Agreed Value vs. Actual Cash Value: What is the best coverage for your boat or camper?

Do you have a boat and/or camper insured (or that needs to be insured)?  Do you know what type of value it is insured for?  You might want to look at your most recent declaration page to see how it is currently covered.

Boats and campers are typically insured one of two ways - either Actual Cash Value (ACV) or Agreed Value (AV).  What is the difference?

• Agreed Value (AV):  Agreed Value means that if we have a boat insured for $10,000, and it is determined to be a total loss in a covered claim, the insurance company would pay the agreed value of $10,000.
• Actual Cash Value (ACV):  ACV pays up to the amount an item is insured for, but the insurance company determines the value.   An insurance company might use NADA and comparables to look up the value of a boat or camper.  With the same example above, the insurance company might determine (after looking at NADA and comparables) that the value is $8,000 so they pay $8,000 if the boat was determined to be a total loss in a covered claim.  

Agreed Value is better coverage, and since the values of boats and campers can be all over the place we recommend changing to Agreed Value coverage.  We have had issues where a client has felt that their camper is worth more than NADA and comparables show - Agreed Value coverage fixes this problem when there is a total loss.  If you would like to discuss how changing from Actual Cash Value to Agreed Value could affect your insurance policy, contact Absolute Insurance today by emailing us at service@insaia.com or calling us at (515)279-2722.

For more information on insuring your boat, check out our Boat Insurance page.

What is the right Rental Car Reimbursement amount for you?

If you have full coverage insurance on a vehicle on your auto insurance policy, you might also have rental car reimbursement coverage.  The amount of Rental Car Reimbursement coverage varies from plan to plan but the lowest coverage that any of our companies offers is around $30/day.  In Iowa, this will typically pay for a full-size car. If you normally drive a SUV, van, or truck, the $30/day coverage might not be enough to pay for a rental car for a replacement SUV, van, or truck.  We have clients who have multiple children or other needs where renting a full-size car would not work.  

Please contact us if you want to increase your rental car coverage or if you want a quote on how increasing rental car coverage would affect your insurance premium.