>is it wise to not tell insurance the value of your bus so as to keep your
>rates lower?

Logic would dictate that to do so is merely setting yourself up for a
failure. If you have $50K worth of diamonds in your home, and you don't
tell your agent about them, you will not get a penny for them if your
house burns down. (without a major lawsuit, and a ton of $$$ for an
attorney, plus a lot of luck)

?But being prepared to play hardball if an accident occurs
>(and they want to total your bus).

In the extravagant days of my youth, I learned the hard way that insuring
your 69 Camaro will get you the book value of the Camaro if you crash it.
From then on, I told my agent what my car was worth, he actually came and
looked at it, and added a rider to the policy that would pay me the street
value of the car. It was certainly worth the extra few $$$ knowing that my
baby would be replaced if I totalled it.

I think if you step back and look at the insurance situation, you would
first have to admit that it is a scam :) but also its basically fraud to
insure a Westy for book value, and expect more than that when you have an
accident. A lot of folks have a ton invested in their vans, but in the
end, its still only worth what the book value says, from the insurers pov.
They exist by the blue book values, whereas we create expensive machines
out of high mileage vans.

If you want $15K for a Westy that is only valued at 8K, why should the
insurance pay you, when you have only been paying premiums for the $8K
value? If you expect $15K for a total loss, you better expect to pay the
premiums for $15K.

Its friday, so take you best shot, but the few people who actually defeat
the insurance company are really only making everyone else's rates go up
to cover it. Insurance companies are built to not lose money, and they
won't.

IMHO,

John