Vacation Vehicle

GEICO Prepare Your Car for Vacation Home Page | Privacy Policy | Contact Us | Site Map Search -- Shop for Auto Insurance Manage My Auto Policy Auto Insurance Claims Overseas Auto Insurance About GEICO Auto Insurance Auto Safety Make Sure Your Car is Ready for the Trip Your family vacation is getting close. You are excited about spending quality time with your family and getting away for a few days. However, before hitting the open road don’t forget to make sure that your car is up to the task. This checklist provides you with peace of mind and could alert you to any trouble as you get ready to head down the highway: Check engine oil — level should be between the "add" and "full" marks. If it’s low, add a quart, but don’t overfill. If oil appears to be dark or opaque, it’s probably time for an oil change. Check coolant — coolant keeps your car from overheating. Make sure that the level is between "high" and "low." Remember that the cooling system operates best when the coolant is a 50/50 mixture of water and antifreeze. Check belts and hoses — look for cracks and signs of wear, especially on the fan belt. Check the coolant hoses for leakage and cracks. Replace if they appear to be worn. Check tires — make sure there are no cuts or bulges and that the tires still have good tread. Check the pressure with a pressure gauge and add air if needed (maximum amount of pressure is noted on the outside of the tire). Also, don’t forget to check your spare tire, just in case. Check lights — turn on all your lights and walk around your car to make sure that all lights are functioning properly. Also, ask someone to stand behind your car while you test your brake lights. Just to be on the safe side, you should also include an emergency kit in your car comprising of a quart of oil, a gallon of water, some basic tools, jumper cables, gloves, a flashlight with spare batteries, duct tape, a first aid kit, flares, and the most important tool of all...your cell phone. If you encounter any trouble while checking out your car, make sure to have a professional mechanic inspect your vehicle prior to your departure. We're here 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Sales: 1-800-861-8380 ratequotes@geico.com Service: 1-877-206-0215 Log-in for Policy Changes Safety Belt Poster Contest Vehicle Safety/Recall Information Insurance Terms © 2003-2006 GEICO | Terms of Use | States of Operation | Company Addresses

RV Parks

Georgia Campgrounds and RV Parks Click Map for full Size GeorgiaTraffic Information | Home | Hot Links | AddYour Park to the Directory | Go to another State Select State Canada International Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District Of Columbia Florida Georgia Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersy New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming National Park Service Trailer Life Magazine NADA Guides RV Insurance Select Cities Select Cities beginning With A - C D - F G - I J - L M - O P - R S- V W - Z Recreation.Gov Go RVing RV Consumer Group Funroads.Com A Acworth Alltoona-Proctor Park 404-382-4700 Clark Creek North 404-382-4700 Holiday Marina Harbor 404-974-2575 Arabi Southern Gates RV Park & Campground 138 Campsite Rd Arabi, GA 31712 229-273-6464 WebPage: http://www.southerngates.com Email: marthaspears@msn.com Updated 10/8/2003 Map Adel Reed Bingham State Park 912-896-3551 Athens Area Commerce/Athens KOA 1-706-335-5535 Return to Top Atlanta Area Atlanta North KOA 1-800-562-4194 Atlanta South KOA 1-800-562-6073 Austell Atlanta West Campground 770-941-7185 B Barnesville High Falls Campground 770-358-2205 Bishop Pine Lake Campground 706-769-5486 Blairsville Lightners RV Phone: 706-745-7952 Brunswick Blythe Island Regional Park Campground 1-800-343-7855 Golden Isles RV Park 912-261-1025 Buena Vista Camp Vista Campground 912-649-CAMP Ruscar Inc. 912-267-9422 Return to Top C Calhoun Calhoun KOA 1-800-562-7512 Cartersville Cartersville KOA 404-382-73330 D Darien Darien Inland Harbor 912-437-6172 Ellijay Plum Nelly Campground (404) 317-2458 F Forest Park Holiday RV Superstores 800-476-6720 Forsyth Forsyth KOA 1-800-562-8614 L & D RV Park 921-994-5401 H Helen Creekwood Resort 5730 Hwy 356 Sautee Nacoochee/Ga/30571 Phone: 706 878 2164 WebPage: www.creekwoodresort.com Email: creekwoodresort@alltel.net Updated 2/21/2005 Map Hiawassee Enota Campground and Resort (706) 896-9966 Jonesboro Bankston Motorhomes of Georgia 770-477-8095 Sagon Motor Homes 770-477-2010 Kennesaw Atlanta North KOA 770-427-2406 Lake Park Eagles Roost Campground 229-559-5192 Giant Recreation World 800-237-7494 La Grange 3 Creeks RV Park 706-884-0899 Macon Big Oak Campground 4365 Knight Road Macon/Georgia/31220 Phone: 478-474-9763 Email: floyd2312@juno.co updated 9/6/2005 Map Martin Sunset Campground 706-356-8932 Metter Beaver Run RV Park 912-685-2594 Return to Top Norcross Jones RV Park Ph 770-923-0911 Fax 770-381-2142 Ochlocknee Sugar Mill Plantation RV Park 912-227-1451 Perry Fair Harbor RV Park & Campground 515 Marshallville Rd. Hwy 127 Perry, GA 31069 Phone 877-988-8844 / Fax 478-988-8803 WebPage: www.fairharborrvpark.com Email: fairharbor@yahoo.com Updated 5/30/2004 Perry Crossroads Travel Park 912-987-3141 Fair Harbor RV Park & Campground 912-988-8844 Perry Ponderosa Park 912-825-8030 Pine Mountain Pine Mountain Campground 706-663-4329 Richmond Hill Dick Gores RV World 888-756-7556 Waterway RV Campground 912-756-2296 Rome Coosa River Campground 706-234-5001 Return to Top Sautee Nacoochee Creekwood Resort 5730 Hwy 356 Sautee Nacoochee/Ga/30571 Phone: 706 878 2164 WebPage: www.creekwoodresort.com Email: creekwoodresort@alltel.net Updated 2/21/2005 Map Savannah Bellaire Woods Campground 1-800-851-0717 Point South SC / Savannah North KOA 803-726-5733 Auto Intensive Care 912-355-5388 Savannah South KOA 1-800-562-8741 Return to Top Yatesville Heart of Georgia RV Park 706/472-3437 Yemassee Savannah North KOA 803-726-5733

Vacation Vehicle

RV Parks

Mobile home insurance developed

American Association of Insurance Services This article appeared in the Summer 2004 Vol. 29, No. 1 issue of Viewpoint. BACK TO VIEWPOINT ARTICLES Manufactured Housing A new term does not eliminate old distinctions Precise use of language is essential in insurance underwriting. Unfortunately, people in other fields can sometimes adopt terminology that can be misleading for property/casualty professionals. Residential property insurers have long understood the distinction between site-built (or stick-built) homes constructed at permanent locations, and mobile (or trailer) homes constructed in factories and hauled to a site. That distinction in how homes are constructed leads to different property loss experience for site-built and mobile homes, and provides the basis for the separate Homeowners and Mobile-Homeowners insurance programs offered by AAIS. Beyond the loss experience, however, standardized homeowners and mobile-homeowners programs are very similar. AAIS uses largely identical forms in both. Confusion can arise, however, when the term manufactured housing is used to identify mobile homes, as the mobile home industry has done in recent years. That term was adopted by mobile home trade groups to improve the image of mobile homes and reflect the enhanced size and features offered in today's mobile homes. Manufactured housing, however, also refers to modular housing, residences constructed from modules that are assembled in manufacturing facilities, shipped to permanent locations, and permanently affixed to a foundation and adjoining modules. Modules can arrive at a site completely pre-assembled, with plumbing and wiring included. Manufactured housing, therefore, encompasses structures ranging from million-dollar estate homes to traditional trailers. Beyond that, virtually all new residential construction has some manufactured elements. What is happening is that all new dwellings have some degree of pre-assembly, says Tom Underwood, president and COO of Utility Body Works, Elkhart, Ind., a mobile home manufacturer. Even stick-built structures have trusses that are pre-assembled. It used to be that everything was either stick-built or a mobile home. Now there's more of a continuum. While that may be true for residential construction techniques, the old distinction between site-built and mobile homes still appears to be valid for property insurance purposes. The challenge is to make sure that residences are properly classified. Mobile homes stand apart Mobile homes have long been defined as a unique subset of owner-occupied residences, and that is still the case. For example, American Modern Insurance Group, a carrier that specializes in insuring manufactured housing, defines a mobile home to be a factory-built structure at least eight feet in length that is constructed on its own chassis. According to Jerry Wachter, vice president for manufactured housing, the requirement that the structure be built on its own chassis ensures that a mobile home policy cannot be written to cover other types of manufactured housing. The American Modern definition of a mobile home explicitly includes expansions and additions to mobile homes, as well as fixtures. The purpose, says Wachter, is to allow for the full range of possibilities in modern mobile homes, without applying mobile home coverage to structures that have different loss characteristics. A fire safety study conducted by Foremost Insurance, Grand Rapids, Mich., indicated that the fire rate for mobile homes was less than that for site-built homes. The better fire rate is attributed in part to implementation of a national building code by the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in the 1970s. Mobile homes are more susceptible to windstorm loss, however. As the American Modern definition suggests, there are three characteristics that can be used to define a mobile home: Off-site construction in a factory setting; Construction on its own chassis; and Construction to HUD building standards, as opposed to local building codes. Does method matter? As for establishing other categories of manufactured housing for insurance purposes, there is little evidence of statistically significant distinctions in loss experience between modular and completely site-built homes. Modular homes are treated the same as site-built homes in terms of financing and insurance, says Bruce Savage, spokesman for the Manufactured Housing Institute. I'm not aware of any statistics showing they perform (in loss situations) differently than site-built homes. Also, modular housing must generally be built to standards in local building codes, even if the modules are constructed out of state. The growth in modular construction would not be possible without widespread use of standardized building codes. Thus, when a carrier receives an application for a manufactured home, the first order of business is to determine if it meets the characteristics of a mobile home. Many manufactured homes would be better classified with site-built homes. The construction of the residence--frame, masonry, etc.--will, of course, be a key factor in determining the premium, but there is no indication to date that the method of construction, in itself, alters the risk. (As a practical matter, most manufactured homes that are not mobile homes will be frame construction.) Enduring distinction Property/casualty professionals accustomed to using identical forms to write homeowners and mobile-homeowners coverage may be surprised to learn how differently the two lines started out. Mobile home insurance developed from the identity of mobile homes as chattel property rather than real property, says Wachter of American Modern. Early trailer homes had axles with wheels and could be literally hauled away at a moment's notice. Given the character of early mobile homes, the insurance policy [covering a mobile home] was really a takeoff on auto physical damage coverage, Wachter says. That steadily changed as mobile homes came to be permanently affixed at locations and developed risk characteristics similar to those of site-built homes. For decades now, the basic, broad, special, and limited perils forms, as well as the personal liability sections, have been largely identical in the AAIS Homeowners and Mobile-Homeowners Programs. The persistence of distinct homeowners and mobile-homeowners programs lies in two related factors: rating and valuation of structures. Perhaps the last vestige of the original auto character of mobile homes is the fact that their structures depreciate faster than they accumulate real estate value, if they accumulate any real value at all. With mobile homes, the depreciation is greater than the growth in replacement cost, says Werner Kruck, executive vice president of American Superior Ins. Co., Plantation, Fla., a company that specializes in residential property insurance. With traditional site-built homes, replacement cost usually grows faster than the depreciation of the home. Replacement cost Every student of insurance learns that the market value of a home should not be confused with replacement cost, but it frequently is because mortgage lenders often insist that residential property insurance be written to cover the balance on a mortgage loan. Also, the appreciation in market value has often been considered a factor in calculating replacement cost, the assumption being that the cost of living drives the cost of construction. Whatever the reason, depreciation is rarely a major consideration in home owners insurance, except for older homes in areas with relatively low real estate values. For that reason, replacement cost loss settlement, with a coinsurance requirement, is a standard feature of most homeowners policies written in the U.S. Standard homeowners forms explicitly state, however, that replacement cost terms do not apply to mobile homes, whether or not on a permanent foundation, but without otherwise defining the term mobile home. Actual cash value loss settlement automatically applies to mobile homes; replacement cost settlement, if desired, must be added by endorsement. 'Gap' coverage In practice, the underwriting of a replacement cost endorsement on a mobile home policy is analogous to the underwriting of gap coverage on a personal auto, says Jeffrey Holaway, AAIS manager of personal lines pricing. According to Holaway, car owners frequently buy coverage that will pay what it costs to replace a vehicle that has been effectively destroyed, even if the amount of insurance exceeds the book value of the vehicle being insured. Replacement cost coverage for a mobile home is written on a stated value basis in some states, says Kruck. This raises the possibility that an owner can collect an insurance payment for a total loss, replace the damaged home with a used one at less cost, and pocket the rest of the money. Apart from the settlement terms, the distinction between homeowners and mobile-homeowners insurance lies in the distinction between loss costs for the two lines, and subsequently the information used to rate policies. Insurers should be cautious about applying loss costs derived from mobile home experience to manufactured housing that may be more appropriately classified with site-built housing. Joseph Harrington Editor Christi DeBrock Design Reprinting Viewpoint Articles Articles generally may be reproduced, provided the appropriate credit is given and a copy is sent to the Editor. For details, please call or write. Viewpoint welcomes your comments. Write us at: American Association of Insurance Services 1745 S. Naperville Road | Wheaton, IL 60187-8132 630-681-8347 | 800-564-AAIS | Fax 630-681-8356 Phone: 630-681-8347 | Fax: 630-681-8356 e-mail: info@aaisonline.com Top