There are three things to have coverage for on a horse trailer: liability, contents and theft or damage.
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| Outtake from yesterday |
Liability is easy. It makes sure I'm covered in the event my trailer damages someone else's property. It's covered by the tow vehicle's policy.
(In researching this blog post, I discovered that's true for all auto policies, as long as the truck's registered/insured owner is the same as the trailer's registered/insured owner. The insurance industry says you can't insure what you don't own, so if your friend borrows your trailer, her tow vehicle's policy doesn't extend to your trailer.)
Second, I need to cover the contents of the trailer (minus the horse) in case my tack is stolen out of my tack room. For me, my homeowner's policy covers this. I called my insurance agent and checked on this when I got the CWD.
Unlike tow vehicle liability insurance, this is a major your-mileage-may-vary area, so definitely call your insurance agent and double check this one. Even non-trailer owners should check on this, since it applies to your tack sitting in the barn's tack room same as it does the trailer.
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| Still the absolute love of my life even though we don't jump much right now. |
That leaves some major gaps, though. If the trailer itself gets stolen, or pummeled in a hailstorm while sitting at the barn or blown into the hayfield by a tornado, none of that damage is covered.
For that, you can buy a separate comprehensive trailer policy with a deductible for a trailer just like you can for cars. And for my tiny bumper pull on my multi-line policy, it's insanely cheap: $5/month or $30/six months for a $1,000 deductible or $6/month or $36/six months for a $500 deductible. $6 a month for that much peace of mind? Sign me up!
Anyone else shopped for trailer insurance recently?
Thanks for the post! I need to call and check what all my trailer insurance policy covers. We have it insured thru Allstate - same as our vehicle and homeowners.
ReplyDeleteIf you've got a separate trailer policy it's probably comprehensive. Always good to check though!
DeleteTrailer insurance is a MUST! We had a wretched hailstorm a few years back and the aluminum roof of my trailer resembled a dimpled golf ball.... Ugh. Insurance company didn't bat an eyelash at the $7k roof replacement -- whew!
ReplyDeleteHonestly it's hail more than anything else that I'm worried about! We get big hail about once every five years here. Glad they covered that for you!
DeleteSo I shopped a bit for trailer insurance and had a really difficult time finding anything out here. The insurance agents seemed confused about how to classify the trailer (utility, travel trailer, etc). Ultimately, they listed it as a utility trailer since there are no living quarters. It's $20/mo with no deductible for a $15K trailer. I'm paying it because it gives me good peace of mind, but I'm pretty sure I'm overpaying.
ReplyDeleteThat's wild. Who is your insurance? State Farm was all over it when I called, it literally took 3 minutes start to finish.
DeleteActually, the liability is covered when towed by someone else, because it isn't the trailer you are covering but the liability.... which comes from the towing vehicle.
ReplyDeleteIt would however NOT be covered for physical damage.
You can also list your trailer on a home policy, if you want more extensive physical damage coverage. :)
Also, be sure you don't charge hauling fees if trailering others as that falls under commercial insurance and You would need a commercial policy for that. You can however charge for gas.
You also might want to check you have collision, which would cover the trailer if you are in an accident.
DeleteYou're right, I should have mentioned my comprehensive covers collision. Your comment about liability is in direct opposition to what I read researching this post, I'm just genuinely curious to read some more about it if you have some links. I don't plan on loading mine out but I also don't want to misinform people. Maybe it differs by insurer?
DeleteI am in Canada so it's likely different but when I bought my new trailer we had a heck of time getting it insured. The company that did our home/car (and utility trailer for pete's sake) refused to cover it. They didn't know how to classify it. The person did say it's covered by the vehicle but (like said above) it's the liablity that's covered. I wanted to be able to replace the trailer should something happen to it. We finally got it insured with the company that did our horse insurance.
ReplyDeleteThat's so weird. You're not the first person I've heard have that experience, and they were in the States. It must be company to company, because State Farm was all over it when I called. It took seriously 3 minutes on the phone to get it done.
DeleteI've never had a trailer, so never thought much about it! I know my tack is covered with my homeowners policy because I actually had to buy a special rider when we rented!
ReplyDeleteThat makes sense! I didn't own anything of value when we rented so I never looked into it.
DeleteI've never even thought about this... Great post.
ReplyDeleteI added my trailer to my regular policy with my vehicles and home owners. Might need to shop around!
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