Flood Insurance Requirement for Recreational Vehicles

Recreational Vehicles (RVs) may include motorized vehicles (i.e., Class A, B, or C vehicles, or motorhomes) and travel trailers (e.g., fifth wheel, pop-up camper, etc.).

Generally, motorized vehicles are not insurable as property by the NFIP. Applicants whose primary residence is a motorized vehicle are exempt from the requirement to obtain and maintain flood insurance and may be eligible for IHP assistance, even if they received IHP assistance for flood-damaged personal property in a previous disaster.

RVs without wheels, built on a chassis, and affixed to a permanent foundation (referred to as “travel trailers”) are insurable under the NFIP. Applicants located in an SFHA, who previously accepted IHP assistance for a flooding incident and whose primary residence is a travel trailer, are required to obtain and maintain flood insurance for as long as the address exists for at least the amount of flood-damaged IHP assistance received for real and/or personal property.

Applicants with a NFIRA requirement, who fail to affix a travel trailer to a permanent foundation and/or to properly elevate the travel trailer in compliance with the community’s floodplain management requirements, rendering the unit uninsurable under NFIP, will be ineligible to receive any Federal assistance for flood-damaged real or personal property in a future disaster.

Research Resource: 

• FEMA IA Policy Manual 2021
• 44 C.F.R. 61, Appendix A(1) and A(3)
• 44 C.F.R. 61
• 44 C.F.R. 206.110(k)(3)
• 44 C.F.R. 61.17 Appendix A.III.6
• FEMA IHP and ONA increased 8.3 percent Oct 2022 to $41,000