By Russ and Tiña De Maris
It’s another relaxing trip to the campground. This time you brought the grandkids. As the sun sets over the horizon, you break out the marshmallows by the fireside. The youngest grandchild ignites a marshmallow, and in their excitement, springs the burning goody off the stick and onto a guest across the fireside. The flaming projectile ignites the guest’s coat on fire, and the rest is summed up in a lawsuit. You have homeowner’s insurance—are you covered? Hang on, you have liability insurance on the motorhome—are you covered?
Are you covered? The $64,000 question
Are you covered? That’s the $64,000 question. But in these litigious and attorney-filled days, maybe it’s more the $640,000 question—or worse! Weird things can happen in the campground. Maybe the grandchild didn’t flip the flame-mallow off the stick. Maybe a visiting RVer tripped over a piece of firewood you left near the fire pit and fractured their whatchamacallit. In any event, most of us have foresight enough to insure for what can happen at home, and on the highway, but in the campground, it’s a whole ‘nother matter.
The simple answer to the above questions, “Are you covered,” is this: No. Your homeowner’s liability policy will cover things that happen at home, or maybe even near to home. For example, junior whacks a home run baseball right through the neighbor’s large, and very expensive, plate glass window. Your insurance likely has you covered.
Or you’re negotiating your motorhome down a busy freeway, and hey, presto! Your air conditioner shroud comes loose and blasts into a car following behind. Your motorhome (or tow vehicle insurance if that shroud came off your fifth wheel) liability insurance should kick in.
But once you land in the campground and aren’t actively motoring down the roadway, it’s a whole new ball game. Are you covered? Nope. In the insurance trade, it’s as if you were at a place you’ve rented and something happens that could be judged your fault. Are you covered? ONLY if you have vacation liability coverage. Some companies refer to it as campsite liability coverage.
Where vacation liability coverage kicks in
Vacation liability coverage kicks in where other types of liability coverage drops off. You may think, “Hey, I don’t travel with kids, and I’m careful. Why spend the money?” Do you travel with Bowser? What if your friendly canine pal suddenly develops a completely out-of-character personality and bites the camp host? Are you covered? With vacation liability, you should be able to sleep better—even if the host can’t!
So, how much does vacation liability coverage cost? One RVer we know who carries collision and comprehensive coverage on their travel trailer added $300,000 worth of vacation liability coverage to their policy. The cost? A “whopping” $2.07 for six months [at the time this was written]. Not PER month; rather, the two bucks bought them six months’ worth of coverage.
Like all good things, there’s fine print to be read
Of course, policies vary. What if you were at the fuel stop and a passerby tripped and fell over the cooler that you set outside the door for a moment? Are you covered? Maybe. Vacation liability typically covers you in a campground. If the incident happened on the way, or while you’re boondocking on public lands, your insurance company might take a different view. Find out for sure by asking your agent lots of questions.
And here’s another way to look at it. If Bowser wigged out and hucked a burning marshmallow at a guest across the fire. And if the scene caused your grandchild to be so upset they up and bit the unfortunate victim, you’re still covered. If it happens, we hope you have your camera ready. The social media revenue would more than cover your insurance premiums.
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Lawyers exist to sue. Insurance companies exist to deny.
Very tongue in cheek.
Happy to see someone else “gets it” 😅
Good article, we work events on the road, with times between relaxing in Campgrounds. For the actual events we have to have 5m in insurance if someone gets hurts in our booth. Never thought of CG. I will be checking.
Like Susan below, I’ve never given this a thought. For two bucks, it may be worth a look. For bunches more, maybe not.
I have a general liability policy that costs a few hundred dollars each year. I hope that covers campsite liability but I hope I never have to find out if it does.
I’ve had a 2M umbrella liability policy for decades. I bought it for things like this that are outside what homeowner’s and auto insurance covers.
Better double check your policy to assure you are covered at a campground
Thanks for the tip–I had never really thought of this before in our 20 years of RVing. But I’ll be calling my insurance company to add, for sure. There’s always a first time–and I want to be covered!
😂 O.M.G…yet another “insurance” that you will not only “spend” money on…think of the time you will “spend” getting “paid” a claim! This reminds me of the “round it up” scam at stores where the cashier or card machine asks…Would you like to round up your total to help so and so charity? Think about it…if every person says “yes” or better yet pays “only” $2 or $3 EVERY month for the above “peace of mind” insurance…that adds up to ALOT of money! Cha-Ching$$$
It’s all about risk vs reward.
Life IS risk and you can’t buy peace of mind…
Actually, I find peace of mind by mitigating some risks and accepting others. I’ll be checking with my insurance company to see the extent of our coverage and making adjustments if necessary.
What’s wrong with helping charity?
I didn’t say anything about NOT helping charity. If you have actually done your homework and do know where the money is going…all is well. My point is most people will simply “round-up” when the cashier asks simply because they don’t want to say “no” in front of others. It’s a tad manipulative won’t you agree?
I like the option of rounding up. My local hardware store does for a local food bank. Last year, they donated over $16,000.
Yes Steven, when a specific charity is listed and I agree it fits into my value system I am a yes 100% of the time. When the question is posed and it is simply described as generic “local charities” I have become a hard NO 100% of the time. Some charitable causes I would prefer to donate towards the dismantling of. We are living in strange times.
Thank you Cancel for helping make my point 😃
The asking for money has become overwhelming! 😳
That’s awesome! You know where the money is going! I will tell you it was discovered in my small rural town that the woman running the food bank absconded with donated “money” and it is now the policy to only accept food. The food bank has never been better stocked! 😃
Thank you for the discussion, Russ and Tina! I will try to remember to call our agents (RV goes through one agent and all the rest through another) tomorrow and find out the answer. Meanwhile, have a great week and safe travels!
Great points! I’ll check and add this to our policy. Thank you
My problem with this article is that it does not identify the actual reason for the denial of coverage under the HO policy. Most HO policies cover the “Personal Liability” of an Insured no matter where they are if the negligent actions of an Insured cause bodily injury or property damage. Was the grandchild an “Insured”? Maybe that is why the HO policy did not apply. Is there really a “temporary residence”: exclusion for Personal Liability coverage? Not in my experience. I agree that it sounds like another attempt to sell more insurance that you don’t really need to cover your Personal Liability.
I held exactly this discussion with our insurance provider last year. The key question to ask is your liability coverage, not inside your RV, but outside your RV. What if someone trips over your lawn chair? Or more likely, a pet tie-out line? As our home owner insurance is separate from the insurance on our RV – and our RV is seasonally stationary, make sure the coverage is through your RV’s policy and the agent isn’t making a (true or not) assumption the homeowners policy will cover the situation. Thankfully, we are covered.
Umbrella Policy may also provide additional coverage above and beyond Liability Insurance.
Car, RV and campsite liability coverage will not cover extracurricular activities. Say, a mishap on a rented pontoon boat in a marina (yes, it happened). For that, an umbrella policy is required; more expensive and difficult to get if you’re a fulltimer without a sticks & bricks address, but not impossible. Well worth exploring.
I carry an umbrella for just such matters.
Can’t use the umbrella unless it’s raining or sunny!
😂
What happens if you are traveling and are staying in motel for some reason and someone gets hurt because of something you did or did not do?
The list just goes on and on…
Thanks Russ and Tiña. We have all our insurance with the same company, and get substantial rebates as a result. However, that is something that I will check with our insurer next time our policies come up. Something I never thought about before. 👍