Advice on Caravan Insurance
Legal stuff
This is just an introduction to caravan insurance and is not intended to be representative of the covers or restrictions offered by any particular insurance or that all insurance provide the protection described. You can get a recommendation for a particular insurance to suit your own circumstances by talking to the skilled staff at any Coversure branch.
Why buy Caravan Insurance?
Because you want to protect yourself against the costs you might incur if your caravan is damaged accidentally or because of a fire, a theft, or bad weather.
What is covered?
Normally damage caused to your caravan due to fire, bad weather, flood, subsidence, accidental or malicious damage.
Your removable possessions stored in the caravan will also be covered up to a limit defined in your policy (typically £300).
Your liability to other people visiting your caravan if they are injured during their visit and their injury is caused by your negligence. By the same token, if your negligence causes damage to your visitor’s possessions, this will also be covered.
If you are letting your caravan out and damage to your caravan prevents the rental taking place, you may be covered for the loss of the rental if you have properly recorded the booking in advance.
What is not covered?
There is no cover whilst your caravan is being towed by a vehicle. This should be covered under the vehicle insurance.
The possessions cover is intended to cover items that would normally be left in the caravan, such as furniture, cutlery, curtains and so on. Normally money and credit cards, jewellery and other valuables are excluded and should be covered on the all risks section of your household contents policy.
You have a duty of care to look after your property, so theft from your caravan will only be covered if it is properly locked up whilst you are away from it. So there will not be any cover if you leave it open, or you leave your belongings under an awning or in a toilet tent.
Similarly, if your caravan is stolen and it did not have a wheel clamp and hitch lock fitted, there will be no cover.
What does it cost?
It depends on the value of the caravan. During September 2005 Coversure clients paid an average of £97 for caravan insurance.
What to watch out for?
Some insurers include equipment such as generators in the value of the caravan. Some do not, in which case the equipment will not be covered unless it is separately valued.
Check for restrictions due to the security on the caravan site. There may be different requirements for security, for instance an insurer might insist that a static caravan may only be stored on a registered holiday park (i.e. HPA or British Holiday Home Parks Association graded sites).
What options are worth having?
You may be able to include damage to awnings at a small extra charge, usually there is a restriction on the age of the awning that can be covered, typically awnings that are more than seven years old cannot be covered.