N/A: does per diem insurance exist?

FORANE

FORANE

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FORANE
I have a bucket truck which only leaves my property once or twice a year. Because it's a commercial vehicle the insurance is about twice the cost for the other vehicles we own that frequently are on the road.

Is there such a thing as per diem insurance that may be turned on and off as needed?
 
FORANE said:
I have a bucket truck which only leaves my property once or twice a year. Because it's a commercial vehicle the insurance is about twice the cost for the other vehicles we own that frequently are on the road.

Is there such a thing as per diem insurance that may be turned on and off as needed?
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No. Just a guess, but it don't seem they would write something like that. It could like catch fire or something just sitting there and damage someone elses property. Or someone could sneak onto your property and blow it up and pieces could fall onto people. You don't like keep whale blubber in it do you :rofl::goofy:Some kind of low mileage discount might be the best you can hope for.
 
I would think you could just cancel insurance on it when not intending to use it, then call them up and get a policy activated when you're going to use it. Assuming you know in advance when you're using it. I'm sure they'll have minimum insurable periods, but maybe a month of insurance twice a year covers you. That obviously doesn't cover it against damage/theft the rest of the time.
 
I use to see a long more small company bucket trucks around than I do now. My understanding is that the insurance for those is really high for a number of reasons, partly because you have lots of ways to screw up with one. It's a construction vehicle AND and truck. Anyway, I believe that's part of the reason why there are so many places renting portable man lifts that aren't on-road capable. I could be all wet on this. My info is from friends working in the commercial electrical and radio communications fields.

The ones around here are mostly utility trucks and tree trimming companies.

Can you elect to not register it, and transport it on a trailer to do the off-site jobs? That might sound like a dodge, but the cement plant near here had a small fleet of pickups that were not road registered at all. No inspection, no insurance for highway use. Like a farm truck, but for a corporate site. (Although for the plant, I think half of the reason they did it was that it was impossible for plant employees to request to borrow the trucks for personal use.)
 
Every insurance policy I've had will allow me to drop liability coverage if I'm not going to drive a vehicle on the road for a while. The comprehensive policy remains in effect. Comprehensive is cheap, especially if the vehicle isn't worth much, and then it's still protected against fire, wind, and theft. I haven't tested the limits of this, I think there might be a minimum of a month at a time or something. Your agent should be able to advise you on that.
 
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Renting one is problematic for multiple reasons. None are available for rent. The towables are a pain to position and move. The self drive manlifts are too heavy to tow without a CDL. Then there's the hassle of renting and return.

Not sure how my insurance company would respond to request to cancel and reinstate the policy. I asked them once about options and they didn't offer any alternatives.
 
I would think fraud would be difficult to manage with insurance of that type.
 
Can you re-register it as a farm vehicle? Usually a limited travel distance, but it doesn't sound like you go that far in it, and insurance is dirt cheap.
 
FORANE said:
Renting one is problematic for multiple reasons. None are available for rent. The towables are a pain to position and move. The self drive manlifts are too heavy to tow without a CDL. Then there's the hassle of renting and return.

Not sure how my insurance company would respond to request to cancel and reinstate the policy. I asked them once about options and they didn't offer any alternatives.
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Call a competing insurance company and tell them your current provider isn't offering any viable options to help you out and see if they will try to buy your business by helping you out with this situation.
 
Slightly out of the ordinary situations like this are the reason I value a good agent more and more as I get older. You want a guy who will answer your phone call, and be able to email you a copy of your insurance card when you're trying to rent a car in another state on a Saturday afternoon.
 
My insurance company wouldn't do that; the best they would do is sell me a month's worth, at a price much, much greater than 1/12 of the yearly rate.
If I use my farm tractor to help neighbors clean up after a storm, my tractor isn't covered, but my homeowner's insurance gives me liability coverage (as long as I don't accept a dime for doing the work.)
 
FORANE said:
Renting one is problematic for multiple reasons. None are available for rent. The towables are a pain to position and move. The self drive manlifts are too heavy to tow without a CDL. Then there's the hassle of renting and return.

Not sure how my insurance company would respond to request to cancel and reinstate the policy. I asked them once about options and they didn't offer any alternatives.
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Can you subcontract the work out to someone that has the equipment? I know, a stupid question that you have probably already asked yourself... but...
 
Kenny Phillips said:
My insurance company wouldn't do that; the best they would do is sell me a month's worth, at a price much, much greater than 1/12 of the yearly rate.
If I use my farm tractor to help neighbors clean up after a storm, my tractor isn't covered, but my homeowner's insurance gives me liability coverage (as long as I don't accept a dime for doing the work.)
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Ag tractors and implements use public roads by right, and aren't required to be registered, be inspected or have insurance.
 
Jim K said:
Every insurance policy I've had will allow me to drop liability coverage if I'm not going to drive a vehicle on the road for a while. The comprehensive policy remains in effect. Comprehensive is cheap, especially if the vehicle isn't worth much, and then it's still protected against fire, wind, and theft. I haven't tested the limits of this, I think there might be a minimum of a month at a time or something. Your agent should be able to advise you on that.
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This.

For my car insurance, I can go online and put the vehicle in Storage. It still has comprehensive. No collision and minimum allowed liability. I have to leave it in storage at least 6 weeks at a time.

Go online and take it out of Storage, full insurance is up and running.

I have a collector car that is always in storage. And one car I do not drive in the winter, so it is in storage half the year. It cuts my insurance bill be about 2/3.
 
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