Good morning guys, I’m running a little late (who me?) on getting and agreed appraisal finished for a very special coach. lemme get it done and off to his insurer and I’ll come back and tell you all about the appraisal process and why it’s so dang important. Listen, if you could not get insurance to cover all of this investment you’re having fun with you are just taking too much of a risk.
Lemme give you a hint about later…….. if you have “full coverage” on your motorhome you will have to argue with those folks for $6000! I’ll talk about this later….. see ya then. 
So it goes without saying the coach above has a value higher than $6000! The value though is not in anything having to do with the original value of the coach…. heck, mileage at this point is sort of a mute subject!
A “full coverage” policy is designed and based on the original integrity of the vehicle less age and mileage…. NADA can give you a pulse on what a car is worth but there is no listing for a 40 year old motorhome because there is NO value at this stage of anything original on the coach. No….. the value is in how it has been kept, how many things have been updated and upgraded….. basically what is in it now and what is that worth is the question so you need an insurance policy that identifies that value.
Just like getting insurance for your classic…. reallt beautiful antique car you need an “AGREED VALUE” insurance policy. Not “stated”, you will be arguing with this waving your receipts but your value is really up to them….. NO to that, you need an agreed value policy. Now Hagerty or any of the other unique and classic car insurance folks don’t want anything to do with insuring your classic motorhome…. they require a car to be stored inside, a maximum annual mileage limit and the vehicle can only be driven to the shop or to an event. Hey, that’s not us! We want to burn up the road so what do you do? If an agreed value policy were not available for coaches we build like this one I would be taking your money…… if you can’t insure the coach for what you have in it……
OK, so how do you get one of these agreed policies? Your local insurance agent may not have a policy like that available thru his office. You need to find an agent that specializes in agreed value, motorhome policies. Insurance companies make agreed value “products” available to them while your local agent is concerned with forms of insurance needed in your area. His company may insure ships as an example but he cannot…… same thing.
I don’t mean to make this gratuitous advertising for Miller Insurance but these folks seem to understand our motorhomes, will accept appraisals from the GMC Motorhome professional dealer base (this saves you a pile of hassle) and you can have the type of insurance you need. Give Marlene a call at Miller Insurance:
marlene@millerrvinsurance.com
1-800-622-6347
Tell Marlene or Cheryl hello for me and see if they can help you. I make sure any restoration leaves here with insurance and these are the folks we rely upon.
So yeah, this appraisal this morning was pretty special at least for me… you see I’ve known this coach some 26 years, had the pleasure of restoring it over that time and now it has changed hands and has come back to be refitted for it’s new purpose in life.
To say the coach has been well kept and loved is obvious. The interior was finished over 20 years ago 
it’s still beautiful 
Has an early “Mac Dash” 
Seating is the same “Pleather” material we use today. We installed the laminate floor and sectioned headliner some 5 years ago to help keep the coach in this stunning condition 
Hey and I love those double Yakama “Space Case” pods!
So this morning I prepared an agreed value appraisal for the owner, his insurance will be based on this appraisal. NOW, if this coach is destroyed within usually 3 day he will receive a check for the appraised value of the coach….. I’m sure there are a pile of papers to sign but you have correctly identified the value of your coach and have covered it for that.
Doesn’t matter if you have $10,000 or $100,000 in your coach you really should have an agreed insurance policy… not “stated” and not “full Coverage”…….. it needs to be an “Agreed Value” policy…….. hope this helps, call us if you have any questions…….
To illustrate the point above I will pass on my personal experience. My parents had two cars. One was a 1990 Jaguar Majestic. It was one of 527 built. They were only built to order as in 1990 they were about $53K (my parents got it used in 1995 for about half that).
After my Dad passed away, I suggested to my Mom that she get an agreed value policy on the car as it was MINT with about 50K miles in 2005. She didn’t do it and in 2010 (had 60K now but still looking brand new as garaged it’s whole life), she was rear ended by a 90 year old guy in a PT Cruiser. No brakes at 45mph, the car was totaled from the impact.
The collector value (by Haggerty) was pinned around $11K. Her full coverage offered her $2,000! For comparison they used other 1990 Jaguars that sold recently (all were base models and higher mileage). I found another Majestic that sold through Mecum auction in the same year as the accident with similar mileage for $8K. The insurance company refused. Short version after 18 months of going back and forth with them, we got them to come up to $5K or half of what it was really worth……
Take the above advice if you haven’t already!!!!!
Thank you for that story, this exact thing has happened to several GMC Motorhome owners.
When converting the carburated 455 to TBI, is it necessary to change the spark plug type and/ or gap?