Red Pennant concern

Surfer

We took out RP multi trip insurance to cover us for our trip to France.  We are overseas for 28 days however we leave home 3 days earlier so we can stay over at the CC site in Portsmouth to enjoy the sights.  As we return from France at 6pm we have to stay
over a night on our return for safety reasons as no point driving when tired. 

This totals 32 days away from home although only 28 days overseas or 31 days from leaving home to returning to British soil.

Through another forum it was pointed out as the duration away from home is 32 days, we are not covered as the policy is for days from leaving home to returning to home. 

To extend the policy to cover the extra day there seems to be a cost of nearly £60 so cheaper to cancel or shorten our stay at Rookesbury.

When doing the RP ins although I read through the policy a few times and also the T&Cs, the 31 day limit never occurred to me as I assumed it was for the period when you are overseas.  After all if we breakdown in the UK on our return we are covered by Greenflag
Mayday anyway.

 

Unknown

The user and all related content has been Deleted User

JVB66

As Red Pennant is for travel beyond these shores,we always started it on the day we left "home"shores,but the last time was a "few" years ago,we are now "driven" abroad

Metheven

Read up on it <HERE> Surfer, you might just get away with it by using the 'IF' I returned home straight away.

Surfer

Read up on it <HERE> Surfer, you might just get away with it by using the 'IF' I returned home straight away.

The replies by Jacci are a bit confusing.  On our return we do not want to drive from portsmouth to the West Midlands as by the time we got home the storage would be locked anyway. 

Plus after 8 hours on a ferry we will be tired and would prefer to stay overnight at Morn Hill to ensure a safe journey home the next day instead of a 3+ hour drive on leaving the ferry.

We wanted to return the day before but somehow when CC did the ferry booking they chose the 13th instead of the 12th.  We did ntio object at the time as we did not know about the RP home to home restriction.

I can understand it on the way out and makes sense but on the return we have Mayday cover to take us home in the event of a breakdown.  Seems the only option when leaving to travel to France is to arrive at Portsmouth a day later and instead of two days
with relatives spend only a day with them.

Tammygirl

Surfer, AD is right in that last year I had a similar problem as we wanted to visit our children once we had got off the ferry at Hull. We live in Scotland my children live near Sheffield. Obviously we didn't want to go all the way home and then travel back
down to Sheffield. The RP states that the cover is from Home to Home, however I was asked "how long will it take you to get home once off the ferry, if you were going straight home" my answer was "the same day". I was then advised then that is the day you
stop the RP.  I was told the club understnds that people like to visit family/friends on the way home and would not count these days, but you must allow the time it would take to get home. On your ourward journey it is a little more problamatical as RP starts
the day of leaving home, but also includes I believe  the 24 hrs previous although this isn't in the days counted. We now go straight
to the ferry with 1 overnight stop and do our visiting on the way back. You are correct that once in UK your Maydayor whatever will come into play, but as I said only once you've allowed traveling time to get home.  Hope this helps.

Tammygirl

Having just re-read your last post, I see you say it would take you 3 hours to go home. If that is the case then you fall into the same bracket that I did last year, so your RP will stop at Midnight on the day you get off the ferry. So there is no reason for you not to stay overnight, as the next day you will then be onto your Mayday if you had a problem.  We toured for 2 weeks last year once we got off the ferry. The RP stopped at midnight that night, if we had gone home we would have been at home in time.

Edit. I noticed you say you have multitrip cover is each trip for 30 days?  last year we took out longstay 122 days after talking with AD, it worked out better for us than multi trip as you can go as many times as you like for as long as you like each time, so long as you don't go over the 122days in total. Might that be a better option if you intend to make a few trips in the next 12 months.

Surfer

Having just re-read your last post, I see you say it would take you 3 hours to go home. If that is the case then you fall into the same bracket that I did last year, so your RP will stop at Midnight on the day you get off the ferry. So there is no reason
for you not to stay overnight, as the next day you will then be onto your Mayday if you had a problem.  We toured for 2 weeks last year once we got off the ferry. The RP stopped at midnight that night, if we had gone home we would have been at home in time.

Okay I think I may have been worrying unnecessary.  As long as we have covered for while we are away and until we return to British soil, there is no issue. 

So although we are covered for 31 days and we return to Portsmouth on the 31st day from leaving home, on the 32nd day Greenflag cover kicks in and we cannot claim off RP which is fair enough.

Unknown

The user and all related content has been Deleted User

Tammygirl

TG

I am still not clear how that scenario works with long stay. We take the 122 days split between a 79 day Spring trip (includes 2 UK halts) and then the balance of 43 days later and the  only information the club ask for is departure date 1,were you able
to specify to them the intermeadiate day when you wanted the cover to cease (end of trip one)?

Not sure they asked but as the ferry was booked through the club and we were staying on a club site on our return they would know when we returned. We just calculated the days out, allowing time to "travel home" from Hull thats the same day from Portsmouth
the next day. Although we have not gone straight home and don't intend doing so again this year as long as you allow the time in your calculations you're ok. On our September journey we had to call RP on the first day (Friday) as the M/H developed a problem
that we couldn't get fixed until the Monday, our ferry was on the Saturday, we were very grateful that we had RP as we ended up having to travel on a Tuesday which as you will be aware is a much more expensive ferry.

DavidKlyne

Looking at the logic of the situation. If RP ends on the day you return to the UK whatever breakdown/insurance you have for normal UK touring will take over so I don't see any point in informing RP that it will take you several days to get from, say, Dover
to home?

David 

Wherenext

This rule is still prejudicial to Caravan Club members who live more than a few hours from the ports and is totally unfair. I would like to have a 4 week holiday on the south coast before hopping across the channel. If I return home, about 260 miles for
1 night and then drive down the following day to catch the ferry then I wouldn't be charged an extra 28 days. It's a stupid, stupid rule and the CC should bring some pressure to bear on the insurer to change it.

Wildwood

Living ib Scotland we often take a few days to get to the ferry port and have to include these in the policy. On the face of it this looks wrong but it does mean you get far more cover for a replacement vehicle if you have an accident before you set off which might just swing it for you. If the cover starts from the day you catch the ferry you have seven days cover before that but if you include three days travellin before the ferry then you get an extra three days cover for a relacement vehicle. You are still paying for medical and other cover when there is no risk though so you have to decide what is important to you and that is entirely a matter of opinion.

Possibly they shoulkd give cover from when you leave home but at a lower rate than for the continental cover.

As for after the holiday just tell them you are going straight home when you land if that takes you over a premium threshhold.

Tammygirl

WN, I'm not sure if you could get round it in a similar way to how we were advised by jacci. what is to stop you touring for 3 weeks (using UK breakdowncover) then decide that 'tomorrow' you would have left from home so start your RP from that date, isn't that the same but in reverse. Now there might be an issue as jacci pointed out that 14 days prior to your ferry RP would cover you if your vehicle was damage by an accident, fire or theft.  Its not something that we had to discuss last year as we go straight to the ferry, and do our visiting on the way home. Hope this makes sense.  I do know where you are coming from though, as we are even further away from the ferry ports and both of our sons live in england.

Greythatch

We already have Worldwide personal insurance elsewhere.  My question to anyone is - If we take out Red Pennant only for the outfit and say have a serious incident we would be repatriated using our personal insurance: however would RP bring back our outfit
which was totally  uninvolved in the incident

Wildwood

We already have Worldwide personal insurance elsewhere.  My question to anyone is - If we take out Red Pennant only for the outfit and say have a serious incident we would be repatriated using our personal insurance: however would RP bring back our outfit which was totally  uninvolved in the incident

Yes section D of cover is

If as a result of death, injury or illness of a member of the

party

, whilst partaking

in motoring, caravanning, motor caravanning or trailer tenting holiday activities,

there is no qualified or competent driver remaining,

The Club

will, at its

discretion, provide a chauffeur to bring the outfit and passengers

home.

The

chauffeur will normally be one of a special team of Club members who have

volunteered for this duty.

T

Greythatch

Why not think about it for a little longer 

Thanks WW

KjellNN

Just arranged our RP for our trip starting in 14 days time.  Not such a long trip as we usually have so we have taken the 66 day cover.

From leaving our house till we return to UK soil will be 65 days.  We could probably be home before midnight the same day, but it is nearly 500 miles so would be very tiring.  So we have left a day spare, which would be more than enough time for us to have a leisurely drive and an overnight stop.

In fact we will be taking 9 days to get home as we will be doing some sightseeing and visiting friends en route.

It is very annoying that you have to include all the days before reaching the ferry if you are making a holiday out of the journey. 

If RP actually covers you for incidents for an additional 14 days before the official start date, what difference does it make where in UK you are and what you are doing when the incident occurs? 

If the car broke down or was involved in an accident the day before we were due to leave home, or the day after we left home, the effect on the holiday would be the same as far as I can see. 

Our ferry is on the 25th, so if we started the cover that day, then we would actually (with the 14 days before departure cover) have the pre departure cover from the 11th, which would be fine.

Instead, as we are taking  8 days at the start to see a bit of England on the 500 mile journey to the ferry, we have to cut 8 days off our time abroad and start the cover on the 17th, which apparently means our pre-departure cover has just started.

This year, as we are taking a short crossing, the cost of the RP for this trip is £100 more than we have paid for the ferry ticket, which is the only money we have spent so far.  This is why we don't take out the RP cover until pretty much the "last minute" .

Before that, if we have an incident which means we cannot travel, all we have lost is the cost of the ferry ticket.  We can always book another trip later on.

Does that make sense to anyone?  I don't think I am explaining it very well!

Surfer

I can understand the cover starting from when you leave home because if you spend a week motoring around  and then break down, you woudl suffer a financial loss due to not being able to catch the ferry, the loss of deposits for any camp site bookings made
while overseaas etc. 

However on the way back, if you have a breakdown and Mayday cover, there is basically no financial loss as Mayday will convey you home.

 

Metheven

Just do it for 31 days, what happens on British soil Mayday will cover.

KjellNN

I can understand the cover starting from when you leave home because if you spend a week motoring around  and then break down, you woudl suffer a financial loss due to not being able to catch the ferry, the loss of deposits for any camp site bookings made
while overseaas etc. 

However on the way back, if you have a breakdown and Mayday cover, there is basically no financial loss as Mayday will convey you home.

 

I can see that could be the case if you had booked and paid for campsites for a whole trip, but we have booked nothing, so the only loss would be the ferry tickets, which cost us £134.  Even then, the ferry times could be amended for a fee, so the whole
amount might not be lost.

The RP premium was £235.

Really, the scheme is set up to cater better  for those who just go directly to a ferry for their 3 week holiday in France in August, and have a fixed timetable, rather than retired people who generally have no timetable, can be flexible, and just want good
cover when actually abroad.

eurortraveller

Good point Kjell.

Wherenext

This is why the club should actually be earning their commission and getting the insurers to change their terms or offer an alternative for either a reduced premium or take some of the extra cover out that is not needed.

Tammy, I understand what you say but I don't like "would of's" when big bad insurance companies start quoting terms and conditions at me. I would much rather not have the extra cover for replacement vehicle until, say, 2 days before ferry for outgoing and
do away with it when getting back off ferry. 2 days would theoretically be sufficient for the vast majority to get to a ferry, maybe extending it to 3 for those like you in Scotland.

This year I've saved over £250 on insurance outlay but I've had to double check everything, and yes, I know RP is 5* but it comes at a price.

 

 

GyynNorma

I find this rule extremly annoying, we are a "club" and members requirements should be catered for not dictated to. It is called " Overseas Holiday Insurance" after all. It should be a matter of personal choice, if members wish to start or end their Foreign insurance at the port then it it is up to them. If I was involved in a stuation before the day of travel then  I would prefer to sort it out on home soil, on the way home I have Mayday. So come on Caravan Club look to members needs.

Quasar524

I imagine that the call centre staff get plenty of practice at listening to grumbles about this aspect of RP, they have certainly heard it from me several times over the years. But this year was the first time I have been advised that as long as we arrive back in the UK with enough time to realistically get home before policy expiry at midnight, we don't actually have to get home by then.  So perhaps the Club is listening a bit.

Having had to claim on RP in the past for a serious medical emergency I can't criticise the cover as a whole, the support provided was excellent.   But as far as the aspect discussed above goes I agree that the Club could and should listen to members' grumbles and get the cover changed so that it ends at the point you set wheels back on UK ground,

Quasar524

Having thought about this a bit more, one possible reason for making the cover officially end when you get back home is that the recovery component will return you back home therefore the period of cover should include the time it would take to get from
the port to your home.

Surfer

If you go away and return to British soil 31 days after leaving home, how can they cancel your policy anyway as by that time you are almost back home and have Mayday cover anyway

Hazel

Morning all

Please see below a reply from the Senior Duty Offer of Red Pennant:

We at the Club can appreciate our Members’ thoughts on this matter, but it has to be remembered that Red Pennant is not just a breakdown insurance, but is there to enable our Members to be able to continue their holiday and we at the Club will do everything
that we can to make this happen.  If, however, you haven’t taken out adequate cover to cover your planned holiday dates, it makes it difficult for us to justify this to the Underwriters.  Think of a scenario that we dealt with last year, when a Member broke
down during his holiday abroad.  The problem couldn’t be fixed abroad, so we hired a tow car for the family to continue their holiday.  However, they were then spending a week in the UK at various sites and a rally.  They had decided not to extend their Red
Pennant policy to cover this period and had just taken enough out to get them home, had they gone home directly, which we do allow, as long as you accept the risk.  So Red Pennant paid for the hire car for the amount of time that it would have taken them to
get home directly and the Member had to pay for the additional days himself. 

Yes, it can cost an extra few pounds to insure those extra days for touring around and seeing family, but it could jeopardise your whole holiday.  Imagine you have decided to cover from when you leave the UK, (having allowed enough time to get to the
port if you were travelling directly from home), and whilst you are visiting one of your relatives the gear box goes and cannot be repaired for two weeks.  Without the cover, you will have to rely on your Mayday (or whichever cover you have taken) to get you
home and you then lose your whole holiday, or you wait and have it repaired but have to pay expensive ferry amendment fees.

When considering the pre-departure cover, please note that this is 14 days from your planned day of departure from home.

 

 

Surfer

Morning all

Please see below a reply from the Senior Duty Offer of Red Pennant:

We at the Club can appreciate our Members’ thoughts on this matter, but it has to be remembered that Red Pennant is not just a breakdown insurance, but is there to enable our Members to be able to continue their holiday and we at the Club will do everything
that we can to make this happen.  If, however, you haven’t taken out adequate cover to cover your planned holiday dates, it makes it difficult for us to justify this to the Underwriters.  Think of a scenario that we dealt with last year, when a Member broke
down during his holiday abroad.  The problem couldn’t be fixed abroad, so we hired a tow car for the family to continue their holiday.  However, they were then spending a week in the UK at various sites and a rally.  They had decided not to extend their Red
Pennant policy to cover this period and had just taken enough out to get them home, had they gone home directly, which we do allow, as long as you accept the risk.  So Red Pennant paid for the hire car for the amount of time that it would have taken them to
get home directly and the Member had to pay for the additional days himself. 

Yes, it can cost an extra few pounds to insure those extra days for touring around and seeing family, but it could jeopardise your whole holiday.  Imagine you have decided to cover from when you leave the UK, (having allowed enough time to get to the
port if you were travelling directly from home), and whilst you are visiting one of your relatives the gear box goes and cannot be repaired for two weeks.  Without the cover, you will have to rely on your Mayday (or whichever cover you have taken) to get you
home and you then lose your whole holiday, or you wait and have it repaired but have to pay expensive ferry amendment fees.

When considering the pre-departure cover, please note that this is 14 days from your planned day of departure from home.

 

 

The above seems to be a load of waffle as when you are back on UK soil, if the vehicle breaks down, you have Mayday cover to take you home. 

If you are booked onto CC sites for a few extra nights on the way home, there is no loss as you do not pay a deposit.  If we were stopping at various sites at on our way home and we had a breakdown, we would contact Mayday, contact the sites to cancel and
then have the vehicle taken home to a garage that we can trust to carry out an efficient repair at a reasonable cost rather than have a strange garage attempt work at a high cost.  Mayday does have onward travel in its cover.

I appreciate that cover starts from when you leave home to visit the continent and that makes sense as the losses could be quite high.  However on your return you are on native soil therefore there should not be a problem?  The post quotes that the person
hired a vehicle, but obviously that was there choice to prolong thier holiday.  Most people with a bit of common sense would simply return home in the unfortunate event of a major breakdown.

Unknown

The user and all related content has been Deleted User

SteveL

Not sure I am reading this right, are folk saying you can't do a week or two weeks in the UK before you go away, or your RP will be invalid. When we used it last I started it on the day we were due to travel on the ferry ( as this would not be brought forward)
and ended it 3 days after we planned to return to the UK ( in case of delays). Before and after our holiday in France we toured here. Any breakdown then would have been covered by Mayday. All I really want RP for is the medical and breakdown / get you home
from abroad bits. If for any reason we were unable to travel due to problems on tour before we travel I know I would not  be able to claim for ferries / camp sites. I don't see why there should be any problem in this.