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Archive for November, 2009
Once you start to look at caravan insurance quotes you may notice that the costs you are given are linked up to something known as IPT or Insurance Premium Tax. In the majority of cases you’ll only notice this when you ask for a quote on a policy. The cost of your premium for the cover is often stated as a sum that includes IPT. So, what is this and how does it work?
Insurance Premium Tax has to be paid by companies that operate in certain areas such as insurance where the income that they make is subject to tax. So, an insurance company that sells caravan policies has to deal with this tax when they agree policy arrangements with their customers and start taking premium payments.
There are two charge rates for IPT (17.5% and 5%). Luckily, in the UK the rate given for caravan insurance is set at the lower rate of 5%! This tax basically is added to the cost of the premium you pay for your insurance by the company. In most cases it is added on to caravan insurance quotes with a note explaining that the quotes are given to include IPT tax. In some cases, insurers may list their quotes and IPT costs separately and then total them but this may be relatively rare.
Although an insurance company has to list their IPT costs somehow with caravan insurance quotes this isn’t something that consumers are able to do much about. This is a tax that insurers have to deal with and it is added to the consumers’ costs as standard. So, there’s no way to try and cut costs by having the tax deleted! But, given the extra costs this brings with it, you may want to try and find suitable policies at the lowest costs. A specialist insurance broker may be able to search for them on your behalf to show you a variety of cost options.
Many caravan owners look for an online caravan quote when they need to buy insurance for their mobile or static homes. This may be a quick and simple way of comparing costs. It may also be a useful way of seeing how quotes may change according to what you need in coverage terms.
So, as an example, if you decide that you want to increase your personal possessions cover, then you’ll probably see your quote rise in cost. If you, on the other hand, decrease it, then your quote may well go down. Saving money may be important to you but it may sometimes be hard to do this – getting suitable levels of cover may be more important to you at the end of the day.
But, there is one way that you may be able to pay less for your caravan insurance policy without having to decrease your protective cover. If you play around with an online caravan quote calculator or tool and change the excess field then you might see the quoted costs go down even though the cover remains the same. So, how does this work?
Every insurance policy comes with an excess. This is the sum of money that the policy holder commits to paying if they have to make a claim. So, if your caravan is broken into and you have some of your possessions stolen, then you pay the excess agreed in your policy before the insurer starts to recompense you via their claim system.
Most policies come with a set excess amount and many people just stick with this. But, if you raise your excess to a higher amount, then your insurance costs will often go down. Why? It’s simple. The insurer knows that they’ll have less to pay if you do make a claim because you’ll have committed to paying more before they kick in. So, they’ll often cut their quote costs.
This may well be worth looking at if you want to save some money on the costs of your policy. At the very least it may be worth comparing a caravan quote with a standard excess with one where you raise it just to see the difference. Bear in mind that you don’t have to commit to paying huge amounts to benefit from this, even a small excess increase might save some money.
Buying insurance for a caravan may seem simple enough on paper. But, there is actually quite a lot to think about before you may feel confident enough to compare caravan insurance to find a suitable policy. Before you start comparing quotes and costs you may want to think about what you actually need from your cover.
Your first job may well be to decide what kind of caravan you need to insure and where you’ll keep it. So, for example, might you be:
- Using a touring caravan that you simply store at home when you aren’t on the road?
- Buying a static caravan that is to be permanently based in a holiday/caravan park or on a campsite?
The insurance policies on offer for both these kinds of caravans may have some similarities but they may also come with some differences.
For example, parking a touring caravan in your drive at home when you aren’t using it means that you may be able to keep an eye on it relatively easily. It’ll also be easy to keep the possessions you have in the caravan to a minimum. But keeping a caravan on a site means that you won’t be there all the time to watch over it and you may want to keep it kitted out so you are able to travel light when you travel to stay there.
Knowing what you may use your caravan for may help you better compare caravan insurance. The insurance features you may want to choose from include:
- Structural and internal possessions cover for fire, theft and accidental damage.
- Public liability cover (in case another person gets hurts or has an accident when they are in, around or using your caravan).
- Bad weather damage (i.e. storms and floods etc).
- Personal accident cover.
- Loss of use/income expenses.
Looking online for a quote comparison may be the quickest way to find suitable policies and to find quotes that suit your pocket. Many owners use specialist insurance brokers to do this for them. These brokers may well be able to search the market on your behalf to find policies that may be suitable.
Every owner may have different needs from their policy. Working out what you need and how much cover might suit you are good first steps to take before you compare caravan insurance to find a suitable quote.
There are many different things to think about when it comes to choosing suitable mobile home insurance. Getting good cover is not just a question of thinking about your mobile home and any contents/possessions you have inside it. You may also want to think about how you may use your home, who else may use it and where it is likely to be sited.
It is, of course, essential to think about the kind of policy you need in terms of standard issues such as fire, theft and damage. Buying a mobile home is usually a major financial outlay for many people and it may make sense to try to look after your asset as much as possible.
You may also want to put some time into thinking about what you have in your mobile home in terms of furniture/fittings and personal possessions before you look at mobile home insurance policies. This may be more important to some people than to others. If you, for example, have a holiday park based mobile home where it may stand empty and unused for periods of time then this may be an important consideration for you.
In this instance it may be worth your while to look at cover that does more than simply insure your park home. Insuring your possessions and any related accessories and items such as awnings, for example, may also be a route to take. If you may allow other people to use your home when you don’t need it then you may also want your insurance to cover them as well.
Many mobile home owners that do rent out their homes or that let other people use them when they are free may opt to take out public liability insurance and personal accident features as part of their mobile home insurance policy. This may give them some protection if they or someone else has an accident or hurts themselves in or around the home itself.
If you own a caravan, then you may want to consider the benefits of looking for and buying caravan insurance online.
There are a number of specialist online caravan cover providers, so taking advantage of what they offer could help you find a suitable policy at a competitive price.
Benefits of going online for your caravan insurance may include:
- Time saving – no need to ring round lots of different brokers or insurers;
- Access to a wider marketplace, meaning more choice;
- In some cases, the ability to compare policies so you can look at policy features and benefits as well as prices;
- Being able to buy online, and receiving your documents via email, potentially making for a quick and efficient process.
How can I pay for my caravan insurance?
When buying caravan insurance online, there are a number options that may typically be available, which may include:
- Payment via direct debit;
- By using a card via a secure payment system;
- By cheque;
- Payment via invoice.
When looking for your cover, don’t forget to check what the policy provides and never make assumptions that what you think is protected will be protected – as it may not be. Policy features may often vary among the different caravan cover providers, so looking at the policy documents or speaking to the provider before you buy really can make sense. That way you can be sure that you have the right cover for your caravan.
One final point on buying caravan insurance online – don’t forget to look at the policy excesses: any special terms you need to stick to in order to keep the policy valid; plus any policy exclusions which would stop you from making a claim.
How you may be able to get the cheapest caravan insurance possible
Having caravan insurance is not typically a legal requirement but it does provide you with enormous peace of mind and security. Imagine for a second that you have splashed out thousands of pounds of your life savings on a new caravan and a year later, you lost it in a fire. With insurance that had new for old cover you may be able to claim and get a brand new replacement caravan. Without it, you of course lose everything. This is of course the worst-case scenario and there are usually many more benefits to taking out insurance. Insurance also does not have to cost a fortune, and there are ways you may be able to keep down the cost of the premiums and get the cheapest caravan insurance possible for your needs.
When looking for cheap insurance for your caravan you may be able to get savings on your premiums if you are a member of a recognised caravan club. Caravan club members are usually more mature and so are seen to be careful owners, which all helps to keep down the cost of the insurance.
Choosing a static site that offers security may help you to keep down the cost of your insurance premiums each month. Look for sites that have on site security patrols, that have walls or fencing around them with locked gate at night and which are well lit. A site such as this may be more favourable than one that is wide open and poorly lit.
If you have new for old in your insurance policy then of course you need to choose how much to insure your caravan for. The more your caravan is worth the higher the cost of the cover. However, it is essential not to under insure in order to get the cheapest caravan insurance possible, in case the worst happens and you lose everything. When assessing the worth of your caravan you may also want to consider any additional costs such as security, awnings and decking and fencing around your caravan.