Insurance for moving mobile homes

[Andriy Boychuk]

Is there an insurance for moving mobile homes? I heard couple stories about mobile homes breaking in half during transportation. Is there a way to protect yourself? 

[John Arendsen]

The very first thing you should do is hire an experienced MH hauler aka "Totter" and ask to see a copy of his PL&PD auto insurance as well as his liability insurance. If he isn't able to show you any verification I'd keep looking until you find one that can.

Hauling MH's aka "Wobbly Boxes" down the road at 60 to 70 MPH (as most totters do) is risky biz. I've represented many clients who've been involved with accident related damages caused by tire blowouts, traffic accidents, road damage, et.al.

Equally as important are the knock down and set up crews. Be it a single wide or a multi section MH there is always quite a bit of preparation preparing a floor for shipment and installing it on the other side.

Additionally, what a lot of newbies don't know is that MH's develop their own characteristics (personalities) after sitting and settling in one spot for a long time and do not always just sit on a new pad or fit (marry) naturally back together whence reset. There will usually be quite a bit of tweaking and wracking involved in order to get all the doors, floors, windows, etc to work as they once did or should on a new pad.

Most importantly, however, do know that once a MH has been moved from its original SITUS it will no longer qualify for a conventional loan in most cases. So if your plan is to buy it and move it onto a spot for yourself and you plan to rent it out or live in it yourself no problem. But if and when the time comes that you want to secure a long term conventional loan on it you'll be pretty much out of luck with most conventional lenders.

Lastly, if you're planning to put it into a rental MHC also realize that many if not most MHC's are reluctant to accepting MH's that are over 10 years old; especially if they are PRE HUD MH's built before June 15, 1976.