New Insurer enters Caravan Market

[Niall_McIntosh]

A new insurer, backed by Aviva, has entered the Caravan Insurance market. Rather than use a pre-bundled offering it, apparently, uses a "build your own" model where users choose, and pay, for the exact cover they need. It will be interesting to see both how competitive they are, and how the more established players react.

Ripe Insurance launches caravan insurance on new cloud-based platform

The product range covers both touring and static caravans

www.insurancetimes.co.uk

 

[otherclive]

It will be interesting to see how they do. But customising you’re policy cover to your needs isn’t new. Both Clubs policies do that. And is having it on the Cloud really any different to having it on a company’s own servers as far as the customer is concerned. After all if I get my van or car insurance documents by email I can always save them to Icloud or Onedrive etc if I need to remotely access them.
Ripe’s marketing hype does try hard though to make insurance exciting

The proof of their service will come when we see how claims are dealt with.

 

[Niall_McIntosh]

It's not very often that you see the words "Insurance" and "Exciting" in the same sentence!

I do agree that the proof of the pudding will be in their claims service.

 

[Raywood]

Had a look at the website but not sure it is anything new. There appears to be a near standard policy which you can then add to like any other. Not sure it is really anything new, but it is backed by a good reputable insurer. Looks a decent offering although I have not checked the price.
The 15 years replacement as new bit looks good, but you have to have bought the caravan new so I doubt it is going to get many people using it for caravans that old.

 

[Beachball2]

Does it offer caravan insurance and Breakdown cover

 

[Beachball]

This will be our second year with this Caravan insurance & Breakdown Cover (Frank Pickles ) they were very reasonable price and cheaper then last year

 

[otherclive]

This will be our second year with this Caravan insurance & Breakdown Cover (Frank Pickles ) they were very reasonable price and cheaper then last year

Any reviews of what they are like when policyholders have to make a claim?

 

[Beachball]

Look them up on Google and see for yourself .
I haven't had a claim must be over 20 years old

 

[otherclive]

Look them up on Google and see for yourself .
I haven't had a claim must be over 20 years old

The FEEFO reviews in the main relate to the price quoted for the policy and the ease of online purchase. There are a number of poor reviews of customer service but as with a lot of insurance it’s not that easy to obtain information on the performance as seen on review sites when a claim is made. Being a broker Frank Pickles isn’t the insurer but is bound by FCA regulations. But it’s quite rare for a Broker to feature in the Complaint process as when a claim is made it is normally dealt with by the insurer selected by the Broker. So any FCA investigation tends to look at the Insurers decisions and actions in dealing with the claim.

 

[JezzerB]

I've done a quote;at that price poor customer service or no , unless our current insurer gets close we'll be moving!

 

[SeaDog]

I have moved to them, £126.00 new for old. My current insurer upped the cost to over £300.00, CMC wanted over £450.00, nothing was below £285.00, I got disenchanted looking. I am hoping this is a kick to all the insurance companies to return to sensible prices.

 

[Raywood]

What really matters with insurance is what happens if you have to claim. You need good service and no penny pinching. Getting the cheapest premium tends to mean that the insurer has cut out something so is best avoided. As they say you get what you pay for so9 do not expect a Rolls Royce policy for Diahatsu price.
I would admit there can be bargains out there, but usually the best bet is somewhere in the middle. That is where most of us buy our outfit, and the same idea should be applied to buying our insurance.

 

[Beachball]

Everything was included what I wanted .
Voluntary Excess nil
Compulsory £100
The price for this (Caravan Insurance & Breakdown Cover £168

Some Caravan Insurance have Add- Ons

 

[Raywood]

I have the breakdown insurance with the car rather than the caravan. Do you lose your no claims bonus on the caravan if you claim for a breakdown?
Not sure what your sum insured, is but that quote looks far too cheap to me.

 

[Beachball]

Seeing I have 11 years no claims bonus and it protected and what is it with everyone on this forum (Ray)
Do they have Claims & Breakdowns
If you think the quote far to cheap you must be paying over the top with your insurance ..
Also it your choice who you pick ….

 

[Beachball]

I also have Breakdown with the car with RAC
But you have to pay extra if you are towing a caravan
I must have over 30 years no claims Bonus

 

[otherclive]

Seeing I have 11 years no claims bonus and it protected and what is it with everyone on this forum (Ray)
Do they have Claims & Breakdowns
If you think the quote far to cheap you must be paying over the top with your insurance ..
Also it your choice who you pick ….

You can’t say anyone (Ray) must be paying over the top without a like for like comparison. Cheap doesn’t necessarily mean good, and higher price doesn’t mean it’s better. So your statement is a bit meaningless. It’s surely up to individuals to exercise their choice. Of which one parameter is price. The other is customer service and the deal breaker is how well an insurer settles claim.

 

[Beachball]

Like anything it is a personal choice and experience, what one person believes may not be true for someone else. I look for good customer experience with a value for money for the insurance. It is not the cheapest, I have a good history with no accidents and have a long history of good preparation with both car and van. Hope you have the same experience that I have had...……………….. then you can say the same

 

[otherclive]

Like anything it is a personal choice and experience, what one person believes may not be true for someone else. I look for good customer experience with a value for money for the insurance. It is not the cheapest, I have a good history with no accidents and have a long history of good preparation with both car and van. Hope you have the same experience that I have had...……………….. then you can say the same

Yes my experience is similar never had a fault claim on since I started driving in 1963. Nor a claim on the caravan either. My wife’s record is virtually the same. However we have had two no fault claims where my Volvo estate and her Saab 9000 were total write offs. One was settled without any fuss, the other a lower price policy for same cover with a well known insurance company was a nightmare to settle. Cannot name the poor company as it’s changed it’s name but is still around. Needless to say we now use the same company as you never know when someone is going to come around a bend on your side of the road do you ?

 

[JezzerB]

How do you know though , how good the service is; not till you claim and we all hope we never have to? With electrical items for example I have never paid for insurance as I know that the money I have saved would more than pay for a new item-on the one item that did pack up before the 5 year term. I apply the same logic to any insurance.

 

[Raywood]

Sorry it is not a lot of use to you, but I worked in the industry for over 40 years for three different companies. Quite simply like everything else we buy the cheapest is the cheapest for a reason, and that is usually because it is inferior, but I do accept there is the odd bargain out there, but unless you know the business you cannot be sure.
With car insurance there can be bargains because the rates are increased with results and inflation at different times by different companies, so if you can get a policy before the rates go up you can do well. Generally caravan policies are simply a percentage of the sum insured, although the area you store it can also be used by some companies, so the about to raise the premium point does not arise. With car insurance the liability risk is the premium driver as that is where the huge claims are, this is partly independent of the car model, but not entirely.
The best policies have a DEFAQTO five star rating, if they do not have this then something is missing and may be more. If it does not have the rating then I would not touch it. I accept you only know how good the policy is when you have a claim, but if the adverts emphasise cheap, that tends to be what they are, rather than good.

 

[otherclive]

This discussion re Frank Pickles has diverged from the OP. FP are brokers and have been in business some while. They use Isle of Man Assurance who don’t come under FCA Regulation. It says so in the details. But IoM do have a long history as an insurance center with their own FSA. Lack of DEFAQTO may be because of this. FP use MBG Insurance Newcastle as their claim handlers. But I did a like for like quote yesterday and it came out nearly under one half of my policy. And I did search around before insuring this year.

 

[Beachball]

Latest Update
We have decided to go with another company who better meet our needs

 

[Notmyvan]

A new insurer, backed by Aviva, has entered the Caravan Insurance market. Rather than use a pre-bundled offering it, apparently, uses a "build your own" model where users choose, and pay, for the exact cover they need. It will be interesting to see both how competitive they are, and how the more established players react.

Ripe Insurance launches caravan insurance on new cloud-based platform

The product range covers both touring and static caravans

www.insurancetimes.co.uk

I used to work for Aviva and there were at least 25 Insurance Companies which were owned by Aviva and if you telephoned any of them the phone call went to the main Aviva switchboard I know one insurance company was big in insuraing Motor Homes.

 

[Raywood]

I have no problem with Aviva, in fact despite having worked for the opposition our car is insured with them. The problem with many of these schemes is that Aviva do not handle the claims, they are farmed out to claims handling companies, and some of them are rubbish.