Trial By Fire

[David_374542464]

Readers might be interested in the following, which was submitted to the Camping and Caravan Club magazine at the end of October. However, it was obviously not considered appropriate for publication to a wider audience.

"Recently, my wife and I had the misfortune to suffer the complete loss of our caravan, equipment and other contents as a result of a fire at our storage site. We were not alone, as approximately 18 other units were destroyed and another 20 seriously damaged. The emergency services determined that the cause of the fire was not arson, but a freak occurrence originating in another caravan stored nearby. The shock of the incident was compounded by the fact that we had only moved our unit from another storage site 2 days previously.

We were insured via Club Care Insurance and can only commend them for their swift response following the loss being reported. However, I believe it should be noted that, in the opinion of the emergency services, many more units could have been saved if it were not for the fact that they were immobilised by wheel clamps, upon the insistence of the insurers, thus preventing them from being moved away from the area of the fire. The site itself is registered as a CaSSOA Gold site and the geography and sophisticated electronic security measures make it almost impossible for caravans to be stolen.

Of course the caravan and its contents can eventually be replaced, at additional cost. However, it won't end there as, when I can eventually afford to purchase a replacement some time in the future, I will have to insure it and declare that I have made a previous claim. Then, through no fault of my own, I will be further penalised with higher premiums.

Surely a case of "Heads You Win, Tails I Lose!"

 

[Parksy]

We bought a new caravan in March 2007 but unfortunately the site we were staying on at the time flooded in July 2007.

We'd gone out for the day on the Friday morning and faced long delays on the motorway when we tried to return. The police wouldn't allow any traffic through to the village where our caravan was sited because of flooded roads and when the site flooded that night we'd been forced to go home without our caravan.

We were also insured with Club Care insurance and our three month old caravan was declared a total loss by the insurance assessor.

C&CC Club Care insurance quickly dealt with the claim efficiently with no hassle or fuss, they minimised the worry for us and agreed to honour our new for 'old' claim so we were never out of pocket.

We were heartbroken to have lost the first brand new caravan that we had ever bought but we replaced it along with the lost caravan equipment etc and re insured our replacement new caravan which is a larger and more luxurious model (we paid the extra ourselves)with Club Care.

We have declared our claim but our premium has in fact decreased because our replacement caravan has better security equipment so please reassure your friends that a claim doesn't always mean a hefty hike in insurance premiums.

 

[wends64]

Our insurance only requires us to have 1 fixed device and an alarm, but I agree it's what others choose to put on that affects everyone on a storage compound and pitched on site. If a fire breaks out near to you, you can drag or push your van away if it doesn't have a wheel lock. A lot of sites insist that caravans are all pitched facing the same way, this is so that hitches are at the front and even with hitch locks on a caravan can be dragged off using a bit of rope if needed through the A frame and around a tow ball, so leaving a fire break. If there is wheel lock fitted this cant be done.

We have been to many sites where the minimum distance between caravans and tents is not enforced, one was so bad we phoned the councils enforcement office. they visited the site and agreed, then gave the site a week to enforce it, most of those units had moved on by then.

We also lost our caravan in a storage compound fire last year. Ours wasn't cassoa gold so i know it wasn't the same fire. We used face book to contact the owners of a lot of the other caravans as the site has its own facebook page. 12 caravans were completely destroyed, about 20 more damaged many beyond repair. Our caravan was only in storage there for less than 3 weeks and was only going to be there for short term storage of 6 weeks as we were returning early September and mid October and storage was cheaper than towing both ways. Unfortunately we had used 2 pitches when we were on site in August, the other for our daughter and friends after they finished their exams, using our 12 man Kyham tent. This was in the caravan with 25 years worth of camping stuff as well as all our caravan stuff. we know longer camped but becasue it was all so good quality and had been looked after we kept it for the kids. Our 6 Lafuma chairs alone cost

 

[sarahandher6dachshunds.]

weds lucky i have already checked policies did have a problem with car insurance,when hitched my car insurance drops to 3rd party,i mean the car not caravan,only found out by phoning,so much for paperwork.have now changed insurer i was lucky.enjoy your van,all the best to you.sarah

 

[ProfJohnL]

This is a sorry state of affairs,

First of all and sadly your insurance company offers you a no claims discount, not a no blame discount, thus any claim even if it is not your fault or cause will count against you.

That I believe is unfair, but that is the way they operate. It means they have no interest if pursueing the real culprit, as they can simple pass the additional costs onto you.

I honestly believe that you should write to your insurance company and ask them why they are not pursuing the guilty or party at fault and to reclaim all costs from them and to ensure that your status as not to blame for the liability is maintained and reflected by no adverse or increased charges.

I make no excuse for being critical of storage sites. They take no responsibility if their prime sales point when it fails - security, yet many caravanner's are directed to use these services by their insurance companies.

I believe the storage site owners are culpable. They are the ones that tell you where to park, and they determine the space between each caravan. They should accept some of the responsibility for allowing a fire bridge between property they are storing. They may have been negligent in their site design and storage density.

Depending on the cause of the fire, if the sites bylaws were broken (i.e. a gas bottle not removed from the caravan) then the site was negligent in not enforcing its own rules.

These sites must start to take responsibility for the effectiveness and reliability of the service they provide and for the customers property left in their care.

I sincerely hope that you are not penalised for other peoples failures.

 

[Dustydog]

Hi Wendy

Reading between the lines I assume you were not insured with one of the twwo club insurers? Forum etiquette says you mustn't name the insurer.

My experience tells me that most insurers, with one or two exceptions in particular the two clubs insurers, seem to try and find ways to delay payment and reduce the quantum of the claim.

Too late for you now but IMO the two club insurers are by far the best when it comes to overall claims performance and customer care.

Cheap premiums are ok until you have a claim. Why do you think they are cheap in the first place!

Cheers

Dustydog