I'm bloody angry!

[ten0rman]

Last April I bought a new caravan. Readers may remember some of my teething problems from back then, all seemingly sorted out.

However, the caravan is stored inside a barn in the depths of a disused quarry. Said barn is where the landowner keeps his equipment, bits & pieces, and a darned gert big tractor and trailer which often, but not at present, is parked in front of the caravan, hence the standing instruction is to always advise him two or three days before we take the 'van out. Access to the 'van is best described as not easy, it's along a track past the owner's house, it can be flooded, the gates are at the back of the barn, full height and fastened with a reasonably large padlock. Also the caravan itself has both a hitchlock and a wheel clamp. In my humble opinion theft of the caravan is likely to be extremely unlikely. Yes, I know, there is always that risk, but if you were trying to nick it and you found a locked up gert big tractor in front of it, what would you do?

The caravan has a tracker system which works from the caravan battery when one is installed, but otherwise has an internal battery. Now there is no mains, so every six to eight weeks I change the caravan battery for a spare. I am requested to advise the tracker monitoring service that when I do this. Fair enough, only it turns out that the tracker unit has stopped working and needs something changing. The caravan is due for its service around April, I think it's safe where it is, so I thought it best to wait until April. Apart from anything else it's a 120 mile round trip to the nearest authorised dealership. I could possibly do it myself, but at 75 I'm no longer inclined to go messing about with things.

So I thought I'd be honest about it and inform the insurance company. Only to get stung for £61-92. That's on top of the £292-50 premium I paid last October. Frankly, I'm bloody furious. Where's the incentive to tell them if I'm going to get financially stung for it? As I said, it's secure where it is. I'd be better off keeping quiet. In fact, I'm beginning to think I might even be better off not bothering insuring it as apparently if it's fastened to the car, the car insurance covers it against damage to other objects. And for £16K, well ok, it would be a blow if the caravan did disappear, but its not insurmountable, after all, Halifax Bank lost me £10K or thereabouts at the time when it was taken over by Lloyds, and I've recovered from that (written it off actually).

I'm not happy. Are you listening Club Care?

Yours, angrily,

ten0rman

[richfool]

I would try and find an alternative insurer, if necessary by speaking to the insurance company or a specialist broker directly, to explain the rather unique circumstances.

[supremetwo]

Last April I bought a new caravan. Readers may remember some of my teething problems from back then, all seemingly sorted out.
----------------------------
So I thought I'd be honest about it and inform the insurance company. Only to get stung for £61-92. That's on top of the £292-50 premium I paid last October. Frankly, I'm bloody furious. Where's the incentive to tell them if I'm going to get financially stung for it? As I said, it's secure where it is. I'd be better off keeping quiet. In fact, I'm beginning to think I might even be better off not bothering insuring it as apparently if it's fastened to the car, the car insurance covers it against damage to other objects. And for £16K, well ok, it would be a blow if the caravan did disappear, but its not insurmountable, after all, Halifax Bank lost me £10K or thereabouts at the time when it was taken over by Lloyds, and I've recovered from that (written it off actually).

I'm not happy. Are you listening Club Care?

Yours, angrily, ten0rman

Presume the terms of your policy include the tracker and hence the premium?

If so, why the surprise that your premium has increased due to its non-operation?

[ten0rman]

richfool,

Yes thought about that. I actually told the operative I would be looking elsewhere at that time. But I'm also seriously wondering about going it alone.

supremetwo,
The point was that this is going to be a temporary problem pending repair. They have/are reissuing the insurance as if it was a permanent change.
As I said, the caravan is perfectly safe where it is, undercover inside a locked and barred barn. You can't get much better than that. In fact, I don't even need to use the tracker system unless the caravan is being used.
Another thing I didn't mention is that the tracker system is separately costing me £95 pa, and I've paid for three years. So far this insurance racket has cost me about £450 for this year. Plus the £70 hitch lock I had to buy (the existing wheel clamp being suitable).

When I look back over the last roughly 40 years that I have been caravanning, to the best of my recollection I have made three claims - a broken window on our first new caravan, a damaged corner on our last caravan caused by me not realising how much bigger this caravan was over its predecessor, and strangely, damage to the same corner caused when moving it in storage. Probably no more than £1000 in total. I must have paid considerably more than that in premiums and all to the same organisation.
And to the best of my knowledge, there is no requirement to insure the caravan, hence my thoughts are now turning to self-insurance.

I did expect to pay a nominal charge for advising them, but not £62. Which I think is extortionate.

Regards,

ten0rman

[swill453]

I did expect to pay a nominal charge for advising them, but not £62. Which I think is extortionate.

I think they need to make money on policy amendments, as the headline rates to attract custom are pared to the bone. Once they've got you you can't escape (the charge).

I recently cancelled a policy as I no longer had the vehicle. Took a couple of minutes on the phone, but they subtracted a £50 admin charge before any refund.

Scott.

[jfgw]

Anyone with a PhD in hindsight could have told you not to tell your insurer. Your policy would have been temporarily void for a few months while it was stuck safely behind a gert big tractor - a very small risk.

Julian F. G. W.

[didds]

so if you never replaced the battery and never told them and just left the caravan there for 6 months... what would your insurers have done?

didds

[JohnB]

"Never insure for a loss you can afford to bear". Of course you will pay more in premiums than you get in claims, the value of the difference is peace of mind, only in this case its been the reverse.

[ten0rman]

jfgw,
Yeah, exactly! As the saying goes, as I get older, I become sadder and wiser, mostly sadder!

didds,
As above.

JohnB,
I've seen that before somewhere. And yes, it's only comparitively recently that I've been in this situation of being able to withstand a total loss.

Now that I've calmed down somewhat, I think my main beef is that I've tried to be open and honest about what's going on. And if I'd just not said anything, but got it repaired at a later date, then yes they wouldn't have known. I suppose a similar consideration could be say tyres. I don't bother informing the insurance people when I change them for whatever reason (old age in the case of caravans), yet I am required to ensure that they are roadworthy. Similarly I suppose I'm required to ensure that the tracker system is fully operational.

Cheers,

tene0rman

[bungeejumper]

I suppose a similar consideration could be say tyres. I don't bother informing the insurance people when I change them for whatever reason (old age in the case of caravans), yet I am required to ensure that they are roadworthy.

There's your answer, then. Remove a wheel when you leave the van in the barn. Nobody's going to steal a caravan that can't be towed.

Hint: it might be a good idea to take the spare with you as well.

BJ

[ten0rman]

BJ,

That sounds ok, except that these thieves have been known to come along with a crane and lift the van out of where ever it is onto the back of a flatbed lorry. And, there's nothing to stop them bringing wheels and nuts/studs with them.

Caravan theft, especially with newer caravans is quite a problem: this is why they now have these tracker systems etc, with the more expensive 'vans having proper alarms with the alarm system buried somewhere inside the caravan body. They even have devices that lock the wheels to the chassis. All caravans for the last at least 20 years have had the chassis number etched onto every window, and I believe that some also have the chassis number hidden elsewhere. Some people go as far as adding the towing vehicle registration plate details to the caravan roof so that the Police helicopter teams once advised can see it.

Motorway service stations are a favourite theft spot, afterall, the vehicle and caravan are left unattended for an hour or so, and with the usual traffic density, who is going to notice if a lorry turns up and proceeds to nick a caravan. If you know it, the Tebay Southbound services area on the M6 is ideal for such activities as the caravan park is away, up a slight hill, and hidden from the main parking and services area. Which is why we, especially now with the new 'van, use a hitch lock which fastens the 'van to the car, along with the wheel clamp, and set the tracker system, even if we are only going in for a coffee.

Caravan security is a problem. And let's face it, mine at around £17K is cheap. Some are more than twice that.

Cheers,

ten0rman