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Sep 10, 2019
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can any body tell me if a insurance company can refuse to pay out on a right off caravan if they are not Chris registered as i believe thy are just a private company and not a government or legal requirement. ?
any help please .
 

Parksy

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Nov 12, 2009
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It all depends on the insurance company, and if there are any clauses hidden in the small print within the policy document which require a caravan to be CRiS registered to it's current owner.
 
Mar 24, 2014
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Without knowing the full circumstances of your claim, the short answer is that, if the insurer has made registration on CRiS a requirement of your insurance (and they would have to have made this clear to you) and you have not complied with this requirement, then yes, they can refuse to pay out. If you are unhappy with their handling of your claim, then you can make a formal complaint to the insurer, if this does not resolve the situation, you can then escalate your complaint to the Financial Services Ombudsman. If you can supply further information about the circumstances of the claim, that might help in providing a more considered response.
 
Jun 20, 2005
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CRIS was new and it wasn’t the norm to register caravans with them prior to 1992.
What year are you interested in?
Niall sets out a very good response.
I can say my CAMC Policy does not contain a condition precedent that CRIS is required. I think in this day and age it Is a forgone conclusion. That said CRIS or no CRIS it won’t stop the caravan being stolen :woohoo:
 
Sep 10, 2019
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HI, Niall thanks for your reply its just that i bought the van private not chris registered, owing to wind damage its a right off we told the insurance at the time that it was not registered but i have no proof of this ,as it was verble on the phone.
 
Mar 24, 2014
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CRiS is a central Register, a bit like DVLA but without the legal compulsion. The key benefit is that it makes it difficult for someone who has stolen a caravan to sell it on to an unsuspecting victim. It may be for this reason that an insurer may decide only to insure 'vans which are on the CRiS database. Indeed, CRiS's website does say "Many insurance companies require CRiS registration before processing a claim". I am not aware which companies have this requirement, as DustyDog says the CAMC policy has no such requirement.

As DustyDog says, 'vans manufactured before 1992 are not automatically registered on CRiS, after this date new 'vans were registered on CRiS in the name of the first owner by the dealer. When a 'van is subsequently sold on, whether this is via a private sale or via a dealer, the existing registered keeper notifies CRiS and the registration will be changed to the new owner/keeper. There is nothing to stop a pre 1992 'van being registered onto CRiS.

I suppose the key issues are:
- whether your 'van is pre or post 1992. If the latter, it should have been registered on CRiS.
- has your insurer made it a requirement that the 'van be CRiS registered. If they have, this should have been made clear to you. Even when insurance quotes are obtained over the telephone, the details are normally confirmed in writing. Under the FCA rules insurers have to ensure that for "consumer products" (ie those sold to the general public) any unusual conditions or exceptions are brought to the attention of the policyholder. There shouldn't be any nasty surprises hidden in the small print.
 
Sep 10, 2019
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Thanks to all , I now know to read small print as it dose state the requirement of chris reg, you all have been very help full in this, again thanks.
 
May 7, 2012
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Insurers cannot refuse a claim if a caravan is not CRIS registered, but if they check ownership with them and you are not registered as the owner, it might delay settlement. You would then have to prove ownership with some documentary evidence.
 
Mar 24, 2014
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Raywood said:
Insurers cannot refuse a claim if a caravan is not CRIS registered, but if they check ownership with them and you are not registered as the owner, it might delay settlement. You would then have to prove ownership with some documentary evidence.

If the insurers have made CRiS registration a condition precedent to liability, then they may be able to refuse to indemnify a policyholder if they have not complied with this condition. The OP has confirmed that their policy does include such a requirement. On the face of it, the insurers are acting in accordance with their contractual terms. That is not to say that the insurer's position might not be open to challenge, but I don't think one can say categorically that "insurers cannot refuse a claim if a caravan is not CRiS registered".
 
Mar 14, 2005
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Niall_McIntosh said:
If the insurers have made CRiS registration a condition precedent to liability, then they may be able to refuse to indemnify a policyholder if they have not complied with this condition. The OP has confirmed that their policy does include such a requirement. On the face of it, the insurers are acting in accordance with their contractual terms. That is not to say that the insurer's position might not be open to challenge, but I don't think one can say categorically that "insurers cannot refuse a claim if a caravan is not CRiS registered".

I'm inclined to agree with Naill on this point. But assuming such a clause was present in a policy, it would be a prerequisite for the company to ask for the CRIS details at the time the customer is trying to set up the policy. It follows that if no CRIS details are available or they don't match the CRIS database, then they would decline to enact the policy, consequently any customer with a policy would have already provided CRIS details.

I cannot foresee any circumstances where a policy from this company could have be issued without CRIS in place. so they would never have a reason to decline a claim based on a failure to have CRIS registration.

However, if CRIS registration were a prerequisite for a policy to be enacted, I would presume that the CRIS registration number and evidence of correct registration details would have to be supplied by the applicant before the policy was put in place. It therefore stands to reason that if no CRIS information was forthcoming, then the company would not allow the policy to be enacted. So it's almost impossible for them to decline a claim becasue CRIS registration had not been completed.
 
May 7, 2012
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To refuse a claim, the insurer would have to show that the failure to register was relevant and might have prevented the loss. Even with theft claims I am at a loss as to how this would be relevant. Thieves would not know if a caravan was registered, and registering it does not stop them. It is however far better to comply with the policy terms, as even if the claim is accepted it would often mean a delay in settlement.
It could be argued that if the caravan was recovered a registered caravan might be easier to identify, but I am doubtful this would stand up, but that is the only relevant point I can see.
 
Mar 24, 2014
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I think the difficulty here is that we neither know why the insurer applied such a condition in the first place, nor why non compliance with it has allowed the insurer to refuse to indemnify in respect of a wind damage claim. On the face of it, it appears harsh and open to challenge via the insurer's complaints mechanism and, potentially, the Ombudsman, but we do not have the full story.
 
Mar 14, 2005
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ast5454 said:
can any body tell me if a insurance company can refuse to pay out on a right off caravan if they are not Chris registered as i believe thy are just a private company and not a government or legal requirement. ?
any help please .

May I ask you to clarify the reason for your question? Are you in this situation?
 
May 7, 2012
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For some reason I cannot get the original post on the thread. In simple terms a wind damage claim has no connection with the lack of CRIS registration and the claim should be paid. The policyholder should write a formal complaint to the insurer indicating this and asking for it to be dealt with under the insurers complaints procedure and if it is still rejected take it to the Ombudsman.
 
Mar 24, 2014
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Raywood said:
For some reason I cannot get the original post on the thread. In simple terms a wind damage claim has no connection with the lack of CRIS registration and the claim should be paid. The policyholder should write a formal complaint to the insurer indicating this and asking for it to be dealt with under the insurers complaints procedure and if it is still rejected take it to the Ombudsman.

Yes, something is not right here. I don't think we have been given the full story.
 
Mar 14, 2005
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I have just reread the entire thread, and I am left wondering if the insurance company could be suspicious about the claim.

It is possible the caravans previous owner had been registered with CRIS, but failed to cancel or change the registration so he is still shown as the caravans registered owner. The new owner sets up policy, and has now made a claim. The insurance company check the CRIS data base and discover the discrepancy. The company could be concerned about making a payment to a person who is not the registered owner. From their perspective it could be a fraud.
 
Jun 20, 2005
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ProfJohnL said:
I have just reread the entire thread, and I am left wondering if the insurance company could be suspicious about the claim.

It is possible the caravans previous owner had been registered with CRIS, but failed to cancel or change the registration so he is still shown as the caravans registered owner. The new owner sets up policy, and has now made a claim. The insurance company check the CRIS data base and discover the discrepancy. The company could be concerned about making a payment to a person who is not the registered owner. From their perspective it could be a fraud.
I think you are on the right track here Prof. I have never seen a Condition precedent to Policy liability relating to CRIS in a caravan insurance policy.
However any insurance claims person will know from birth you must establish legal title to the subject matter of the claim.There is more to this than meets the eye and I agree you are the right track :)
 
May 7, 2012
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ProfJohnL said:
I have just reread the entire thread, and I am left wondering if the insurance company could be suspicious about the claim.

It is possible the caravans previous owner had been registered with CRIS, but failed to cancel or change the registration so he is still shown as the caravans registered owner. The new owner sets up policy, and has now made a claim. The insurance company check the CRIS data base and discover the discrepancy. The company could be concerned about making a payment to a person who is not the registered owner. From their perspective it could be a fraud.

I agree there is a lack of facts here but the insurer would have difficulty in using the policy term as a basis for turning down the claim, as the lack of CRIS registration was not relevant to the claim. If it was a problem with ownership, or lack of it, then they could require the policyholder to prove ownership, but ownership would be the basis of the repudiation if he could not prove this. This is usually only relevant where the caravan is a total loss where the policyholder can get cash but we have no idea if that is the case.
There are sorts of other reasons why they might turn down the claim such as the caravan was subject to a previous claim by someone else and the lack of registration might be due to that but if so the original post is wrong in the reason for repudiation.
 

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