Emergency Expense Coverage: What Happens if Your Home is in the Shop?

Introduction: The Roadside Reality Check

Cross-country road trips or RV adventures are exciting, but any accident could bring it all to a halt. A crash, engine failure, fire… Better say goodbye to your travel trailer as it heads for the repair shop. But then how will you afford to survive in the meantime while you’re displaced? Your travel trailer had your bed, kitchen, and bathroom. You’ll need to pay for emergency hotels, meals, and rental cars, which can cost $2000 a week.

Emergency Expense coverage is a cheap, easy way to in case you need roadside assistance. They can save you thousands of dollars while you wait for your RV to get repaired. In this guide, we will go over Emergency Expense coverage, Trip Interruption options, and how to protect you and your family if your RV gets into an accident.

What Exactly is Emergency Expense Coverage?

Emergency Expense (or Trip Interruption) coverage is a specialized RV insurance add-on. It is designed to pay for temporary living and travel costs in case your RV gets damaged by a covered loss, such as:

• An accident
• A fire
• Severe weather

In case of an eligible incident, you can contact your Emergency Expense coverage provider to obtain reimbursements for your bills. Your provider may also offer additional ways to help you, much like standard roadside assistance: they may be able to connect you to the best RV repair shop nearby, get you towing services fast, and even bring you tire replacements.

Emergency Expense coverage will have both daily and total limits, which vary depending on what policy you select. It is highly recommended to get more Emergency Expense coverage if you plan to make your RV your primary residence.

Distance Requirements

Most RV insurance companies require you to be at least a minimum distance away from your home (usually 50 or 100 miles). If you are too close to your primary residence, the Emergency Expense coverage will not activate, as the insurer will expect you to be able to make it home by yourself.

Some Emergency Expense coverage options may give you extra benefits if you are further than 100 miles from your primary home.

If you are a full-time RV inhabitant, the requirements may be different. Recreational or vacation RV insurance won’t be enough. Full-time Emergency Expense coverage is highly recommended since it can prevent you from being unable to afford a place to stay while shipping your RV to be repaired.

Coverage inclusions

Each RV insurance company may call their Emergency Expense coverage by a different name (e.g. Trip Interruption coverage). Emergency Expense coverage usually pays for:

Lodgings: You can get a hotel room, cabin, or other temporary housing

Meals: Daily food allowances let you purchase meals easily so that you don’t have to go hungry; especially important if you were counting on making your own meals in your RV’s kitchen

Tires and repair: Many Emergency Expense coverage options include tire and repair shop features, such as having an expert technician or agent quickly help you find the right type of repair shop near your location

Transportation: If you need to pay for a rental car or commercial travel (e.g. a train or flight), Emergency Expense can cover the costs

Towing and rig repatriation: Returning your trailer back home can be expensive once it is finally repaired and you are not nearby; Emergency Expense coverage may be able to cover the cost of hauling it back

There is typically a daily cap limit that is separate for each type of emergency expense, so you can’t be buying all sorts of luxury foods or suites with the money given. If you know where you are headed and when you are traveling, it is a good idea to check the hotel costs at the time. Seasonal events can impact average lodging costs.

Why Your Auto Insurance Policy Isn’t Enough

If you already have a robust auto insurance policy, it may cover liability for towed trailers that are connected to your truck when it gets into an accident with a third-party. However, auto insurance may not cover Emergency Expenses or provide roadside assistance if you are in an RV.

Check your car insurance policy to see what kind of rental car reimbursements or roadside assistance it has. The key difference is that unless you buy Emergency Expense coverage, your auto insurance will likely never pay for temporary lodgings or meals while you are displaced. That is because the towed trailer is treated as cargo, not your home.

In that way, Emergency Expense coverage is more like a homeowner’s insurance add-on for emergency displacements, which would cover temporary housing as well. Emergency Expense RV insurance covers displacement if you are far from home or treating your RV as your permanent residence. Whether you’re going on a vacation or just happen to get into a highway accident with your RV, Emergency Expense coverage could save you thousands of dollars and a big headache.

How the Best RV Insurance Companies Handle the Bill

Not all emergency coverage is created equal. Standard auto insurers often cap trip interruption at a measly $500, which vanishes in two days. Specialized RV providers offer more realistic limits and practical features.

Let’s go over some of the best Emergency Expense coverage options available for RVs.

Roamly (Best for Modern RVers and Renting)

Roamly is a special RV insurance company. While standard insurance companies cap emergency expense coverage at low limits, Roamly offers higher limits up to $5,000. Roamly’s Full-Timer RV Insurance is a robust insurance policy to consider.

That way, if you break down 50+ miles from home, Roamly can ensure you aren't stuck sleeping on the streets or breaking the bank on a remote, expensive hotel last-minute. Not having to worry about temporary housing expenses after a stressful loss means greater peace of mind.

Roamly is also great for overall RV insurance if you plan on using Outdoorsy RVshare, or another RV rental platform because they are one of the only insurers that allows you to lease out your RV and retain insurance coverage.

National General (Best for Built-In Protection & Scaling Up)

National General offers some of the best, highest coverage options for any RV insurance. They have a baseline of $500 or $750 for Emergency Expense Allowance. It is usually given automatically (at no extra charge) to you on National General specialized RV policies. It comes with comprehensive and collision RV coverage.

If $500 or $750 feels too low for a family trip, National General also allows you to easily scale that coverage up to higher tiers to better align with your actual travel comfort levels. Many people opt to get $1,500 in total for Emergency Expense coverage with National General.

Anyone who just wants to get general RV insurance with built-in Emergency Expense coverage should put National General on the list to consider.

Good Sam (Best for More Roadside Coordination & Logistics)

Good Sam isn’t a traditional RV insurance company. They are an agency that helps you find the best RV insurance for your specific needs. Their Emergency Expense coverage is a little different from other RV Emergency Expense policies.

You can opt for:

• Standard: $64.95+ per year
• Platinum: $79.95+ per year
• Platinum Complete: $119.95+ per year

Their Emergency Expense coverage policies include offerings such as:

• Coverage for multiple vehicles, including 1 travel trailer, and other cars, trucks, or SUVs
• Coverage for owned, leased, or rented vehicles
• Comprehensive packages with Tire & Wheel Road Hazard Coverage
• Towing, battery service, and vehicle lockout assistance
• Fuel delivery
• Emergency Travel and Medical Assistance

You can opt for their Platinum or GS Roadside Assistance frameworks, which include an RV technician who can actively help you out in case of a highway accident.

Good Sam’s RV technician on staff grants you access to the nation’s largest RV-specific dispatch network. They can help you locate specialized repair shops near you, book your emergency lodgings, and even arrange necessary roadside services (including unlimited distance towing to the nearest service center).

What to Look For When Adding This Coverage

Deductible choice

The deductible is how much you need to pay out-of-pocket before an insurance policy will kick in to cover the rest. Some insurance companies’ emergency expense riders come with a deductible that can eat into your hotel funds.

A higher deductible means the coverage itself will cost less every month or year. That can be useful if you don’t want to increase your RV insurance premium.

A lower deductible means better security and coverage. If an accident leaves your RV damaged far from home and you without a place to stay, a lower deductible Emergency Expense plan can provide you with much more substantial financial assistance when you need it most.

Cap Per Day

Some policies have a total limit (e.g., $1,000) but limit you to $100 or $150 per day. Make sure the daily cap can actually cover a decent hotel room in your travel season.

During peak travel seasons, like summer vacation time, hotels can cost significantly more, especially if you are booking last-minute due to an emergency. If you know you might travel with your RV during peak travel season, it is best to get a higher daily cap for Emergency Expenses.

Keeping Receipts

After an incident happens, it’s crucial to always keep every single itemized receipt for food, gas, rental cars, and lodging. RV insurance adjusters require strict documentation to process reimbursement.

With Emergency Expense coverage, it usually is easier to acquire reimbursements than if there is an RV collision with medical expenses since the Emergency Expense coverage deals with the lodgings, meals, and repair shop search, not liability concerns. Still, receipts can help a lot with preventing claim delays or denials.

Coverage Type

If you are a full-timer who uses your RV as your main home, it is super important to have the right insurance coverage. Your Emergency Expense coverage needs to be for full-time RV insurance, since a recreational RV policy may get voided in case of a claim. Anyone who lives in their RV for over half of the time in a year may need to sign up for RV insurance for full-timers.

We recommend using any of the best RV insurance companies to find comprehensive coverage so that Emergency Expenses aren’t the only covered perils and bills.

Conclusion: Don't Let RV Accidents Get You Stranded

Mechanical failures and accidents are a risk for anyone on the road. You could save thousands of dollars with RV Emergency Expense coverage. It helps you easily afford lodgings and meals in case of an incident.

Emergency Expense coverage comes in many forms and price points. For the price of a few coffees a year, you can prevent a roadside problem from breaking your bank. We recommend checking out Roamly, Good Sam, or National General for convenient and affordable RV Emergency Expense insurance.