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Insurance Issues with personal use


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Question for people using their Transit Connect as a personal vehicle:  Has anyone else been hassled by their insurance company for not registering as a commercial vehicle?  Mine has repeatedly given me the run down of,  "What are you using this for?", "What's your occupation?", etc... 

 

Obviously, I should change carriers, but I have a claim open and I'm pretty sure they'll drop the claim if I drop them, since it seems they're always trying to build a case against me.  My claim's been, "under management review" for almost a month now though.

Edited by ArtCFartC
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I have a full-panel cargo van (no windows at all behind the seats), bought brand new in 2015 and had American Family originally, no problems at all. Moved to Texas and AmFam isn't licensed here, so I had to switch. Ended up with stupid State Farm for a few months - over twice the premium for the same coverage! Dropped them for Texas Farm Bureau Insurance and their premiums were in-line with AmFam for the same coverage, but went up about $15/month several months back. But none of the three had problems with it being a cargo van. 

 

The one problem that I've run into with it being a cargo van is that my Capital One card sometimes offers me auto refinancing, but they consider my van commercial, so they won't refinance it. Oh well...

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I also have a full panel cargo van.  Because I'm in NY and wanted regular passenger plates, I had to put a small porthole window in each rear side per DOT specs.  I bought this brand new and the Ford dealer I bought it from advised me I'd have to do this.  They did the install and got my plates and registration... so everything was totally "by the book legal".  Even so, my insurance company who I've had for years and handles multiple vehicles and property was very, very difficult to deal with.  They simply couldn't understand why this vehicle wasn't being registered as a commercial vehicle.  I had to keep saying I want passenger plates so I can use the parkways, and per NY DOT this vehicle is now 100% legal to get them.  They eventually said yes but were such a pain that when my policy is up for renewal I'll probably look for another company.  Boggles the mind...

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Interesting.  In this state, I specifically want commercial plates so that I can park in commercial zones, and drive on streets with signage as "commercial vehicles only".  No insurance company hassle at all. Commercial license plate.  Private person, non commercial insurance.  I've done this since high school.  16 year old kid, with commercial plates, driving a car with a motor cycle license.  Insurance company only cares that I pay. 

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We truly live in different worlds.  I've never seen a 'commercial zone' where I couldn't drive my passenger car, nor a street with signage saying 'Commercial Vehicles Only'  -  Quite the opposite, all I ever do see as far as restrictive signage on streets around here is 'No Trucks'

 

Don

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If certain streets are not set aside for commercial vehicle lanes and parking, then deliveries don't make it, and nobody can get any service work performed.  Then there are streets with lanes painted red for buses and taxis only.  Curbside parking is 45°, back in only.  You must back in, and pull out forward.  Any car in a parking space head first, gets a citation.  Street parking meters give 3 minutes for a quarter.  

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  • 1 month later...

California mandates that trucks and cargo vans are commercial vehicles and requires commercial plates on those vehicles. But the reason is because they collect a higher plate registration fee for the commercial plates. More money in the state coffers. There are some benefits, like being able to legally park in yellow curb loading zones. The TC wagons are not classified as cargo vans but rather passenger minivans, and do not require a commercial plate, but you can request one, and pay the higher fees, if you prefer. I have USAA insurance, and they have not given me any issues insuring my cargo van. It's mostly used as a 2 passenger vehicle.

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  • 1 year later...
On 7/29/2019 at 9:12 PM, ArtCFartC said:

Question for people using their Transit Connect as a personal vehicle:  Has anyone else been hassled by their insurance company for not registering as a commercial vehicle?  Mine has repeatedly given me the run down of,  "What are you using this for?", "What's your occupation?", etc... 

 

Obviously, I should change carriers, but I have a claim open and I'm pretty sure they'll drop the claim if I drop them, since it seems they're always trying to build a case against me.  My claim's been, "under management review" for almost a month now though.

 

Commercial use costs a LOT more.  They are trying to get you to admit you use the van for work purposes so they can deny your claim on personal vehicle policy. Tell them flat out it's personal use and to piss off bugging you. 

Edited by MLB
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Another one of those gotchas courtesy of Ford playing games with the "chicken"  import taxes of the day. Sad thing is, the vehicles were imported as personal vehicles, and converted to commercial as that's who was buying them. Somewhere in Georgia, there's a mountain of rear seats rotting away ...

 

Fortunately, I have an independent agent with a sense of humor and time to kill. Took some digging, but she hooked me up with an Auto Owners personal policy. No promises, but give them a try.

Edited by sKiZo
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Amica had to send mine off for special approval because apparently they all pull up as commercial vans. I had to give them the VIN and initially they wanted photos of the inside showing the rear seats. But then they were able to find the dealer photos and that satisfied them. There was still a delay while it got special approval as non-commercial. But even after determining it was a Wagon, they started asking about why did I need all those seats, was I going to be using it for ride share stuff. I pointed out to them that what I really wanted was a van with front row only but they said that would automatically be commercial. Get a clue. When my mileage for decades has been barely 10k per year, I ain't doing anything commercial with my vehicles.

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My insurance didn't give me any trouble.  

 

"Okay, Transit Connect.  Minivan, right?  With seats or without?"

 

They asked if I was using it for a business.  I said, "no".  Then the girl said that if I drove an Uber, they would not cover any claims.  I kind of laughed.  She went on to explain about passenger carriers, special licenses for livery vehicles, and things like that.   As you can guess, most people who download an app onto their phone do not have the special commercial livery permits, and are thus operating as unlicensed passenger carriers.  Why would the insurance company insure or pay out claims for an "illegal" business?  My insurance company told me that they will gladly insure someone who has the legal licenses to carry passengers, but cannot offer coverage to someone engaging in such activity without the license.  And apparently, they tell everyone that.  Even if you are insuring a Miata.  They take 2 minutes to explain that if you drive an Uber or Lyft, your policy covers and will pay for nothing.  

 

Now I'm wondering what they will do if you are delivering food.  I wonder if the insurance company will want a motor carrier registration.

 

My van is insured like any other soccer mom minivan.  

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That's kind of funny, because I briefly looked into Uber a couple years ago, and Uber rideshare denied my van because it's a 2-seat cargo van, lol. Must have 4 doors with at least four seats or something like that, I don't recall exactly. 

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new guy here just purchased 2012 connect yesterday. My insurance agent asked me all kinds of questions, cargo van, personal etc. all of the above as described in previous post above. Immediately figured they was trying to to figure out if van was being used for anything besides personal use. Kept telling them personal use only didn't stop them from trying.  

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