Is Annual Service Required for Insurance?
Comments
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There is no requirement for servicing on the Standard 5Cs policy as the new for old cover is 5 years only from the date it is purchased.
EasyT - I read it exactly as you have but Rochelles answer is a little bit ambiguous and for the sake of clarity for new members I think it needs clarifying by the CC.
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Found it now. On the super policy it mentions the need for annual servicing on page 3 in the Policy Limits & Signicant Exclusions sections. However, on page 16 in General Conditions it just has the statement about maintaining in a roadworthy condition, as in the standard booklet. Really the bit about annual servicing being a requirement needs restating here, in the interests of clarity.
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the problem I had is I bought the van second hand. I myself got the van serviced yearly at a dealer but what the club said to me was that it would of had to be serviced since its 5 year birthday. I did not own the van then so how the hell can I prove that. It does not state in the letter that it needs a full service history it just says it needs to be serviced annually. I think this is a little cheeky get out clause they might spring on you when you go to claim although they are quite happy to take your monthly premiums like they did with me for many years knowing dam well they would never pay up. INSURANCE I LOOK FORWARD TO YOUR REPLY !
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I was more than a little put out by this as I had paid for a "Super Policy" and was aware that I had to have my van serviced annually to comply but I had not seen the requirement to provide a full service history in the event of a claim.
I therefore emailed the following to the CC.
"I have just become aware of the insidious clause within my caravan insurance documents that I take exception to.
I took out your Super Cover policy primarily because I wanted New for Old cover. Following a resent conversation on the Club's forum I find out that this aspect of my policy is worthless because as the new owner of a second-hand 2010 van I cannot prove that I have had the van serviced on an annual basis.
Since this very important aspect was not highlighted at the offer stage and if correct I consider your advertising to be very duplicitous indeed.
Please confirm that it was indeed your intention to mislead me into buying an expensive policy that I will be unable to take full advantage of in the event of an incident that leaves me with a caravan that cannot be repaired."Today I received a reply:
"Thank you for your feedback. It is certainly not The Clubs intention to mislead members in any way, ever. We have some significant challenges with our large and complex caravan insurance product in that there are lots of terms, and different ones will be important to different members, and at different times, so without the sales process being extremely onerous pointing out every single term we don’t always know which particular one is the important one to you!
That said I’m sure there is more that could be done on our online sales process (which is how you bought your policy) to capture this particular point. The amended website has been live for a couple of months now and we will shortly be given opportunities for improvements to our web sales process.
As such please can you reply and give your suggestions into where and how this can be highlighted to applicants during the web journey which would make it clearer. Please feel free to include screen shots if they assist.
You input would be greatly appreciated."Make of that what you will, I still consider that I have been mislead.
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Their last paragraph IMHO just passes the buck over to you. The point of not being able to comment on each & every clause is also another get out, while I agree with the general sentiment, something as important as mandatory servicing should have been pointed out to you.
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Basically the replacement as new requires the caravan to be serviced annually by a competent person. The policy does not define this so what that is might be open to argument. In a dispute however any ambiguity would favour the customer but if you do not have a registered engineer doing it I would get in writing that they will accept your alternative. If you do it make sure you have the knowledge and keep the receipts for any parts used.
On second hand caravans I would say that if you do not have receipts for previous services but assuming the dealer had done it prior to the sale confirm that it has been serviced and get them to confirm the position. When I took this cover through the club though what I was told was that it had to have been serviced within the last twelve months not every year of its life.
I no longer have a policy with the club so cannot be sure of the current wording.
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The policy clearly states that one has to be able to proved that it has been serviced in each of the five proceeding years if a claim is to be accepted under the new for old valuation.
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I had supper 5c on my last caravan , if I remember the wording it said I would need the last 3 years of service history if I had to make a claim , if one of the years was missing it would not cover it as new for old.
So if you purchased a caravan that was 8 years old let’s say you paid £10000 for it and you had full service history , you are involved in an accident and the caravan is a right off , the new price for that caravan was let’s say £18500 , would you get the new for old deal would you get the £18500 even though you only paid £10000 .
When you take out a supper 5c insurance it should be based on the price you paid for it, not what it was worth 8 years ago when new.
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There is no one correct answer as policies differ slightly across companies.
I am with Lifesure who stipulate the caravan should be in good state of repair. It does not stipulate a yearly service. I have a water ingress test done each year and a dealer service every second year. The other years I go through a duplicate of the service schedule and some extra bits for my own piece of mind, and record my inspection and any remedial measures/repairs I have taken/made. The only thing I do not do is a removal of the one shot nuts to check the brakes, but I can check shoe wear through the inspection hole in the rear of the drum. I have my retired gas fitter/plumber friend check the system for integrity and leaks.
The "New for Old" has an upper limit on age and had to be repeatedly taken out by you before the van reached a certain age.
Colin
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