check them out. One caveat, you do have to join AARP, but Hartford took care of that for me, and it was around $14.00/year . . . . plus about 10,000 junk mailings each month!

powerboatr · 11-03-2015, 06:29 PM

Farm Bureau insurance for us, not farmers

we have our coach at 1048.00 per year
we have a sticks and brick house (small 850sq ft.) we use as domicile and use our home owners insurance and truck to get low rates.

truck is 1200 per year and house is 771.

we are in texas, our neck of the woods in the piney woods is pretty low on insurance
no state income taxes,