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Few caravan enthusiasts truly enjoy selecting and buying insurance from a caravan insurance company – or for that matter any other form of insurance!
Let’s face it, it can be a fairly time consuming, complex and at times, downright tedious activity. You have your caravan and you want a suitable deal that is appropriately priced and which offers you the protection to give you peace of mind.
So, why can’t it be easier?
A lack of standardisation
It’s possible to generate a huge explanation as to why there are so many insurance providers out there potentially making your life complicated but it really boils down to one thing – insurance providers frequently don’t see things the same way!
Some caravan insurance companies may see a certain type of caravan as being higher risk than others. Another caravan insurance company may see it entirely differently. Some may have a completely different view of external fittings and equipment to others. Not all regard European travel in the same way and some may dislike younger drivers more than others.
To put it bluntly, there is no standard description of your caravan and its risks available so there is a very good chance that you will find it difficult and rather hard going to compare the insurance offers you may encounter.
A lack of specialisation
If you’ve ever dealt with a generalist insurance company, you may also have experienced the frustrations of being told that your caravan or equipment just isn’t on the list and therefore an exact quote can’t be given.
Trying to get an insurance company to grasp what exactly your vehicle is and what risks it constitutes, it not always an easy task and the explanations and descriptions can be time consuming and even, at times, fruitless!
The alternative
If you’re looking for suitable insurance, you can trudge through all the various offers yourself trying to make comparisons or you can talk to a specialist caravan insurance broker.
The advantage of talking to a broker is that they will know your type of vehicle and requirements and typically will know immediately where the suitable offers are and which caravan insurance company it may be advisable for you to deal with. You may find that you save yourself a lot of effort and a lot of time.
In insurance terms, typically, if your caravan is more than three years old it is old. You may still prefer to have full old caravan insurance though the good news is that you may find that premiums could be lower to reflect the age of your vehicle.
There may be a temptation with an older model to underestimate the value of the caravan to save some money on old caravan insurance premiums. This could be a false economy though because if you caravan is underinsured you may find that your insurers will only pay claims up to the insured value and you would then have to fund any remaining repair or replacements costs yourself.
Being as accurate as possible on the value of your caravan is typically a good idea. Insurers may use references like Glass’s Guide to Caravan Values to estimate the value of older caravans and it may make sense to use this yourself when estimating the market value of your caravan for insurance purposes.
Age may be an issue for caravan insurance when considering its repair or replacement value but irrespective of age there are other risks like theft of contents that may still be a major consideration. So taking the same security measures as you would for a newer model to protect your contents may still make very good sense.
Insurers typically may offer discounts if you fit secure door and window locks and install a burglar alarm.
You may also find that regardless of age your insurance for your old caravan may still require you to fit wheel clamps and hitchlocks to protect your caravan from theft. Some insurers stipulate that there must be a hitchlock fitted when the caravan is attached to your towing vehicle and both a hitchlock and wheel clamp if it is unattached.
Belonging to a recognised caravan club may be of particular value when you have an older model. Having a membership network may help you locate sources of spare parts for your older caravan if these are becoming more of a problem to find through regular channels.
Don’t forget either that caravan club membership may also be rewarded with a discounted old caravan insurance premium.
If you have a static caravan, the risks to it are quite different to those of say, a touring model or a motorhome. You may typically find therefore that there are three distinct caravan insurances available – one for each of the three main categories of caravan.
If you are the owner of a static caravan, your particular caravan insurances will provide cover for risks such as flooding, fires or falling trees.
This may partly be due to the fact that since many people’s idea of a perfect holiday typically involves being near the sea or in an idyllic woodland setting, many static caravan sites are in those sought after (but potentially risky) locations.
It is typically a good idea to notify your insurer if your site has had any history of flooding in the past. Even if measures such as flood defences have been taken, not disclosing details to your insurers may invalidate your policy.
In fact, you may even find that your insurer will offer discounts if you locate your caravan on a site which has no history of flooding or is situated a certain distance away from water sources such a rivers, the sea and lakes etc.
Security measures
The other major risk feature for static caravan insurances is security. While there is less risk of your static caravan being stolen than there is for a touring model for example, theft from the caravan itself and vandalism are still major risks.
Some insurers may offer discounts to caravanners who take basic security precautions such as;
- fitting secure door and windows locks;
- installing burglar alarms to deter thieves;
- using a static caravan site with 24 hour warden security;
- storing the static when not in use in an approved CaSSOA secure site.
Awnings
For any sort of caravan, an awning can provide a much appreciated additional room.
It may always be worth remembering though, that an awning by its very nature is not a secure location. It is unlikely that your caravan insurance policy will provide cover for any awning contents apart from outdoor furniture.
Your awning is also fairly susceptible to damage for the elements so making sure that it is safely stowed away when not in use may typically be a good idea. Some caravan insurances policies may stipulate that this needs to be done if you are absent from your static caravan for any significant length of time.
One of the first things that you may think about when you are arranging your caravan insurance policy is the price or as it is called in the insurance industry, the premium.
Thinking about price on its own though, may not give you a completely balanced picture.
To obtain that balance, you need to think not only about the premium but also your potential costs if you need to make a claim and your insurance policy does not provide suitable cover.
The excess
This situation may arise because your caravan insurance policy may carry what’s termed an excess.
The excess is a contribution that you agree to make towards any claim. It is quite often referred to as the first part of a claim because it is the amount you’ll have to pay towards the cost of the claim before your insurance company will contribute.
In terms of figures, the mathematics is usually simple.
If you have, say, a £250 excess and your caravan suffers damage to the tune of £350, you will be expected to pay the first £250 and your insurance policy will pay out the remaining £100.
The excess – cost reduction and cost risk
The way your insurance provider uses the excess will vary depending upon their own policies and pricing. Some may have a mandatory excess amount set across the policy. Others may also have an excess set but may allow you to voluntarily increase it thereby reducing the cost of your policy.
How does this work?
Typically when you agree to an excess on your caravan insurance policy, since you are agreeing to pay a part of any claim, your insurer has less risk and so saves money. These potential savings, or part of them at least, can typically then be passed on to you in the form of a reduced premium.
So typically the higher the excess, the lower the premium.
You may find that there are different levels of excess for different types of cover. Your policy documentation will have details of exactly where, when and how much excess you would be expected to contribute and if you can pay an additional voluntary excess amount.
Of course, the decision to take a higher excess may work for or against you on a caravan insurance policy. If you stay accident-free you may think that the decision has worked in your favour. To the contrary, if you have an accident or suffer a theft you may find that you’re paying out a lot more than you wished!
Your caravan and camping insurance is what provides you with peace of mind when you’re getting ready to get back on the road en-route to those open spaces.
Sometimes though, there can be some confusion over when camping is camping and when it is caravanning – at least in insurance terms.
In fact, there isn’t necessarily a definite clear answer to this one. The position may vary significantly between caravan and camping insurance providers and what follows here should only be seen as a general guide. You may be advised to consult your policy or a specialist for a firm answer for your specific circumstances.
Caravanning
If you have a static or tourer caravan or a motorhome, typically insurance providers will see this to be clearly and indisputably caravanning. You will find that typically there are specialist policies to deal with these vehicle types and your particular planned usage.
Is it a caravan or a tent?
Trailer tents can complicate things a little in terms of defintions. Some insurance providers see this as a form of tourer caravan and may include cover for it under the terms of their general tourer caravan policies. There may though be significant differences of cover particularly around possessions and contents cover given that a trailer tent typically cannot be secured in terms of forced entry and theft. You may find that contents cover is not available.
You may find that many such policies will insist that you take adequate other forms of protection against total theft including the fitting of hitchlocks and wheel clamps.
Many of these policies may simply be regarded as caravan insurance rather than caravan and camping insurance although to some extent you may not care – providing you are covered against the risks you wish then it may not matter much what the policy is actually called.
Camping insurance
If you were hiking around with a tent strapped to your back, few people would call this caravanning of any sort!
As a general rule, you may find that specialist camping insurance is required to give you the peace of mind you’ll need in these instances.
General cover
It may be possible to find a caravan and camping policy that covers a vehicle and a self-contained tent. The details of this will vary considerably between companies.
It may be advisable to consult a specialist caravan or caravan and camping insurance broker for specialist advice relating to your individual circumstances.
Sometimes the difference between UK insurance companies and caravan insurance brokers may not always be entirely clear. Let’s examine the differences and the pros & cons.
The nature of caravan insurance
It’s typically the case that most caravan owners are looking for three things out of an insurance policy:
- the lowest possible premium (in other words, price);
- the most suitable cover and protection;
- a first-class service during quotations, policy inception and in the hopefully unlikely event that a claim is necessary.
Of course, it’s rarely just as easy as looking at a price tag on a shop item. The cover provided by policies may vary significantly as will their cost. On top of that, virtually all insurance policies come with a list of their terms, conditions, exclusions and opportunities such as being able to reduce the cost by meeting certain conditions.
Understanding all this and how it relates to you and your own caravan, isn’t always easy. Making a decision between competing offers may, at times, prove to be something of a headache.
Making sense of the market and caravan insurance
When you’re searching for insurance, you may find that in reality you’re facing two options:
- to do all the fact-finding and trawling of offers and options yourself directly with insurance companies;
- to get specialist caravan insurance brokers to do it for you.
It may be that you have considerable experience of caravan insurance, you’re just naturally talented at trawling through lots of offers trying to find the most suitable deal or perhaps sorting through lots of information is a hobby!
If you don’t come into any of these categories though, you may find the searching through all the companies and their offers to be tedious and very frustrating.
One of the major advantages offered by the specialist caravan insurance brokers is that they take this load off you. They can present you with a range of focused and pre-filtered options that are specifically targeted to your needs. This may save you a lot of time and effort.
Expertise
Inevitably there are brokers and there are specialist brokers. The specialist caravan brokers are typically dedicated to caravan insurance only and they will know the market, your caravan and the various insurance options well.
Once again this may save time and prevent the selection of unsuitable options.
Costs
The cost of insurance is complicated and different providers will make different claims. In practice, by virtue of their size and volumes of business, the caravan insurance brokers may be able to secure you a price deal that you would struggle to achieve yourself. Getting a quotation from them will cost you nothing and it may just indicate what options you have available.
If you have a caravan that is used as a holiday home then having good caravan holiday home insurance in place may be a sensible idea. This is equally true if you are a dyed in the wool caravan enthusiast or relatively new to the activity.
More and more people are considering taking their holidays in the UK. This could be as a result of belt tightening in times of recession but also due to some people wanting to reduce their carbon footprint by cutting down on air travel and holidaying closer to home.
Whatever the reason, caravanning has become more popular of late with more people opting for the freedom provided by a caravan holiday.
Finding out what’s what
If you are a relatively new caravanner, then one good way of learning the ins and outs of your new hobby may be to join a caravanning club. These are good places for the exchange of ideas and information on caravan holiday home insurance and for picking up good practice tips.
Some insurers acknowledge the value of membership by offering discounted premiums to club members of approved clubs,
Insurance broker sites are themselves good sources of information on caravan holiday home insurance. Whether you have a touring caravan, a static model or a motorhome, you will find that you can get quotes on these sites to match your own requirements for your own particular usage patterns.
Contents cover
Whatever type of caravan you have, contents insurance will help protect your fixtures, fittings and other possessions from theft or damage.
Some insurers may include awnings as part of general cover. Not all do though and some may apply some conditions to cover or insist that awnings are covered separately. There may also be conditions stipulating that awnings should be securely stowed away when the caravan is not in use or if you are going to be absent for periods of time.
Terms and Conditions
Your caravan insurance will typically give you 12 months cover. You may find though that the cover provided will vary, depending on whether or not the caravan is occupied. So, for example, you may be expected to drain down heating and water systems if the caravan is to be empty for extended periods of time thus avoiding water damage due to leaks going unnoticed.
As with all insurance and particularly if you are new to caravanning, it typically makes sense to read through your terms and conditions to make sure that your caravan holiday home insurance does what you expect it to, so as to avoid any surprises.
Finding your way through what may seem like a maze of options for static caravan insurance UK cover needn’t be a chore. You need to know though what you are looking for and where you may be able to save some money on your static caravan insurance premiums.
Using a specialist broker to get some quotes may make the process a lot easier.
Your static caravan probably cost you a fair bit of money and protecting your investment with the right level of static caravan insurance may be at the top of your list of priorities.
There are a number of areas of consideration which apply to static caravans in particular and which directly can affect the price of your static caravan insurance UK cover premiums.
Security
Your static caravan may contain quite a lot in the way of fixtures and fittings and may actually be fairly luxurious. Contents insurance cover can help to protect these but this is only really half the battle. Fitting strong door and window locks can help prevent theft, as does the installation of a burglar alarm.
Parking your caravan on a site with 24-hour supervision may also help to deter thieves and vandals.
Some insurers offer discounts if you show that you are a responsible caravan owner and take security seriously by adopting some of these measures.
Location
Static caravans can be at risk from flooding and you may find that if you reduce this risk by locating your caravan a certain distance away from a source of water like the sea, a lake or a river, your insurer may offer a premium discount.
Even if your site has installed flood defences, any prior history of flooding may mean that static caravan insurance UK premiums could be higher. Caravan insurance providers keep postcode lists of sites to help them identify those that could be of higher risk.
Winter quarters
If your site is one of the many that closes over the winter months, you may have to move your caravan. There are a number of approved secure storage sites that can be safer for your caravan. These are known as CaSSOA sites and some insurers may offer premium discounts if you store your caravan on one.
The terms and conditions of your static caravan insurance UK cover may change over the months when it is unoccupied, so checking these out may be a good idea. For example draining down heating and water systems may be required.
Several types of German caravans are very stylish and built and equipped to an extremely high specification. Unfortunately, they may also be very difficult to insure and finding German caravan insurance may be something of a challenge.
German caravans and their insurance – why can it be a problem?
German caravans are often at the top-end of the range. They contain some of the most prestigious makes in the marketplace and they also have a reputation for being equipped with top-of-the-range fixtures and fittings.
This makes them very attractive to a wide range of caravan owners and potential buyers that are looking for a quality solution.
Unfortunately, the same qualities that make them so attractive to potential buyers also make them equally attractive to thieves and vandals.
As a result, some UK caravan insurance providers regard these types of caravan with grave misgivings due to the much higher risks and you may find it difficult to even obtain a quotation for some forms of German caravan insurance.
Different forms of caravan
Not all such caravans are seen as quite the same. If you have a single axle vehicle with less than four berths you may find it slightly easier to obtain a quotation and cover.
By contrast, it may prove very difficult indeed to find cover for a twin axle larger caravan.
German caravans – what you can do to help
There is no definitive answer to this problem other than to do some research before you commit to buying one. What you may be able to do to try and reduce costs and assist in finding cover is:
- contact a specialist provider of caravan insurance – they may be able to help find cover for those hard-to-place risks typically associated with some types of German caravan;
- if purchasing from a dealer, they may be able to help in some situations;
- if you do find cover, you may find that a number of conditions become mandatory including the fitting of hitchlocks, wheel clamps and other immobilisers, tracking devices and specialist locks and bolts for the doors and windows.
So if you’re looking for German caravan insurance you may need to go to a specialist UK caravan insurance broker for help and potentially be prepared to pay extra for it and those additional security devices.
Getting a static caravan insurance quote can be fairly easy. Yet what may not always be quite so evident is just how vulnerable a static caravan may be and what you can do to help reduce your premium.
Your static caravan risks
As a static caravan is typically in a single location for lengthy periods of time, it may be relatively safe from traffic or traffic collision risks – apart from when it is moved.
Of course, being a static caravan also means that it is subject to other risks by virtue of the way you use it.
As they typically reside in the same, often exposed, locations during the winter months, they may be more liable to storm and other natural disaster damage including floods.
Many people also equip the interiors of their static caravans to a very high standard and regard them as a home-from-home to a greater extent that is perhaps typically the case with tourer caravans. This may mean that they may be very attractive to thieves and vandals. This may be particularly true if the site is closed during the winter months and not under regular supervision and security.
Finally, the fact that a static caravan may often be empty and unoccupied for large parts of the year may mean that it is also vulnerable to internal problems such as burst pipes etc.
Getting a cheaper static caravan insurance quote
To survive and provide their customers with insurance services, any static home insurance provider needs to balance the risk they’re taking against the price they’re charging you.
What this means practically is that if you can do things to reduce the risks of problems arising (and the associated insurance claim) then typically you’ll achieve lower premiums. In fact, in some cases, you may find that taking risk-reduction steps is mandatory and the insurance provider won’t provide cover until you do.
So to get a cheaper static caravan insurance quote or even to get one at all, you may have to show that:
- you have fitted approved security locks and bolts to doors and windows and perhaps an alarm;
- your static caravan is located on an approved site with full services and with supervision/security;
- during the winter months all water systems are fully drained down;
- the caravan is fully and professionally secured and stabilized;
- wheel clamps are fitted;
- the site is certified as being flood-free;
- you do not store very-high valuable items in it such as cash, cheques, credit cards and very expensive jewellery etc.
This isn’t necessarily a comprehensive list and conditions may vary between providers.
What it does show is that you may be able to get the cost of your static caravan insurance quotes down by taking a few common-sense steps.