Some owners of a touring caravan may never bother with a touring insurance review. They may simply automatically renew their cover without checking that is is still relevant.
This article explains the importance of carrying out a review and provides useful tips on finding the most suitable policy for you.
If you are one of them, you may argue that the only time you wish to think about your insurance is at annual renewal time and even then, as little as possible. Advocates of this approach may also be inclined to simply automatically renew their existing policy each year.
It has to be admitted that this is one approach to caravan insurance but serious questions need to be asked as to whether this is necessarily in your best interests.
The fact is that the caravan insurance marketplace rarely sits still for any period of time. New policies are constantly becoming available and caravan cover providers are frequently changing their customer service proposition.
All this simply means is that potentially there may be deals out there that were simply not around when you took out your existing policy and some of them may be suitable for you and possibly more cost-effective than your existing solution.
The cost of caravan insurance
Of course, cost perhaps inevitably comes to the forefront of our thoughts when talking about insuring a tourer. If you select caravan insurance based upon price alone, you may run the risk of ending up with a policy that may appear to be cost-attractive but which is possibly not providing you with the full umbrella of protection that you may need.
That is why sitting down and looking closely at some alternative options to your existing insurance protection may be advisable. Examining a combination of price and the protection provided may help you to do one of things:
- to relax, confident in the knowledge that your existing caravan cover is still satisfactory;
- to appreciate that your existing cover is no longer up to scratch and that it is time to do something about it.
In essence, this is that touring caravan insurance review. It is a periodic systematic review of where you sit in insurance terms and it might be advisable to find a little time to do it a few times a year!
An insurance review might not be exactly your idea of a fun pastime but it just might end up offering you improved protection and at a more attractive price.
Policies differ
If you are looking for insurance for caravans online, at a first glance, policies may appear to be broadly similar to each other.
To really be able to understand some of the potential differences between them, other than the price, you may need to do a little digging beneath the surface and to look at some of the following areas while going through your touring caravan insurance review.
Conditions relating to towing drivers and distances
Some policies may stipulate certain minimum age and experience requirements of any driver towing the caravan. This may be intuitively reasonable but if the policy stipulates certain requirements that you and your family cannot comply with, then it may not be for you.
You may also find limitations imposed relating to how much mileage you may do each year as part of a standard policy’s cover. If you plan to do more, you may need to pay a supplement.
Sites and destinations
Not all policies may allow you to go where you wish to. Some may limit
their basic cover to the UK only or they may provide only very limited
allowances for continental touring.
There may also be considerable differences between touring caravan insurance policies in terms of where they may allow you to park your caravan overnight when it is in use.
New for old replacement
Your touring caravan insurance review may highlight significant differences between policies in terms of how they approach the subject of new for old caravan replacement.
Some may offer such replacement for caravans up to five years old providing you have been the sole owner from new – others may only offer this for a maximum of three years. You may also find some policies that will offer new for old replacement for caravans up to three years old, even if someone other you previously owned them.
At Cover4Caravans, we offer new for old cover replacement on both statics and tourers up to 5 years old, regardless of the number of owners.
Winter storage
You may find that some policies may insist upon full garaging and secure
storage of your caravan over winter, some (such as ourselves) may offer you
financial incentives in the form of discounts for doing so and yet others that
may have no such requirement.
Whatever proves to be suitable for you may vary depending on your situation but it is an area worth looking at.
Getting the most suitable insurance for your caravan
Now we have set the background for why and how you should carry out an insurance review, here are some things you can do to ensure you get the most appropriate policy in terms of the cost.
As a very general rule, the lower the risk profile as perceived by the insurance company, the lower your premium price will tend to be (proportionally speaking).
So, it may be very important to you to:
- ensure that your caravan and it’s usage patterns (e.g. using it outside of the UK) are clearly and correctly outlined as part of the caravan insurance application processes;
- do what you can to reduce the caravan insurance provider’s perceptions of risk in accordance with their guidance.
Reducing risk may often entail things such as:
- using additional locks and security devices (some of these may be a formal requirement of being accepted under cover);
- not parking tourers on public roads when not in use;
- using only approved campsites;
- avoiding young drivers on the policy;
- being a member of an owners’ or caravanning association.
Avoiding risk
Caravan insurance companies will typically have varying degrees of what constitutes risk reduction. Finding out what these are and then configuring your use of your caravan to take those into account, may yield you financial benefits through more attractively-priced premiums
Caravan insurance companies have two things in common with each other:
- they have to make a profit to survive;
- they need to manage their overall exposure to risk.
Making sure you understand the terms and conditions
In a sense, when you purchase a caravan insurance policy, you are paying the insurance company to take on a large chunk of the financial risk that arises as a result of owning a caravan.
They charge you for doing so – and that’s called the premium (i.e. the price you pay).
However, the insurance company must understand the nature of the risk they’re taking on and seek to constrain it within the terms of their policy.
That policy constitutes an agreement between you and the insurance company and it defines the duties, responsibilities and limitations of both parties with respect to the caravan insurance concerned.
If something relating to your caravan is therefore not as defined in the policy and related documents, the insurance provider isn’t in control of the risk and this may result in problems making a claim.
That’s why it’s important to take the time to read the specification and cover detail (including the exclusions) of a policy before purchasing it.
Hopefully this article has given you some ideas on why it may make sense to review your caravan insurance arrangements as well as how to find the most appropriate policy while keeping the cost as attractive as possible.
Don’t forget, at Cover4Caravans we are here to help you with all your caravan insurance needs.