Recreational Vehicle Insurance

Who needs it? Owners of Class A, B, and C motorhomes, from weekend campers to full-time travelers. Full-timer coverage may matter if your RV is your primary residence, since a standard RV policy often assumes recreational use.

Because motorized RVs drive on public roads, California requires them to carry at least the state minimum auto liability limits. Many owners choose higher limits given the size and value of a motorhome. If you take your RV across state lines, coverage typically travels with you throughout the United States.

Is RV insurance required in California?

For a motorhome, yes. A Class A, B or C motorhome is a self-propelled, registered motor vehicle, so it falls under California’s financial responsibility law and must carry at least the state minimum liability limits. Since 1 January 2025 those are $30,000 per person, $60,000 per accident and $15,000 property damage under Vehicle Code section 16056, and they rise again on 1 January 2035. A travel trailer or fifth wheel is different. It is not self-propelled, so liability for it while it is being towed extends from the tow vehicle’s auto policy. What the trailer does not have, unless you buy it, is physical damage coverage on itself and contents coverage for what is inside it.

Does my auto policy cover a motorhome?

Usually not, and where it does it is built for a car. A motorhome is part vehicle and part home. The vehicle half needs the auto-style parts: liability, collision, comprehensive, uninsured motorist, medical payments. The home half needs the parts an auto policy does not have. Contents inside the coach. Awnings and attached accessories. Vacation liability for injuries at the campsite when the RV is parked and being used as a residence. Emergency expense for lodging and travel when a covered loss leaves you stranded away from home. Loss assessment if you belong to an RV resort association. Those are the pieces that decide whether a claim is answered, and they are the ones a general auto policy leaves out.

What is full-timer coverage?

The version of an RV policy for people who live in the coach as their primary residence, generally for six months or more a year. It adds what a homeowners policy would otherwise provide: personal liability that follows you rather than the vehicle, medical payments for guests, higher contents limits, and loss assessment. A standard RV policy is not designed for a primary residence, and a carrier that learns the RV is your home may treat the risk differently at claim time. The honest answer is to buy the coverage that matches how you live.

What do total-loss replacement and agreed value mean?

Total-loss replacement pays to replace a newer motorhome that is totalled with a new one of similar make and model, rather than its depreciated value, for a set number of model years after purchase. Agreed value pays the amount you and the carrier agreed at the start of the policy, which matters on an older or customized coach where the market value is not the number you would need. Actual cash value, the default, pays what the RV was worth the moment before the loss. On a vehicle that depreciates as fast as a motorhome does, which of the three you carry is the largest single decision in the policy.

Do I need a special license to drive a big motorhome in California?

Only above 40 feet. A house car of 40 feet or less is driven on an ordinary Class C license regardless of weight. Over 40 feet needs a noncommercial Class B license with a house-car endorsement, which means a written test, a driving test and a medical form every two years, under Vehicle Code section 12804.10. Length limits sit alongside: 40 feet on most roads, 45 feet only on Interstates and approved routes plus one road mile for fuel, food and lodging, under section 35400, and 65 feet for a combination. Towing has its own rule. A fifth wheel over 15,000 pounds or a trailer coach over 10,000 pounds needs a noncommercial Class A license. A fifth wheel between 10,001 and 15,000 pounds can be towed on a Class C with an endorsement.

What happens to coverage when the RV is in storage?

You can suspend the parts you are not using. Most RV policies let you drop collision and liability while the coach is stored for the season and keep comprehensive, which is the part that responds to theft, fire, vandalism and, in California, wildfire. Comprehensive covers fire damage to the RV wherever it sits. What it does not do is pay your evacuation costs; emergency expense coverage responds when the RV itself is disabled by a covered loss, not when a fire forces you to move it. Where an RV is stored in a brush-exposed area, the storage location is an underwriting question, so tell the carrier where it lives.

Can I rent my RV out and keep my coverage?

Not on a personal RV policy. Personal policies carry a commercial-use exclusion, and a carrier that learns of paid rentals can deny a claim or cancel. Peer-to-peer platforms provide their own coverage, but only while the renter has the vehicle, from key handoff to key return. Between rentals, and for your own use, you are back on your own policy, which now knows the RV is rented. If renting is the plan, say so before the first booking rather than after the first claim.

How do you get an RV quote from us?

Start a personal insurance quote and tell us the class and length of the RV, the year and value, whether you live in it, where it is stored, and whether you tow. Most motorhomes and trailers we can quote directly. Full-timers, older coaches on agreed value and rentals sometimes go to a specialty market and take longer. Either way you know before you decide. If you built the camper yourself, how to insure a converted campervan in California covers the conversion questions.

License, length and minimum-limit rules current as of September 2026.