Late autumn is that rather sad time of year when your touring caravan is likely to go under wraps. Long gone are those long, warm days of summer and on come the short, dark – and cold – days of winter.
Just as you might be tempted, your caravan might appreciate a period of hibernation too.
The question that raises its head, therefore, is just where to store your caravan during these winter months.
Secure storage
Probably your safest course of action is to put your caravan into secure storage at a site recognised and registered by the Caravan Storage Site Owners’ Association (CaSSOA).
The Association was set up with the specific aim of helping to beat the theft of and from caravans, especially during the winter months when owners are likely to find it more difficult ensuring that they remain secure.
Sites accredited by CaSSOA are categorised into three different levels (bronze, silver and gold) according to the relative levels of security each one offers. Factors taken into account include:
- the security of the fencing surrounding the site;
- controls over entry and exit;
- control over access to stored caravans;
- closed circuit television; and
- fire safety systems and alarms.
Many insurers recognise that such security systems help reduce the risk of loss or damage and here at Cover4Caravans we put our words into action by giving you a discount on your caravan insurance premiums if you store the ‘van at a CaSSOA accredited site.
At home
The option that probably involves the least effort is simply to leave it where you have kept it all year – on the driveway or some other area of your own home.
The problem with that course of action is that everyone knows where it is. You might hitch it up for the occasional weekend or holiday away, but the whole world knows that it is likely to come back to exactly the same spot – and that includes the individuals you might rather not have taking such an interest in your caravan.
Thieves, intruders and vandals with nothing better to do may take special interest in a caravan – and the goodies it may house – that seems always to return to the same place. And during the winter months, of course, the caravan remains alone and unattended where it is whenever you go out or travel away to visit friends and relatives at weekends or during the holidays.
Another consideration may be your neighbours, who have tolerated the sight of your caravan on the driveway in between your trips away with it, but may take exception to it becoming a permanent fixture throughout the winter months too.
The corner of a farmer’s field
Thinking they may be stuck for anywhere better to store their caravan when it is not in use, some owners may be tempted into pitching it in the corner of a friendly local farmer’s field, where it may be out of the way of anyone.
And that, of course, is the principal objection to just this solution and one which some insurers may not cover your ‘van for. Out of everyone else’s way, means that your caravan is alone, unattended and out of sight – allowing thieves and vandals to do their worst more or less at their own time of choosing.