While looking for insurance for my F600 it's been incredibly difficult. It's a 78 flatbed that I'm just going to be using here and there for personal use, which would include going to a parade, but also going to pick up lumber for the house some gravel for the yard, nothing commercial, just effectively a glorified if seldomly used pickup. Have any of you guys had luck finding insurance for this type of use and what companies have you found?
Thanks for the help!

 

Well hauling material for yourself does mean the truck is hauling for gain. So be very careful how you word it. Mine is with state farm and is insured for less than 300 miles a year as non commercial gain private use historical vehicle.

 

Before my truck was " official use only, for hire" I used.....

Progressive commercial insurance, they gave me a $50 a month on mine for personal use up to 150 mile radius. I had to put "Not For Hire, Private Carrier " on bottom of doors and send pics to get that rate.

.....now its official and for hire so I have a much higher rate but had that $50 private only rate for 2 years. My truck is a Ford F800 Flatbed Tow truck.

 

When insuring a truck the carriers are considering two main things: GVWR and body type. A person could buy identical GVWR and powertrain F350s except one has a bed and the other is a cab/chassis and the cab chassis would end up in a commercial auto policy while the one with the bed could go personal. That's why we see the bed delete option on non C&C trucks... To get that non C&C VIN and insurable in a personal lines policy. If it came from the factory as an "incomplete vehicle" it will generally end up on a commercial policy.

I have a commercial auto policy and I had fits getting my 77 F350 flatbed insured on personal lines before I did get that commercial policy. Any individual can buy a commercial policy and the rates are often cheaper than a personal lines policy and you end up with $500k - $1m liability limits out of the gates. Almost all carriers have a commercial auto product too.

The only downside is that you may lose the home\auto bundle credit. That can be regained if you can get your home, outbuildings and property on an ag policy. A lot of carriers have a hobby farm product that is a commercial insurance product for individuals' homes/vehicles. I have 6 acres and two outbuildings I'm addition to my home and I fit in the Liberty hobby farm product.

My recommendation is to talk to a good independent agent and they should have multiple solutions for you. (An independent agent works with lots of carriers to find the right solution and not limited to just one like State Farm, Allstate, Farmers or American Family.)

I do insurance for a living, though not I'm not an agent. If you're struggling finding someone, PM me with your location and I'll reply with a few recommendations for agents.

 

I haven't looked into it for my F600 because it is used on private property only and trailered down the highway to get there. However, my old military 2.5 ton truck is insured through Haggarty as a historical vehicle used only for parades, shows, and special events. Full coverage is less than 200 per year.

 

my zip 95355

 

If you qualify (I do given prior service) try USAA. Insured are part owners in the company so every year:

- USAA reimburses a portion of your premium costs (amount of the reimbursement increases every year on a percentage basis -- I've heard their "silver" equivalent insured get 50% of their policy premium reimbursed)

- USAA separately deposits a portion of USAA earnings into a Subscribers Savings Account.

I've run the numbers many times and they beat everyone hands down for personal use equipment. I have a commercial insurer for the biz stuff -- getting gouged there by the rip off arseholes.