Insurance anybody?

[PHOENIXFLIER]

Think this might open a tin of worms, but can anybody recommend a good insurance company?.
We are thinking about the MH&CC full house insurance at the moment, but how does that compare to others? Thanks Simon.

 

[Dustydog]

Been with CC (CAMC ) for years. Excellent cover and claims service but not the cheapest.CC&C also offer a similar good scheme.
There are some "not so good" but we cannot mention them

 

[DaveA1]

Been with the MHCC club for years 5Cs mid priced, good cover, once offered cover for £75( ran a mile) on go compare, Also had New for Old for £168 to good to be true. :S :S

 

[Parksy]

Both clubs offer good insurance policies, there are cheaper options available but the real value of any caravan insurance policy is only revealed if you make a claim.
In 2007we bought a brand new Abbey 545 and took out new for old insurance with the Camping and Caravanning Club.
Three months after we bought the caravan it was flooded when the River Avon alongside the site burst it's banks in the catastrophic floods that year.
Our brand new caravan was written off.
Within days the C&CC assessor had inspected the damage, declared a total loss and we received a cheque for our accessories and we were able to choose a replacement caravan to. The full value of the flooded 545.
The Clubcare scheme removed the stress and worry at a very distressing time.
My advice to anyone seeking caravan insurance would be to check out the policies of both clubs, compare the prices and small print and use them as the yardstick to compare any other policy before finally choosing to buy a policy from one of the clubs.

 

[WoodlandsCamper]

Parksy has given good advice for most people who have expensive assets, but as the caravan gets older then its value decreases and sometimes the cost of renewal (with the main clubs) gets near the value of the van. At his stage you must work out your options but it's still worth having some sort of insurance for the van and contents rather than nothing at all.

 

[DaveA1]

Good point WC
Our first van was old and painted red and cream, think it had been converted back from a burger van Any way, when it came to insurance, I asked my motor insurer for a quote and he said it wasn't worth it
better to insure the van contents they were worth more. That was 40 odd years ago had some good times in it though. B)

PS The insurance agent use to come to your house in them days.

 

[robf1234]

i am using a company called lifesure seem ok bit cheaper than the clubs ins,,but i never had to make a claim ,,yet,,so not sure how good they will be then ?

 

[KeefySher]

i am using a company called lifesure seem ok bit cheaper than the clubs ins,,but i never had to make a claim ,,yet,,so not sure how good they will be then ?

Lifesure are a broker, not an insurance company. However they are very good.

We had the MH insured through them. Had 1 no fault claim, a drunk card player ran into it on our driveway one friday night while we were sat in the house. Claim was passed to a handling company based in Blackpool by the insurer, Would have been better handled by a stick of rock tbh. I ended up taking charge of the repairs. The insurer also passed on our details to the ambulance chasers, and to this day, some 7+ years on I still receive unwanted calls to claim for the non injuries incurred

We used Lifesure for the 9 years we had the MH, including after that incident. Could not be beaten on price. We could have had a replacement MH whilst ours was being repaired under that cover, but didn't need to.

 

[Raywood]

We have switched from the CC to the C&CC who were far cheaper for a very similar policy. They were not expensive and frankly I would worry about any company that seriously undercuts them as the premiums are simply going to be too cheap. Remember at least 80% of premiums goes on paying claims and so if the premium is very low so the claims payouts have to be.
Some of the cheaper ones do have serious shortfalls in cover if you read the policy and not just the blurb you get when you first look. One policy I saw excluded fires caused by the heater which would be completely unacceptable and the theft conditions which is a major loss factor can be very onerous on some. The claims service can also be the problem as KeefySher shows in his post. To be frank after what he says happened I cannot see why you would stick with them as the saving is not worthwhile if the claims service is not up to scratch.
Any that do not advertise a DEFACTO five star rating should be avoided as that suggests the cover is not the best.

 

[KeefySher]

The claims service can also be the problem as KeefySher shows in his post. To be frank after what he says happened I cannot see why you would stick with them as the saving is not worthwhile if the claims service is not up to scratch.
Any that do not advertise a DEFACTO five star rating should be avoided as that suggests the cover is not the best.

The claims service provided in our case was by the insurer, a rather large one, 3 letters, and 5 stars defacto. As a second of our vehicles was also damaged by the card players vehicle, insured by another insurer, 2 words with a famous actor in the adverts, who didn't use a 3rd party claim mishandling service; we had a benchmark to beat our other insurer with. In both policies there was no mention of 3rd party claims mishandlers being involved.

We continued to use Lifesure for the MH although moved away from the large insurer who had shown how bad they were, and other travel insurance and found them to be excellent. Lifesure had no control over the insurer that employed the useless claim mishandlers (a main road, not a motorway ). The MH was repaired to our satisfaction, to meet our time frame, and we had a replacement car to use for loads of miles we didn't put on the other 2 cars in use at the time.

As the old adage goes you don't know how good your insurance is until you claim. We found how bad a defacto 5* giant insurer were.

 

[Dustydog]

For those who are interested in Defacto ratings and what they mean see this.
http://www.defaqto.com/star-ratings/motor/car-insurance/?id=53084

 

[thosoneill]

I don't have insurance on my fifteen hundred squid caravan - should I

 

[SteveW77]

I don't have insurance on my fifteen hundred squid caravan - should I

Your van may only be worth £1500, but you may well be parked next to one worth £28000 if /when you van bursts in to flames while you are out for the day. Are you prepared to pay for that?

 

[thosoneill]

Completely ignored third party - thanks SteveW77 - I shall arrange insurance as soon as possible

 

[WoodlandsCamper]

Whilst actually towing on the road I believe your van is covered 3rd party by the car insurance.

 

[thosoneill]

Whilst actually towing on the road I believe your van is covered 3rd party by the car insurance.

Yes but what if my van suffers the dreaded "spontaneous combustion"

 

[WoodlandsCamper]

Whilst actually towing on the road I believe your van is covered 3rd party by the car insurance.

Yes but what if my van suffers the dreaded "spontaneous combustion"

That's 1st party and not included.

 

[Dustydog]

Under the current Road Traffic Act it is mandatory that both car and attached caravan are insured against damage to third party property and body injury.As a precaution make sure you tell your insurer you are towing a caravan.
When on site or wherever caravan is unattached it would be foolhardy not to have the caravan insured for third party risks.

 

[Keefanmaxx]

We have our van insured through the C&CC which is a very reasonable cost. We've also just got them to quote for a brand new van and were suprised at the cost, again very reasonable.

Our car policy will provide cover while towing, but not necessarily what is being towed as we discovered when we brought a folding camper on impulse :blink:

Surely it's better to have the van insured as the policy will provide public liability cover, contents and accessory cover.

 

[Raywood]

If you have a very cheap caravan then possibly a very cheap policy is all you need as what you want to cover is the third party risk which is the one that could really cost if things go wrong.

 

[Bwlch]

Just insured my new to me £4000 lunar delta through ccc. Included awning and contents cover, all agreed value, £127. Seems like a reasonable cost for the cover and peace of mind.

 

[Raywood]

We switched to them last year when CC wanted £400 and C&*CC about £280 for about £20,000 of cover. The CC policy and service are excellent but they are pricing themselves out of the market.

 

[Hutch]

C & CC, £5 dicount from last year for our 2013 Coachman, new for old . Would only go for CC club otherwise, , maybe on a lower value van I might go for someone else but I dought it.

 

[Dodger524]

I've just changed my insurance from CMC to CCC because of the cost. On a £29K new for old policy the CCC was £240 cheaper.