Roof light theft

[SilverSurfer]

Friends of mine visited the storage site where they keep their caravan to find major damage to the roof. Their roof light had been completely taken out with part of the roof, there was also damage to the side walls. The two year old Eldis was still locked with no damage to the door.
No words can express the feelings of caravanners when we are made aware of these things.

 

[Buckman]

Wow that is not good and needs to covered as soon as possible. Looks like it was stolen to order as those skylights have a nasty habit of cracking. Without naming the site, is it a CASSOA storage site?

 

[SilverSurfer]

Not sure about the CASSOA but all I can say is that this storage site is inS E England

 

[Buckman]

You can read here regarding the standards for a CASSOA site. Hopefully they will be claiming off the insurance as not a cheap job?

 

[otherclive]

Parts being stolen to order reflect the difficulty that makers are having in their logistics supplies. George and Ade had a door stolen, and decided to give up caravanning. I feel for anyone affected by such criminality. The insurers costs are going to be very expensive, could even be written off.

 

[Notmyvan]

You should be able to name the Storage Site.
I know that forums differ but as a boat owner I go on the Practical Boat Owner Forum and boat owners are allowed to name Boatyards where they have had a bad service and name Marinas where boats have been broken into and outboards or boats have been stolen. In this case of the caravan with this Roof Light having been removed it will be a Write Off and the owner of the Caravan should claim off their own Insurance and let their Insurance Company claim off the Storage Facility.

 

[Buckman]

Parts being stolen to order reflect the difficulty that makers are having in their logistics supplies. George and Ade had a door stolen, and decided to give up caravanning. I feel for anyone affected by such criminality. The insurers costs are going to be very expensive, could even be written off.

When we lost a skylight, we contacted Towergate and they arranged for us to drop off the caravan at the dealer the same day and the caravan was put under cover. Repair was done in less than a week, but this was way back in 2010.
BTW we were not at fault for leaving skylight unlocked, but we should have checked. Caravan was being sold and suspect a tyre kicker opened the skylight and left it unlocked.

 

[otherclive]

You should be able to name the Storage Site.
I know that forums differ but as a boat owner I go on the Practical Boat Owner Forum and boat owners are allowed to name Boatyards where they have had a bad service and name Marinas where boats have been broken into and outboards or boats have been stolen. In this case of the caravan with this Roof Light having been removed it will be a Write Off and the owner of the Caravan should claim off their own Insurance and let their Insurance Company claim off the Storage Facility.

If you read this Forums rules you will see that naming and shaming is not permitted as the company being complained about don’t have right of reply. Disputes aren’t resolved in open forums. Anyway the post says nothing about the type of storage site used.

 

[JezzerB]

Poor things that's appalling.

 

[Ern]

That is a rotten thing to do. I don't care how difficult it is to get spares, that is an unforgivable, disgusting way to treat someone's property. The poor owner must have been gutted.

 

[Notmyvan]

Perhaps CRiS marking should be also put on rooflights.
(40 years ago when cars were easier to steal and many garages were broken into and cars and tools were stolen some mechanics bought a small Hand Held Engraving Machine (240 volt) which would engrave a cars registration number on the cars windows (so if stolen the windows could not be used again) In my case I used to engrave all my tools AND as I had an interest in boats I engraved some of my boat stuff with my name.
And when my house was burgled the thieves stole my boat radio. Which had my name engraved on it.
Months later a well known thief's house was searched by the Police and they found a radio with my name engraved on it. So engraving does work.

 

[Parksy]

You should be able to name the Storage Site.
I know that forums differ but as a boat owner I go on the Practical Boat Owner Forum and boat owners are allowed to name Boatyards where they have had a bad service and name Marinas where boats have been broken into and outboards or boats have been stolen. In this case of the caravan with this Roof Light having been removed it will be a Write Off and the owner of the Caravan should claim off their own Insurance and let their Insurance Company claim off the Storage Facility.

I feel desperately sorry for the owners of the caravan, but the storage site didn't steal the rooflight and on this forum we prefer those who have issues with a commercial entity or service provider to take up the problem with them in order to resolve it.

 

[Jcloughie]

You should be able to name the Storage Site.
I know that forums differ but as a boat owner I go on the Practical Boat Owner Forum and boat owners are allowed to name Boatyards where they have had a bad service and name Marinas where boats have been broken into and outboards or boats have been stolen. In this case of the caravan with this Roof Light having been removed it will be a Write Off and the owner of the Caravan should claim off their own Insurance and let their Insurance Company claim off the Storage Facility.

Not necessarily a write off unless too much weather got in, but certainly a very expencive repair. I have had a full side replaced on a Valencia, I think it was between 4 and 5 thousand. great job, could not tell it had been done.



Please keep us posted SS.

John

 

[Buckman]

Not necessarily a write off unless too much weather got in, but certainly a very expencive repair. I have had a full side replaced on a Valencia, I think it was between 4 and 5 thousand. great job, could not tell it had been done.



Please keep us posted SS.

John

In 2010 when they replaced the front roof light the cost then was about £700.

 

[otherclive]

Not necessarily a write off unless too much weather got in, but certainly a very expencive repair. I have had a full side replaced on a Valencia, I think it was between 4 and 5 thousand. great job, could not tell it had been done.



Please keep us posted SS.

John

Not sure how easy it is to repair/replace the rooflight and surrounding area as the OP states damage too on the sidewalls . Eldiss are bonded construction and modern adhesives are notoriously strong hence their use in so many applications. But dismantling can be more difficult.

 

[Jcloughie]

Not sure how easy it is to repair/replace the rooflight and surrounding area as the OP states damage too on the sidewalls . Eldiss are bonded construction and modern adhesives are notoriously strong hence their use in so many applications. But dismantling can be more difficult.

I was thinking more in terms of the whole roof. Only from my experience of having the side invisibly replaced. But I really have no idea. Hopefully the victim will be on insured storage, failing that that they have new for old and their policy recognises the storage facility.

John

 

[Jaydug]

To do a quick job, the thieves have not only taken the roof-light, but they've cut through the surrounding roof. A cordless jigsaw would do it in minutes. I would think the van will need a new roof to make a decent job.

 

[littlebasher]

You don't get much lower than that

Not the sort of thing anyone expects to find when going to see their caravan. Probably some swine that also stores theirs at the same place.

 

[JezzerB]

I can't really see how the storage site can be blamed. If they're that determined as we've seen before they'll get past anything.

 

[Buckman]

I can't really see how the storage site can be blamed. If they're that determined as we've seen before they'll get past anything.

As one has paid for secure storage, I think it is called "duty of care". However it is up to the insurance companies to fight it out. Main thing is that the person is paid out.

 

[Beachball]

We also had parts took off one of our caravan at that time we were on a CASSOA site we claim through our insurance and everything was replaced but soon after we traded the caravan in

 

[Ern]

You don't get much lower than that

Not the sort of thing anyone expects to find when going to see their caravan. Probably some swine that also stores theirs at the same place.

I was thinking that. If a couple of people walked in carrying a ladder, and a cordless saw, and then staggered out carrying a roof with skylight as well, surely the security is non-existent. If an unauthorized vehicle get in and out again, then the security is also non-existent. I would say it was most likely taken out in another caravan. (and that, Holmes, is my opinion).

 

[Raywood]

Pity they did not fall off the roof and kill themselves. It must have been stolen to order and I suspect even the most secure storage sites would be vulnerable to this sort of thing as cutting through the security fencing is all that is needed. The security is mainly about not letting thieves steal the entire caravan rather than preventing a break in.

 

[Buckman]

Pity they did not fall off the roof and kill themselves. It must have been stolen to order and I suspect even the most secure storage sites would be vulnerable to this sort of thing as cutting through the security fencing is all that is needed. The security is mainly about not letting thieves steal the entire caravan rather than preventing a break in.

Although we have an active alarm and tracker, probably a good possibility that neither would have been activated. Probably had a large suction cup used for drains to be able to remove the skylight.

 

[Raywood]

I am afraid an alarm is of little use on most storage sites. I did once hear one going off when I went to where ours is stored and found one alarm going off. Frankly it could not be heard outside the storage area and no one had reported it, assuming they had heard it. I did tell the warden who said he would contact the owner to tell him and it had happened before. The caravan had not been broken into though, so it was a false alarm.