Insurance Agency Growth Strategy 2022: Use the RV Boom to Help Customers Find Insurance

Ready for road-tripping season? So are your customers – and there’s a good chance they’ll be taking one in an RV.

RVs sales skyrocketed during the pandemic, rising by 170 percent among first-time buyers. But owning an RV isn’t like owning a car. RVs come with unique risks, both on the road and at campsites.

The good news: you can take advantage of the RV boom to fuel your insurance agency’s growth. Here, we’ll walk through how to discuss RV ownership with your customers to help them find the best coverage. We’ll also suggest a few ways to find new RV insurance customers.

Talk to Customers About Their RV Ownership

If your customers own an RV, you’ll need to show that you understand their vehicle in order to deliver reliable guidance. That starts with asking informed questions.

When talking with RV-owning customers, open the conversation by asking which type of RV they have: a motorhome or a trailer.

What’s the difference? Motorhomes are fully motorized, with three classes of vehicles. Class A motorhomes are the largest – think the size of your favorite band’s tour bus. Class B vehicles are the smallest, typically van-sized. Class C motorhomes are sized somewhere in between – they’re often distinguished by the cabover bed that extends past the windshield.

Trailers, on other hand, aren’t motorized; they’re towed behind trucks or cars. There are several RV trailer models, from popular conventional trailers to fifth-wheel and pop-up variations.

Once you’ve gotten a sense of a customer’s RV type, ask them these questions about their RV usage:

• How often do you use your RV? Low use often means low risk.
• What do you carry in your RV? High-value items could be at risk of theft.
• How much do you carry in your RV? Weight is a major concern for trailers, which are subject to “trailer sway” on the road.
• If you have a trailer, what kind of vehicle tows it? An RV trailer can suffer damage if a customer’s vehicle isn’t properly rated for its weight.
• Do you typically road-trip or camp? Road-tripping and camping carry different risks – e.g., accident or injury on the highway versus property theft at a campground.
• How many people typically travel in your RV? More people in an RV means more people at risk of an accident.

With the right questions, you can better gauge your customers’ RV insurance needs.

Explain the Ins and Outs of RV Insurance

Show your customers how RV insurance can provide many of the same standard coverages as auto insurance, such as…

• Comprehensive.
• Collision.
• Liability.
• Medical payments.
• Uninsured and underinsured motorist.

Given this overlap, your RV insurance customers will likely understand standard coverage types. But for trailer-owning customers, you should take care to explain their unique coverage needs.

Because trailers aren’t motorized vehicles, customers’ auto liability insurance can cover them. Even so, an RV insurance policy can provide separate collision or comprehensive coverage for more expansive risk mitigation.

Once you’ve covered the basics, discuss variables impacting policy pricing, such as…

• RV age. Older RVs may have performance concerns that make them riskier to insure. 
• RV usage. Heavy-use RVs are more likely to be in risky situations on the road.
• RV location. City-dwelling RVers will likely be driving around more vehicles – which presents greater risk.
• Personal RV driving experience. Driving an RV is different from driving a car. Inexperienced drivers may face steeper premiums.

This information will help your customers understand how to review potential policies.

Be Creative to Find New RV Insurance Customers

An RV boom can help drive your insurance agency’s growth. But to make the most of rising RV popularity, you’ll need creative ways to find new RV insurance customers.

Try methods like these:

• Ask current customers about their camping habits. Campers and RV owners overlap: over 50 percent of non-RVing campers want to purchase a new RV, and about 60 percent of RV campers plan to upgrade their current vehicle.
• Ask your auto customers if they have an RV trailer. For car owners, tow-behind trailers are a popular and affordable alternative to fully motorized RVs.
• Set up a booth at an RV show. A booth can help you reach many RV enthusiasts at once.
• Sponsor an outdoors convention. Sponsorship can maximize your agency’s reach by putting your name front and center.

When you take initiative to meet RVers where they are, you can land new RV insurance customers – and turn them into customers for life.

The Right Conversations Can Maximize Your Value – And Grow Your Agency

Whether your customers are new RV owners or seasoned enthusiasts, they’ll need the right insurance policy to mitigate risk on the road. But chances are, your customers have other insurance needs that you may not know about.

With the right conversations, you can help your customers meet all their insurance needs – and fuel your agency’s growth in the process. WE can provide you with a full back-end suite so you can focus on deepening those customer relationships. Interested in joining the WE family? Learn more about the power of WE today.