Our Caravan has been stolen!

DSB
DSB Club Member Posts: 5,669 ✭✭✭
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edited March 2012 in Your stories #1

I retired in September 2007 and I was always my intention to use a large proportion of my lump sum in replacing our 12 year old van with a new one.  We had a day out one Saturday 'just to look' and found a new Pageant 6 Vendee, which we eventually bought in the Autumn of 2007.  We used the van during 2008 and the early part of 2009.  We went away for our usual May Day Bank Holiday weekend with out group of friends and took our van back to storeage on 4 May 2009.  On Wednesday 6 May we had a phone call at about 8am from our storeage folk asking us if we have our van at home - we hadn't.  It suddenly dawned what had happenned.  Our van had been stolen.  We were shocked and devistated.

My first thought was to go and have a look - it was clear what had happened.  I came back home, contacted the police for a crime number and then contacted the Caravan Club Insurance, who took the details.  They sent me a form to which I added all the extra details.  We were all devastated!

Filling in the forms and making the claim was easy.  For years the rest of the family had made fun of me for making detailed lists of what we had in the van.  I am absolutely meticulous about making lists and now it was about to pay off.  If nothing else comes of this story, I urge everyone to make detailed inventory of everything in the caravan.

I list absolutely everything, except for food and personal items.  We are all responsible for putting in our own personal items and we rarely take food with us.  Most of the stuff on my list is kept in the van all the time.  My spreadsheet shows where the item is packed, the quantity of the items, the date purchased, where we bought if from, how much it cost originally and its estimated value.  I use the same list when I renew my insurance premium.  We were fully insured so there was no problem.

The Caravan Club and their appointed assessors were excellent in sorting out the claim.  I told them exactly what van I wanted and even which companies were expecting one in.  There were only two places we could find so we had our new van from Lady Bailey.  Everything went through smoothly but we did have to wait until the van arrived from Bailey.

It's not an experience I would want to repeat, but I don't feel the Caravan Club insurance could have been more helpful, supportive and sympathetic.  We are now the proud owners of a Bailey Pageany S7 Sancerre, and in fact, we are far happier with this van than were were with the Vendee, so all's well that ends well.

The Club Insurance did insist that we kept the van at a Cassoa Gold storeage site, but we are also happier in knowing that the van is much more secure.

David

Comments

  • Hannah
    Hannah Forum Participant Posts: 2
    edited March 2012 #2

    It's sad news that you have had to experience your van being stolen I want to say thank you for posting about the Club's services through the whole claim process. We try our best to make it as easy as possible and am glad to hear you are even happier with
    the new van :-)

  • johnM
    johnM Forum Participant Posts: 2
    edited March 2012 #3

    Sad t0o hear about you loss but as you say, great service by the insurance company.

    New to caravaning, the stolen 'van was just the problem that I have been concerned about......but I thisnk I may have found a cheal answer.

    If you have a smart mobile phone you can download the free app called 'find my android'. Leaving the mobile (with that app installed) turned on and hidden in the van when you are away for the day... any friend using their mobile can send a specific text
    ( see web site instruction ) to the mobile in the van. After 5 minutes the reply to the friends mobile will show the latitude and longitude of the mobile ie where the caravan is ! In addition if the friends phone has google maps installed it will also show
    the position of the van on a local map.

    So ....if the van is stolen it can be located.

    There is an alternative app 'find my friend' but some might not be too keen to use that one as it has the potential of showing the location of both sender and receiver .

  • ALANkW
    ALANkW Forum Participant Posts: 70
    edited March 2012 #4

    That app was used locally by someone who had there mobile stolen using the app they parked outside the thiefs house and called the police who retrieved it in about 5mins job done 

     

  • Jackieanddavid
    Jackieanddavid Forum Participant Posts: 5
    edited April 2012 #5

    Our 2008 Abbey Cardinal was stolen on 18th April 2012 in a similar area, North warwickshire. A few people I have spoken to have similar stories to tell, why is this happening repeatedly and no one seems to know where they go, or who has information to find
    well hidden cls. If anyone stumbles across our much loved caravan, all cris registered! would they please contact the caravan club. Too many club sites are not restricted to families any more.

  • Spannerdo
    Spannerdo Forum Participant Posts: 58
    edited May 2012 #6

    Apparently a "few" (probably most) end up in the Traveller community. Our brave bobbies don't often venture onto their sites unless all leave has been cancelled and the Army are on standby

    It is also common for a "few" to end up in Ireland; The PSNI and Garda do what they can, but it is normal practise to remove all serial numbers, butcher the chassis numbers and adjust the CRIS numbers on the windows.

    So if it is recovered would you want it back?

    How much would it cost to restore it to a standard where you might be able to sell it?

    Would any dealer want to touch a van with a "stolen" marker?

  • johngore
    johngore Forum Participant Posts: 7
    edited January 2013 #7

    Hi ,all,

    Interesting reading, like every one we love or caravan which is a 2006 Bailey Senator Wyoming, I have fitted virtually every anti theft device you can think of, ie Hitch lock, two wheel locks, factory fitted alarm with tilt sensor, and a monitored tracker
    device, and the van is kept behind locked gates on my drive, whilst on holiday in Gran Canaria recently i had a text message from Phamton (the tracking company) alerting me that a sensor movment had bene detcted on my caravan, with panic i called a few friends
    who live near me to ask if they could check my drive and see if my caravan was still on my drive, whilst we waited for the reply I had a call from the tracking station asking if I and the caravan were ok (you need to text your passcode when you receive an
    alert whitin a few minutes or they will call you) talking to the monitoring station i informed them that i was waiting for a friend to check my van, the monitoring station could tellme that my van was still on my drive looking at there system, my friend call,
    everything was ok... very windy day in the UK and my small trailer had blown onto the tow hitch of the van and set of the sensor....I re called Phantom and told them all ok...

    This got me thinking how else could I keep an eye on my van when we are away not only on holiday but at work etc... a visit to a local electrical store answered my quest... CCTV which I can monitor from my Iphone and view live.... it was easy to install,
    records and motion sensor detected. and with night vision... so at any time where ever I am UK or abroad i can check on my van, along with all this anti theft aids, good quality insurance is required, thats why this year we have insured with the Caravan Club,
    a few quid more, but after reading all the reviews I feel its worth it....

    Just a thought... appy caravaning all

     

  • sylken
    sylken Forum Participant Posts: 1
    edited February 2013 #8

    I have just joined the club,Again.  Ifirst became a member in 1970 but left 18 months ago when my wife's " Parkinsons" took a turn for the worst, now with adjusted medication we feel we can stare caravanning again.  So I am in the process of buying a new
    second hand van, a Bailey Pagent Imperial from a dealer who sell second hand vans. We have received the Chris document through the post, is this proof that it is not a stolen van?  We collect the van on Monday 25 Feb 13. 

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