Rv insurance for Non US Citizen

[aussie's on the road]

I am hoping someone out there cna help us or at least point us in the right direction

We are Australians and we are trying to buy an Rv and tour the usa.. We intend travelling for a number of months each year starting this year in August. So far we have found a motor home that we want to purchase and we have now applied for and received our Us address via your club and we thought we had crossed most of the hurdles of which there have been a few

We now seem to be running into trouble trying to secure insurance for our RV

From what research I have done the only company that will insure Non US citizens is Progressive

We have spoken to other non U.S. citizens through forums (that are club member of Escapeesrv) and they have organised insurance and still have this insurance through Progressive insurance but when I contacted progressive they say you have to own a house in the usa to get insurance

These other members never had that problem when they applied and I pointed out to the Progressive people that most full time Rver's would not hav ea house either and that there most be many policy holder out there that are club members that would fit this bill s but they again said that they don't do insurance if you don't have a home as well

I

When talking to Progressive you get to talk to someone from out of state and they claim they don't know anything about escapees Rv and the legal address's they provide They say that their system doesn't recognize that address I again spoke to the couple of non U.S. citizens from your site as to how they managed to get their policies and they said they used" poliseek" but they didn't have any contact details for them any more as they have had their policies for a number of years and now that their policy is set up they just deal direct with progressive with no problems and no questions asked (and yes they use their Escapees rv address)

I tried googling poliseek but again I just came up with A web site for AIS insurance and number in CA and when I try and click on their website it comes up that it is unavailable. So I don't know if they have a problem with their web site or what but If I contact the CA number I presume they might give me the same problem as the Progressive site in that they dont know about Escapee RV's and the legal address So what I'm asking is do any of you have the contact details of a local agent who knows all about escapees RV and how it works that I could contact either by phone or email so we can get this sorted out

It obviously can be done as Other Non US Citizens have done it and I am sure that most full timers must do it all the time but I just need to find out who to talk to to get it done

Your help in this is much appreciated as it is so hard to deal with this when you are doing it from outside the USA

looking forward to hearing from you

[bockofma]

G'day, mate.

 

Welcome to the forum! IMHO this is the BEST place on the Internet for a huge variety of RV related information.

 

Try Blue Sky Insurance's Jim Schecter, jim.schecter(at)risholdings.com. We don't own a "stick 'n brick" and Blue Sky insures us. We are, however, full-timers, and that may make the difference.

 

Regards,

 

Michael

[bruce t]

Welcome to the forum. Try this site. https://www.progressive.com/ Answer all the questions and you should have no worries.

 

regards

[bruce t]

OK sorry for the short answer. I got caught with a phone call. We are Australians and have been RVing in the USA since 1996.

 

If you go online you can get a quote and the insurance without having to talk to someone who has little or no knowledge of their own products. Be very careful with your answers. Avoid getting multiple quotes as they track your change in answers. If you have any questions you can PM me for more specific information.

 

regards

[Kirk W]

Welcome to the Escapee RV Club and to the forums! We are happy you have joined and will do our best to help.

 

Another insurance company that should be able to help you is Foremost, Commercial Member #1. Do not hesitate to let them know that you are a member of Escapees.

[aussie's on the road]

HI

I

Thanks very much for your replies. We are new to these forums so dont know if I am responding in the correct way but hopefully you get this

.

Great to hear from an aussie doing what we would like to do

I have tried going on line to progressive and completing all their questions and was going fine until I put in our escapee rv address and then it rejected it and said it was not a valid address and would not let me go any further. I then tried to ring them but got the same info I was told i need to own a house in the Us to purchase insurance. I tried to tell her about the escapees rv but she didnt want to know and I also asked her about what did full time rver's do but she couldnt answer that either.

I have also been in contact with 2 other couples one from the uk and another from NZ and they too are insured with progressive. They used an agent to organise it and they both mentioned Poliseek but now they just deal direct with progressive but neither of them still have the contact details for who they dealt with originally

I have tried googling poliseek in texas but it only comes up with AISrvinsurance.com but when i try to get on to their website it wont load for some reason. This is also the same company that advertises in the escapee rv's magazine as being a preferred provider so I dont know why I cant access their site. I have sent an email off to escapee rv's to see if they can give me either an email address for someone at the company or a phone number so I can talk to someone direct. I have not tried foremost yet but all the research that I have done so far has said that the only company that will insure Non US citizens is Progressive, so I appear to be between a rock and a hard place at the moment

Any further help you could give me is apprecaited

hope to hear from you soon

frustrated Aussie

[aussie's on the road]

OK sorry for the short answer. I got caught with a phone call. We are Australians and have been RVing in the USA since 1996.

 

If you go online you can get a quote and the insurance without having to talk to someone who has little or no knowledge of their own products. Be very careful with your answers. Avoid getting multiple quotes as they track your change in answers. If you have any questions you can PM me for more specific information.

 

regards

HI Bruce great to talk to another Aussie

. This matter is totally frustrating us as per my further post on the site

I have tried to go on line and it accepted that we had international drivers licences just fine but then wouldnt accept our address for some reason. So don't know if maybe I am maybe just imputing it wrong or what but I tried imputing it as the club gave it to me Our address as we were told is 110 Rainbow drv #1051 livingston TX 77399 -1010

I dont know if maybe you dont put in the numbers at the end (after the 77399 which is texas) or it is the # number that it is rejecting. Any help you could shed on it would be appreciated as we need to get over this hurdle to even purchase our RV Would love to hear more about all your experiences

 

cheers Bill and Trish

[bruce t]

OK it maybe just a computer having a bad day!! Computer are programed by people. Those people sometimes don't consider all the variations of address format.

 

Try the following format.

 

110 Rainbow Drive 1051

Livingston Texas 77399

 

That's exactly how my address appears on my Progressive policy.

 

regards

[aussie's on the road]

OK it maybe just a computer having a bad day!! Computer are programed by people. Those people sometimes don't consider all the variations of address format.

 

Try the following format.

 

110 Rainbow Drive 1051

Livingston Texas 77399

 

That's exactly how my address appears on my Progressive policy.

 

regards

Ok thanks Bruce

I am starting to apply online again and one of the first questions it asks me is if the primary purpose of use is for pleasure or if it your primary place of residence . When I did the first application on line I put primary should I maybe put primary residence to start off with maybe this is where i start to go wrong . What did you put did you go for Full Timer's insurance

[aussie's on the road]

Ok thanks Bruce

I am starting to apply online again and one of the first questions it asks me is if the primary purpose of use is for pleasure or if it your primary place of residence . When I did the first application on line I put primary should I maybe put primary residence to start off with maybe this is where i start to go wrong . What did you put did you go for Full Timer's insurance

Sorry I made a few typos in that message. I should have said in the original I put pleasure not primary

[bruce t]

I would go with Pleasure. The implication of residence gets you into the fulltime sphere and that is a whole nuther story/issue.

 

regards

[aussie's on the road]

Sorry I made a few typos in that message. I should have said in the original I put pleasure not primary

Well I think I might have had success .

This time I put in the Rv as my primary address and then added the address as you suggested and it has now let me go all the way through to giving me a quote and then putting the Vin number in (which I have to get from the seller) so hopefully once I have entered that we will be all systems go

 

I just got your last post now about putting in" pleasure" but i have already now done the quote using " primary"

I am sure I put""pleasure" last time and that's maybe why it started giving me problems about the address

 

, So now not sure what I should do. What do you suggest

 

I have saved my quote at this stage while I wait for the Vin number details

.

I will keep you posted if I experience any more problems.

I really appreciate all the help you and others have offered.

 

Looking forward to hopefully starting our next adventure soon

[bruce t]

It can be frustrating for those not familiar with the system.

Just be wary of any reference to fulltiming. As that can be a problem. Also be wary about making too many attempts to get quotes. After a while they may get suspicious of multiple quotes. Remember you can change your details online after you finally get your insurance.

 

regards

[aussie's on the road]

It can be frustrating for those not familiar with the system.

Just be wary of any reference to fulltiming. As that can be a problem. Also be wary about making too many attempts to get quotes. After a while they may get suspicious of multiple quotes. Remember you can change your details online after you finally get your insurance.

 

regards

Thanks Bruce

 

I might do as you suggest and just leave it as is just to get it set up and then go in and try and change it later.

 

If I try and make the change now it might reject me before I get a chance to set it up

 

The Rv will be stored at the Rv dealer for the next 2 months anyway until we get there so I have time to change it later before we start to use it.

 

Do you have any other tips for aussie's travelling in the usa In your experience as its sounds like you have had years of experience in this

[bruce t]

Tips? Gosh everyone has an opinion on everything. I'll tread on some toes if I say too much!!

 

First tip I would suggest is to keep everything simple. Don't get too cute. You're meant to be having fun. Leave all the 'clever' ideas for others to pursue.

 

Take you're time. The USA has so much to offer. Accept that you wont be able to see and do everything.

 

We've spent a total of over 7 years in the USA. We've done and seen a lot. But we still have lots to see, do and learn.

 

regards

[aussie's on the road]

Tips? Gosh everyone has an opinion on everything. I'll tread on some toes if I say too much!!

 

First tip I would suggest is to keep everything simple. Don't get too cute. You're meant to be having fun. Leave all the 'clever' ideas for others to pursue.

 

Take you're time. The USA has so much to offer. Accept that you wont be able to see and do everything.

 

We've spent a total of over 7 years in the USA. We've done and seen a lot. But we still have lots to see, do and learn.

 

regards

We have over the years done lots of caravan travelling in and around Australia so we know a bit about what to expect on an extended tour but obviously things will be a bit different in the USA

We intend taking out time not just because we want though that is part of it but also because we will be travelling with our intellectually impaired son and he doesn't like to be hurried and we have to march to his drum. We have found that travelling with an rv is the only way we can travel with him So it us lucky for us that we lije to travel that way too

We are really looking forward to this trip and hope to do some more every year as there are lots if places on our bucket list we would like to cross off We did a hire of a motor home for 2 months in canada last year through the Rockies and we loved that but now we want to see as much of the USA as we can manage

 

Cheers

[Kirk W]

Let me offer just a little bit of information to consider at this point. My friend Bruce T is not usually so humble, but you may want to read an article that he wrote on the subject of US RV travels that is hosted on my website. I think that you will find it to be helpful and well in line with the preparations that you have already completed.

 

Another point is that the main difference to the insurance company of whether the RV is your permanent home or not is one of coverage's and I wonder if you might not be better off to get what we Yanks call "fulltimer" coverage? Since you have already put that into the forms you may want to make an effort to make contact with a human insurance agent to discuss this and to compare the differences in what the resulting insurance will pay for in the event of a loss. With US citizens, we always recommend the fulltimer version of RV insurance because our system tends to rely upon a "home owners insurance" policy for some types of loss coverage if you use the RV for pleasure only. Insurance is one of those things which are a total waste of money until you have a need to file a claim and then it becomes common to wish that we had more.

[bruce t]

Oh shucks Kirk. You're embarrassing me.

 

Rving in the USA is as unlike Australian 'camping' as you can get. We've traveled the USA since 1982. Purchased our first A class motorhome in the USA in 1996. Crossed the Pacific more than 50 times. Driven approx 750000k on US roads. Owned motorhome in Australia. Been heavily involved in the Australian RV industry.

 

So what? So expect the unexpected. Everything you learned in Australia will be unlearned in the USA. 'Yanks' do everything differently. Standards and expectations are different. Keep an open mind and you'll be ok. Don't try to compare everything in Australia to everything in the USA. You'll drive yourself, and others, mad. Neither is 'better'. Just different. Take a deep breath. Because things do and will go wrong. All a part of the 'fun'.

 

regards

[ArnieandChristine]

Hi guys

 

I hope that I am not advising what you have already been advised.

 

We are in a similar situation to you. We arrived in the US in March intending to buy an RV and travel around until December. We were lucky as my partner's sister lives in Maryland near Washington state. We found an RV we liked in Virginia and then had some issues finding an insurer. We went through American Adventure Insurance who very easily secured our insurance through Progressive. Thieir number is888 930 3680 and www.AmericanAdventureInsurance.com.

 

We also had a bit of an issue with registering the van but we used Arnie's sister's address and therefore it is registered in Maryland.

 

Another issue we had was paying for the van as because we were already in the US, our Australian bank would only allow a small bank transfer amount in one go. We finally sorted that out but we have continual issues with our cards over here. We also have the Qantas cash cards which have been problematic. My advise is to have a few cards to fall back on. Garages can be fun and we usually have to pay inside and not at the bowser.

 

Good luck with everything. We have now been on the road for nearly 3 months. We found out that it is hard to be in an RV without additional transport as most of the RV camping grounds are on the out skirts of towns and cities. We use Uber and also public transport. When we were in Miami, we bought a scooter. This caused more problems as we couldn't register it in Florida as we weren't residents of Florida so now we are on our way back to Maryland to register it there. We bought a rack and set it up on the back of the RV and then found out that it was too small for the scooter so we bought a trailer and also have to have it registered in Maryland. We were able to insure the scooter through Progressive.

 

It has been interesting. We hope to sell the RV, trailer and scooter as well as 2 x kayaks when we get to LA in December. Hopefully. We have bought everything for the RV so it is fully stocked including a coffee machine.

 

Again good luck and let us know if you need to know anything more.

 

Christine and Arnie

 

[aussie's on the road]

Hi guys

 

I hope that I am not advising what you have already been advised.

 

We are in a similar situation to you. We arrived in the US in March intending to buy an RV and travel around until December. We were lucky as my partner's sister lives in Maryland near Washington state. We found an RV we liked in Virginia and then had some issues finding an insurer. We went through American Adventure Insurance who very easily secured our insurance through Progressive. Thieir number is888 930 3680 and www.AmericanAdventureInsurance.com.

 

We also had a bit of an issue with registering the van but we used Arnie's sister's address and therefore it is registered in Maryland.

 

Another issue we had was paying for the van as because we were already in the US, our Australian bank would only allow a small bank transfer amount in one go. We finally sorted that out but we have continual issues with our cards over here. We also have the Qantas cash cards which have been problematic. My advise is to have a few cards to fall back on. Garages can be fun and we usually have to pay inside and not at the bowser.

 

Good luck with everything. We have now been on the road for nearly 3 months. We found out that it is hard to be in an RV without additional transport as most of the RV camping grounds are on the out skirts of towns and cities. We use Uber and also public transport. When we were in Miami, we bought a scooter. This caused more problems as we couldn't register it in Florida as we weren't residents of Florida so now we are on our way back to Maryland to register it there. We bought a rack and set it up on the back of the RV and then found out that it was too small for the scooter so we bought a trailer and also have to have it registered in Maryland. We were able to insure the scooter through Progressive.

 

It has been interesting. We hope to sell the RV, trailer and scooter as well as 2 x kayaks when we get to LA in December. Hopefully. We have bought everything for the RV so it is fully stocked including a coffee machine.

 

Again good luck and let us know if you need to know anything more.

 

Christine and Arnie

 

Hi Christine and Arnie

great to see a few more aussie's doing this

So far with Bruce's help I have managed to get a quote from Progressive on their web site I think because I put in that it would be our primary place of residence So I dont know if it has classified me as a full timer or what but it really didn't ask me too many more questions after that.

 

Bruce said he is a bit wary of being labelled as a full timer Just wondering if it is possible for you to chcek your policy and see if it says anything on your policy under primary use as to whether it says Primary residence or pleasure. Bruce's suggestion was to let it go through first just to get it up and rolling and then try and change it ?

 

Luckily for us we have already made arrangements with our bank here for the transfer of funds for the motor home so that part will be easy. We too will be taking multiple cards and our bank westpac have also started doing their own cash card which has specific agreements with the Bank of america so hopefully that will help but if not we have plenty of back up cards

Like you at first we are going to try and go without a tow . If we do buy one we would have to get a car as we have our disabled son to transport as well

We too were hoping to use a mix of public transport/uber and in some cities if we were staying for a while we tossed up where it would be worth hiring a car for a short term The idea of buying a small car is good but then you have added problems of another purchase, more insurance problems having to buy tow hitches etc and then having another item to pay to store when we go home for a while.

Great to talk to you

cheers Trish and Bill

[bruce t]

OK a couple of alarm bells. Not to frighten you but just to make you aware of some information.

 

First the 'fulltime' insurance comes with extras that you don't need and shouldn't have to pay for. That's why I worry about the 'fulltime' insurance. We never had it and still don't. It's not your home. Second many/most insurance companies require you to have a second vehicle if you have an RV such as an A Class. Be wary of disclosing that your RV is your only vehicle. Read the fine print. You may not be covered without a second vehicle.

 

Banks. Notify your Australian bank/s of the exact dates you will be in the USA. They will continually block your card/s if you haven't notified them where you are and the dates you'll be there. Fraud is a real issue so double check you have notified your bank and that they have the details noted. You can go to the Bank of America and set up a check account. (Yes check). You'll need passport and a US address. It will be a basic account with no interest. No SSN so no IRS tax etc. You will get a debit card that will work everywhere. Then get your Australian bank to link your BofA account. You can do it yourself online. Depending on which bank you are with. Then at anytime you can go online and transfer your own money. Saves on fees and having credit cards flying about. This way you leave your money in Australia earning 'massive' amounts of interest. You only need to have money in the USA what you need for a few days. (It takes about 2-3 days to clear the funds).

 

I also suggest going into an AT&T store. Buy a prepaid smart phone. $25 will get you a great smart phone. Then just decide on what phone and data pack you want. It has to be a 'prepaid' account. Try to get a 90 day package. You can top it up in a number of ways.

 

regards

[aussie's on the road]

OK a couple of alarm bells. Not to frighten you but just to make you aware of some information.

 

First the 'fulltime' insurance comes with extras that you don't need and shouldn't have to pay for. That's why I worry about the 'fulltime' insurance. We never had it and still don't. It's not your home. Second many/most insurance companies require you to have a second vehicle if you have an RV such as an A Class. Be wary of disclosing that your RV is your only vehicle. Read the fine print. You may not be covered without a second vehicle.

 

Banks. Notify your Australian bank/s of the exact dates you will be in the USA. They will continually block your card/s if you haven't notified them where you are and the dates you'll be there. Fraud is a real issue so double check you have notified your bank and that they have the details noted. You can go to the Bank of America and set up a check account. (Yes check). You'll need passport and a US address. It will be a basic account with no interest. No SSN so no IRS tax etc. You will get a debit card that will work everywhere. Then get your Australian bank to link your BofA account. You can do it yourself online. Depending on which bank you are with. Then at anytime you can go online and transfer your own money. Saves on fees and having credit cards flying about. This way you leave your money in Australia earning 'massive' amounts of interest. You only need to have money in the USA what you need for a few days. (It takes about 2-3 days to clear the funds).

 

I also suggest going into an AT&T store. Buy a prepaid smart phone. $25 will get you a great smart phone. Then just decide on what phone and data pack you want. It has to be a 'prepaid' account. Try to get a 90 day package. You can top it up in a number of ways.

 

regards

Hi again Bruce

I get your point about the insurance will look into it after it is all sorted out and we have a policy

 

. From other research I have done I also found out that if you rent a car through' enterprise rentals'(and I dont know yet how big they are in america) that they will deliver and pick up the rental car to your campground. I dont know if other rental companies do this too and I also dont know what the cost is compared to picking it up yourself so maybe someone on this forum might know. If not a bit more research for me to do

We have already notified all our banks so that is done and apparently with the new westpac travel card is hooked up to your internet banking and fund transfers happen immediately so no more waiting for funds, They can also be used to get cash out at any bank of america atm or bank just like a debit account would , So we are going to try that and if it does not work well will do as you say and open up an account

 

With the phones we had planned to go through AT & T and have already checked out their pre paid plans. When we went to Canada we just used our old iphones and bought a sim to put in it and we didnt have any trouble using them there as they were unlocked

 

. So I dont know if the phone system in Americas is different from Canada but we will just test it out when we get there and if it doesnt work do as you say and purchase cheap phones. It is one of our first kobs on the list when we get there

 

cheers

[bruce t]

We rent a car 3-4 times a year. Enterprise is a large company. And yes they will pick you up. Within reason. You'll find them at almost every airport. We pay about A$50-60 dollars a day. (Budget). Insurance is another issue. That's where rental cars get expensive. Also be wary of renting from airports. Taxes are usually much higher there.

 

The American banking system is now very much intergrated. So any ATM will take almost any debit card. Although you can get caught. Expect to pay about US$2-4.00 fee for non bank card use. Plus WPAC will charge you their fees as well. Beware the hidden fees!!!!!!! As well as fees Australian banks will also calculate the exchange rate. So you've been warned. Don't believe banks. So go to a bank in the USA. Pull out US$100.00. Plus a us$3.50 fee. WPac then charge you another A$2.50 fee. Plus about 5% exchange rate. So your US$100 has cost you about A$10-12. Gets expensive after a few months.

 

The US phone system is almost like ours now. Never use to be but you should encounter few black spots. I have heard of other folks changing sim cards. Never heard of it ending well. We carry two phones. A cheap AT&T phone plus our Telstra phone. (You need to be rich if you use the Telstra phone. We keep it on just so family can contact us in an emergency). You'll find hundreds of free WiFi hot spots in the USA.

 

regards

[aussie's on the road]

Hi again Bruce

I get your point about the insurance will look into it after it is all sorted out and we have a policy

 

. From other research I have done I also found out that if you rent a car through' enterprise rentals'(and I dont know yet how big they are in america) that they will deliver and pick up the rental car to your campground. I dont know if other rental companies do this too and I also dont know what the cost is compared to picking it up yourself so maybe someone on this forum might know. If not a bit more research for me to do

We have already notified all our banks so that is done and apparently with the new westpac travel card is hooked up to your internet banking and fund transfers happen immediately so no more waiting for funds, They can also be used to get cash out at any bank of america atm or bank just like a debit account would , So we are going to try that and if it does not work well will do as you say and open up an account

 

With the phones we had planned to go through AT & T and have already checked out their pre paid plans. When we went to Canada we just used our old iphones and bought a sim to put in it and we didnt have any trouble using them there as they were unlocked

 

. So I dont know if the phone system in Americas is different from Canada but we will just test it out when we get there and if it doesnt work do as you say and purchase cheap phones. It is one of our first kobs on the list when we get there

 

cheers

Hi Bruce

this insurance issue " on line" is still doing my head in . Got to the end of it and only then do they bring up all the details of the policy and yes they have put us down as full timers which is not really a problem because of the money for the premium but it does state that you have to live in the motor home for a minimum of 6mths of the year and we will probably only be averaging 4-5mths

 

If I try and go back and put just for pleasure use now it might just reject me as they have tracked everything I have entered so far but if I continue I have to sign to say that that is correct. The next problem is It will also only let me pay by a yearly installment if I want to pay by credit card other than that I need a US Bank account Paying yearly creates it's own problems as they have cancellation fees on it for cancelling the policy. So now I really dont know what to do now . Do I just plough ahead and just try and complete the transaction on the hope that I can change it later or do I risk it and go back and try and change it with the possiblilty that they might not accept my address. Or do I go back to finding an agent that can get me through all this

 

your thoughts appreciated

 

One other question I have is don I need to get insurance coverage ofr the uninsured /underinsured bith bodily injury and property damage

[bruce t]

OK here's what I would do. Not saying it's the smartest or cheapest option!!

 

I would do what ever to get the policy. 6 months a year is not an issue. Stay 5 months and return for another 3 months. Will they know if you ever come back?

 

Now here's option 2. https://www.progressive.com/agent/local-agent/texas/livingston/champ-carter-insurance-agency-llc/ These folks are in Livingston Texas and deal with stuff all the time. One phone call may just do the trick for you.

 

The credit card can be an issue. As many many purchases in the USA need a card. Those cards have to be linked to a USA billing address. Hence my suggestion to get a debit card from BofA.

 

Their terminology re insurance is a bit of a nightmare.

 

Pay the cost of the phone call and contact the above agent.

 

regards

 

if you PM me I can give you my phone number. we are currently in Australia.