Insurance clause
Just had my insurance renewal through and noticed a clause about alarms. Seems you have to set ALL parts of the alarm when you are leaving it (even for a few minutes). I called up and asked because when I stay on a club site and go for a shower, I leave the dog in the caravan and disable the interior movement sensor but put the alarm on. Been told on the phone I can't do that so have to remove the alarm from my policy. Alarm discount was £78.39.
My policy was already £341 for a £20k 1 year old van in CASSOA gold storage in Devon. I din't want to but looks like I'm forced to look elsewhere as over £400 is stupid money. My car is worth nearly double and the insurance is less than £200 for fully comp.
Simon
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We would not put our alarm on to go elsewhere on the site. Our contents are not included and I very much doubt that somebody is going to turn up, burn off the wheel lock on a CC site whilst I am in the shower.
It is in fact rare for us both to be missing at the same time as I usually go to the shower block at 6.30am and OH after 7.15am
By all means look elsewhere but I doubt if their answer will be different.
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Simon, there are of course many variables with van insurance but we have just done ours, a three year old Lunar valued at £16500, and it was £200.
At no time in the discussions with my old, or new, insurers was there any mention of the alarm.
Re the alarm, ours is on when in storage and when parked while travelling but we did have issues when new as Lunar had wired the alarm connector the wrong way around so setting the alarm meant that you were activating it.
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Hi Simon,
I have just checked with an insurance colleague and been advised for many years there has been an endorsement on our caravan policies regarding alarms as follows:-
The Tilt/Movement/Corner Steady Sensor alarm system and all locks shall have been put into full and effective operation at all times when the caravan is not being towed or when it is parked and not occupied.
If this is the case then you receive a 10% discount. Therefore, the discount would have been approx £34.10 from the price you have quoted.
To be fair, I don't think you can compare caravan insurance with a car as they are totally different in the way of uses.
I hope this explains a little for you and you can understand why we cannot give the discount when the alarm is not set.
Kind Regards
Tracy
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If this is the case then you receive a 10% discount. Therefore, the discount would have been approx £34.10 from the price you have quoted.
Tracy I thought the discount was on the full cost of the policy. If so that would account for the quoted figure of £78.39. Your 10% figure is based on the final cost. Therefore if they stopped claiming the alarm discount, the policy total would not just increase by that figure.
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In the event of an incident how would the insurance company know whether or not the alarm had been set, does the alarm have some sort of recording device built-in?
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I have to agree with the point that a loss is unlikely if you have just gone for a shower and would not worry about it. The shower is probably in the morning when there are plenty of people about and breaking into a caravan would simply attract too much attention and there is no time to steal it if it has a decent wheel lock and even more so an awning.
If the dog is big enough that would also put off thieves.
On the question of how would they know if the alarm was set then it would be very difficult for them to prove it either way, if you said it was, although if you had a dog inside the answer is obvious.
The systems will vary as to how easy they are to disable but I am convinced if I broke into our old Avondale I could do this before the alarm went off, although you would have to know the system,and even then the siren was pathetic and might not attract attention if on for seconds.
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The Tilt/Movement/Corner Steady Sensor alarm system and all locks shall have been put into full and effective operation at all times when the caravan is not being towed or when it is parked and not occupied.
Under 'definitions' of the policy nowhere is occupant defined, maybe the dog could be defined as being the occupier.
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Now I like that thought. as long as they don't charge on site for a 3rd occupant!!
Simon
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I have had this discussion with the club before. The potential total claim on caravan is the total value of the van and contents. With a car the potential could be more than a million if injury claims are involved. The underwriters will not be moved. Shop around.
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I use LV. I get CSMA discount. It a Volvo V70 SELux auto fully loaded. Premium last year was £189
Simon
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Does not happen very often, but wouldn't they have to take into account the possibility of the van catching on fire / gas explosion and potential damage to other property and persons. When abroad they usually insist you deposit your Carnet for those eventualities.
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Seems a pretty drastic measure by your insurance , we are covered by Saga for a similar caravan year & cost , providing we use just 2 out of the 3 security measures while on sites we are covered .
Wheel clamp , hitch lock & alarm , indeed while on our cassoa gold site here in Derbyshire I'm only required to have one device on / fitted to be completely covered .
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Not sure Steve. Personally I doubt that they would have a claim in many cases unless negligence or other tort could be shown.
When I had old caravans I always insured them but took the maximum excess and underestimated the value greatly such that there would have been very little payment out for a total loss. The reason that I wanted cover was so that if there were a fire or a major accident the insurance company would pay to pick up and tip the pieces but also so that if an unhitched caravan rolled away and struck another vehicle or passer-by then there was some insurance cover.
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The (new) requirement to Alarm the van when it is not occupied does cause problems. My van is stored at a Club Site and also insured through the club (5C's). The alarm system uses the main battery, which can run down even if it does not sound. If it goes off the battery obviously goes flat more quickly. Perhaps more annoyingly the noise upsets the wardens and the members on site. If the wardens muffle the noise by stuffing rags in the vent and do not call me or I am not available then the result is no alarm. Insurance invalid?
I think the club should review this requirement when vans are in Gold Storage. Also reading other comments here, remove the requirement when on a club site. Who wants the peace destroyed while the owner is in the shower!
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The C&MC policy and the C&CC policy were far too restrictive.Get a quote from LV for both car and caravan. Also find out if you are eligable to join CSMA/Boundless. This will give further discounts with LV. Talking of CSMA, they are another club that decided to re-brand this year. Boundless??? What does that mean?
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