Farmers Loss of Use Coverage: Coverage D, the Time Period on Your Declarations, and a Trailer on Your Own Lot

When a covered loss makes a house unlivable, the part of a homeowners policy that pays for somewhere else to live goes by different names at different carriers, and the time and dollar limits sit in different places. This page is the Farmers version: what the coverage is called, what the published wording says about how long and how much, and how a furnished travel trailer on your own property becomes the housing that coverage pays for. 1st Choice Living has placed trailers on homeowners’ own lots, nationwide, since 2004, and bills the carrier directly where the claim covers it.

Farmers loss of use at a glance

The other four carriers side by side: loss of use coverage by insurance carrier.

What the Farmers policy form says

Farmers does not post the Smart Plan Home policy on farmers.com, but two state insurance departments post copies. We read the Oklahoma form, 56-5646 1st Edition 2-15, posted by the Oklahoma Insurance Department, and the Nevada form, 56-5640 1st Edition 6-15, posted by the Nevada Division of Insurance. The Coverage D wording is the same in both. Farmers also sells other policy forms, and its forms are state specific, so the one on your policy may differ. Your declarations page shows both your Loss of Use limit and the time period that applies.

“The stated limit for Loss of Use is the total limit for all Additional Living Expense, Loss of Rents and Prohibited Use coverages for any one loss event.”

“Additional Living Expense. If covered accidental, direct, distinct and demonstrable, physical loss or damage to the dwelling makes that part of the dwelling where you reside uninhabitable by you, we will reimburse you for the actual, reasonable and necessary increase in living expense incurred by you. This coverage is for you and any insured members of your household to maintain the normal standard of living you had at the time of the loss event. Reimbursement for additional living expense will be for the shortest time reasonably needed to: (a) repair or replace the loss or damage to the dwelling, or (b) permanently relocate, but in no event for more than the time period shown in the Declarations.”

“Additional living expense that raises your standard of living will not be reimbursed. Upon our request, you must provide receipts for expenses incurred. Additional living expense will be paid for only one household, regardless of the number of named insureds.”

“The time periods in subsections 1, 2, and 3 above are not limited by cancellation, renewal or non-renewal of this policy. No deductible applies to subsections 1, 2, and 3 above.”

What Farmers says on its own website

“Loss of use coverage (Coverage D), also called additional living expenses coverage, can help you pay to stay elsewhere if your home is uninhabitable because of damage caused by a covered event.”

“Some insurers limit additional living expenses coverage to costs incurred during a certain amount of time after a covered event.”

“In most cases you can increase the default amount of coverage.”

“Even if you have flood insurance through FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program, loss of use coverage is not covered by your home policy, according to the III.”

A trailer on your own lot as your Additional Living Expense housing

Nothing quoted above names a hotel, an apartment, or a trailer. The wording pays the increase in cost to keep your household at its normal standard of living while the house is uninhabitable, up to the limits. A furnished travel trailer delivered, leveled, and connected on your own property is one way to do that, and it keeps you next to the rebuild, your kids in their school, and your pets at home. Whether it is approved on your claim is up to your Farmers adjuster. Here is how that approval usually comes together.

farmers.com says an insurance adjuster will work with you to determine where loss of use coverage applies and where it does not, and that you need to document both your normal living expenses and your added costs. Ask the adjuster for the time period and the Loss of Use limit printed on your declarations, since on the Smart Plan form the time limit lives there and not in the policy wording.

The form reimburses the actual, reasonable and necessary increase in living expense to maintain the standard of living you had at the time of the loss, and says expense that raises your standard of living will not be reimbursed. Put the trailer's written terms in front of the adjuster before delivery, and keep every receipt, because the form says Farmers can ask for them.

1. Open the claim and ask two questions. Does the claim include Additional Living Expense, and what are the limit in dollars and the time period on your declarations page? Ask your Farmers adjuster to confirm both in writing.
2. Say what housing you want. Tell your Farmers adjuster you want a furnished travel trailer on your own property as your temporary housing, and ask what they need from the provider to approve it.
3. Call us or send the request form. We ask for the property address, how many people and pets need a place to sleep, the claim number, and the adjuster’s contact. Before anything is delivered we confirm the local rule on a temporary RV at your address; if a trailer on your lot is not the right fit for the property, we will tell you.
4. We send the written terms to the adjuster. The unit, the monthly rate, delivery and setup, and utility connections, so the approved cost is clear before delivery.
5. Direct billing where the claim covers it. On a covered claim we bill Farmers directly under Additional Living Expense, tracked against your limit, with site conditions documented at setup and again at takedown. That is $0 out of pocket for your family on a covered claim, and one named contact from the first call to pickup.
6. Already with a temporary housing company? We work with any temporary housing company. Ask the company handling your housing to place you with 1st Choice Living for a trailer on your own lot, and the billing runs the way their program is set up.

The full walkthrough of a placement is on on-site RV housing. If Farmers pays you back rather than paying a provider, our guide to arranging your own temporary housing covers the questions to ask before you commit to anything.

Hurricane Isaias and a Farmers claim

If Hurricane Isaias made your home unlivable in Alabama, Mississippi, or the Florida Panhandle and your policy is with Farmers, your declarations page, not the policy booklet, shows how many months of Additional Living Expense you have. farmers.com also notes that loss of use is not covered by a home policy for a flood loss, so ask your adjuster how wind and water are being split on your claim. Our Hurricane Isaias page has the storm facts with official sources, how each state's insurance department explains Additional Living Expenses, Florida's temporary shelter law, and the local rule on an RV on your lot for every city and county we cover.

• Temporary housing after Hurricane Isaias
• Hurricane Isaias RV rules by county
• After a storm, after a house fire, and after a flood

Other carriers

Same questions, each carrier’s own words: State Farm, Allstate, USAA, Erie, Liberty Mutual and Safeco, American Family, Travelers, Chubb, Nationwide, Auto-Owners. All eleven side by side: loss of use coverage by insurance carrier.

Questions homeowners with Farmers claims ask