Preparing an RV for winter storage: the checklist and the policy that covers it

For a motorhome or a travel trailer in the Mountain West, the season ends when the nights drop below freezing: late September in Island Park or the Wasatch Back, November on the Snake River plain and the Wasatch Front, and hardly at all in Yuma, Quartzsite and Lake Havasu, where the season starts instead as the snowbirds arrive. Wherever the rig lives, the months it spends parked are the months it is most likely to be damaged and least likely to be looked at.

The policy has a view on all of this. An RV policy is a hybrid of an auto policy and a home policy, and winter storage tests the home half: freezing, water intrusion, vermin, theft and vandalism, each with its own treatment in the form. Some of those losses are covered, some are excluded outright, and some are covered only if the owner did the winterizing the policy assumes. This guide covers the physical preparation, what storage does to the policy and the premium, how to decide between full coverage and a storage-only arrangement, and how to handle the damage a spring inspection finds.

What a winter does to a parked RV

The losses, roughly in order of frequency.

• Freeze damage: water left in the plumbing, the water heater, the pump or the holding tanks expands and splits fittings, cracks the heater tank and ruptures lines inside the walls, where the leak is not found until spring.
• Rodents: mice enter through a gap the width of a pencil, chew wiring and upholstery, and nest in the furnace and the engine bay. Wiring damage is the expensive part.
• Roof and seal leaks: caulking that cracked in the summer sun lets snowmelt into the roof structure; a slide-out seal that was not cleaned lets it into the wall.
• Snow load: a heavy, wet snowpack on a flat RV roof stresses vents, skylights and the roof itself, particularly on older rigs.
• Battery and tyre deterioration: a battery left connected drains and freezes; tyres left on cold ground develop flat spots and sidewall cracks.
• Theft and vandalism: an RV in an open lot or a side yard is a target for catalytic converters, batteries, generators and everything inside; a trailer is a target as a whole.
• Mould: moisture trapped in a closed rig with no ventilation grows through the winter and appears in spring on walls, mattresses and cabinetry.

What the RV policy covers in storage, and what it does not

Comprehensive coverage on the RV policy is the part that works while the rig is parked. It pays for fire, theft, vandalism, falling objects, windstorm, hail, flood and animal damage; that last item means the rodent-chewed wiring harness is usually a covered claim, subject to the deductible, though carriers vary on whether the nest cleanup and the upholstery are included. A tree limb through the roof, a hailstorm on the lot and a stolen generator are all comprehensive claims. Collision is the coverage that pays if the rig is struck while parked, and if it is never moving, it is also the coverage most worth reconsidering for the winter.

Freezing is the exclusion to read. Most RV forms exclude damage from freezing of plumbing, heating and appliance systems unless the owner used reasonable care to maintain heat or drained and winterized the system, and some exclude it outright regardless of care. Gradual leaks, seal failure, delamination, mould and rot are excluded as wear and maintenance on nearly every form, however sudden they seem when discovered. Battery and tyre deterioration is maintenance. Personal effects inside the rig are covered only if the policy carries a personal effects coverage and only to its limit; some forms exclude theft of contents from a rig in storage unless there is evidence of forced entry. A full-timer's policy behaves more like a homeowner form and covers contents more generously.

What storage does to the premium

Three arrangements are common. The first is to leave the policy as it is, which costs the most and is the simplest, and is the right answer where the rig may be used for a winter trip to the desert. The second is to suspend or remove collision and liability for the storage months and keep comprehensive only, which many carriers allow for a motorhome; the premium falls to reflect that a parked rig cannot cause a crash. The lienholder, if there is one, has to agree, and the coverage has to be restored before the rig moves, including for the drive to the dealer for service. Driving a motorhome with liability suspended is driving uninsured. A travel trailer has no liability of its own, since it borrows the tow vehicle's, so its winter policy is already comprehensive and collision only.

The third is to cancel outright and buy again in spring, which is the mistake. A cancelled policy means a stolen or burned rig is an uninsured loss, a lapse the next carrier will ask about, and a lienholder who may force-place expensive coverage. Whatever the arrangement, tell the carrier where the rig is stored; a fenced, lit commercial storage yard or a covered, indoor facility usually earns a discount, and the address on file is what the adjuster checks when the theft is reported.

The winterizing checklist

Do this in one afternoon before the first hard freeze, and photograph each step. The photographs are the evidence that the freeze exclusion's care condition was met.

• Drain the fresh water tank, the water heater, the low-point drains and the holding tanks; bypass the water heater and pump non-toxic RV antifreeze through every line, tap, shower head and toilet valve, or blow the lines out with compressed air. Keep the antifreeze receipt.
• Clean and inspect every roof seam, vent, skylight and slide-out seal; re-caulk anything cracked. Photograph the roof.
• Remove all food, empty and prop open the refrigerator, and seal every gap into the underbelly and engine bay with steel wool or mesh; set traps.
• Disconnect the batteries and store them indoors on a maintainer, or fit a disconnect switch and a solar maintainer if they stay.
• Inflate tyres to the sidewall maximum, cover them, and either move the rig a quarter turn every month or set it on blocks.
• Take out valuables, electronics, firearms and documents; the policy's contents coverage is thin, and an empty rig is a poorer target.
• Cover the rig with a breathable cover, or store it under a roof; crack a roof vent under a vent cover so air moves.
• Add fuel stabiliser to the generator and the motorhome engine, run each until the stabilised fuel is through, and change the oil if it is due.
• Photograph the interior and exterior in full, note the mileage and the storage address, and send the carrier the storage address and any coverage change in writing.

In spring, and if the inspection finds damage

Before the first trip, walk the rig before you connect anything. Check the roof and seals, the underbelly for chewed insulation, the wiring for teeth marks, the tyres for cracks and date codes, and then, with the water heater bypass still in place, pressurise the plumbing and look for leaks at every fitting. Restore any suspended coverage in writing before the rig moves, and confirm the carrier has acknowledged it.

If there is damage, decide which category it falls into before calling. Theft, vandalism, a fallen limb, hail or rodent damage is a comprehensive claim: photograph it, get an estimate, and report it with the storage photographs from the autumn. A burst fitting is the difficult one: if the winterizing was done and documented and a fitting failed anyway, most carriers will look at the claim; if the system was left full, the freeze exclusion applies and the repair is yours. Do not start repairs before the adjuster has seen the damage or agreed to it. A stolen rig should be reported to the police and the carrier the same day, with the storage facility's incident report and camera footage if available.

A worked example

Suppose a Boise couple stores a $90,000 motorhome from October to April in a fenced commercial lot. Their policy carries comprehensive and collision with $1,000 deductibles and liability. They suspend liability and collision for six months, keeping comprehensive, and the premium for the period falls from $1,200 to $500. They winterize the plumbing, photograph the work and email the storage address to the carrier.

For example, in March they find that mice have chewed the wiring harness behind the dashboard and nested in the furnace, and a roof seam has let meltwater into a cabinet, which shows mould. The wiring repair is estimated at $6,500 and the furnace cleaning at $800; the comprehensive coverage pays $7,300 less the $1,000 deductible. The roof seam and the mouldy cabinet are $2,200 and are declined as seal failure and gradual leakage, a maintenance loss. Had they also found a split water heater tank, their dated winterizing photographs would have been what turned the freeze exclusion into a discussion rather than a denial. The figures are illustrative; the pattern of one covered loss and one maintenance loss in the same spring is ordinary.

The decision points

Three decisions come with the first frost. Whether to keep full coverage or suspend liability and collision for the storage months, which turns on whether the rig will move at all before spring and whether a lienholder agrees. Where to store it, since a covered or fenced facility changes both the risk and the premium. And whether to add or raise personal effects coverage, or simply to take the valuables out. If the rig is already on comprehensive-only for the winter in a secured lot, with the winterizing photographed, the recommendation is to leave the policy alone. We review the RV policy against the storage plan at no cost, quote the winter arrangement across the carriers we represent in Arizona, Nevada, Utah and Idaho, and say so when the policy in hand already fits.