Picture yourself in an antique car cruising around Saskatoon and enjoying summer in the city. At the end of the season, you'll need to put it in storage to keep it safe for the winter, but how can you make sure it's covered? Does it get covered in your home policy? Do you need extra coverage?

 

A good rule of thumb is that if something has a motor, check with your broker to make sure that it's covered properly. A common misconception is that once you put your antique car, ATV, etc. in the garage for the winter, it's covered under your home insurance. However, with motor vehicles, there are usually sub-limits on the home policy that limit the coverage offered, or the vehicles aren't covered at all.

 

This means vehicles like ATVs, dirtbikes, and your antique car need to be scheduled on the home policy or they need a package policy in order to have coverage. Once you put your antique car in the garage for the winter, you can let the plate insurance run out and the package policy will cover the vehicle until next summer when you decide to take it out and plate it again. Vehicles like riding mowers and golf carts can be insured under home policies, but the sub-limit of the policy may put a limit on the number of vehicles that can be covered.

 

Another common situation that can sometimes be confusing is camper storage since campers aren't motorized vehicles.

 

The best option is to cover your camper under a package policy as a plated unit where you have it plated during the 4-5 months of summer when you're actively using it. An important note here is that “use” is considered sleeping, cooking, camping, etc., and not just towing it behind your vehicle on the road. When the summer is over, you can let the plates expire and the package policy will continue to insure the camper as long as it's only in storage and not in use. If you are still using your camper in the off-season, even on your own property, you will still need to have it plated to cover against any damage that could occur.

 

Everyone has different storage situations, so if you have any questions about what can and can't be covered under the home policy, give us a call and we'll be happy to help you out.

 

If you'd like to listen to the original radio interview about this topic, click here.