Mobile home insurance for manufactured, single-wide and double-wide homes.

Replacement cost or actual cash value: how the home is valued at a claim

Wisconsin's regulator gives the two definitions: replacement cost is what it takes to replace, rebuild or repair with materials of similar kind and quality, without deducting for depreciation, up to the policy limit; actual cash value is the value of the property when it is damaged or destroyed. The same page says most manufactured home policies are written on an actual cash value basis and only a few companies write replacement cost on the home and its contents. CDI tells buyers to ask about optional Replacement Cost Coverage, which settles at the cost of new property of comparable material and quality, and to set the limit high enough to replace the home.

• Lender floor. On a HUD Title I manufactured home loan, hazard insurance must run the full term in an amount at least equal to the unpaid balance, with the lender as loss payee (24 CFR 201.28).
• FAIR Plan ceiling. The California FAIR Plan's dwelling application states that trailer or mobile/manufactured homes are not eligible for Dwelling Replacement Cost coverage.
• No replacement cost offered? Set the limit to today's value, since the form deducts depreciation at the time of loss. The step-by-step guide has examples.

Who requires it: lenders, parks and land leases

No statute I can point to makes a manufactured home owner carry insurance. Two contracts do, and California law governs how a park can change its rules.

• The lender. A HUD Title I manufactured home loan is not eligible for HUD's loan insurance unless the borrower keeps hazard insurance for the full term, at least equal to the unpaid balance, with the lender as loss payee, plus flood insurance to the same standard while FEMA maps the site in a special flood hazard area (24 CFR 201.28). A conventional note sets its own terms.
• The park. The proof-of-insurance requirement lives in your lease and the park's rules. In California, management may amend the rules only after a meeting announced in writing to every homeowner 10 days or more ahead; an amendment takes effect without your consent only on written notice of not less than six months (60 days for recreational facility rules); and one that creates a new fee not agreed in your lease is void and unenforceable (Civil Code 798.25).
• Land you own. Only the lender's note or an HOA or deed restriction can require it.

Park statutes vary by state; the lender rule is federal. See insurance requirements by state.

California: foundation conversion, the FAIR Plan and surplus lines

Three California wrinkles that change where the application goes.

• Foundation conversion. Under Health and Safety Code 18551(a), installing the home on a foundation system takes a building permit and written consent from any lienholder; the enforcement agency records a document with the county, the home is deemed a fixture and a real property improvement, and the HCD certificate of title is surrendered for cancellation. Converted, I ask whether a homeowners or dwelling fire form is open to it; on piers and tie-downs with an HCD title, it stays on a manufactured home form.
• FAIR Plan. CDI's guide sends owners no carrier will sell to or renew to the California FAIR Plan. Its dwelling application accepts trailer and mobile homes used exclusively for dwelling purposes at a fixed location, asks whether the home is permanently anchored to the foundation, and excludes it from Dwelling Replacement Cost. The form is a named-peril fire policy (fire or lightning, internal explosion and smoke) with no liability line on the application, so liability needs another policy.
• Surplus lines. The same CDI guide says that when the admitted market will not write the home, your broker can ask a surplus lines carrier, and that those carriers are not backed by the California Insurance Guarantee Association.

The California carrier checklist covers the rest.