HELP!

[Elliott34]

Looking for some help we take delivery of our caravan on the 29 july I'm trying to sort out insurance have no idea what to look for done plenty of car insurance but some of the qetions they ask are a bite confusing and any recommendations for insurers

Thanks in advance

 

[Buckman]

Are you members of the CAMC or C&CC? Where will the caravan be stored and what sort of security measures will it have? This all makes a difference to the insurance premium and also whether the caravan is new or second hand. If new for the first 5 years opt for New of Old insurance rather than market value.

 

[Raywood]

Look for DEFAQTO four or five star cover for the best policies. If it is not there assume there s a problem and probably left well alone.
The CAMH is probably the best policy on the market but is usually expensive. I have gone off the C&CC one after some changes in the operation which I was unhappy with but the actual cover id good. I am now with Caravanguard which looks to be one of the best and is backed by RSA, still not cheap but probably worth the extra.
Other companies worth a look are NFU Mutual, SAGA and LV. Generally avoid the lowest quotes as they usually have something missing be it cover or claims service. If in doubt google their claims service as some are very bad.
Ignore Trust Pilot and similar reviews which generally tell you how easily they took your money, and they all do well at that. Remember it is the claims service that counts when you need them.

 

[Buckman]

As per Raywood we are also with Caravanguard whose quote was a lot more competitive than the CAMC.

 

[Guzzilazz]

I went with Saga for similar reasons to others... (price)

 

[Buckman]

I went with Saga for similar reasons to others... (price)

We have that with Saga the first year or two is very reasonably priced and then the premium rockets and you need to shop around again.

 

[Beachball]

We were also with Caravanguard we got a great quote even covering our caravan storage

 

[Sam Vimes]

It always amazes me how much insurance quotes vary and by huge amounts. My car insurance varied from £300 to £700 this year for the same coverage.

My daughters car which is different from mine plus she lives at the other end of the UK also saw similar variations.

Caravan insurance seemed to be subjected to similar wild variations.

I'm with Saga for the third year running and it's hardly changed if at all. I know with their house insurance you can get a three year price guarantee.

 

[Buckman]

Our car has a higher value than the caravan yet the insurance premium is about £200 less!

 

[Raywood]

Prices for insurance do vary in the same way as everything else, There are various factors from simple things like how they deal with heir claims and the efficiency of the organisation to their claims individual claims statistics. In many ways it is like buying your car, you can go for the Daihatsu at one end and a Rolls at the other. In theory they both do the same thing but the way they do it is very different. and you have to decide where you want to be.
caravan insurance is very different to motor insurance, but probably the biggest problem is the higher theft rate of caravans.

 

[Buckman]

Prices for insurance do vary in the same way as everything else, There are various factors from simple things like how they deal with heir claims and the efficiency of the organisation to their claims individual claims statistics. In many ways it is like buying your car, you can go for the Daihatsu at one end and a Rolls at the other. In theory they both do the same thing but the way they do it is very different. and you have to decide where you want to be.
caravan insurance is very different to motor insurance, but probably the biggest problem is the higher theft rate of caravans.

Is the theft rate higher? Even so it cost a lot less to replace a caravan than many cars!

 

[Guzzilazz]

We have that with Saga the first year or two is very reasonably priced and then the premium rockets and you need to shop around again.

Oh, over our five years of ownership, ours has gone down...

 

[Buckman]

Oh, over our five years of ownership, ours has gone down...

We had the opposite with the car premium increasing drastically after the 2nd year. We switched insurer and saved over £100. Saga did try a stunt trying to rope us into a 3 year contract to " save" money.

 

[Raywood]

The theft rate is high as we are looking at I think near 1,000 a year and only about 20,000 sold every year on average. According to Ripe I think the average repair cost is over £7.000 although how this compares with cars I do not know. The cost of car repairs is going up fast though which accounts for the premium increases there.

 

[Buckman]

The theft rate is high as we are looking at I think near 1,000 a year and only about 20,000 sold every year on average. According to Ripe I think the average repair cost is over £7.000 although how this compares with cars I do not know. The cost of car repairs is going up fast though which accounts for the premium increases there.

Where did you get the info regarding 1000 caravans stolen per year? Of that 1000 how many were insured and how many of the 1000 were recovered? It would be interesting to know if a tracking device aided the recovery of a stolen caravan.

 

[Raywood]

This figure published a couple or so years back.
I have no figures for the recovery using tracker devices but they have had some success. Tracker claim over £1.000,000 worth of leisure vehicles were recovered using their equipment in 2021 but do not give more statistics and that includes motor homes as well as caravans. It is an extra level of security, but given the price it is something people have to assess for them selves on only basic information.

 

[Buckman]

This figure published a couple or so years back.
I have no figures for the recovery using tracker devices but they have had some success. Tracker claim over £1.000,000 worth of leisure vehicles were recovered using their equipment in 2021 but do not give more statistics and that includes motor homes as well as caravans. It is an extra level of security, but given the price it is something people have to assess for them selves on only basic information.

A caravan or motorhome can cost well in excess of £20000 so don't understand why people scrimp when it comes to paying the tracker annual subscription fee of about £120?

Many state that if it is stolen they don't want it back, but the tracker should prevent it being stolen in the first place or for it to be recovered quickly. Some people do not realise that if their caravan is stolen and then recovered a week or two later, the insurance will give the caravan back to you and you will have no option except to take it back.

 

[ProfJohnL]

A caravan or motorhome can cost well in excess of £20000 so don't understand why people scrimp when it comes to paying the tracker annual subscription fee of about £120? ...

It takes all sorts, and what might suit one person might not suit another, so whether an additional £120 is to much or not cannot be assumed.

Its almost impossible to prove if the presence of a tracker prevents thefts, However advertising the fact a tracker is fitted might, but at the same time the thieves are upping their game, and they know how to disable some trackers.

Trackers only come into their own in locating stolen caravans. but it's also the case that some caravans that can be tracked are located but they've been trashed as the thieves have tried to find the tracker to remove or disable it.

Whether or not a caravan has been trashed, some people cannot get over the feeling that their property has been violated.

 

[Buckman]

It takes all sorts, and what might suit one person might not suit another, so whether an additional £120 is to much or not cannot be assumed.

Its almost impossible to prove if the presence of a tracker prevents thefts, However advertising the fact a tracker is fitted might, but at the same time the thieves are upping their game, and they know how to disable some trackers.

Trackers only come into their own in locating stolen caravans. but it's also the case that some caravans that can be tracked are located but they've been trashed as the thieves have tried to find the tracker to remove or disable it.

Whether or not a caravan has been trashed, some people cannot get over the feeling that their property has been violated.

Not quite correct. A tracker will notify the call centre the moment someone interferes with the caravan. The call centre then contact the owner to verify whether it is the owner by the caravan. If not the call centre notify the police and if the response is quick, the theft can be prevent even if the caravan is on route to somewhere.

If the thief disables the tracker or removes the 12v battery, the call centre are notified straight away. If the caravan has been trashed, but recovered within a designated period, the caravan will be returned to the owner once the damage has been repaired.

But as you say, it takes all sorts. LOL!

 

[Dustydog]

A trashed Tracker Caravan was recovered 15 years ago and taken to the Dealer. 6 months old. Sadly the repair cost was economical so a write off wasn’t an option. It was repaired and traded in . Personally We wouldn’t it back.
Back to the OP. Listen to Raywood advice. And whoever you choose stick rigidly to all their T&Cs especially security!

 

[RogerL]

Standard fit trackers are generally useless as the criminals know where they are and can get the car/caravan/motorhome away quickly and the tracker removed before action can be taken.

 

[Buckman]

Standard fit trackers are generally useless as the criminals know where they are and can get the car/caravan/motorhome away quickly and the tracker removed before action can be taken.

That is correct for the Tracker, but not so for the standard Phantom tracker which is proactive. We had ours fitted prior to delivery although it is not a standard fit. Standard is the normal Tracker unit which is as good as a wet paper bag. You need to notify the cal centre that the caravan is missing and if in storage this may be weeks or months.

 

[ProfJohnL]

That is correct for the Tracker, but not so for the standard Phantom tracker which is proactive. We had ours fitted prior to delivery although it is not a standard fit. Standard is the normal Tracker unit which is as good as a wet paper bag. You need to notify the cal centre that the caravan is missing and if in storage this may be weeks or months.

There are an increasing number of alarm systems which notify either the control center or the owner directly if the system is triggered. So the Phantom is not unique in that respect.

Like all other alarm and tracker systems, it only alerts to an event after it has been triggered, and by my definition that makes it reactive, not proactive. If any system is triggered that means the crime has already occured.

To be proactive it would need to be able to spot activity and notify the control center of the threat before the caravan is attacked.

I'm sorry if you have been taken in by the companies deliberate misleading advertising on that point.

I have not seen any validated statistics about recovery rates, so perhaps Phantom might have a greater success rate than other systems, but that doesn't make it proactive. and it doesn't mean that all other systems are entirely useless.

 

[Raywood]

Swift do fit trackers on some models and the idea that some thieves will know where to look is probably true as they will be in a limited number of places on these models. Not all thieves will know and probably some thieves will avoid them simply because that takes time and there are easier targets elsewhere. There are no rules to this, so nothing guarantees against, theft but every thing used adds to the security to some extent.
You should not advertise a tracker is fitted as that will alert thieves who can then check them out, although if thee is not one it may help with security.

 

[ProfJohnL]

...
You should not advertise a tracker is fitted as that will alert thieves who can then check them out, although if thee is not one it may help with security.

We all know that ultimately if the thieves want a particular product (possibly stolen to order) they will find a way to get it. So as has been suggested caravanners at best can make their caravan less attractive than the next one. Th insurance industry and the police know that if a product is more complicated to remove without detection the opportunist toerags will tend to try to find an easier target.

Consequently making it clear that a caravan has a tracker fitted could be an advantage that makes them move on.

I would agree i wouldn't be wise to identify the make or model of tracker as some may be well known to the criminals and they might know how to easily defeat them, but a non specific sticker that tells them a tracker is fitted but not which make or model could save your caravan.

If you don't worn them, there is s bigger danger they might attack the caravan damaging it before discovering it has a tracker, by which time your va has been violated.

Prevention as always is better than cure.