The Van Guide
Insurance · Carriers

Roamly Insurance Review: Who It's For and Where It Falls Short

Roamly is built specifically for DIY and custom van conversions. How the product works, who underwrites it, what it costs, and the tradeoffs.

The Van Guide

Most van conversion owners run into the same wall when they call a mainstream insurance carrier: the underwriter either refuses DIY builds outright, caps coverage at an amount that does not reflect the real value of the conversion, or agrees to write a policy and then quietly treats the van as a cargo vehicle at claim time. This is the problem Roamly was built to solve, and it is why Roamly shows up in almost every van conversion insurance conversation despite being a relatively new entrant in the market.

Roamly is the only major US insurance agent whose product design is organized around DIY and custom campervan conversions as the default case, not the exception. For that reason it gets recommended constantly, and for the same reason it has become one of the most-searched insurance brands in the van conversion space. But Roamly is not automatically the right answer for every Sprinter, Transit, or ProMaster owner. It fits certain situations better than others, and understanding where it falls short is as important as understanding where it fits.

Here is what Roamly actually is, what the policy covers, what it costs, and how it compares to the alternatives for van conversion insurance.

What Roamly Actually Is

Roamly is a licensed insurance agency — not an insurance carrier. That distinction matters, because the policies Roamly sells are underwritten by third-party carriers, not by Roamly itself. According to Roamly’s published materials, the underwriting partners include Spinnaker, Progressive, Safeco, Foremost, National General, Mobilitas, and others.

What Roamly contributes is the product design and the underwriting appetite. By aggregating multiple carrier relationships under a single agency with a specific focus on recreational vehicles — RVs, campervans, motorcycles, boats, ATVs — Roamly can route a given risk to whichever underwriter has the best fit, rather than forcing every customer into a single carrier’s rule set. For customers, that means a DIY van conversion that a mainstream carrier would reject at intake can often be placed with a carrier through Roamly that has been set up to accept it.

Roamly is licensed as an agency in every state where its products are available. Specific product availability varies by state because the underlying carrier partnerships do.

A note on the Outdoorsy connection, which comes up often: Roamly has a formal affiliate relationship with Outdoorsy, the peer-to-peer RV rental platform. This relationship is visible in the product design — Roamly policies explicitly allow peer-to-peer rentals through platforms like Outdoorsy, which is a coverage feature most traditional RV carriers either exclude or treat as grounds for denial. Whether you ever plan to rent the van out or not, the rental-friendly underwriting is one of Roamly’s core differentiators.

What the Policy Covers

Roamly’s Class B campervan product is a standard RV insurance structure, with features tuned for the campervan and conversion market.

Core coverage includes:

  • Liability — bodily injury and property damage, at limits the customer selects
  • Comprehensive and collision — covers physical damage to the van and the build, not just the chassis
  • Uninsured and underinsured motorist — protection against drivers without adequate coverage
  • Medical payments — injury coverage for the policyholder and passengers

Available add-ons include:

  • Roadside assistance — towing, lockout, mechanical assistance
  • Personal effects coverage — belongings stored in the van (tools, electronics, gear)
  • Emergency expense coverage — lodging and transportation when the van is disabled away from home
  • Vacation liability — liability coverage while the van is parked and being used as a temporary residence at a campsite or park

The part of the policy van owners care most about — coverage for the build itself — is where Roamly’s product differs most clearly from mainstream carriers. A standard carrier’s commercial or personal auto policy covers the vehicle as titled, which for a converted cargo van usually means the chassis value only. Roamly’s product is designed to cover the chassis plus the conversion, at a value the policy agrees to at binding. This is the single most important thing the product does, and it is the reason Roamly gets recommended for custom builds.

How Roamly Handles DIY Builds

This is where Roamly diverges most sharply from the rest of the market. The Roamly product is explicitly designed to cover DIY conversions, not to tolerate them as an exception.

From Roamly’s published materials, a DIY build qualifies for coverage when it has “permanently installed sleeping and cooking facilities.” The company has publicly stated that it “updated [its] definition of what constitutes a motorhome to better serve the growing DIY conversion van movement,” which is unusual language from an insurance agency and reflects a deliberate product positioning choice.

Documentation that Roamly typically requires for DIY builds includes:

  • Before and after photos of the conversion
  • Receipts for materials and labor that went into the build
  • Proof of safety system compliance — electrical, LP gas, and similar
  • A professional appraisal for builds with conversion values exceeding roughly $30,000 to $40,000

The appraisal threshold is worth noting. For a modest DIY build under $30,000 in conversion cost, Roamly generally accepts owner-provided documentation. For higher-value builds, an independent appraisal is part of the underwriting process. This is reasonable — it protects both the carrier and the owner from disputes at claim time — but it is a step worth planning for, because appraisal availability and turnaround vary by region.

What It Costs

Roamly’s published range for Class B campervan insurance is $500 to $1,600 per year, which matches the broader range seen across the specialty campervan insurance market. Where a specific van falls inside that range depends on the usual variables: vehicle value, annual mileage, coverage limits, deductibles, driver profile, and location.

State variation is significant. Roamly’s own published example figures point to Michigan averaging roughly $4,000 per year at the high end (driven by Michigan’s no-fault insurance market, not Roamly specifically), versus North Carolina closer to $860. Most states land inside the $500 to $1,600 range, but high-cost insurance states can push premiums substantially higher through no fault of the carrier.

What Roamly does not publish, and what most agencies do not publish, is a direct comparison of its rates against Good Sam, Progressive, State Farm, or other competitors for the same vehicle. Real-world comparisons depend on the specific van, build, and owner, which is why anyone seriously deciding between carriers should get quotes from at least two or three — including Roamly and at least one mainstream RV specialty carrier — before choosing.

Where Roamly Falls Short

Roamly is not the right answer for every van conversion owner, and treating it as a default can cost people money or leave coverage gaps. The situations where another carrier is usually a better fit:

High-value factory Class Bs with RVIA certification. For a new or recent-model factory Class B from a major manufacturer — Winnebago, Airstream, Storyteller, Thor — the mainstream RV specialty carriers (Good Sam / National General, Progressive’s RV product, specialty carriers through independent RV agents) often come in competitive or cheaper, because the build is already within their standard underwriting box. Roamly is optimized for the harder-to-place conversions; easier placements do not necessarily benefit from it.

Owners with strong existing carrier relationships. If you already have Progressive, State Farm, or Good Sam / National General and the carrier will write the conversion, there are real benefits to keeping the van with the same carrier as your other policies — multi-policy discounts, a single claims contact, and established service relationships. Roamly does not offer the broader personal lines coverage to match, so switching to Roamly means giving up whatever bundling benefits you had.

Full-time live-in use. Roamly covers recreational and weekend use clearly, and writes policies for extended travel. Full-time residency in the van — living in it as your primary dwelling — is a more specialized coverage category that not every Roamly-placed carrier handles. If you are full-timing, ask directly whether the specific carrier the policy would be placed with offers full-timer’s coverage, and what that coverage excludes.

Commercial or dual-use scenarios. A van used partly for business (mobile services, deliveries, paid tours) needs a commercial auto policy or a hybrid arrangement. Roamly’s core product is a personal-use campervan policy; it is not the right fit if the van is doing business work more than incidentally.

States with limited carrier availability. Because Roamly places business through multiple underwriting partners, certain carrier and product combinations are not available in every state. Specialty RV insurance from a long-established carrier may have broader state-by-state availability than Roamly’s placements in your specific state.

Roamly vs. Good Sam vs. Progressive

A few quick framing points for comparing Roamly against the two most common alternatives. The full decision framework lives in our Best Insurance for Van Conversions comparison; this section is the Roamly-specific version of it.

Roamly vs. Good Sam / National General. Good Sam’s RV insurance product (underwritten by National General) is the established specialty RV insurer in the US market, with decades of history and one of the deepest product catalogs — full replacement cost for newer units, suspendable storage coverage, personal belongings coverage, roadside. Good Sam is strong for factory Class Bs and higher-end custom builds. Roamly is stronger for DIY and for peer-to-peer rental use. Neither is universally cheaper than the other; compare quotes directly.

Roamly vs. Progressive. Progressive writes campervan and DIY conversion policies (since its November 2023 policy change) and has the advantage of being a mainstream carrier with competitive rates in many states. Roamly’s advantage over Progressive is underwriting appetite for unusual builds and rental-friendly coverage. Progressive’s advantage over Roamly is brand familiarity, bundling with Progressive auto, and breadth of agent network.

The short version: if the build is DIY or unusual, or if peer-to-peer rental is even a possibility, call Roamly first. If the build is a factory Class B or a well-documented custom build from a known shop, get quotes from Good Sam / National General and Progressive alongside Roamly and let the numbers decide.

How to Get a Quote

Roamly’s quote process is online-first. Expect to provide:

  • Vehicle year, make, model, VIN
  • Current title status (housecar, camper, commercial — see our California registration guide if you are still on commercial plates)
  • Base vehicle value and conversion cost
  • Build documentation — photos and receipts for custom and DIY conversions
  • Driver information and claims history
  • Storage location and annual mileage

For conversions above the appraisal threshold, expect an additional step before binding while the appraisal is completed. Build time for a final bound policy is usually a matter of days for standard placements, longer for high-value DIY builds requiring appraisal.

Compare Roamly

Bottom Line

Roamly’s core value is product-market fit: an insurance agency whose default assumption is that the vehicle is a DIY or custom campervan, underwritten by carriers who have agreed to accept that assumption. For the audience Roamly is built for — DIY builders, small-shop custom builds, owners who rent on Outdoorsy — it is the most reliable single call in the US campervan insurance market. For factory Class Bs, full-timers, commercial-use vans, and owners with strong existing carrier relationships, it is a quote to include in the comparison, not necessarily the default answer.

The strongest recommendation: do not pick an insurer based on a single quote from any carrier, including Roamly. Get two or three quotes, compare coverage and exclusions (not just premium), and pick the one whose product language actually matches how you use the van.

Sources and Verification

Coverage details and pricing ranges reflect Roamly’s published materials as of April 2026. Individual quotes vary by state, vehicle, and driver profile. Underwriting partners and product availability are subject to change.