Volcano
What is that saying they used to say on TV? “Mum’s gone to Iceland” wasn’t it? I bet she’s a bit more reluctant to go there these days what with their bankrupt bankers, volcanic ash clouds and the like. Instead of stocking up for a trip to the erupting isle I bet Mum is more likely these days to be planning a caravan holiday in the UK and getting cheaper insurance rates too. Whatever happens in the UK this summer I’m willing to bet that a volcanic eruption doesn’t and I imagine that insurance for such an event would be pretty cheap especially if we are talking about caravan insurance. When was the last time you heard of a caravan being damaged by an erupting volcano?
Before I continue here’s a joke to take your mind off of the boring subject of caravan insurance. I was walking down the road the other day having just parked my caravan up and was hit on the head by several items from high above. The first to strike was a pack of frozen sausages. Then I was hit by a frozen chocolate gateaux and finally a rack of frozen New Zealand lamb. I definitely wished I had purchased some cheap insurance at this point! Anyway it turns out that it was all fallout from Iceland!
Some insurance firms are not paying out for delays and cancellations caused by the volcanic ash cloud in question, much to the surprise of many customers who, quite rightly in my opinion, think that a volcanic eruption is just the type of event they buy insurance to protect themselves against. The advice is to check with your insurance broker or insurance company before you start the claims process.
Fed up with the possibility of airport delays many UK holidaymakers are thought to be buying caravans and motorhomes and planning trips around the UK and Europe rather than risking any further heartache this summer. Quite a few of them will be buying a caravan or motorhome for the first time but few can expect to pay very much when it comes to purchasing insurance as, pound for pound, motorhome and caravan insurance is amongst the cheapest you can buy. Strange that is can cost less to insure a valuable motorhome or caravan when you don’t have to take any additional tests before you are allowed to drive them on the roads and the cost of insurance claims relating to caravans and motorhomes is relatively high.
One aspect of all this that many may have missed is the fact that many more inexperienced caravanners and motorhome drivers will be on the road this year, due to the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull. That’s not a sentence I ever expected to write! I have already suffered a delay at the hands of one such caravan owner who managed to overturn their caravan on the A1 in perfectly still weather and relatively slow moving traffic on Good Friday. No doubt his insurance will pay up but what about the delays caused by his pride and joy blocking 3 lanes of a busy motorway? You can’t buy insurance to cover that!
Those motorhome owners who rent out their vehicles should always think about purchasing the correct insurance as most motorhome insurance policies will not cover additional drivers who have been added to an existing policy if money has changed hands and the vehicle is being used for “hire and reward”. Many motor owners take a chance on matters like this and come a cropper as a result with one owner friend of mine (who luckily had the correct insurance) suffering three incidents in one single week of hire. Firstly the hirer struck a wall when leaving the campsite, then he managed to remove a whole wing of the vehicle when in collision with a bridge and finally the awning was wrecked after being left out in a downpour. It’s definitely worth thinking about insurance before you start thinking about hiring out your pride and joy.
